So for the tl;dr people out there the news that I got from the follow-up and ultrasound are actually very good and I am just so thankful for this.
It seems as though the first vet I talked to on Monday just isn't as good at breaking news to people in a compassionate way that doesn't get them all freaked out. She should have never said "liver failure" when she didn't know. I'm not going to reprimand her for this because she once saved Nadi's life but I'm going to be less committed to what she says in the future.
For starters Nadi was really cool about the bike ride to the vet and unlike when we go to the groomers she wasn't freaking out when I walked trhough the door. Perhaps she hasn't learned to fear this place as much as she does the grooming salon.
We have to weigh her when we get there. It's just protocol but a stupid one since they took that measurement just 2 days ago. I am proud to say that Nadi sits on the scale and doesn't move. She is very obedient. I saw other dogs scramble to get off the scale and fight with getting weighed but not Nadi. She calmly sat down and waited for further commands. This was kind of funny. Nadi weighs 6.66 kilograms! The little devil!
The most important thing was handing over the urine sample right as soon as I got there. I wouldn't end up knowing the results of this until after I left but I was told that there was a little bit of bacteria in the sample but that this could have come from cross contamination from the area I collected the sample or the bottle itself. Basically the bacteria was so slight that it doesn't warrant being worried about...which is good!
The most important part of the trip was the ultrasound where a different doctor was going to look at all of Nadi's internal organs. Nadi was a lot more calm about this procedure and we had a vet tech that was holding her legs and I was at her head holding her in place and keeping her calm. She didn't really resist the procedure at all and with me constantly making eye contact with her and holding her head she stayed in place so the vet could get good readings.
And her comes the very good news: Her liver isn't compromised at all, it is a calcification or some sort of something or other in her gall-bladder, which is apparently, a problem that appears to be liver problems on a blood test but is actually a much more treatable internal organ to deal with... again this is very good news. About 50% of Nadi's gall bladder appeared white on the ultrasound - and this is a bad thing. The good news is that most of the time this is very treatable and reversible even for older animals.
So now we have 30 days worth of pills for her to take and if you have ever had a dog you already know how difficult it can be to get a dog to take a pill. I'm delighted that Nadi is also very amicable as far as this is concerned. I just take a bit of chicken breast and hide the pill inside of it. Then I put it all in her mouth and hold her there and she just swallows the whole thing at once.
only one time out of 4 days now have I had to try again because she spit one of 3 pills out. On "round two" I wrapped it in cheese instead and well, let's just say that she eagerly chomped that down right away. Nadi loves cheese!
She continued to be extremely well-behaved while we were waiting for her prescription to be filled and was just a super good pup the entire time. I am very lucky to have such a well-behaved doggo.
So where we stand now is that Nadi is likely going to be just fine, but we won't know for sure until the 30 days cycle of pills has been done. Basically we aren't out of the woods yet but the initial prognosis by the first doctor got me unnecessarily worried and I really think that vet should try to work on that. I think one of the worst things you can do to a person who is bringing their pet in is to present them with the worst case scenario, and I feel as though that is exactly what she did to me.
Now this might seem like bragging a bit and I guess it is but I thought a few of you living in Western countries would like to compare and contrast this with vet bills you may have had in your country. In particular
2.5 million VND is roughly $100 so our total bill for all of this including very specialized and expensive medical equipment and an internationally trained veterinarian with decades of experience come out to $119 including 30 days worth of pills.
I really do love how inexpensive pet medical care is here. It is so cheap that you don't even think about whether or not you are going to take your pet in, you just go! Also, this is the "premium" veterinarian shop in the city. The ones with Vietnamese doctors are much less but I don't recommend that you go to them for anything other than an injection especially since one of those cheaper places nearly killed Nadi with a bad diagnosis when she had bones stuck in her throat.
So right now you could say that I am extremely happy. Finding out that your dog buddy is most likely going to be ok is a very different feeling than the one I had on Monday night when I wrote a post about how I was basically preparing for my dog's funeral.
Now the part where we permanently change vets to the calmer and more exacting person that I had this time is what is in order. I feel a little bit bad about that but we have to take what is best for the dog, right?