Crusty Nose Wednesday

Amid all the worry about Lilly’s brain and the inflammation with the big scary name (meningoencephalomyelitis), I concentrated on the motor skills like walking and the importance of good balance. Lilly remains in a greatly compromised neurological state, and yet … it’s the side-effects and other issues that cause the most concern lately.

I’m happy to report that as of Monday night (2/13) … Lilly began having somewhat solid poops. On Tuesday, after 5 days on one tummy medicine, the veterinarians switched Lilly to another one that she can take long term, if necessary. We hope the solid / semi-solid trend continues. Fingers crossed.

Fair warning. The photo below isn’t as focused as I would like, but it gives you a good (read … graphic) idea of just how bad Lilly’s nose can get. Keep in mind, I’ve been instructed NOT to mess with it. I cannot clean it. I cannot try to help staunch the bleeding. Nothing … because they believe I only make things worse.

So, often we wake up to a face like this, and (for some reason) it makes me cry much more than seeing my once strong, agile girl stumble through her days.

Our poor girl can hardly breathe through her nose sometimes. Listening to her snort and wheeze or snore as she sleeps is super sad.

It doesn’t always look this bad, but still … sometimes big pieces of her nose literally crack off. It’s the combination of vasculitis (blood vessel inflammation) and oddly enough high blood pressure that we think is causing this trouble.

For your vocabulary buffs, the fancy word for nosebleed is EPISTAXIS.

I cannot wait for these symptoms and side-effects to wane. I’ll feel so much better — even if Lilly is wobbling around the house — when she isn’t expelling so many bodily fluids all day and all night.