Brodie's Ordeal

It all started in April 2002. Brodie developed a simple runny nose.
Clear discharge...nothing major. Or so we thought.... 

The clear discharge turned into a snotty nose with lots of mucous.
At the time, he was seeing a holistic vet and various herbs and holistic treatments were tried to clear it up.
With no success, we turned to antibiotics. Still no improvement.
At this point, Brodie was still an active bulldog and enjoyed life.

In May, when he started getting bloody noses, we were referred to an Internal Medicine Veterinary Specialist
for a rhinoscopy. He had also become very lethargic (which, if you know Brodie, is not normal at all).
This vet found nothing except a lot of inflammation. Brodie was put on a high dose of Prednisone in hopes
of bringing the inflammation down. But, Brodie had an adverse reaction to the Prednisone that nearly killed him.
At this point, Brodie had no zest for life, was not eating or playing and was near the edge.
He even needed help getting up the stairs. The vet then put him on Azathioprine, a chemo drug,
that is used in patients that can not tolerate Prednisone.
There was some improvement but the mucous and blood were still coming from his nose.
 

In July, after I did a lot of internet research, I took Brodie to a new vet, Redwood Animal Hospital,
and I asked them if it could possibly be a fungal infection. The vet recommended a CT Scan and a second rhinoscopy.
On July 15th (my birthday), the CT Scan was performed and massive destruction in his sinus was discovered.
The radiologist found a suspicious area that he thought was cancer. I was devastated but was relieved
that he found the area to be investigated during the rhinoscopy. On July 20th, Brodie underwent the second rhinoscopy
and the Veterinary Specialist used this time found evidence of a fungal infection called Aspergillosis
plus discovered that there was destruction of the nasal turbinates in the right nostril
and erosion of the ventral floor of the right frontal sinus..
This particular fungus is very hard to diagnose. It is a fungus that is air and soil borne and is everywhere.
It is very rare in Bulldogs though. It is reported that about 90% of the cases are German Shepards
and the rest are usually long-nosed breeds.The vet that performed the rhinoscopy suggested I take Brodie
to Washington State University in Pullman, WA (a five hour drive) for treatment since they are more experienced in this area.

That is how we came to visit the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
It is also the beginning of a long road to get Brodie healthy again.
Here is the rest of Brodie's story complete with pictures:

July 29, 2002...Our first visit to WSU!


Here is Brodie at the hotel the night before his first visit.
You can see the heavy mucous discharge from his nose. He was still experiencing nose bleeds too.


This is a picture of a nasal cavity with fungal plaques evident.

 

Here is Brodie with 4th year student, Carrie.
The dr's performed a third rhinoscopy to confirm the fungal infection.
They then performed the first fungal treatment using a drug called Clotrimazole.
A non-invasive technique using nonsurgically placed catheters was used to infuse the
topical drug into the nasal cavities and frontal sinuses under general anesthesia.
Brodie was under anesthesia for 3-1/2 hours.
He was released on July 31st and we went home.



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