World crashing down

So it seems I only update this thing when bad things are going on. Perhaps that’s the only time I need to vent. Who knows, I’m not the most opinionated person around, so I don’t get into any big debates.

So, the bad things.

I get home from work Friday to find that Bear hasn’t eaten his breakfast, now he’s done this before, so I wasn’t too concerned. Then, while we were eating dinner, and told him to “lay down” cause otherwise he begs at the table, it looked like he was having trouble laying down. So then Saturday he still won’t eat much, he has a cookie but he’s really slow to eat it. He’s still drinking, so we’re just thinking ok, his stomach’s upset, we’ll see how it passes. (I totally forgot that the vet is open on Saturday).

Sunday comes and he’s getting worse. He just lays around, barely lifting his head, I have to hold a dish of water for him, and he doesn’t even want to drink unless I poke wet fingers at him. Now I’m starting to panic. I call my parents and get the go ahead to call the vet at home/on his cell.

I call the vet and we drag him out at 5pm Sunday night.

Bear gets up to get into the car, but won’t get out at the vets… we carry him in. The vet examines him, notes that his temperature is up, and his gums and tongue seem pale. He begins discussing hemolytic anemia. Downright scary. He draws some blood, gives Bear shots of cortisone, heparin, and antibiotics. He tells us to watch him and bring him back in the morning. He’ll send the bloodwork off first thing in the morning.

So, meanwhile, the hubby is having some health issues of his own (I won’t share since they are his to tell people) but he’s not mentioning much because I am totally hanging onto the dog.

We take the dog to the vet Monday morning, and the hubby to the doctor. Get the hubby’s diagnosis and then go home to wait for the dog’s. Meanwhile we sign the papers at the lawyers for the sale of our house (yay). I call the vets and he says that Bear is stable enough to go home, I can come by around 5. So I go to pick him up and spend an hour at the vets both waiting for him and then talking to him.

The blood tests show not hemolytic anemia (phew!), but no other explanation either. Bear has perked up a fair bit at this point, he no longer has a fever, and he’s wagging his tail again. The vet suggests we do a check on his kidney function because his urine was quite dilute. So I say go ahead, and wait all day Tuesday for that news.

Get home, doggy seems much happier. He even eats dinner (half then half two hours later to make sure he doesn’t get sick) and drinks a fair amount of water. We’re waiting for him to go to the bathroom to check how things are doing since the original theory was he ate some blanket and maybe that was upsetting his system. ‘course the dog won’t go while we’re watching.

Then the hubby gets a MAJOR nasty headache so off we go back to the docs calling in the mom-in-law to watch the munchkin and the dog.

Needless to say it was a late night Monday. I let all of us sleep in Tuesday morning getting the kid to school 10 mins before his bell. I went to work for half the day and went home to see how the hubby was doing around lunchtime.

Doggy is still improving, he ate his breakfast, but we didn’t see that he’d gone to the bathroom though. So still a bit concerned.

Called the vet to find out that the kidney function tests (protein creatinine ratio) was normal (PHEW) so no kidney damage.

Finally! After dinner, doggy went to the bathroom. Anyone who is not an animal owner may not understand the fascination with doggy doo, but when your animal is sick there’s not much you can go on.

And again, this morning. Seems the inner workings are functioning. Doggy seems perky.

The vet says all we can do is wait. It could have been totally spontaneous, it could have been the blanket, it could have been something disagreeing with his system (garbage, someone threw something over the fence), minor toxicity (ant poison? – we aren’t using any) etc. He had one other suspicion which is called Addison’s disease which is an adrenal gland disorder, but because Bear was given cortisone Sunday and Monday, we need to wait for about a week for it to clear his system to see if he’s having troubles producing his own cortisone.

So the past few days have been a real wake up to the reality of Bear’s age (he will be 8 next month) and I have realized that I would much rather he go in his sleep than watch him fade. My mom says we will know when it is time, but I still dread that day.

I am very grateful for the time I’ve been given with Bear, and I hope that we have at least a few more years. I was so scared this weekend that he wouldn’t make it to Sunday night.

So now I have a doggy on antibiotics, and a hubby on a variety of medications. Both are mending and so is my world. For a day or two there I wasn’t sure where my world was going, but pieces were crashing around me before I could catch them.

So everyone, be thankful for your health, and that of those you care about.

And dammit it’s raining again and I forgot my rainpants at home… gonna be a wet ride home.