Well on our way...

It's the end of February and, despite the fact that we had a few post-surgery days when Maiki wasn't able to walk at all, we've still managed to clock up a pretty respectable running total for the first two months of the year. 650 km is just over 30% of the way towards this year's target of walking 2022 km.

I've been aware of a fair bit of arthritis pain this winter and have sometimes got frustrated at the stiffness in my back or the lack of strength in my fingers and thumbs. So it was encouraging to see that I and the dogs are still managing to keep mobile and accumulate kilometres that we can donate to medical research (to a charity that raises money to fund research into a cure for multiple sclerosis.)

No longer corazoncito...

Maiki is 13 months old, and I made arrangements to have her spayed last week. I thought it would be a straightforward matter, but the pre-surgical tests turned up something rather unexpected. An electrocardiogram (EKG) revealed that she has bradycardia - a much slower than normal heartbeat - and the chest x-rays showed a heart that was double the normal size. These two things may have been caused by the rabies vaccination she had at seven months (I've been a bit suspicious of that since noticing breathing and heartbeat changes last August) but there's no way of proving it. The vet didn't want to risk putting her under anaesthetic (and slowing the heart down even more) until the cardiologist had checked her over first.

So yesterday we had a (slightly traumatic) series of tests with the cardiologist, including an echocardiogram (ultrasound). Maiki was heroic, despite being flipped from side to side, having electrodes pinned to her legs and cold alcohol and gel put on her chest. Some heart measurements still need to be done before the final report is made but the bottom line is that she has a double heart murmur - with slight defects in two different heart valves.

"You're not going to tell me she has mitral valve prolapse, are you?" I asked the cardiologist.

"Well, yes, she has," he said. "The problems are with the mitral valve and the tricuspid valve, but they're fairly mild. But how do you know about MVP ?"

The reason I knew is that I have exactly the same heart murmur. Back in 2002, I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse - which we think was caused by a bout of rheumatic fever some thirteen years previously. There's a strange irony in the fact that my dog and I have the same heart condition!

Anyway, the good news is that the cardiologist doesn't think that any of the issues - the bradycardia, the enlarged heart or the valve problems - need to have a major impact on normal life for this little dog. The main implication is just that I'll need to watch she doesn't do too much exercise in the hot summer weather and put undue strain on her heart. (Border collies would run and play non stop if given half a chance.) 

So, if everything else is okay when the report comes back next week, her surgery is rescheduled for next Thursday, and there will be no need for any short term or long term medication.

A big thank you to all my dog-loving friends who prayed for her and asked me to let you know how things went.

My neighbour Matilde commented, "I'll no longer be able to call her Corazoncito!" When she greets Maiki in the mornings, she always pets her and says, "Hola, corazoncito" which means, "Hallo, darling," but corazoncito literally means "little heart."

Now we know that her heart is far from little; it's twice the size of a normal heart in a dog. Somehow, I think that Matilde will still keep making a fuss of her and saying, "Hola, corazoncito."

A good start to the year...

As in previous years, I'm counting my kilometres this year and donating them to a charity that funds research into multiple sclerosis. Our year got off to a really good start. Not too many rainy days, and we managed to walk 350 km during January. That's already about 17% of our annual target, which is to walk 2022 km in 2022.

 

Happy New Year

It's the first day of February, but it's also my first blog post of this year. For a variety of reasons, there were no posts during January Even though it's late, Maiki, Teddi and I wish you happy new year and many blessings in 2022.