This is our tragic journey of dealing with heartworms.
Each year, we spend a good deal of money on heartworm medication for Auggie and Kai. And every year, we have to get a heartworm test – as is mandatory in order to re-new the heartworm prescription. It has always seems a formality to me until a few days ago.
Yearly Testing
We took the girls in for their yearly heartworm test and more pills. The test takes a few minutes, so they took the blood and we sat in the waiting room, giggling at the antics of our dogs interacting with the other animals. When they called me to the counter, I had my payment in hand, ready to collect the pills and get back out into the sunshine and on our way to take a stroll. To my astonishment, I was told “Unfortunately, Kai tested positive for heartworms so we cannot give her any heartworm pills”. My heart jumped out of my chest and bounced across the room…..all the way to where Kai was waiting. I paid and collected the heartworm medicine for Auggie because she tested negative. PTL
We went immediately to Judson Road Animal Clinic to meet with our vet. The vet was in surgery so they scheduled us to come back in a couple of hours. Situations like this make the 2 hours seem like 2 years. I mourned and prayed and mourned and prayed. I hoped that the first test came back as a “false positive” and I used that hope to help calm my nerves.
2nd Test
Our scheduled time finally came around and we all went together. After a super short wait, we were ushered back to a room and the vet came in. She did a complete exam on Kai – finding her to be healthy. She collected blood from Kai and started the test. Now we wait, again. Moment of truth……vet comes back in and we are holding our breath. Heartworm diagnosis is confirmed. The 2nd test came back positive as well as the microfilaria confirmed via microscope. I stopped holding my breath and started holding back my tears. My heart and head are fluctuating wildly. I feel confident that we can cure her of this terrible parasite but I am terrified.
JRAC is an awesome vet clinic and that is why I have been going to them for 10+ years. The vet was calm, confident, and informative. I was trying to absorb her confidence but I kept teetering on the fact that we were talking about my baby and I could potentially lose her. Dr. Henderson laid out 2 different plans for curing Kai and started her on the plan that we chose.
As Successful as Birth Control
I was told a few times during the day that even though Kai has been on heartworm medicine, it doesn’t guarantee that she will never get heartworms. They kept referring to it as “birth control”, which is not always successful. It doesn’t seem like birth control, it seems more like death control when you think about the repercussions that come with heartworms. So, I urge you to keep up with your heartworm testing so that if the same thing happens to your baby, the worms don’t have a chance to do too much damage.
Long, Painful Journey
This will be along, painful, journey for all of us and I will keep you updated as we go through this. The heartworm curing journey will take 3-6 months and we could all use as many prayers as you can spare. Prayers of healing and comfort!!
Slow Down
With this diagnosis and treatment, Kai has to slow down because any over-exertion could kill her during the treatment. That’s asking a lot of a young spunky dog that loves to run and play. Now we walk in the yard together, with her on a leash, so that she doesn’t have the chance to run. We have also began exploring many different areas and trails so that Kai can exercise without over-doing it. We keep our walks to 1 hour or less and we spend a lot of time doing mental challenges and puzzles to help expend the remainder of the energy. So, if you have any tips, puzzles, or ideas that will help during this time while she cannot run or exercise like normal, I would LOVE to hear about it!! Currently we have 2 different puzzles and we seek/find people, toys, etc.
Any extra prayers for us during this time will be greatly appreciated!! Thank you for following along on this journey with us and I hope that this minor setback is only temporary!
