Sammy might need surgery

We have an appointment Thursday to find out if Sammy needs surgery. Sammy continues to retain fluid. She has turned from a stuffed sausage to a barrel in the past few days. We called a spoke to the vet about what we should do and she said that exploratory surgery is the next step. We have exhausted all non-invasive methods of diagnosis and if we don't stop the fluid retention she will eventually die.

I'll know more after the appointment Thursday. What I understand right now is that the surgery is exploratory. They will likely remove the pericardial sack, take samples of the lymph nodes, and look for other abnormalities. The two causes they are hoping to find evidence of (either one ofr the other) are constrictive pericarditis and immune mediated vasculitis (article relates to humans but gives you an idea of what vasculitis is).

Poor Sammy. She is so brave.