Bad times for Heidi:

Heidi has yet again, had more trouble.  The last stoma that was put in during another emergency (see 'stoma-drama'....was again causing her respiratory distress:  We had another two 'blue-tongue' near death moments within a week.  We came to the decision to take her back, and see if this was the end.  I was not going to let my happy little dog suffocate in the night when we could give her a peaceful end.  We took all our latest stoma designs, including modified ones where we had trimmed the flanges and all the old ones, and asked them to make this our final attempt with a stoma.  We wanted Heidi to be stable, and happy.  To be honest, if Heidi wasn't such a cheerful little soul in between the scary moments, I would have ended this a long time ago. 
They tried in one of our stoma designs, and it seemed to be working, but very soon it was causing more distress.  We said goodbye a few times thinking it was going to be the last time, and even dug her grave as things seemed to be heading in that direction with almost no hope.   It was decided that she have a neck tuck, it had been an option all along, but we hated the idea of more cutting and stitches....but this was now our only choice.  Hopefully this would hold the skin tight enough for the hole in her neck to just stay open. 
To cut a long story short, the neck tuck failed.... However, the gradual reduction of dependence on the stoma meant her normal airways could take over a bit more.  Now she is stable, but struggles for breath a lot more than she ever did before the stoma.  We have to keep her very calm, no more walks, and we sometimes have to hold the hole open with a cotton bud to let her catch her breath. 

We are now torn between letting her just carry on like this, or have another go at a stoma.  We are frustrated that we seemed so very close to getting a stoma just right for her.  However, I think she has had enough operations:  As long as she is stable, and happy we will see how it goes. 

Please also see the new link to 'Sunnys Video Story'.  This is a lady who's dog has just had the very first flesh-tunnel type stoma fitted at the specialist vets we go to, and we are thrilled that our idea is helping other dogs:  Sunny seems to be doing so well with his stoma, and her guide to cleaning is brilliant.