Diary Entry #2 - 11/3/2009 - Relapse

After nearly two weeks of normal behavior, Sammie started vomiting again last night. She makes that strange forced sound, like a seal barking. Most of the vomit is a clear, thick, foamy liquid. I took her back to the vet. He took an X-Ray. He noticed an enlarged esophagus and believes that perhaps Sammie has something stuck in her esophagus. He also thinks perhaps she was not on the antibiotic long enough to kill the infection. He put her back on the antibiotic and wants to see her again in a couple of days.

Fast Forward about a week: Took another chest x-ray. Sammie has pneumonia. She seems to be getting progressively worse. The vet now thinks that there is a foreign object in her esophagus that is blocking food from making it to the stomach which is causing her vomiting and pneumonia.

He does not have the facility for scoping the esophagus or checking her stomach. He has recommended another clinic that can do this.

Because of Sammie's rapidly deteriorating condition, I called the new clinic (Baring Blvd Veterinary Hospital) and talked with a Dr. Crumley. It is 7:00 at night and he told me to bring her in immediately. When I got there he gave her an exam and also noticed a high fever. I therefore checked her into the hospital as she was going down fast.

The next day I got a call from Dr. Crumley, who reported that Sammie's fever is under control and they are treating the pneumonia. He also scoped the esophagus and found nothing blocking the passageway. When he moved the scope down into her stomach, it was impossible to see anything. He also took another x-ray and noticed that whatever was in Sammie's stomach had moved on. We were hoping that could be it. I still made the decision to have a surgeon open her up and look in the stomach. There was nothing there. Either whatever was blocking her stomach had moved on, or it was something entirely different. After about 4 days of recovery, we took Sammie home.