BIRTHDAY BLESSING
yesterday was my birthday and it could not have gone better. slept in with my pug baby. morning facial. afternoon massage. margaritas to cap off the evening. went to sleep early. super relaxing day. and the truth is.. my birthday could have stopped before the facial, and i would have been in bliss.
brace yourself. this gets lengthy.
my blessing is my baby pug presley, who we sometimes refer to as baby presley (naturally). a little over two years ago he was having violent seizures that were lasting up to 45 minutes at a time. he was diagnosed with a brain tumor by several vets and was recommended to be put down by all of them. not giving up, we brought him to an internal medicine specialist who performed an mri and spinal tap - that saved his life. presley had a rare form of an infected inner ear disease that was causing pressure on his nervous system. he was a little fighter that got through his months of treatment and beat the disease. he has been thriving ever since.
fast forward to six months ago - presley had a strange infection in his left jaw and mouth and had to have his bottom teeth removed. a month later, his left eye completely ruptured and to save the eye, a pink tissue graph was placed on top of the cornea to seal the tear. the left side of his face is now paralyzed, presumably from all the trauma, causing presley to loose the ability to blink. weeks after that, his left ear drum ruptured and had to be immediately flushed out and restored. in. sane. many people who do not have a dog do not understand - they ask why am i putting presley through so much pain and to just let him go already. the answer is simply that i cannot. not only do i love this baby more than life, he's a fighter. and if he were human we would be proceeding in the same way to save his life.
presley was on a high-maintenance treatment - between all the eye drops, ear drops, steroids and antibiotics - he was taking eleven types of medications, three times a day. maybe i'm a crazy pug lady (guilty) or i just want to give my baby the fighting chance he deserves. this entire time his new doctor has been throwing out the idea of a brain tumor again and suggested an expensive ct scan. i'm completely skeptical of vets now and sometimes feel their motives is just to drain your pockets. we have been down this road before and we were 100% convinced that his inner ear disease was back with vengeance.
a small victory was won. presley's ear cultures finally came back negative - there was no inner ear infection. slowly we started tapering off the medications, including his steroids. all was well until father's day, presley took a turn for the worse. he was not eating, was not moving, was vomiting, all of the above. we brought him to the emergency vet, prepared ourselves, and committed to doing one final ct scan to know the truth. and plain as day - presley had developed a brain tumor. it is incredibly ironic - his body was trying to fight off the inner ear disease that it must have created a funky, boney tumor around it - which the doctors say is extremely rare (of course). the tumor was so advanced it had moved into his cranium causing all of his apparent issues. surgery was out of the question - not only financially which had taken its toll - but it was too risky of a procedure. the decision was to keep him on a high dose of steroids and to take it one day at a time - we were told that it's likely he only has 30 days.
presley made it to 30 days. he then made it to his tenth birthday! and then he made it to my husband's birthday and then mine! such a blessing and the best gift i could have ever asked for - however the struggle is not over. this morning presley woke up completely blind. his right eye (the good eye) developed acute glaucoma overnight from the pressure of the tumor. he does not seem in pain, just a little scared. he's eating too much and his tail is wagging, however much slower and different. i'm not giving up, but i know the end is near.
i tell you all this in length because in the event that something happens and you do not hear from me for a hot minute - i am just taking my time to collect myself to move forward. but here's the full story as i don't think i can write it after he's gone. i've never lost someone close to me before, so this will be a challenging experience. in the aftermath of robin williams' passing, and with the uncertainty of presley's future, i encourage you all to hug your loved ones a little tighter and never take advantage of celebrating the gift of life. #prayforpresley
