Hello,
My boy Luke died on May 31. He was my whole world and I feel like I failed him. He was 15 and had a lot of medical problems but he enjoyed life. He had diabetes and bad arthritis and was on meds for both of them. He had problems with constipation for years as well and had been on Cisapride and a stool softener for a long time.
His constipation was getting worse over the last several months. His Cisapride was compounded at a pharmacy and needed to be refrigerated. A month before he died, I called for a refill for his Cisapride and the delivery driver who was not with the pharmacy took longer than usual to bring it to me. The medication is in a sleeve to protect it from light and was kept in a paper bag on top of that. It usually took 20-30 minutes for delivery but this time, it took almost an hour. I had this little voice in my head that told me to get a new medication just in case but I didn’t listen. I wonder if having the medication out of the fridge, but still in the sleeve and the paper bag, for an extra 20-30 minutes would have made it go bad or be less effective?
Luke ate the medication fine but a week after starting this medication, he got constipated and needed an enema at the vet. After this, he did really well for 4-5 days, had great bowel movements and I thought everything was fine. Then he didn’t have a bowel movement for a couple days. I was relieved when he pooped and thought things would be alright as this happened to him often sometimes. But then after that, he didn’t go for a couple days and we fell into a long weekend. I would have taken him to the vet sooner but they were closed over the long weekend. I messaged the pharmacy and asked for a new refill. I messaged and called them like 5-6 times before they got back to me and got me a new refill. In the meantime, I took Luke in as soon as the vet opened after the long weekend and they gave him another enema. Three days later, I took him for another one, his third in a couple weeks. After that, he stopped eating completely. I called the emergency vet as this was on a weekend and he said he would only do comfort measures where Luke was 15. First thing Monday morning, I took him back to his usual vet and they ran bloodwork which found he had pancreatitis. They put him on iv fluids and admitted him. On Wednesday afternoon, he was doing much better and the vet told me I could take him home Thursday after he had some more iv fluids. Wednesday night, the vet called and told me he had a heart attack and died.
I am so devastated. I wish with all my heart that I had gotten him a new refill when I first had a bad feeling. He had been having chronic problems with his bowels before this but things got worse after he got the refill. I work with doctors (human) and they said it shouldn’t have made that big of a difference if the medication was out of the fridge for an hour but I wonder if they are just being nice. He was older and had a lot of health problems but I can’t help but think that if I had done things differently, he might have had a few extra months. I wish I could have helped his last few weeks be easier at least if nothing else.
I’m so lost and life is not the same without him. I wish I could feel like this wasn’t my fault.
My boy Luke died on May 31. He was my whole world and I feel like I failed him. He was 15 and had a lot of medical problems but he enjoyed life. He had diabetes and bad arthritis and was on meds for both of them. He had problems with constipation for years as well and had been on Cisapride and a stool softener for a long time.
His constipation was getting worse over the last several months. His Cisapride was compounded at a pharmacy and needed to be refrigerated. A month before he died, I called for a refill for his Cisapride and the delivery driver who was not with the pharmacy took longer than usual to bring it to me. The medication is in a sleeve to protect it from light and was kept in a paper bag on top of that. It usually took 20-30 minutes for delivery but this time, it took almost an hour. I had this little voice in my head that told me to get a new medication just in case but I didn’t listen. I wonder if having the medication out of the fridge, but still in the sleeve and the paper bag, for an extra 20-30 minutes would have made it go bad or be less effective?
Luke ate the medication fine but a week after starting this medication, he got constipated and needed an enema at the vet. After this, he did really well for 4-5 days, had great bowel movements and I thought everything was fine. Then he didn’t have a bowel movement for a couple days. I was relieved when he pooped and thought things would be alright as this happened to him often sometimes. But then after that, he didn’t go for a couple days and we fell into a long weekend. I would have taken him to the vet sooner but they were closed over the long weekend. I messaged the pharmacy and asked for a new refill. I messaged and called them like 5-6 times before they got back to me and got me a new refill. In the meantime, I took Luke in as soon as the vet opened after the long weekend and they gave him another enema. Three days later, I took him for another one, his third in a couple weeks. After that, he stopped eating completely. I called the emergency vet as this was on a weekend and he said he would only do comfort measures where Luke was 15. First thing Monday morning, I took him back to his usual vet and they ran bloodwork which found he had pancreatitis. They put him on iv fluids and admitted him. On Wednesday afternoon, he was doing much better and the vet told me I could take him home Thursday after he had some more iv fluids. Wednesday night, the vet called and told me he had a heart attack and died.
I am so devastated. I wish with all my heart that I had gotten him a new refill when I first had a bad feeling. He had been having chronic problems with his bowels before this but things got worse after he got the refill. I work with doctors (human) and they said it shouldn’t have made that big of a difference if the medication was out of the fridge for an hour but I wonder if they are just being nice. He was older and had a lot of health problems but I can’t help but think that if I had done things differently, he might have had a few extra months. I wish I could have helped his last few weeks be easier at least if nothing else.
I’m so lost and life is not the same without him. I wish I could feel like this wasn’t my fault.
I think we often look back and analyze what we could have done differently, I know I've done that too but I also know I did everything I could to give our pets a happy and forever home. My sincere and heartfelt sympathies go out to you. 
