A Tough Weekend (Part 1)

My favorite time of the week is Saturday morning.

I wake up at about 6 a.m. and plop myself in the leather recliner in the living room, luxuriating in the knowledge that I can stay in my pjs for as long as I want with no rushing around to get out the door for work.

This past Saturday, I got up looking forward to my usual routine. But as I stepped into the hallway, I knew there was going to be nothing usual about that day.

I saw that Tippi had vomited numerous times, both in the hallway and the living room.

I put paper towels over each place so we wouldn’t step in it before cleaning it. And bless Steve for being the one to clean it all up and shampoo the rugs.

We thought we would monitor her . . .

for a little while to see if it was just something she had eaten or a temporary glitch in her system. As an hour or two went by, Tippi seemed to draw into herself and withdraw from Steve and me.

At one point, Steve let her outside to use the bathroom and she didn’t come back. When he went to look for her, she had gone way behind the house and had laid down in a pile of dry leaves, all by herself. It was something she had never done before. Steve said it almost looked as though she had given up and laid herself down to die.

We took her to a Pet Urgent Care where she started vomiting blood. They did bloodwork and said that some of the values couldn’t even be calculated by their machine; there were just blank spaces on the page where there should have been numbers.

The vet said Tippi had a serious case of pancreatitis which was life-threatening. She was in pain and the diarrhea and vomiting were continuing. We had to decide right then to either have her put to sleep or admit her to an Animal Hospital.

As soon as the doctor left the room to let us talk, I burst into tears. Tippi is not just my beloved doggie but she is also Steve’s best buddy.  As he has transitioned from a full-time career/ministry to retirement and grieved his parents and all the changes of life, she has been his loyal companion.

And with me being gone 10-11 hours a day, she has also been Steve’s cohort on walks, running errands, and getting things done around the house. Not to mention, she is a precious link to his parents since she was their dog first. The hole she would leave would be immense.

Although we weren’t thrilled about the cost, we decided to proceed with the hospitalization since the vet said there was a good chance the pancreatitis could be treated.

Steve helped me put Tippi in the back of the car for the trip to the animal hospital.

When I dropped Tippi off at the hospital, I waited while they started an IV and did an exam.  The vet said that Tippi’s blood pressure was low, her breathing was labored, and she seemed to be in shock.

I got to hold her for a few minutes before I left.

Sunday morning … 

the hospital called to say that Tippi’s pancreatitis numbers had gotten worse and that her kidney function numbers were elevated.  He did a urine test and found bacteria in the urine so he said there was some chance the kidney function numbers could be caused by a UTI.  He has put her on an antibiotic to see if that will make a difference. If the antibiotics don’t solve the problem, that will be an automatic sign she needs to be put to sleep. He said kidney issues are very difficult to treat.

She also seems to be having some neurological issues with her back legs and, as of yesterday afternoon, was still having diarrhea, and not keeping food or water down.  They said she has also been depressed, which I’ve read online is a symptom of pancreatitis.

I actually got the phone call update from the vet while I was in church. I went outside to take the call and after going back into the sanctuary, realized I was going to burst into tears so I grabbed my purse and left. (Steve and I drove separately since he is in the band.)

I cried all the way home and when Steve got home, I told him the news which was sobering for him, as well.

As we were eating lunch Steve said,  “We need to go visit Tippi and remind her she hasn’t been forgotten.”

The hospital put us in a small room and brought Tippi to us after unhooking her from her IV. She was a little more lively than we were anticipating, although still sedated and depressed-looking and acting.

We had already gotten permission to take her for a walk and it was so sweet when Steve said, “Want to take a walk?” and her ears perked up and her head swiveled to look at him. The tiniest spark flared in those flat, sad eyes.

Regardless of how this all turns out, we will always have that memory of those few moments in the sunshine.

What broke my heart was that she kept on walking up to each car in the parking lot trying to figure out if it was our car so she could go home.

She stayed overnight at the hospital again last night and this morning, we are waiting for the phone call with the news that will decide whether or not she will ever come home with us again.  I am taking the day off work since  Steve and I need to be together to make this decision.

Note:

I was going to wait to post this until we had gotten the call but I just called the hospital and the desk person said they hadn’t rerun the labs yet so it will be at least another hour.

I’m going to go ahead and post what I have and update when we have results.

Thinking of Tippi . . .