Nugget needs your HELP!
9/4/2019: Nuggets surgery went better than expected yesterday! The abscessed portion of the left lung was removed. A portion of his left lung and all of his right lung were able to be saved! This is great news!
Nugget is breathing moderately well (but not normal) in an oxygen cage and will be closely monitored to ensure his breathing continues to improve. The next 48 hours are a critical time for him, so let’s hope he can continue to heal now that this abscess is gone. As his status can change at any time, I will make sure to keep you updated as I hear from Blue Pearl.
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers & support.
9/3/2019: Nugget handled the chest tube procedure last night. A radiologist interpreted chest x-rays taken and there is a “mass-like consolidation” visible in a region of his lungs. This is very likely the cause of the pus accumulating in his chest.
Therefore, the next best step is to proceed with chest surgery to remove this mass-like lesion.
• If it is an abscess, then removal should fix his current problem. If it is an abscess, then after a couple more days in the hospital he should be well enough to come home.
• If it is cancerous, then removal should fix his current problem and we can explore follow-up cancer treatment options once we know the specifics of which type of cancer…
If it is an abscess, we often don’t know why the abscess developed in the first place. Options include consolidating infection in the lung (pneumonia, complications of heartworm disease) or an inhaled irritant (foreign body) that was the starting cause of the infection. Given Nugget’s young age, we are hopeful that this is a freak abscess (not cancer).
Nugget will proceed with surgery later this morning or early afternoon (as soon as his blood pressure is a little better). Surgery is a big stressor for his body, so there are inherent risks with it, but without removing the abscess/mass he will not improve.
9/2/2019: Nugget is a 4.5-year-old mixed breed that was an otherwise normal and healthy dog. He took a very unexpected and rapid decline in his health yesterday.
We rushed him to Blue Pearl, they called our Veterinarian and informed us that Nugget was continuing to decline. Nugget was diagnosed with pus in his chest. There were high bacterial counts in this pus. The large amount of pus and bacteria are causing his lungs to not be able to expand normally. His blood work is consistent with sepsis. Sepsis (severe full body infection) was making it impossible to maintain his blood pressure and blood sugar values even with supportive care.
Therefore, he had to be rushed into emergency chest tube placement surgery to better lavage his chest of any remaining pus that is around the lungs (a large amount of pus was drained earlier today).
Due to his very poor condition, this procedure is risky as his body is in such a fragile state. I wanted to keep everyone updated as this is a major hurdle for Nugget. Without this procedure he will not make it. Let’s hope his body can stay strong during this procedure tonight.
❤️Please keep him in your thoughts today and we will update you as we know more.❤️
Your support in our efforts to give sweet Nugget a fighting chance are greatly appreciated. His emergency care and surgeries are estimated to cost $7,500 – $11,500. Thank you!
