She's Got A Good Heart

Yes, that's Dr. Dave Bostwick, our small animal internal medicine specialist in Missoula, working on something that is decidedly not a small animal -- our blind mare Lena.  Our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor, had asked Dave if he would do echocardiograms on two horses today, Lena and a 2-year old colt with a heart murmur who belonged to another client.  Dave has a state-of-the-art color Doppler ultrasound machine that is ideal for doing echocardiograms, and it can "penetrate" even the deep chest of a horse and provide excellent images of the heart.  Dave graciously agreed to do the diagnostics, and he brought his equipment over to Erin's clinic this morning.

Lena has been having periodic episodes of pitting edema, in which fluid builds up under the skin.  There are many potential causes of edema, from viruses to heart problems and many other things, and it can be difficult to isolate the specific trigger.  Lena's most recent case was just three weeks ago, when a 2-inch thick layer of edema built up on her abdomen.  Erin had us treat her with steroid therapy, and by today, her edema was gone again.  But I was concerned that there could be something wrong with her heart, since her blood work looks good, she is otherwise healthy and had never appeared sick. 

Erin believed a virus was a much more probable cause of Lena's edema, and she thought it unlikely Lena's heart could be causing it.  But she also knew how worried we were by Lena's repeated episodes.  Given our spate of unpleasant medical surprises and deaths so far this year, we are a bit on edge and, quite honestly, expecting the worst.  She wanted to put my mind at ease by ruling out the heart problem I was most concerned about.

What did the echocardiogram reveal?  Lena has a beautiful heart, just like the rest of her.  Everything was normal.  Whew.

After Dave finished, Erin went nose-to-nose with Lena.  With a mischievous grin, Erin said to Lena, "Now, are you going to tell your Dad that I told you so?"

Turning to me, Erin asked, "So, what are you going to post on the blog tonight?"

I said, "Well, I'm ... um ... I'm going to confess that you were right and I was, um, wrong on this heart thing."

Of course, I have never minded being so wrong -- I'm happy to know our Lena has a healthy heart!

Now I can go back to worrying about viruses.  Oh, well.  C'est la vie.

Comments

[Boundforglory]

All star Lena...strong and healthy heart; yeah!
But aren't you glad you brought her to the good doctor? Now you know she's strong and you got a little jab in your side. ; )

[emily]

Hooray for Lena!!!And I'm so sorry to hear about all of the losses you have suffered already this year.
How is miss Sweety doing?

[Robin Layton]

We are all human so we are allowed to be wrong, in fact, it is guaranteed that we will make the wrong decision or wrong judgment at some point. I'm glad to hear Lena's heart is great.

Robin

[Margaret]

peace of mind is priceless. Lena, and your loving care are beautiful, from the inside, out. Yay!

[Janet in Cambridge]

I guess when the calendar says late April, even if there's snow on the ground and it's freezing out, Montanans haul out their short-sleeved shirts!!

Glad to hear that Lena is fine. I can understand your worry.

[ginger & Tobias (the greythound)]

It's wonderful to read that Lena has a healthy heart! I agree with you, better safe than sorry! It's best to rule out the worst case senerio than to have it happen & wonder why you didn't check for that. Smart move, Steve! I would have done the same thing!
Big hugs all around,
ginger, Tobias & Tlingit

[Carla Polastro-Nigro]

Needless to say, I'm very happy, too, to hear that Lena's heart is doing just fine!

Isn't she gorgeous?:-)

[Andrew, NZ]

Glad to hear the queen bee of RDR is doing well. :)

[maggie]

Lena is such a beautiful girl, and I am so glad that her heart looks beautiful, too! i know she is your special gal... :)