Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Mousse
















Ok, I know some of you won't understand this, probably most of you. I just had one of the worst weekends of my life. As you all know, Kasha and Mousse were treated, and basically were my kids up until Jordan came along. I still feel as if they are, my love for them has not changed. It all started on Friday, I was at work and Danny called me. He said to me, that Ariane just called him to tell him that Mousse had been throwing up all morning, she would go outside and eat grass. Ok, I was worried, but not freaked out. Mousse has done this before. About 2 years ago, she did the exact same thing, I took her to the vet, they did xrays, and found something round. They kept her in a "hospital stay" for 4 hours, and did another xray. There was nothing there, and I got to take her home, only to give her a bland diet for a couple days, and slowly mix her regular food back in. I thought the same would happen this time. I was mistaken. Bryce took her to the Vet on Friday afternoon, she couldn't even hold down water. They took an xray, couldn't find anything, and said sometimes dogs just vomit. Gave her a shot to stop the vomiting, and sent her home with instructions that if she didn't start to get better, bring her back in the morning. I came home from work, and have never seen Mousse so Lethargic. Any of you who know her, know her as the very excitable, still like a puppy Mousse. She would lay on the dog bed, and just drool and stare at you. No wagging her tail, nothing. I was so worried about her. I would get up to check on her every couple of hours, and everytime, she was outside laying on the cold ground. I would call her back in the house, and try to get her to drink some water with no luck. Saturday morning, Bryce called the Vet, and let them know he was coming back in. Once he got there, they started some blood tests, and told him she had a bad infection and was very dehydrated. OK, I could deal with that. They were going to keep her for the weekend, and put her on an IV and antibiotics. Yes, it would cost $600 but, she was going to be ok, and I was happy. A couple hours after Bryce left, the vet Tracy called him, and told him Mousse had gotten much worse. Her potassium levels were extremely low, and despite the fact they were giving her the maximum potassium supplement they could, it was still dropping. Next step, Tracy wanted to do surgery to see if there were any blockages. We had about an hour to decide if it was financially feasable, and we wanted to. The main reason for wanting surgery, there are 3 principal reasons for low potassium levels. Vomiting, Diarhea and Intestinal Blockages. She had not vomited in almost 24 hours, and there wasn't anything in her body for diarhea to occur. Last resort. Bryce told me, it was my decision. I was not about to lose my dog for my birthday, so I told her to do the surgery, hoping, she would find her answer to what was wrong with Mousse. The call came just before 6:oo pm. They were done with surgery, and had found and removed 3 major blockages, plastic and cotton balls. (Damn dogs) We were told she would call us back when Mousse was in recovery, and could come and visit her. We did. She was still out, but I was able to sit with her, and talk to her for a few minutes, as I cried. Tracy told us that had we not done the surgery, she was sure Mousse would have been dead by Sunday morning. (Which also happened to be my birthday, wouldn't that have been a great birthday) Her potassium levels were back to normal but they needed to do a plasma transplant and keep her until minimum, Monday morning, but she would call us and keep us updated Sunday. She called us Sunday, and told us Mousse was up and using the bathroom, and running around. I was able to go pick her up Monday afternoon and bring her home. We have 4 different meds we are giving her twice a day for a week, and we have to keep an eye on her incision. That was the best late birthday present, to get my dog back, and back the way she was. Kasha was just as excited when Mousse walked in the door. I didn't take any pictures of her when she was so Lethargic, only because it would have depressed me far too much if those were the last pictures I took of her. But, here are some pictures of when she came home. And our invention to keep her from bugging the incision, since they forgot to send an E-collar with me. As far as the final price, lets put it this way, you really don't want to know.

5 comments:

Susan said...

Oh my gosh, I was crying while reading this. I am so glad she is ok paige.

Heather said...

Oh, poor little thing! I'm glad you didn't lose her, especially on your birthday!

Crystal said...

Love the t-shirt what a brilliant idea!!!

Stephanie said...

I hope everything is going better for your dog! Dogs are like kids, I would have done the same thing you did if it was my dog also. Fyi I love your blog. I also can't believe how big Jordan is getting, what a cutie!!!

Love,
Stephanie

Tami the Opinionated said...

I'm glad that everything turned out. I can understand the attatchment.