04/25/11: A VERY SAD DAY ....

I received the call about Bruin that I was dreading from the doctor. Bruin was not responding to the albumin and his condition took a drastic turn for the worse. His kidney's had failed even more and they had to intubate him so he could breathe.

The doctor and I discussed every option for further treatment and the joint decision was made that there was nothing more that could be done. The doctor said that Bruin had a 0% chance of recovery considering the graveness of his condition and Bruin was now starting to suffer. There were five doctors working on Bruin and they all concurred that every effort for recovery was exhausted.

We discussed the possibility of kidney dialysis and it was decided that this had an extremely low chance of helping at this point. All of Bruin's organs were starting to shut down and all of the medical treatments were not able to keep up with the rate of his deterioration. We could not let Bruin suffer and agreed with the opinion of the doctors to let him go. At least Bruin went peacefully.

The tragedy of Bruin's death is that he died needlessly. We can only hope that some people reading Bruin's story will learn that waiting to get medical treatment can often have dire consequences.

If you care to make a donation in Memory of Bruin you can donate via PayPal
or... Send a check to:
Northeastern Boxer Rescue
In Memory of Bruin
P.O.Box 95
Sunderland MA 01375

04/25/11:

"I just spoke to one of the doctors at Tufts and Bruin's kidneys have continued to get worse. The bacterial infection in his blood is so severe that everything they have tried so far is not working. The doctor offered one last thing they could try short of dialysis.....human albumen, which would attempt to replenish his blood protein.

He said when dogs are given human albumen there is always a possibility of an allergic reaction; however, Bruin is so sick that it worth the risk to attempt to save his life. The down side is that it is very expensive. I asked what the odds were that the human albumen would help Bruin and he said a little less than 50/50. I asked him what he would do if it was his dog and he said "I would give him the albumen".

He said he would give the albumen a try for 24 hours and the cost would be about $1,000. I gave the OK to start the albumen. If we did nothing Bruin will die, and he may very well die in any case; but the odds to get Bruin better are the best we were given all night and this is not the time to give up on him.

Bruin is receiving every possible medical treatment he can receive within reason. The only other thing to try is kidney dialysis which would cost $10,000 for one night which unfortunately is money we do not have. The doctor will continue to give updates about Bruin's condition throughout the day. We can now only wait and pray."

04/24/11: The doctor from Tufts just called and said Bruin was out of surgery but his prognosis is very poor. The leg was removed and it was so bad that they are worried that the dead tissue may extend past his leg. They were not able to close the wound because of this and, if he survives, he would need a second surgery, The worst part is that his kidneys are failing because of the infection and there is only a 10% chance they will get better. They gave him some special medication in hopes of getting the kidneys to recover but it did not look promising. They said if the kidneys continue to fail they would need to put him on dialysis at a cost of $20,000. That would help the kidneys initially but it would not guarantee that they would stay working on their own. The next 6 to 8 hours are critical but she mentioned that they may be calling me in a couple of hours to recommend that he be euthanized. I was asked if we wanted to continue his treatment knowing the severity of the situation, and I told her we had to at least give him a chance. They have given him a plazma transfusion, have him on oxygen, and are monitoring him closely. She said the estimate of care is now over $8,000. They are doing everything possible for him and it seems like he will need a true miracle to pull through. Pray for a miracle.

04/23/11:   Bruin Is Gravely Ill And Needs The Prayers Of Angels

Bruin is a 4 year old boxer who was without proper treatment for a severed artery in his right rear leg for 5 days. As a result he will need to lose his leg, and we are praying he does not lose his life. We were told that Bruin was let out into the yard by someone in his family last Monday and when he returned to the door he had blood gushing from his foot. They were turned away from two different veterinary hospitals because they did not have enough money for the estimated cost of treatment. The third hospital they went to did administer basic medical care to stop the bleeding which was supposed to be a temporary measure until they could get proper treatment. They took Bruin home with a pressure bandage which was supposed to be adequate for a maximum of two days.

Bruin's foot continued to bleed and circulation to his leg became inadequate. Five days later his family decided something had to be done. They said Bruin was crying in pain, his foot was still bleeding, and they did not want to "put him to sleep". They made numerous phone calls to various organizations trying to get Bruin help; they said we were the only one who returned their calls. They wanted to surrender Bruin so he could get the medical treatment he desperately needed and have a chance to be adopted to someone else.

The Animal Rescue League in Boston was kind enough to transport Bruin by ambulance to a nearby Emergency Hospital for us. The doctors said he was in need of significant care and immediately placed him on intravenous fluids, antibiotics, and pain medication to make him more comfortable. He had a temperature of 104, had low blood pressure, and low glucose levels. The laceration to his left rear foot is severe and goes down to the bone. His leg is cold and the doctor felt that the leg would most likely have to be amputated. They said the biggest worry was that the infection that had set into the leg could cause sepsis which can be life threatening.

Bruin was stabilized after four and a half hours and one of our volunteers transported him to Tufts Veterinary Hospital. When the ER doctor called from Tufts after her examination she did not have good news. She said that Bruin is gravely ill and the only chance of saving his life is to do emergency surgery to remove his leg. She said the leg is badly infected and is essentially dead. The worst news is that Bruin is indeed septic and has a very guarded prognosis. She said if he survives the surgery he will need to be in intensive care for a while and he may still die. There is also a possibility that his kidneys have been affected as well.

The bill at the first hospital was $450 and the estimated cost of treatment at Tufts is $5,000 to $8,000. Sadly Bruin may lose his life because his injury was left untreated for so long, but we are confident that being treated by the doctors at Tufts will give him the best chance to survive. Bruin will need lots of prayers and a chorus of angels to get through this....please keep him in your thoughts.