Friends, I’ve been keeping a secret. It all began a few months ago when I started making an occasional throat clearing noise after lying down. It was thought I had acid reflux. Treatment somewhat made the symptoms subside, but not really. So next there were scans of my abdomen and x-rays of my throat to rule out a few other possible causes. Nothing unusual was detected.

Then the newest hemorrhage in the pupil of my eye was discovered during a routine exam, followed by the emergency trip to the ER for the blood in the white part of my eye, and focus was diverted from my throat to monitoring my blood pressure. After all the occasional throat clearing noise wasn’t bothering me, and getting my blood pressure under control was determined by my team of veterinarians to be the bigger issue.

Fast forward a few months, and I developed a drippy nose. It was allergy season, and in the past I’ve had itchy paws from seasonal allergies. Perhaps that explained the throat clearing? Maybe it was postnasal drip? My energy level remained high, no sign of fever, infection or distress, and I continued to have a really good appetite. My vet said let’s take a wait and see approach, since at the time we were still fine tuning the medicine for my newly diagnosed high blood pressure.

But then one night at the end of July I got a nose bleed. This time it was thought best if I see a specialist with internal medicine, because they would be better equipped to take scans and see inside my nose. With all the bones in my head, an x-ray wouldn’t give us any answers. I needed a specialist. My vet sounded really nervous, and tried to get me in to an internal medicine specialist as soon as possible. It took time to get an appointment though. When I went for the initial consult, my symptoms were I had occasional nose bleeds, the continuing drippy nose but only on the left side, episodes of sneezing, and the original throat clearing noise. After reading over my medical history, and asking a lot of questions, the specialist also prepared us for the worse. It could be a mass. But she also said it could be a foreign object in my nose or a fungal infection. A mass would be determined with a CT scan. Something up my nose like a grass seed, would be harder to find with all the mucous around it, and would need a scope. As for the fungal infection, there is a blood test. To determine which is the cause, she would run some bloodwork, and I had to return the following week to get a CT scan and a rhinoscopy.

The good news is the CT scan did NOT reveal any masses in my nasal cavity! The bad news is the radiologist and the specialist agreed that there’s something going on inside the left side of my nose. They believed it is a fungal infection of my nasal cavity called Aspergillus. It can be aggressive, but it is treatable. But to treat it, she would need the assistance of a surgeon who was not available that day. It was decided not to put me under anesthesia to do the rhinoscopy, but instead wait to do that when the surgeon was present in case it proved to be the fungal infection as suspected. This way I would only be under anesthesia one visit, to get it diagnosed and treated, instead of multiple visits under anesthesia. They were able to do the CT scan under mild sedation.

In the meantime, the wait continued for my bloodwork results which were sent out during that first consultation. It took over two weeks for the blood work to come back from the lab, and it did NOT show any signs of a fungal infection! In fact everything came back as perfect. But she said that doesn’t mean the fungal infection is not there. The blood test is not perfect. However, this did surprise my new internal medicine specialist that nothing was detected. Mom and Dad explained to her this isn’t the first curveball I’ve thrown at doctors over the years, as evident in my journey with Golden Retriever Pigmentary Uveitis. My ophthalmologist calls me his “conundrum!”

Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 3, 2025, I return to the animal hospital to have the rhinoscopy, and possibly a surgical procedure. The doctor said once they get a look inside, they will either proceed with the treatment for Aspergillus, which requires scraping of the nasal cavity and inserting a fungal cream; flush the nasal cavity to remove a foreign object, if they find something hiding up there; and/or take a biopsy.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this, my family and I are scared. We don’t know what is going on in there. This is why I haven’t shared this journey with you sooner, because we had no answers, just theories, and didn’t want to field a lot of questions, or get scared with Dr. Google. We wanted to let the medical professionals do what they do best, and wait until we had something more concrete to share. My apologies for not telling you sooner. Instead, as you can see by my posts, we focused on happy family time, because whatever this is, it isn’t slowing me down. Please rest assured my energy level hasn’t changed! I’ve been leading my family on adventures, playing fetch, and keeping up with neighborhood patrols. I haven’t exhibited any signs of pain, or discomfort, not even when I had the nose bleeds, or episodes of sneezing. Also my appetite has remained just as voracious as ever. However, I sure could use your good vibes and prayers tomorrow and in the days ahead. Thank you.