80 Beats Per Minute . . . Perfection!

What a great day! Stella went in for her 30-day follow up today with Dr. Bottorff, her cardiologist up at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She jumped out of the car, trotted up to the door, and waltzed right in. Of course, there came a brief moment when you could see the wheels turning in her head . . . 

"Hey, wait a minute. I remember this place. I'm not sure I wanna be here."

She weighed in at 73 lbs. Perfect, and down from her all too high of 85.  We went into an exam room and the fourth-year student on duty this day, Marie, was great.

Marie: How's Stella been doing?

Me: Great!

Marie: Eating?

Me: Yep.

Marie: Drinking water?

Me: Yep.

Marie: Getting moderate exercise?

Me: Yep, yep, yep.

I explained how each day since the day she returned home she has improved. And she has. She eats well, peeps and poops, walks up and down the block without stopping to rest, and sleeps soundly through the night.

When Dr. Bottorff came into the room, Stella let him examine her and check her heart. Stella loves Dr Bottorff. No question about it. And he is so good with her. I'll never be able to describe adequately how grateful I am for the way he was with both Stella and me during this whole series of events. And had it gone any other way, I would feel the same. 

She had an ECG and it showed that her pacemaker was working perfectly. 80 glorious beats a minute. He also did x-rays to check Stella's lungs (that's where the cancer will most likely turn up when (and let's just go ahead and say if) it does. The x-rays showed no problems.

Dr. Bryan Bottorff & You Know Who

So now Stella has a green light for whatever level of activity she's is up for. Mostly she's up for strolls through the neighborhood when the weather's cool so she can find out who's been there right before her (sniff, sniff, sniff), making her way upstairs to help me with my office work, and waiting for her trip to the beach.