It was a tough weekend for Lucy and me. She felt awful and I felt guilty for putting her through all of this. She slept all day Saturday, though I would consider it fitful. She was definitely conked out, but all of sudden would wake with an hour or more of heavy panting. Whether caused by pain or the inability to breath comfortably through compromised, tender nasal passages, breathing easily was not in the cards.
Saturday evening we had friends over for dinner and she not only got up to greet them, if slowly and quietly, but moved into the living room to sleep. Both big deals as far as I am concerned. The evening though, she woke around 1AM and had a good hour plus of heavy panting. She was obviously quite uncomfortable.
Sunday saw more of this labored breathing, heavy panting, hacking and her nose begun bleeding. Of all of those, I was least concerned about the blood as they had warned me that might happen. It wasn't excessive, so I figured it was okay. However, the laborious breathing did concern me. I took her back into the clinic and they felt she was okay, but gave me some pain killers (Tramadol) to relax her, help her sleep and maybe heal the irritation in both her nose and throat by relaxing her and therefore not stressing those areas.
What they were most concerned about was her lack of appetite as she needs food in her tummy for the Piroxicam they've sent home with her. They still lean towards chronic rhinitis, though the biopsy results will be in sometime this week. They recommended I warm her food to make it stinky and therefore more appetizing for her as her sniffer isn't sniffing very well at present.
I think her care was good. I think the tech did a good job debriefing us before we brought Lucy home. I'm also sure they told me things that I didn't hear as I was anxious about Lucy's well-being. However, I don't think they gave me enough information. I don't believe they told me that it would be days before Lucy returned to normal. I don't think they mentioned that her breathing would be labored and uncomfortable for her for days because both her nose and larynx/throat had be compromised by the procedures. They didn't say anything about how long it would take her nose to "come back." I mean, if she can't smell her food without warming it, that's pretty bad! And I know they didn't say whether the Piroxicam would eliminate, or affect at all, the symptoms that brought us to this event. This morning she had several bouts of reverse sneezing and anytime she gets up she starts a slow cough sequence that may or may not end with hacking. These are all things I wished they'd covered with me. Do I worry about this or not? The vet I saw yesterday said to give Lucy a week to return to normal, but she didn't think the Piroxicam would alleviate symptoms. It is an anti-inflammatory.
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