Ups and Downs

Nelson continues to look Fate in the eye and give it the middle digit. Today we received bad initial news from his lung biopsy: a pathology report with a finding of "chronic interstitial pneumonia," an untreatable and fatal scarring-over of the lung tissue. Nelson, of course, promptly said "F--- you" to that diagnosis and bounded out of his crate when we went to visit today. He was bright and alert and nearly ripped out all the tubes stuck into his body.

Yes, he's weak, and his lungs aren't getting the kind of oxygen to his tissues that they need, but he's not pissing all over himself like the other dogs in the ICU. Sure enough, we got a late-night phone call from his critical care vet, Dr. Stoneham, telling us that the untreatable pneumonia diagnosis, while not bogus, is probably not what's going on. She also told us that his lungs are not scarred over (or "fibrotic," the result of that kind of pneumonia), so Nelson is game for some more tests. He's going to start a low-dose steroid (prednisone) for his lung inflammation and a specialized IV antibiotic on the chance there's a funky, stealthy infection in there. He also may still have an equally stealthy cancer, histiocytosis, for which there is no cure/treatment and for which they will be testing him tomorrow (a bone-marrow tap--less painful/invasive in dogs than people, gratefully).

So, Nelson's lesson for today: kick ass 'cause there's room for hope, but look bad shit in the eye and say, "If something comes to eat me alive, I like to see its teeth."

Here's a pic of Nelson with a catfish from Uncle Jaeger that he attacked (from about 2 years ago or so); note the upright ear: