Special Edition: Update on Timmy the Beagle!

 

 

 

 

 

Pulmonic Stenosis (PS) is an abnormal narrowing of the right ventricular outflow tract or stricture of the pulmonary artery. This abnormality leads to the enlargement of the right ventricle and the increase of the heart blood pressure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treatment involves surgical correction of the stenosis - plastic surgery performed on a heart valve (valvuloplasty) or balloon valvuloplasty (an alternative to surgery procedure in which a narrowed heart valve is stretched open using a procedure that does not require open heart surgery).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The balloon valvuloplasty usually decreases the pressure in the heart and increases exercises tolerance but it has limitations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for all your support!


An Update on Timmy the Beagle!!
Friday, 25 May 2007

To All the Wonderful Families, Donors, and Supporters of the Timmy Fund,

We at the Animal Shelter Inc. in Sterling wanted to give you an update on our little beagle boy, Timmy, that you kindly helped us with!

Thank you, thank you, thank you and THANK YOU for all your kind donations and well wishes. Cards, letters and emails of support both large and small have been heartwarming and have made us all laugh and smile, and okay, cry too!!  We successfully raised enough money to have Timmy’s heart surgery—well almost..see below! Thank you to all of you for the large and small donations for Timmy. We had children raising $$$ through a lemonade stand, classroom children dug in to their parents change banks, and the wonderful women who asked for donations to the Timmy fund in lieu of wedding presents—the stories are just as wonderful as Timmy is!

Timmy’s story is a bit sad, complicated, and very long, so please bear with me. Timmy came to us at the end of March, where as you may know, he was diagnosed with a Grade 5 out of 6 heart murmur. We then took him for x-rays to see if his heart had any visible issues. Due to the complications of his medical issues he was referred to Tufts to see the cardiologist. Timmy had extensive medical work–ups with blood and urine testing multiple times. At that time, he had a urinary tract infection ON TOP OF his poor little heart condition. Medications were used to start fixing THAT problem. Timmy was fortunate enough to find a kind family to foster him where they instantly fell in love. How could they not?

Timmy was seen by the cardiologist in late April—where he had to undergo MORE detailed and expensive testing. He had echocardiograms, as well as other things too complicated to describe for us! Based on his work–up at Tufts, they thought there were two different scenarios:

  1. He could have the balloon angioplasty (a fairly common procedure) with a 70% chance of a normal recovery and life (which is what we were hoping for), or
     
  2. Timmy could have an unseen/undetected problem that wasn’t visible on his FIRST visit and work-up, where the artery they were attempting to fix by the balloon procedure (to increase blood flow to the heart) could have ANOTHER artery wrapped around it (which only happens in 10% of these cases). Should THIS be the scenario—inflating that balloon could cause a rupture in the wrapped artery causing a rupture that would kill him instantly. Unfortunately, this could/would not be determined until they actually had him in for the procedure.

Sadly, you guessed it, we received the call from the cardiologist while Timmy’s life still was still in limbo.  While he was under anesthesia the unseen problem #2 (above) was in fact the case, and the doctors wanted to know how we wanted to proceed. This was totally unexpected news and devastating to all of our Shelter staff, as well as Timmy’s foster family. The doctors needed an answer from us in minutes as Timmy was still on the table. Our options were:

  • Move forward with the surgery using a smaller balloon and hope, hope, hope for the best case scenario a 50/50 chance he would even live through the surgery, or
     
  • Stop the procedure and wake him up.
We grilled the doctor on the case as to what HE would do and the following were our only options:
  1. Have Timmy recover without moving forward on the surgery and hope he can live a semi-normal life (they could NOT give us a prognosis on that he could live days, weeks or years), or
     
  2. Move forward with the 50/50 risks—and knowing that the only other two surgeries the cardiologists performed in these cases DID NOT survive.
Through tears, anguish, frustration, and consulting with Timmy’s foster family, we decided the best option was to recover Timmy and hope he can live a semi-normal life with a guarded prognosis. As I write this, Timmy is still at Tufts where the staff have all reported to have fallen in love with him. His charming beagle howl and thumping tail was how they knew he’d awakened from his anesthetic. The nurses working with him have all become attached in only a day of caring for him!

Timmy again, on Friday, May 25, 2007, had x-rays to check for bladder/kidney stones to rule in/out his recent abnormal urine cultures—so again, we are keeping our fingers and paws crossed. Timmy will be going back to his foster family tonight with full knowledge of his condition. We can’t thank or applaud them enough for taking Timmy, this special little boy, into their home knowing he is such a special case. Tufts just reported in that Timmy is NEGATIVE for stones! Yeah Timmy—one sliver of good news!

We have kept in close contact with them for the past month—receiving almost daily emails and exchanging funny Timmy stories. We have had the pleasure of his visits twice for vet checks and to be admitted to the hospital. The proud foster parents have recently emailed us pictures and the following update the week he was admitted to Tufts:

Timmy is continuing to enjoy himself with us. We found he doesn’t like to get up in the mornings. I leave at 6 am and Timmy really likes to sleep in. It takes a bit of persuasion to get him outside in the mornings. I found this rather amusing because both Vanessa and I also find mornings disagreeable. So he fits right in. The cats have accepted him rather well. They find him pretty harmless. He had one disagreement with our cat Crusty. It seems Crusty was sleeping on one of his bones that he had hid between the cushions of the coach. Crusty was oblivious of the fact that he was sleeping under a treasure. He howled at him until he jumped down and Timmy quickly removed his bounty and dispatched it elsewhere. Other then that unfortunate misunderstanding they get along well. He also has hidden treasure’s throughout the back yard. He doesn’t record or map his endeavors so I expect I will continue to discover them with the mower. He loves his toys we have given him and also some toys that don’t belong to him. He has a look about him like the weight of the world is resting on his shoulders but he really is happy all the time. We found that rain is not one of his favorite things. He doesn’t like to get his paws wet. I can’t say I blame him. But if its not raining he runs around the yard like an entry in the Kentucky Derby. He enjoyed the park last weekend and when another leashed dog offered a few insults he simply ignored him and continued our nice afternoon. He really has a good heart even if its in danger.

Dan (Foster Dad)

Timmy’s cardiologist has now recommended limiting Timmy’s exercise (good luck!). Should he become clinical with signs of heart failure and "fainting spells," that a surgery would then be considered the only life-saving option at that time. When the clinical signs are exhibited, the possible surgery (as explained above) would carry the same risks for saving his life. It is our true hope that he will be fine and we all joke about how we think he’s just faking it for attention. He certainly doesn’t seem or act sick!

After discussing Timmy’s case with Vanessa and Dan (Timmy’s foster parents), we have agreed to hold the money raised for Timmy’s fund in the Shelter account (minus paying his existing bills—and YES—we still had to pay FULL price for the surgery that he DIDN’T have) should he need that surgery—the money will be available at that time. Should Timmy be fortunate to NEVER need surgery, it will remain in a fund for other special needs animals.

Again, we can’t thank you enough for helping Timmy to the best of our options. We keep all paws crossed that he will live as close to a normal life as any beagle boy deserves. With all our love and appreciation— words cannot express our gratitude—Timmy’s howl and tail waggin’ thuds sure can!

Timmy sends all his love and howls to all of you!

Sincerely,
Leigh Grady, Executive Director
 

P.S. Timmy’s foster family officially gets to call Timmy their own and completed all the adoption paperwork on Saturday, May 26th! We LOVE YOU TIMMY!!!

Want to help the Shelter? Have you considered our Recurring Giving system. This convenient system allows you to automatically make a donation to the Sterling Shelter every month via credit card or checking account. This is an extremely powerful fundraising method that can allow the Shelter to save thousands of additional animals every year with a donation as small as $2.00 per month from you. Thank you for your support!