Jasper sent a message to his sister 😂
😝
Starry G misses her brothers but says not to tell them that 🤐 This morning she met a giant cat while we were on a little walk — the cat was also on a walk!
Sapphire is all settled into his life in Minnesota 💙
Tommy Topaz.
Jennifer reports that Tommy, “hasn’t met anyone that he doesn’t wag his tail at” — I love that!!!!
🩷💙💙💙
Although the title of this post would be a super funny name for an N Litter puppy, that is not her name.
Her registered name had to start with an N — not the easiest of letters — and include the word, “bright.”
Why bright? It is a family name that started with Halo (Bright Angel). Halo had Zoey (Forever Bright) who had Sparkle (Incandescently Bright) who had Claire (Justifiably Bright) who had Capella (Luminous Bright Star).
Whew.
She is my Rainbow Puppy.
In less than a year I have lost three of my beloved girls, including her grandmother (Claire) and her great-grandmother (Sparkle) 💔💔💔
Claire and Sparkle
I knew I wanted the puppy’s name to feel like a legacy name, and include the word, “star.”
There were a lot of rules and wants for this girl’s registered name!
So here it is — her registered name is Kaibab’s Next Bright Sparkle Star ⭐️
The call name — that has also been hard.
Sparkle’s name was supposed to just be her litter name. I did not want to name her Sparkle for her real name because it seemed like a stripper name 🤷🏼♀️
But it just suited her — she sparkled and the name is so fun and happy. And so Sparkle kept her stripper name.
Sparkle
Like her great-grandmother, this puppy is basically keeping her stripper name because I really cannot find anything else that suits her 🤷🏼♀️
We will call her Starry.
Given her family, she meets the definition.
But we remember and miss Harper B as well, and so we will usually add the G.
Starry G.
The G is for Garnet but my son, Galen, will say it is for him — because the Gems were born on his birthday 🙄
Starry G is perfect ⭐️
In every way.
🩷
Sapphire was seen by the cardiology department at the University of Minnesota's Veterinary Medical Center. He was sedated and an echocardiogram was done to assess his heart. They confirmed his diagnosis of Double-Chambered Right Ventricle with Tricuspid Valve Dysplasia.
What this diagnosis means is that there is a band of fibromuscular tissue that is dividing the right ventricle into two "chambers." Additionally, the valve between the two chambers on the right side of his heart isn’t functioning properly. What that all means is that the ventricle cannot work in a normal way.
Without treatment, Sapphire will develop heart failure and die quite young 💔
Tricia and Dave went to the appointment with a list of questions and the clinical summary from the Boise echocardiogram. They called on their way home and I wanted to share some of the details with you.
Sapphire with his Grandpa Ferguson and his Aunt Halley (a Ferguson daughter) 💙
There is good news. It appears that Sapphire is a candidate for a Cardiac Catheter cutting balloon and high-pressure balloon dilation procedure that can expand the constricted ventricle; THIS is a link to an article abstract about the procedure in a Golden Retriever puppy. If successful, Sapphire is likely to live a relatively normal Berner lifespan.
Sapphire and Halley
Sapphire was started on a beta blocker last week after his diagnosis in Boise; the cardiology team at U of MN want him on it for at least one month before they do the procedure. The team does over 100 "balloon" procedures every year; this gives us confidence.
And so that is the plan -- Sapphire will stay on the beta blocker and live his normal puppy life. In a few weeks he will have a procedure that is likely to allow him to stay alive into older age 🍀
Catching this early means that intervention can happen before Sapphire's heart is damaged by the increased pressure in that ventricle. Early diagnosis also allows us to use a beta blocker to help reduce both that pressure and his risk of a sudden cardiac arrest. We all feel so fortunate that we got this diagnosed so early (ten weeks).
This is a very rare congenital (present at birth) heart defect -- VERY rare. Both the Boise cardiologist and the U of MN cardiologist indicated there is no known cause — it appears to be random bad luck for our sweet Sapphire.
On the other hand, Sapphire is one Lucky Puppy — and an object lesson.
Sapphire reminds us that we can forever be stuck on how unfair and awful it is that this small boy has a heart defect (and yes, it is unfair and awful — no question) OR we could move on from those feelings and be amazed and grateful at Sapphire’s good fortune and abundant blessings.
The defect was identified early and in spite of it, he was wanted by the right people who live in the right place and who will ensure he gets the right treatment at the right time by the right team 🎉
I am choosing gratitude 🙏
Thank you, Tricia and Dave ❤️