I wrote about Themba's story earlier in the year. This brave little dog has overcome so many challenges, and now it seems that his aortic stenosis is getting worse. The recent hot weather has made him more susceptible, and I have been horrified to see him collapse, lose continence, fit and froth, and at one point I even thought he had stopped breathing. I rubbed his chest with my knuckles and shouted 'Themba, can you hear me?' There was no response. I ran inside and brought the ice tray out to the garden where he had collapsed. I pushed ice cubes under his lips and started chest compressions, a la Vinnie Jones in 'Hard and Fast' hands-only CPR. He came round with a start, his tongue rolling about, his eyes wild. I know now that he wasn't in cardiac arrest, he had fainted and stopped breathing. It took him over an hour to recover so we lay together in the garden, with Brin, until he was OK to walk back to the house. He's just too heavy for me carry.
The irony is that MrB is a cardiologist. He sees this kind of condition in human patients all the time. He runs the cardiac resuscitation program, but he wasn't as home when Themba collapsed, and he couldn't be contacted by phone either, as he was dealing with an emergency at the hospital. We are used to that, and we cope very well.
Themba has a referral for a canine cardiologist. She will measure the gradient across the aortic stenosis. This will give us an indication of the severity of condition. We hope that beta-blockers will help to control his heart rate, and that this may prevent further collapses. We are restricting his exercise at the moment, although he is actually a very fit boy. I'll keep you posted.
And in the meantime, have a fantastic Diamond Jubilee weekend. You can catch up with the Greensand Way runners, running 108miles for charity, or pop along to the Godalming Jubilee Run and fun day* on Monday 4th June. I will be marshalling the run at the intersection outside The Charterhouse pub.
*Message from the organisers: The Fun run is now full. To prevent over crowding, the entry to the Fun Run is capped at 275. Please do not attempt to enter this event on the day if you have not already registered.
5k and 10k run: Online registration will close Sunday 20:00. There's absolutely no entry allowed on the day. So please enter before Sunday 20:00.
With almost 720 registered across the runs and family fun run it is important to arrive in good time and read this website or the emails you receive. Details of parking are below and the race day itinerary will be released soon.