Neo's PDA Story
(The dog who is now known as "Miracle Pup.")
I have decided to keep this story on my web site as a permanent link. It is my hope that other dogs and their humans might find comfort in my story and learn that this heart defect CAN be fixed.
On April 18, 2001, I went to the vet for my regular monthly visit. I was a happy, healthy, three-month-old pup. My humans (as well as I) didn't think anything was wrong with me before we arrived. At my visit, however, Dr. Madsen heard an unusual heart murmur while he was checking me. He called in the other office vet to listen, and I quickly became the most popular animal at their clinic.
The vets told us that they thought I had a heart murmur called a PDA (patent ductus arteriosus). To make a long story short, there's a duct near my heart that didn't close properly when I was born, and it was causing blood to build up in my heart instead of moving properly through my body (to learn a bit more about PDA in general, click here).
The crazy thing was, I felt FINE! The only reason we even knew about it was because the vet said my heart sounded funny. He recommended we take a trip to a specialist at UC Davis, and that's where I met my cardiologist, Dr. Kristin Mac Donald. After some tests, she said my heart was SO big because of my disease, I could've died of congestive heart failure in a MONTH (my vet had said a year)! She said I had two options: open chest surgery (ahhh!) or a new procedure called a coil occlusion. Since the new procedure was less invasive, we opted for that (thank goodness I was big enough!).
You won't believe what she and the other great vet residents & students did to me. They used a catheter to put two little metal coil thingys all the way up through a vein in my leg to my heart! The little coil thingys caused a clot to form in the duct overnight and now the duct is 95% closed! Dr. Mac Donald says that the little amount of blood still flowing is harmless, and she hopes that it might even someday be totally closed! Technology is amazing. They went ahead and neutered me, too, while I was asleep. I definitely shouldn't be a dad, since my condition is inheritable.
Before the procedure, Dr. MacDonald told us that it was possible that one of the coils could slip during or shortly after surgery. She said that if one of the coils slipped and went into my lungs, it wouldn't pose any problems and they would just leave that coil there and insert another one in the right place. However, she also said that if a coil were to slip and travel through my aorta and into my bloodstream, they would have to do SURGERY to retrieve it. Believe it or not, the latter DID happen to me! Luckily, she and the other smart people taking care of me were able to get it before it went too far, and I avoided surgery (whew!)
I stayed overnight so the staff could keep an eye on me, and I was able to go home the next morning. The doc said to keep me quiet for about a week, which wasn't easy for my humans to do, and I had to wear an e-collar so I wouldn't pick at my stitches. I wanted that thing off, so I learned not to pick at them really quickly. If you'd like to see how little my incisions were, take a look at my stitches picture (the top arrow points to my PDA incision, the bottom points to my neuter incision).
Now, I continue to run, bark, eat, and sleep just like I used to before my adventure! The only difference is simply that I will live a longer, healthier life. If you are reading this because you are a dog with this defect or you are the human who cares for one, PLEASE know that there is a safe procedure out there that can probably fix the problem. The coil procedure is technically still new, but I am living proof that it works. If the coils will not work for you or no one in your area knows about the procedure, there's always the surgical method. The recovery takes a little longer, but it works as well. Of course, if you are in or near California, I recommend you go to the UC Davis Vet Medical School for the tests and the procedure.
The cost for the whole ordeal was not cheap, but it wasn't as bad as my humans thought it was going to be. Altogether, including the tests and the procedure, the bill was around $1100. I did have to go back for a brief checkup 3 months after the surgery (that cost another $100, since they did another ultrasound).
If you'd like more information about my story or have any questions, please don't hesitate to email my humans, Anna or Robert Martinez. They feel like experts now on the subject!
Take a look at these other dogs who also had PDAs corrected at UC Davis after reading my story on this webpage. They did great -- just like me!
