Deviation Actions
09/16/2014
Official news update:
Due to spectacular and unreasonable circumstances all digital art commissions are CLOSED. That includes icons, original artworks, t-shirt graphics, adoptables, etc.
*You can adopt characters already available. But I will not be posting more.
Explanation: I previously posted that my keyboard was malfunctioning. I couldn't use it at all. I've been relying on the touch keyboard all this time in order to communicate.
As it so happens… I was finally able to find a means to repair it. What happened? The person who did the job somehow totaled my docking station instead. The tale is so frustrating I just don’t feel like elaborating the details. Consequences of the such? I have no way to access my external hard drive anymore. That means I have no access to incomplete projects I've been working on for full delivery for my clients and watchers since 2012. I also don't have access to the templates to specific icons. Templates I didn't upload copies of in my Stash do to art security and zealousness. So basically, until THAT person fixes his mistake or I get a brand new docking station (which has to be bought straight from the company and only if they are willing to ship to Puerto Rico, which most don’t : $120 +shipping) I can't deliver on anything that's been requested of me with the exception of what's been commissioned in August to the present date. Those are the only files on the PC right now.
Excuse my language… but I'm gonna say it anyway. My situation is unacceptable and is complete bullshit.
My deepest apologies to all of you.
Personal News Update:
My dog, Westley, almost died from what seemed to be the Parvo Virus. I have no idea how that’s spelt so just work with me. I, with help from above and support from my family, managed to save him and he's doing well now.
Symptoms: Dramatic loss in weight, stiffening of body tissues such as muscles and joints, heavy blood in liquid diarrhea, progressive jaw lock. Initial diarrhea presented bits of flesh from one of the walls in his digestive tract. Vomiting heavily.
Signs: Lethargic behavior, depression, disinterest in food for more than two consecutive days, progressively faint breathing, nostril coughing, fear.
What the vets did: Nothing. Most refused to see him unless we paid up front. They were going to let him die. Only one veterinarian saw him and it was to say she couldn't treat him unless I paid the clinic $500 up front for treatment. I called many vets and most were more interested in money than his life. Pitiful… That one vet was at least decent enough to give me some extra advice on how to treat him at home once I told her "I've just graduated from pre-med… ….Just tell me what to do."
Basically she said to continue doing what I already started and add pedialight (pediatric electrolytes) to his diet. She said hope for the best, but most dogs die anyway. Parvo, almost 9/10 dogs die from it and it’s a common disease for dogs.
What I did:
- 30mL pure Dasani H2O injections every 2 hours since I recognized the signs. That's for hydration. It’s a tricky process since you run the risk of flushing his body out of blood due to internal bleeding in his digestive tract. A vet would use the conventional IV for this, which I only have my dad's syringes. If you try this at home use the small syringes which are less painful and do full dose ingections: 30mL/ 5mLx5mL or 50mL/ 10mLx10mL. Both needles are a quarter inch in length. Inject subcutaneously (into the skin) at the scruff just above the shoulders.
- Rest period intervals for him were 4hrs twice a day. Once at noon and the second starting at 5:30am.
- Stimulation and Excitement. I wouldn't let him sleep. I shook him every time he passed out. Woke him when his slumber fell to deep and his breath was faint or fading fast. Talked to him, let him know constantly he wasn’t alone and that he was safe. Massaged his body as I petted him, as did mom. Exercised his jaw with my own hands so it wouldn't lock shut. Exercised his legs so they wouldn’t cramp or stiffen any further. Behaved playfully so he wouldn't sense my stress. "Loved him up" when he needed comfort.
- Force-feed: This is important in all mammals, especially in humans. You force-feed a patient when they refuse to eat or have a stomach too sensitive for them to take in food on their own. How to do a force-feed: you use a baster, a baby bottle or a tube inserted down the esophagus in which you will use to deliver a mixture of dissolved food, liquid food, and/or essential vitamins and electrolytes to the stomach. Delivery is easy, ensuring there isn't a throwback, aka - vomiting, is the hard part. I used the baster since I didn't have the other two. Basically insert the baster into the deeper pouch space of one of his cheeks and gently squeeze the globe. Do this slowly so he can take time to swallow and breathe through his nose as his mouth fills up with the mix. How to avoid a throwback in dogs: After you manage to get the food down, have him in a sitting position, you have to manage him. He will try to run off and throw it up, because quite frankly the mix will always taste awful. Sit on your knees or stand directly in front of him and with your spare hand gently hold his head up towards your face from the bottom jaw and throat. You have to stay in that position together for about two minutes before letting him go so he can lie down while you comfort him. Next feeding should take place within 3 hours. (this strategy is used similarly on human infants and children who are suffering the flu).
His food mix was 1/3 pediatric electrolyte. 2/3 water mixed with 2tbs of cracker crumbs, dissolved gravy train kibble, 1 dissolved boiled egg yolk, pork ramen soup broth. Basically an energy/protein bomb soft enough for his stomach to handle. Servings per a feeding have to be between 10oz. - 90oz. depending on your dog's age, breed and natural average weight. Westley's case was 30oz. per feeding. Your objective is to keep him hydrated, energized for the internal fight, and more importantly all the nutrients in his body high enough to sustain him during the fight. This also has a bonus of making his body digest something else rather than let the acids in his digestive tract continue to corrode the inner walls in an attempt to destroy the attacking virus.
After several days of this which led to insomnia at night and burnouts at noon, Westley did a complete turnaround. He's recovering miraculously since his near death. He's hyper and playful again and this is after a weeks' worth of battle against the illness. Now it's just the recovery treatment. Basically you have to start from square one and feed him like a 4 week old puppy and slowly build him up to dry food over a period of 1-3 months. Super mushed can food - chunky can food - dry food mixed with mushy can food - dry food.
I wrote this as a tutorial since I know how hard it is to save one's dog especially when you can't reach a good Veterinary ER Hospital. Most clinics recommend putting animals down to prevent suffering on our end. If you push for treatment, the price is equal to a human liver bypass or transplant. My dad's operation next week.
I've lost too many animals to clinical negligence or simply not getting the help I need or the knowledge to do anything about it. As explained before… this is my main reason for studying human and veterinary medicine at the same time be it in a degree or self-taught.
As an aspiring doctor, I'm constantly being challenged and often presented the life or death choices. I despise making those choices. Most of the time I do well, other times I fail. I especially despised it when it came down to getting him vaccinated or taking dad to the hospital. When Westley got sick, I felt enough was enough. I chose to save them both. I pray that my prayers are answered and both dad and Westley live past this current struggle and see us all move forward in life for the next following years.
Right now, my stress level is on an all-time high. I'm having nightmares and strange dreams. My dad's coming surgery is a 50/50 chance of success. The negative 50 will result in his death on the table. What's the operation about? A bypass of sorts. How to explain it…
Well if you already studied advance biologies in college, or out of pure curiosity, such as Histology, Human Anatomy and Phisiology, etc. Then you guys will totally get what I'm saying and will get the gravity of the situation much quicker than those who haven't. I will try to explain this as closely to plain English as I can. It’s a lot more complicated than it sounds.
First let's start with your liver and gall bladder. Your gallbladder is a bag full of billi directly attached to the bottom of your liver. The bottom of your liver isn't the bottom tip you see in diagrams. It's tucked away on the inside and sits above your stomach. That bag is important. It has a lot of jobs to do. It'll be easier for you if you google it rather than me explain every single job it does. But as a short version, it communicates the liver with your small intestine. The very beginning of it actually. That part of the intestine is called the duodenum. Look it up. How does it do that? It communicates using a duct (tube made by your body) that stretches from the bottom of the gall bladder and then becomes a part of the intestine at the other end. Why is this important? Because, besides sending billi which is used to break down grease, it also sends other stuff. Extra body fluids extracted from the blood stream to be recycled in the intestine and turned into something else that's more useful. Your intestine absorbs the goodies and sends it all back into your blood. The rest is sucked dry to a point, sent to the colon for more sucking until you eventually form the obvious… poop.
When the new fluid compounds are absorbed and used to the max by the blood it becomes toxic and is naturally filtered out by your kidneys and dumped out through your bladder as urine. That bit is super important.
PS: billi results from a complicated process that entails breaking down dead useless blood cells. Google it.
Why did I explain that first? Well, ladies and gentlemen, my dad doesn't have a gall bladder anymore. For those of you who didn't know, it was removed because it was sending my dad's body into shock, and sending his blood sugar and preasure out of control. Literally of the scale, 500+, and near comatose state, under 27. So… as you can guess, there is no way to transport all that extra substance being filtered by the liver into the intestine for recycling before being sent to the kidneys for proper disposal. There is no tube leading from liver to intestine. Basically, once it reaches the liver it has nowhere else to go. That leads to a hepatitis response. The none STD kind which can be just as dangerous or more. As his body grows more and more toxic, his immune system starts treating his liver like a foreign body and attacks it. He's taking meds to turn off some of those T cells so as to not kill himself. Which makes him vulnerable to well… Everything. And since Puerto Rico is known for Dengue, and now some idiots brought swine flu, Nile fever, Chikungunya, and some other virus I can't remember… I have to play exterminator with everything that flies and is a potential carrier.
*Hepatitis literally means "swelling of the liver", hepa (liver), itis (inflammation). Google the earlier viruses to learn more.
The long tail about this and what the end result is explained in detail in previous journals. But for the benefit of the reader or this journal… My dad's liver is resorting to trying to send the fluids elsewhere. Which only worsens the condition. This is often called Water Retention. He swells up like a puffer fish in the lower belly and easily gains 30lbs in water weight. He looks 9months pregnant every 2 weeks. As consequence we take him to the ER in Auxilio Mutuo, Rio Piedras, PR. Each time we do they drain 9L of excess body fluid.
Now about that surgery…
The surgery is basically to replace that all important tube we mentioned earlier. How they have to do it is the fun part. Or should I say strategically dangerous and horrifying….
They have to use a special and delicate technique where they slip the implant in through the carotid artery, go down and into the heart without interrupting the natural rhythm of his heart valve, either follow the aorta somehow or simply go straight to the lower vena cava, follow either one straight into the liver, follow one of the blood vessels in there to get to the spot where the gall bladder used to be. Phew… not done yet.
Once there they have to somehow reopen the area without causing hemorrhaging or mayor internal bleeding, slip the new tube through and somehow connect it to the small intestine where it's supposed to be. Need more info on this process? Google it.
How they plan to do this, I have no real idea and the fact of the matter is that it scares the hell out of me and yet if I show it, dad will panic before the operation. His anxiety is already boiling on its own. I can't afford to add to it. My prayer is that there's a real genius on board and this works out for the better. I want dad to live. One wrong turn or a tiny bump of the wire on something sensitive and he goes into cardiac arrest. Or worse.. He dies. Push to quickly or to rough, something will rupture and he bleeds out if not taken care of quickly. Done too slow and it won't matter.
If the operation is a success, it will mean that he won't retain so much water anymore and his kidneys won't have to suffer for it. He may have to stay in the hospital for a month or so in recovery but at least he can survive. This is a dangerous risk with chances weighing in on the flip of a coin and a whisper of a prayer. My fears are eating me inside as I face this along with my family.
You probably won't hear from me again for a while. So please wish me luck.
Nakumah Out…
