We
believed if our dog had to have surgery, Cornell
certainly was the best place to do that.
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We
believe sometime in December Quincy blew out his knee
on ice and we took him to our local vet to see what
the situation was. They x-rayed him and said he had
a ruptured cruciate. They said they could do the surgery
there, but suggested a sturdier surgery for dogs 80
lbs and over. This "TPLO" was to be done
at Cornell. We believed if our dog had to have surgery,
Cornell certainly was the best place to do that. Quincy
was prescribed Etogesic by our vet for the pain prior
to the surgery. You should also know that Quincy has
hip dsyplasisa and was diagnosed approximately 4 years
ago at age 2. We would give him it very infrequently.
He would have a flair up once a month, and would take
it for only one day during his flair up. Now, with
his bad knee he was taking it daily for 3 weeks straight
as diagnosed by our vet. I should make it clear that
we are very happy with our vet and do not believe
he is at all the problem.
Don and I took him in to Cornell and they required
their own set of X-rays. The gave him a light sedative
and reviewed his X-rays and suggested the TPLO would
be a good match for Quincy. The next day (Tuesday)
they performed the surgery and we were called in the
evening and he was doing well. After surgery he was
given hydromorphone for pain and a fentanyl patch.
By
Wednesday morning things took a very horrible turn.
Quincy was throwing up 2 liters of blood was tachycardic
with episodes of ventricular premature contractions.
Quincy was then moved to ICU. He was given plasma
transfusions, and other medications to help nausea
and vomiting. He was also given some sort of drip
to help reduce pain. Assessments showed his placked
cell volume of 22% and a total protein of 2.8. A CBC
done revealed the same anemia and low total protein.
I could go into more detail, but there is simply too
much.
There
were two episodes were we thought we had lost him.
On
Thursday they performed an endoscopy which revealed
severe and diffuse erosions of his gastric mucosa
as well as severe esophagitis. One of the veterinarians
there said it was the worse case he had ever seen,
which should give you some indication of how bad it
was. He was given more packed red blood cells, and
a unit of plasma. The surgery on his knee had certainly
became secondary. While all this was going on I did
some research on my own and found instances where
this occurred.
Quincy stayed at Cornell for 12 days in ICU. Don and
I believe what occurred was a result of horrible side
effects of his taking Etogesic. Our local vet has
let Fort Dodge Animal Health know of what occurred
and has a copy of the transcripts from Cornell of
what happened every single day. We also have a case
number with Fort Dodge Animal Health.
In
the transcripts provided by Cornell it states the
following "Unfortunately, we are unable to pinpoint
with certainty, cause for Quincy's GI erosions. NSAIDs
have the potential to cause ulceration (usually focal)
especially when used in combination with Steroids.
Although Quincy was on a low dose of etogesic, every
dog acts as an individual, and he may have hypersensitivity
to it".
Speaking
personally, I think it will be difficult for Fort
Dodge to deny as it is coming from the top vet school
in the country, that Etogesic played a significant
role in this horrible incident. You may be interested
to know that in the instruction portion of the summary
from Cornell they state the following, "It is
difficult to determine the cause of Quincy's gastric
mucosal erosions. Since we are unable to rule out
the potential role NSAIDs (like etogesic) may have
played in his condition, we recommend avoiding the
use of NSAIDs to control any pain Quincy may have
in the future". This I believe is pretty telling.
Along with a 12 day stay in Cornell, and a $6,700
vet bill, Quincy is home and doing well. I hope this
story will serve as some inspiration for those who
are going through it now, that there is hope, and
a warning for those who are considering giving their
pets Etogesic or any NSAIDs.
Don
and I believe if this happened in any other vet clinic
he would have not made it. With the technology, skill,
and the collective knowledge they have at their fingertips
he pulled through. My husband and I lost several days
at work so we could be there for Quincy, and those
12 days were an emotional roller coaster for us.
I hope this helps out in any way at all.
Thanks for sharing our story with those who may benefit
by it.
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