Bailey Ambrose

Bailey is a rescue dog that we adopted in Virginia in 2012.  We fell in love with him the second we saw him.  His diagnosis with MVD was devastating to us and we wanted to do anything we could to help him.  During his annual checkup in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart murmur.  Our vet said it was nothing to be concerned with at that time.  He was fine until April of 2017 when we found out he had Mitral Valve Disease and his murmur was upgraded to Stage B2.  We took him to a cardiologist and he was started on heart medication to try and slow down the disease.  Our cardiologist told us about the MVD surgery to repair the valve but it was only done in Japan and France at that time.  We decided France was the best option for us and contacted Dr. Sabine Bozon at her clinic in Versailles to see if he was a candidate for surgery.  Bailey was scheduled for surgery March of 2018.  He was doing really well on the medication but his heart was very enlarged and he was tired most of the time.  In December he started coughing so we took him to the vet for an X-ray to see if he had fluid in his lungs but they couldn’t find anything.  A few weeks later he woke up in the middle of the night coughing really badly and he was lethargic.  We rushed him to the cardiologist and he was in CHF.  After a lot of Lasix and being put in an oxygen chamber for about 4 hours he was better and able to come home.  He did well on the medication and didn’t have another episode of congestive heart failure.

In January we found out that his surgery was canceled but they were able to schedule him for the July session.  We were very worried about the delay but his condition remained the same until surgery.  Bailey had his surgery on June 30th 2018 and he is doing really well.  We were in France for 3 weeks and it was an emotional but wonderful experience.  To see his scans before and after surgery was amazing.  His heart was huge before and a day later it was almost normal size.  Dr. Sabine and the staff at the clinic were so caring and kind.  Everyone just wanted the best for our Bailey.  We are back home now and he just had his 30 day post op checkup and his heart is normal size and he has very mild regurgitation.  Baily has a lot of energy now and is always hungry and is just a happy little guy! We are so grateful to Dr. Uechi and Dr. Sabine & JH Bozon for saving our sweet boy!  Thanks to them he has a chance to live a normal life.  We are also so grateful to Mighty Hearts for all the support and guidance and also all the wonderful people we met on this journey.

Breed: Shih Tzu
Age: 7
Diagnosis Stage: C
Surgery Date: June 30th, 2018
Hometown: Milford, NH
Owner: Nat and Sandy Ambrose
Primary Veterinarian: Dr. Cheryl Donnell, Milford Veterinary Hospital
Cardiologist: Dr. Ivan Sosa Samper, Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital
Surgical Team: France, Drs. Masami Uechi, Sabine & Jean Hugues Bozon