Vasco – Carroll, OH
ESRA Special Needs Springer
ESRA #2010-357OH
Age: Under one year
Gender: Male
Color: Liver and white
Vasco came into the ESRA program in early April, having been picked up as a stray and taken to the animal shelter. He's young, rather small, and seems to have a very even temperament. He's busy learning the ropes at his foster home and is in the beginning stages of understanding what is expected of a well-behaved Springer pup.
Vasco is also very energetic and playful so it was surprising to discover he has a secret. He has a congenital heart defect called pulmonary stenosis. As a pup, he functions well with this defect, but as he ages, it will become significantly problematic for him and could substantially shorten his life. To give Vasco a full life, he needs to have a procedure called "valvuloplasty" — essentially a balloon angioplasty. ESRA wants to provide the needed treatment to make sure this young man's future is a bright one. With your help, he can be our next success story and we can put him in his perfect Forever Home in good health!
His surgery is scheduled for May 5. On his recent pre-operative visit to the vet, he was a real star. He didn't put up any fuss through the examinations. Everyone he met was utterly charmed by his sweet personality. We'll let you know how the surgery goes as soon as we get a report from his foster mom. You can keep up with his progress here and see the "ESRA angels" who are helping to make his surgery possible.
QUICK UPDATE 5/5/10 Vasco's procedure went very well today. With that success behind them, they will now be able to neuter him as well and he can soon return to his happy life with the promise of an even happier future!
VASCO'S BACK HOME 5/7/10 
Vasco is back home after his surgeries sporting a handsome purple bandage covering the small incision in his neck. He will have his stitches removed in two weeks and will undergo a follow-up echocardiogram at that time.
The procedure reduced the pressure gradient across the valve significantly enough to move him from a severe to a mild level of pulmonary stenosis. The discharge report states that the repeat echocardiogram taken the day after surgery showed that the pressure across his pulmonic valve had dropped from a dangerously high pre-surgery 85 mm Hg to 24 mm Hg, an excellent result!
Vasco will always have a loud heart murmur due to the valve abnormality and there is a long-term risk for this condition to recur. For that reason, Vasco's heart will have to be monitored by electocardiography by a cardiac specialist periodically for the rest of his life, but ESRA has guaranteed that the rest of his life is certainly off to a good start today!
UPDATE 5/18/10 Vasco had his stitches removed today, and the follow-up ECG showed the pressure across the pulmonary valve has remained low, even decreased to 25 mmHg from 28 mmHg, giving him an excellent prognosis for a long, healthy life. The only thing that will need to be done in the future is for him to have ECGs every three to six months to monitor the pressure. He has also gained some much needed weight — now weighs 35 lbs! At the end of the discharge summary, the vet wrote "Vasco was wonderful today!" We expect he'll be wonderful every day from now on!
Contact: Foster mom Stacey Shehin at stacey.shehin@att.net if you want to hear more about Vasco.
CLICK HERE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR VASCO
| VASCO’S GENEROUS SPONSORS TO DATE: | |
|---|---|
 Wayne and Ann Boytim |
A gift in honor of Eric Christenson's birthday |
| Jamie and Beth Carr |
|
| Karl and Linda Lintz |
May you heal quickly, Vasco, and have a wonderful new life ahead! Sending hugs! |
| Patti Adkins |
From your fellow Springer, Mr. Riley, "Heal quickly, Vasco" |
| Michelle Boytim |
A gift for Martii Wallahan and Lisa Counters in memory of Mollii |
|
|
|
|