Posted By: glidrz5
Carina Trey - Allergic Reaction? - 10/18/07 12:59 AM
I'll make a post about Rena's life in Real Stories later, but I did want to post about the health aspect of what happened to her here in the hopes that maybe another precious life can be saved from what happened to her. I believe that Rena had a severe reaction to her medication or combination of medications. However it was not until later that all of her symptoms pointed to that. I'm going to post her last few days chronologically to give you a better idea of what happened.
On Monday Carina went in for her 5th surgery in 2 months. My vet took samples to run a cytology, to check for fungal infection & took a small "odd" looking piece of tissue for analysis. He also asked that I give her baytril in addition to the other meds she was on. After this surgery, Rena had a large opening in her cheek rather than the small slit that the incisions had been in the past, so she was uncomfortable. She was given torb for pain management. She had her first dose of meds at 7:30pm. On Monday night Rena was very active. She went to work with me & explored the office counter at work & climbed all over me while I was doing my audit work.
On Tuesday, she was given her second dose of medication at @ 7:30/8:00am and was given some Ensure before bed. I did put her cagemate Baxter in with her as a snuggle buddy.
Tuesday night when I got Rena out to give her medication & food at 7:00pm she was slightly lethargic. She didn't seem to have as much control of her front arms as she normally did, tho her grip with her hand/feet was very strong. By the 10:00 when I gave Rena her second feeding & she was no better, I became concerned because her behavior/coordination had not improved. I talked with Jen on the phone & we thought it may have been slight dehydration (tho her tent test did not confirm this) or a reaction to her medication. We decided to try hydrating her as well as attempting to flush the meds out of her system or at least dilute them by giving her water throughout the night.
Every hour I was giving Rena a little bit of food to keep her strength up as well as water to hydrate/flush her system.
At @ 2:00 she started getting a bit itchy. It didn't seem unusual since I was brushing her at the time & I assumed it was in reaction to that. I did notice that her nose was slightly purple, but she would get stressed when I would hold her to feed & seemed to pink up when I'd put her down.
At 3:00 when I went to give her water she didn't want to take it and was more lethargic than earlier. Her nose was also still purple when I was holding her. I put her in my bra to keep an eye on her while I was doing my work since I needed both hands at that point.
At 4:00 she started sneezing a bit and sounded slightly stuffy. She was also still itchy. At this point I was becoming very concerned.
By 5:00 it was getting worse. Her breathing was raspy & she was clearly having trouble. I was becoming frantic, but was feeling very helpless at the same time. I was at work alone & couldn't leave since there was no one else at the hotel. Not to mention that we don't have a 24 hour vet who is open & while I could have called it would have taken time for them to get either to me at the hotel or to the vets office. Not knowing what else to do I called my Mom, waking her up, and asked her to go to the store & get benedril for her. I also got Jen's phone number & called her to get a dosage. I was hoping that we could get the benedril into her system to hold her long enough to get her to the vets office at 7;30 for emergency treatment.
Unfortunately by this time it was too late. Rena crossed the bridge between 6:00 & 6:15. She passed before my Mom could arrive and minutes after I hung up the phone with Jen. She was in my bra at the time, so was close to my heart & as warm as I could keep her.
I wish I had been able to do more for my baby, but by the time we were sure what was going on it was too late for her. It escalated so very quickly at that point. At least now she isn't in pain any more & is whole & well. I know that my other angels will watch over her until it is my time to join them once more.
On Monday Carina went in for her 5th surgery in 2 months. My vet took samples to run a cytology, to check for fungal infection & took a small "odd" looking piece of tissue for analysis. He also asked that I give her baytril in addition to the other meds she was on. After this surgery, Rena had a large opening in her cheek rather than the small slit that the incisions had been in the past, so she was uncomfortable. She was given torb for pain management. She had her first dose of meds at 7:30pm. On Monday night Rena was very active. She went to work with me & explored the office counter at work & climbed all over me while I was doing my audit work.
On Tuesday, she was given her second dose of medication at @ 7:30/8:00am and was given some Ensure before bed. I did put her cagemate Baxter in with her as a snuggle buddy.
Tuesday night when I got Rena out to give her medication & food at 7:00pm she was slightly lethargic. She didn't seem to have as much control of her front arms as she normally did, tho her grip with her hand/feet was very strong. By the 10:00 when I gave Rena her second feeding & she was no better, I became concerned because her behavior/coordination had not improved. I talked with Jen on the phone & we thought it may have been slight dehydration (tho her tent test did not confirm this) or a reaction to her medication. We decided to try hydrating her as well as attempting to flush the meds out of her system or at least dilute them by giving her water throughout the night.
Every hour I was giving Rena a little bit of food to keep her strength up as well as water to hydrate/flush her system.
At @ 2:00 she started getting a bit itchy. It didn't seem unusual since I was brushing her at the time & I assumed it was in reaction to that. I did notice that her nose was slightly purple, but she would get stressed when I would hold her to feed & seemed to pink up when I'd put her down.
At 3:00 when I went to give her water she didn't want to take it and was more lethargic than earlier. Her nose was also still purple when I was holding her. I put her in my bra to keep an eye on her while I was doing my work since I needed both hands at that point.
At 4:00 she started sneezing a bit and sounded slightly stuffy. She was also still itchy. At this point I was becoming very concerned.
By 5:00 it was getting worse. Her breathing was raspy & she was clearly having trouble. I was becoming frantic, but was feeling very helpless at the same time. I was at work alone & couldn't leave since there was no one else at the hotel. Not to mention that we don't have a 24 hour vet who is open & while I could have called it would have taken time for them to get either to me at the hotel or to the vets office. Not knowing what else to do I called my Mom, waking her up, and asked her to go to the store & get benedril for her. I also got Jen's phone number & called her to get a dosage. I was hoping that we could get the benedril into her system to hold her long enough to get her to the vets office at 7;30 for emergency treatment.
Unfortunately by this time it was too late. Rena crossed the bridge between 6:00 & 6:15. She passed before my Mom could arrive and minutes after I hung up the phone with Jen. She was in my bra at the time, so was close to my heart & as warm as I could keep her.
I wish I had been able to do more for my baby, but by the time we were sure what was going on it was too late for her. It escalated so very quickly at that point. At least now she isn't in pain any more & is whole & well. I know that my other angels will watch over her until it is my time to join them once more.