I have received so many lovely messages about Maddy since my
last post; I cannot tell you how much they mean to me! I thought I'd share a quick update on her
progress.
As you know, she was admitted to the ICU of a specialty vet hospital last Wednesday. We spoke with
the vet on Wednesday evening and they were running tests to both identify and
rule out what could be causing her issues.
She suggested Maddy receive a treatment session in a hyperbaric chamber
the next day because it had proven effective for other dogs. Since we weren't completely sure what her
diagnosis was, we were a little bit wary.
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| Lobby Art |
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| Lobby Art |
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| Lobby Art |
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| Lobby Art |
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| Cups for Humans / Bowls for Dogs |
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| Consultation Room |
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| Consultation Room |
When I spoke to the vet on Thursday morning, she told me
that Maddy was no better – and quite possibly worse – than the previous
day. She told me that Maddy would
definitely be spending another night in the hospital because she was not
improving. We decided to go ahead with
the treatment in what we began to refer to as "The Chamber of
Secrets" and hoped that if it didn't help her, at least it wouldn't hurt
her, as there is a risk of seizures, cardiac arrest, and so forth. I'm sure you can imagine that I was beside
myself with the thought of anything happening to her that I had agreed to.
Maddy still wasn't eating, so the vet recommended we bring
some food that afternoon to see if she would eat for us after her time in The
Chamber of Secrets. When my mom and I
arrived, we were taken into the back where Maddy was in a cage and receiving IV
fluids. She had a fabric Cone of Shame on, and with the green bandage on her paw, reminded me of a flower.
When she saw us, she perked up
and started wagging her tail madly! I
cannot express the relief I felt at that moment. She ate some of the turkey and rice we
brought and drank water for us, all the while trying to escape from her cage
and into our arms. We were only allowed
to visit for about ten minutes, and I told her I would be back that evening
with C for another short visit.
Not an hour later, the vet called me and basically said that
between the treatment and our visit, Maddy was practically a different dog than
she'd been that morning and if we were comfortable caring for her, she could
come home that night. I was over the
moon! If I ever have the option of
hospital or home for one of our dogs, I am going to vote for home! We'd stay up all night to monitor her if
necessary! She told me Maddy was due for
medication around 6 pm, but we were welcome to pick her up anytime after that.
When C and I arrived that evening, we were in for a bit of a
surprise as we were given a crash course on administering subcutaneous fluids in
addition to her other medication. The
veterinary nurse was so fabulous as she walked us through the procedure; I
doubt I have paid attention that well to a set of directions in years. I wanted to make sure I could reiterate every
word to my mom, whom I had silently nominated to do the dirty work for us,
since she is a nurse!
When Maddy was finally brought out to us, it was a very
joyful reunion! She was thrilled to get
in the car and go home!
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| This Face <3 |
Thursday night was rather uneventful. She was still weak and tired, and so I slept on
the couch for one more night with her so she did not have to contend with her
overly excited sisters trying to smother her with love.
On Friday morning, I put her back in the car and we returned
to the vet hospital so she could receive two more treatment sessions in The
Chamber of Secrets. In terms of timing,
she could only receive two treatments in any 24-hour period, and treatments had
to be administered at least four hours apart.
So she had her second treatment on Friday morning and her third
treatment late Friday afternoon. I picked
her up around 5 pm, we picked C up from the train station, and again headed
home.
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| Not happy to be headed back to the hospital... |
My mom came over to see Maddy and do the subcutaneous fluids that
evening. Overall, it went well, but it
did prove to be a three-person job: C
held the bag of fluids in the air so gravity could be our friend, my mom did
the injection and held the needle in place for about 20 minutes, and I held
Maddy in my arms so she wouldn't squirm around.
None of us had an easy job. I
finally started singing Disney songs to her and she stayed still – something I
attribute to the fact that we leave Disney music on all day, every day for the
dogs when we are at work and in class.
So I like to think she loves Disney music and that it somehow soothes
her. I don't really care whether or not
that's true…just glad it worked to keep her calm! That 20 minutes felt like an eternity.
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| Serious Business |
Friday night was the first time she'd slept in bed in a
week, and she had a peaceful night. Saturday
was a good day – she interacted with the other dogs and generally seemed to be
much more "herself" than she'd been for over a month.
On Saturday evening, my mom came over to do
the subcutaneous fluids again, and things did not go well.
When the needle went in, Maddy screeched and nearly gave each of the
three of us a heart attack. Terrifying. She looked so scared and was shaking so badly
that we decided to stop immediately. It
was horrible.
Somehow we all recovered from that miserable experience. Maddy slept
well Saturday night and had another good day today.
She is eating and drinking normally, and I expect when her bloodwork is
repeated on Tuesday, the results will be favorable. The antibiotic she is on seems to working,
because she is no longer jaundiced, which is excellent news.
For now, we are operating under the assumption that her diagnosis
is pancreatitis. She has to eat bland, low-fat,
non-greasy, no-flavoring-added food for the foreseeable future, but it seems to
be agreeing with her. Fingers crossed
that we have identified the problem and can address it accordingly so that she
stays healthy!
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| enjoying a Sunday afternoon car ride |
And I don't really know how The Chamber of Secrets works, but it is most decidedly magical.
Happy Tails to you!
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