11/12/07 - It is with a heavy heart that I send you this email.  I know it's been a while since I last gave an update on lil Rose.  Just as a reminder, she was the English Bulldog that I had adopted from Boxer Angels Rescue a few years ago.  I just wanted to let you know that Rose is resting comfortably now in heaven.  She became sick around Halloween - not eating or drinking.  They found that her electrolytes were off the charts, and weren't sure why.  A couple days later, she had her first seizure.  Again, they couldn't explain why.  They told me that it could be a result of bringing her electrolyte values back to norm, or it could be changes in her brain that resulted in a seizure.  I was able to take her home on Mon, and brought her back on Tues to recheck blood work.  She had another seizure=(  On Wed, they started her on Phenobarbital to see if that would control the seizures.  We also tested her shunt to make sure it was still working (it was).  She is sensitive to narcotics, so they started her on a low dose, but she continued to have more seizures.  They ended up giving her a loading dose of Pheno.  That Thurs and Fri, she was seizure free.  However
I can't give anymore details now.  I'm shaking and I think my keyboard is gonna flood from all my tears.  I'm sorry to bring such bad news=(

2/6/05 - Hi there!! Just wanted to let you know what was going on in the busy world of Rose;) The surgeon said she was healing nicely from her cruciate surgery. I just have to keep increasing the times that she exercises. Aside from her shaved leg, you would never know she had surgery!!
She has kind of regressed with the progress we've made when it comes to people. Whenever I bring her to work, she runs away from people. I can't say I blame her, though. Most times I bring her to work it's for a medical problem. Im sure that on some level she remembers and doesnt want to be poked and messed with. She probably remembers having surgery and then staying at the hospital for a few days when all she wanted to do was be out of her cage! Her most recent trip to work involved x-rays, ultrasound, and a cysto!! Needless to say, she was a bad patient. Not understanding what in the world was going on, she just wanted to run and get outta there!! Lately, she's been having more urinary problems. She was peeing more and being a little bit under the weather. Luckily, she didnt have any stones, but she did have crystals in her urine. We sent out a urine culture, but it came back neg, so she didn't have an infection. She also had a lot of white blood cells in her urine. The dr thought that the wbc's might be present because of irritation from the crystals against her bladder wall. Since the struvite crystals are present at a high pH, she needs something to lower it. Ideally, water might help to lower the pH, but this is Rose we are talking about;) Rose doesn't drink enough water. Her urine is extremely concentrated because of this. I have tried putting some water in her dry food, giving her chicken broth in her food, ice cubes, wet food, and other things to try and hydrate her better. Nothing worked. The wierd thing is that she knows where the water bowl is, she just doesnt drink that much. So, the next step we are going to try is put her on a prescription food to see if the crystals go away and, in turn, she will be more comfortable. As soon as I order the food, I am going to gradually change her food over to Hills dry C/D (she runs away from wet food!!) for about a month. After that, we will recheck her urine and see if the food is working for her.
It's never a dull moment for my big headed bully;) ~shannon & rose
 

9/7/04 - Until recently, Rose has been doing good - no better, no worse with her neurologic status.  Over the weekend, she somehow injured herself.  I didn't see it when it actually happened, so I can only assume that it happened when she was playing with my Shepherd.  She started to limp really badly, so I brought her into work for x-rays.  The dr. examined her (I had them sedate her only because I knew she was really painful and would be scared when trying to position her for the x-rays) and told me the bad news.  He thought that she had torn her cruciate ( The other day, she saw the orthopedic surgeon.  I was afraid that she would get frightened when he examined her, but I must say, she did very well!!  He told me that her knee was VERY swollen and it was hard to determine if there was a full or partial tear of her knee because of the swelling.  He recommended keeping her on Rimadyl as an anti-inflammatory for a couple of weeks and to recheck with him again.  I'm hoping she doesn't need surgery anyway, but I would be concerned about putting her under with whatever she has going on with her neurologically.  But, he is an excellent surgeon, so if he doesn't seem to think that there will be a huge risk taking her to surgery - then she'll have it done.
 

5/6/04 - Wow, I can't believe I have Rose now for 2 months!!  She recently saw the internal medicine
specialist, and did pretty well!  He was unable to palpate any open fontanelles in her head and did not
see any obvious fluid when he ultra-sounded her head.  Poor thing was really scared when he put
the gel on her head and started moving the probe around!  He agreed that she was definitely
neurologic, but could not definitively say if she was hydrocephalic.  He started her on a regime of
Prednisone for about 15 days.  I was to look for any changes in her that would indicate that the
steroids were working.  Unfortunately, I saw no difference=(  The internist told me that since the
medicine did nothing for her, it would not be a good idea to peruse an MRI and, maybe down the road,
shunt surgery.  He said that it was not a good sign that she didn't respond to the Pred, and therefore nothing much could be done for her.  The MRI and shunt surgery together would run about $4-5000. 
He did not recommend an MRI because he said all it would do is diagnose the problem, but they
wouldn't be able to fix it.
He also told me that, depending on how much brain tissue she has, she may or may not be able to be
housebroken.  Apparently, that is a form of "higher learning."  He also warned me of the potential
of Rose developing seizures which, he added, may or may not be controlled=(  Right now, she is acting fine and does not have any problems (except for the potty training thing).  Even though they may not be able to do anything for her, I still want to know EXACTLY what is going on.  I just need to find out how much an MRI is and a consult with a neurologist is.

4/12/04 - Hi there!  Darla has an appointment on Thursday to see the specialist.  When I was talking with the dr., he said that he may have some diagnostic tools at the hospital to see if she is hydrocephalic - so hopefully she won't need an MRI!!
Right now, I think her 2 favorite things are relaxing on the couch (in my
lap) while watching tv and running around trying to get our Shepherd Cookie! On nights that I am home, I have her lay in my lap, and she always seems to manage to fall asleep on me;)  It is SO funny to see her run around and play!  She tries to look like a Greyhound, but always manages to look a lil goofy=)  I wish I had a video camera to catch it all on tape! I'll be in touch!  Shannon & (Darla) Rose
 

4/6/04 - Rose (aka Darla) has been doing great here!!  She doesn't get scared when new people pet her, and wants to play with all the dogs she meets!  Although she still gets scared with some things, she is definitely better than when I first met her;)  People come up to pet her all the time, and she doesn't run away!  She loves playing with my dogs, especially our Belgian Shepherd, Cookie.  They would play 24/7 if they could!  The best is when she gets a surge of puppy energy and starts running around the house or yard like a Greyhound!!  It's too funny to see=)
The only problem we are working on is her housebreaking skills.  She doesn't seem to be catching
on just yet.  She just needs some more time I think.
I hope to have her seen by an internal medicine dr. either this week or next to get their opinion
on whether or not she is hydrocephalic.  The ophthalmologist that examined her said that her
blindness is not because of her eyes, rather something in her brain=(  I will discuss with the doctor diagnostics and treatment if he feels she is hydrocephalic.
All in all, Rose is a happy puppy that loves to play and eat!! 

3/6/04 - Darla has been adopted.

3/4/04 - Darla is pending adoption

2/10/04-Darla is a 7 month old English Bulldog that was received this weekend from a Pet Store. She has never been out of the cage and has had VERY limited human contact. Due to poor breeding she is nearly blind. The vet feels she can see some shadows but it is very limited. When Darla is near and you go to pet her she runs and cowers...she reacts like a wild animal, scared to death. We are working with her to earn her trust. She has taken quite a liking to one of my other fosters, Phantom, and he is teaching her how to be a puppy and how to play. They are doing quite well together and I am very proud of Phantom as pup for what he is able to do for our Darla. I will continue updates on Darla as we go to see if she will eventually be adoptable or not...please say a prayer for this baby girl..