Myrna Visits Cardio for Pleural Effusion Fluid Withdrawal for Feline HCM

Posted to Facebook 2/10/15

At cardio-even though she wasn't and then she was better this a.m. and about noon, I brought her in. They took out 6oz which explains the roller coaster breathing rate and difficulty. The torsemide took out the extra fluid that must have existed in addition to the 6oz they withdrew which is why her breathing would go up and down.  

No word on why she was sick Sunday unless kidneys are not well or the effusion

lymphatic fluid was involved. But we could have come in yesterday but definitely today. We are waiting to see blood results. There's no scarring in lungs so this must be due to Rutin supplement!

Torsemide should take care of the fluid but it's not and we need to give more as needed or maybe more regular daily doses.

Myrna came home feeling better, more alert, breathing well. 

Myrna's potassium is up to 3.5 from 3 on 1/22 which is good. Not great news but not really bad is that BUN is up to 37 from 33; creatinine is 2.7 from 2.3 so not bad.

She will get extra 2.5mg of torsemide and extra potassium.

We will schedule a vet visit for every two weeks in case she needs fluids withdrawn.

But the cardio wanted me to understand that Myrna is in the end stages of her disease. You know it's bad when the cardio is using her calm, serious voice and not the one I've heard for over five years that was hopeful, optimistic, and laughing. We had the beginnings of the talk in January. And there have been times in the past-as Myrna developed increased heart size, clots, other incidents-that the serious voice was used. But Myrna always bounced back and surprised us all.

That her kidneys still function must be due to the vitamins and supplements we give. The cardio is surprised that she needs such a high level of torsemide and that her kidneys are still functioning. We will keep up all that we've been doing , pushing extra meds as needed, etc.

Myrna's sixth birthday is March 22. My goal is to celebrate it with her.