Dr. Fries just called Robert and said Bridgette is out of surgery and in ICU.  Everything went as expected. 

The unwanted flow is completely blocked.  Someone will call later today with another report once the anesthesia wears off.

The vet student in charge of Bridgette (Her name is McKinlea) just called to say that Bridgette is still doing fine.  She can sit up now but is not very steady on her feet yet but that would be expected.  (I think we have all dealt with dogs having surgery enough to know about that.)  She said the heart still sounds a little weird due to the enlargement but that will go away as the heart returns to its normal size but the unwanted blood flow is definitely blocked.  McKinley said they will show us a movie of the whole procedure when we pick her up on Friday.  They will give another report in the morning.

7/28/2011 8:38 AM

McKinlea (vet student) just called and said Bridgette is going out of ICU to intermediate care today.  She said Bridgette is pretty much back to her usual self—bouncing around like nothing ever happened. 

Dr. Fries will check her later and call if there is anything to report.  Otherwise, they will give another report Friday morning.

7/29/2011 8:44 AM

"I just got the morning report from McKinlea at A&M and she says Bridgette is ready to go. I guess that is all that needs to be said!"

7/29/2011 12:41 PM

Bridgette is now on her way to Corpus Christi! She has to come back for a re-check in a month. 

7/31/2011 8:43 AM

From Robert Diersing (her temporary Foster Dad) "I have to tell you this is already a different dog.  It is a good thing we will be home almost all the time for the next few weeks, because otherwise, I don’t think it would be possible to keep her reigned in."

8/1/2011 12:48 PM

Update from Bridgette's Foster Dad:

Bridgette seems to be doing very well after her surgery.  She seems to be more lively than before but I don’t know if that is because she feels better or that she is just getting used to the routine.

I think the bandage covering her incision will fall off of its own accord today.  We have caught her trying to get it off a few times, but as of last night, it was still holding on.  I have looked at the incision a few times and the area is not red at all.  Her appetite is fine.  She got her heartworm pill this weekend.  She is getting the antibiotic and ear cleaning/medicine as scheduled.  She tolerates the ear cleanings better than some setters we have had.

Otherwise, she is acting just like an Irish setter puppy.  So far she has managed to chew up one of my wife’s sandals but that is the extent of the damage so far (at least that we know about).

8/7/2011  11:21 AM

Update from Bridgette's Foster Dad:

Here are some pictures of Bridgette. Just to give some background information, just out of view in all of these pictures is a set of sprinkler valves I was working on at the time. Bridgette was supervising to be sure everything was done correctly. In the pictures where her left front paw is in view you can see where the hair was shaved for the IV. However, there is already hair growing back so it isn’t just bare skin any more. The picture where she is lying on her back was taken while there was a nice Corpus Christi breeze blowing and she decided to enjoy it. I sent this picture because you can see where the incision on the inside of her right back leg has healed up well.



Other miscellaneous information/comments: I think she definitely needs to be around another young dog for play. Wherever she goes, if she doesn’t get along with other dogs it won’t be for lack of her trying. She does the “bow” and plays submissive to try to get other dogs to play. My dogs won’t play as much as she would like because the youngest (Virginia) is already five years old, and thus, out of the puppy mode of playing. There haven’t been any conflicts except when Bridgette tries to get a chew bone that one of the other dogs has claimed. Even here, she is pretty resourceful in that she will lure the growling dog away from the chew bone, all the while acting submissive, then run around the opposite direction and get the bone for herself. As far as I have seen, she is not afraid of any dog. She will take the submissive role. She also does not seem to be afraid of any particular object.



She likes pieces of ice from the bag. Every time she hears me open the freezer she comes to see if I will give her a piece of ice. She likes to drink out of the hose. She has had a few accidents in the house (all in exactly the same place so there must be something about the smell there that makes it “the place”). She has mastered getting the place she wants to sleep in the bed much to Virginia’s chagrin. She sleeps completely through the night with no wandering around the house. She still hasn’t caught on to “sit” reliably but does understand, “come”, “back”, “down”, “inside dogs”, “outside dogs”, and “lay in your places”. She still needs to develop some manners like “don’t crawl up on the backs of furniture” but all-in-all this is just puppy stuff and she will eventually learn what to do. She still lets out the screaming bark at the sound of certain types of bells. Last time I said cell phones but it could be from anywhere like the TV. My wife ran through all the possible ring tones on her phone and as I recall there were about three where she did the scream. I have also heard her howl a couple of times like my shepherd mixes.

 

 

 

 

Summary of Bridgette's re-check at Texas A&M (8/25/2011)

We are so glad that Bridget has done so well at home since her surgery and that her ear infections have cleared up. Today we did a cardiac ultrasound, or echocardiogram to re-evaluate Bridget's heart. In dogs that have their PDA's corrected we expect that once the residual flow through their defect is stopped, that their heart will begin remodeling down to a more normal size. When we looked at her heart the day after surgery, we were able to see that her heart size had decreased significantly from before.

Today we expected to see that her heart size had decreased even more into the normal range. However, on echocardiogram today Bridget's heart did not show much improvement in size compared to her previous study. We also were able to see that small amount of residual flow is present around her canine ductal occluder device (COO) and through her POA. This was not seen when she was imaged post operatively. Here at Texas A&M we have not ever seen residual flow through a POA that has been occluded using a COO. We are not certain why this has developed in Bridget, however we are speculating that this may be due to Bridget's age when the POA was occluded. 

We also found evidence of mitral regurgitation and left ventricular enlargement. Mitral regurgitation is when the valve between the atria and ventricle on the left side of the heart leaks. This commonly occurs with PDAs because there is an increased blood volume entering the left side of the heart. This is the also the most likely reason for her ventricular enlargement.  These things usually correct themselves in the time following surgery, however they have not done so in Bridget.   We are running two tests today, a Chagas titer and a Troponin.  These two tests are potential reasons for increased left ventricular size.

At this time, these abnormalities do not seem to be affecting Bridget, as she is bright alert and very active. What this will mean for her future is that we will want to continue to monitor her and see how her heart is changing. This will most likely entail semi-annual rechecks.

Bridgette waiting in the lobby at Texas A&M

 

Posing for the camera with Dr. Fries (right) and McKinlea (left) in the lobby at Texas A&M: 

8/26/2011

Update from Shirley Ford (Bridgette's new Foster Mom)

Well, I was just sitting down to write this update when I heard my Templeton roughing in to Bridgette. She tried to sneak a treat away from him and he was laying down the law. No harm done and she was back in his face 30 seconds later but he ignored her. My other dog, Jillian, has been letting her have her treats so I think she thought Templeton would too.


And that brings me to Bridgette's appetite. She is eating anything in sight. I have bought her Blue Mountain Life - Puppy dry food and Wellness puppy can food. She is eating three times a day (10 ozs of dry and two heaping tablespoons of Wellness moist at each meal). She scarf's it down in lickedy split time and then looks for more. She gets treats (large size) at the same time mine do and she can inhale them faster than Jillian.


Her crate training is going well. She races into it to get her treat or her dinner and last night I had her sleep in it. No problem at all. So I think by the time she leaves us, she will do well on her trip in her crate.


I have checked all her urine and bowel movements and they are normal. Even the change of diet has not had an adverse effect.


Other than that it has been an uneventful day. In the morning, she and Jillian raced around the pool and the yard. By 10 a.m. it was over 100 degrees so that ended outdoor activity. This afternoon I took her out on a quick walk and she met my elderly next door neighbors. They loved her and she was good with them except had to stay on a tight leash. It was a great opportunity for puppy training and she did well.


Right now she is sleeping beside my desk. So typical puppy - huge energy spurts followed by napping times and then she'll be up looking for treat food.
 

9/14/2011 3:27 PM

Update from Shirley Ford (Bridgette's Foster Mom)

Due to an accident at the entrance to the Hardy Toll Road Bridgette missed her first flight. We called Pet Safe while stuck in traffic and they were wonderful in rescheduling to the next flight at 1045. Luckily we were able to reach Barry before they left for the airport in Newark. When we got to the facility all went smoothly and the people were wonderful. Bridgette seemed to know that her life was changing again and I swear she had a tear in her eye (but maybe that was my own tears). We sat in chairs right in front of her kennel and she, after being petted and fawned over, gave me a kiss on the nose and laid down /went to sleep. They loaded she and a black cat that was Newark bound into the air-conditioned van at 1010. We followed the van to the security fence entrance and then watched until the van disappeared from view. The Pet Safe Desk person promised that she would call my cell phone (even set her watch alarm) to let me know when the aircraft was in the air. Lee and I went down the street to a Breakfast Restaurant and waited for the call. At 1106 the cell phone rang and the lady said that Bridgette was on-board and the aircraft was in the air. At that point I called Barry.
 

I received a cell phone call from Princess Weiss at 2:30 Central Time. Bridget had arrived on schedule and through the tears she could only say that "she's beautiful". She will call later tonight.


I will close now - I still have tears in my eyes - our family will miss her.

 

9/14/2011  6:59 PM

Update from Princess Weiss (Bridgette's new "Furever" Mom)

Bridgette is here, she is fine, she is beautiful and she will be loved forever. She asked me to thank everyone down in Texas and all over the country, for people who contributed to her continuing to live. She thanks you all and so do we. She came in the house tail down, as might be expected, met her big older sister, Kaitlin, Eileen McDonald's dog; her new friends Major, our rescue Collie; Ruby our rescue English Setter; Topaz, our Brussels Griffon and Isabella our 13 1/2 year old blind English Cocker Spaniel.  All went well and now her tail is up, she did what we call roll roll on the couch, and went nose to nose with a few cats. I expect by tomorrow morning it will be as if she was always here.

11/17/2011

Updated - Bridgette playing with her room mate

 

Many, many thanks to all the Redhead lovers that made this rescue such an amazing success story!

Here is a PARTIAL list of the generous donors of time, money and effort:

 

Linda and Martin Dick	Christina Fleming	Chris Cohen-Richards
Jolee Chartrand	Daphne   D Armati	Kathryn Morrow
Jennifer Frazier	Grace Parra	Peggy Tucker
Joan Fiser	Ted Hartson	Carolyn Pirtle
Linda L Gaddis	John Ownby	Elizabeth Allen
Janet E Parker	Michelle Lanz	Katie Young
Vicki Drake	Al Copping	Cathy Scott
Steven Parker	Terry Wenger	Gloria Yoshioka
Glenn Acord	B Jean Brodersen	Penny Bennett
Marianne Allbright	Brenda Snyder	Norcal Irish Setter Rescue
Eileen R. McDonald	Pamela Hume-Engle	Barbara Mooney
Frank Jurkiewicz	Jeri Rome	Beverly Conway
StoneRidge Merchantile	Gordon Brehm	Jennifer Rogers
Pat Smart	Ryan Easterling	Sharon Hultquist
Setter Cards/Redscent	Mary Cummings	Robert Diersing
Jennifer Curry	Bill Fowler	Shea Swanson
Joan Wallace	Mary Jo Stahl	Louella Revette
Golden Triangle Irish Setter Club	Shirley Ford	Irish Setter Club of Central Connecticut
Irish Setter Club of Milwaukee, Inc.	Princess Weiss