Some thoughts and discussions from me.

The past 5 days and nights have been the worst in almost three years. I cried more than I have in the past three years combined, and I think I probably got a grand total of 10 hours of sleep. I don’t think I nor Shane realized just how much we loved this little sweet girl until Saturday night…

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(don’t worry – this story has a happy ending!) Last Friday was a crazy busy day for me. I had three clients in a row in the morning, and then had to zip off to Denver for a work training. Niko hadn’t been feeling well, and Shane mentioned he was going to take her to the vet while I was working.  Nothing too out of the ordinary – she was vomiting and having diarrhea, which she’s had before. A little puppy pepto usually does the trick, and that’s what they gave her at the vet’s office.

But on Friday night…around midnight…I knew something was NOT right. However, I pushed it aside, convinced I was just being…dramatic.Then on Saturday she was worse, and continued to get worse, until Shane and I made the decision to take her to the emergency animal hospital. Unfortunately, the one by our house was closed due to flood damage, so we made the 20 minute drive to the next nearest one. When we got there, they told us she obviously needed to be hospitalized, and she was super sick. I immediately broke down. It was SO hard to leave her there, but we eventually did.

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My two friends from home were still staying with me at this point in time, and it was pretty close to 11:00 by the time we got home. After a fitful sleep (if you can call it that,) I woke up at 5:00 am to take my friends to the airport, and head over to Denver for a full day’s work.

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(more on that later)

It’s probably good that I had to work a good majority of the day, because it kept my mind off of Niko. After work, Shane and I immediately drove over to visit her (Shane had visited her that morning,) and I was devastated by what I saw.

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I saw my girl not even respond to me as I walked up to her. She was lethargic, and regurgitated several times throughout our visit. As her doctor was talking to us, saying that she was “super sick,” and that she’s “really worried about her,” I had to excuse myself to run to the bathroom. That night was one of the worst of my life, because I wasn’t sure if I’d see her again.

I know that some people think it’s illogical to equate a love for a dog to a love for a human…but I’m not one of those people. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have a child, and therefore don’t have that reference level yet, but Niko is my heart, and my heart was in pieces on Saturday and Sunday night. We wanted to do everything we could for her, so we told the doctor money was no object for her, and to do whatever they needed to do. (which, they did…$5,000 worth of supportive care. Oof.)

After another night of no sleep, I woke up at 5:00 again to go teach a class (which was pretty much a fail.) Then Shane and I stayed home and avoided the outside world for the rest of the day. Shane was as torn up, if not more, as I was.

We went to go see her again on Monday morning, and were elated because she seemed to respond to us, and even sat up for a bit. However, the doctor said she was still regurgitating, so that was discouraging Annoyed We also went back on Monday night, and while she seemed the same, the doctor then told us she was finally getting a little re-hydrated. (They were extremely worried about her dehydration at first.) We left a little more encouraged and hopeful on Monday night, and couldn’t wait to see her again the next day. Sorry this is kind of long and dragged out, by the way, but I might as well just tell the whole story!

Tuesday morning then came, and after a morning of training clients, we called the doctor to get an update. Holding our breath, we listened as she told us, “she’s looking a lot brighter today!” we were elated. We got the news that her regurgitation was down, and she was off of her pain meds. Hooray! Open-mouthed smile

We immediately drove back in to visit her, and were thrilled when she told us we could take her outside with us to get some fresh air.

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Still a bit mopey, but on the mend. She even ate a little food!

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Gosh I love her.

Right now she’s still at the animal hospital, but will hopefully be able to come home with us tonightSmile I’m a big believer in the power of prayer, and we had so many close friends and family praying for her and/or sending positive vibes her way. I think it’s helping. She even got a care package dropped off for her!

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(thanks again, David and Katie!!)

This weekend is Shane and my 5-year anniversary, and were planning to go away for it, but I think we’ll stay right here with our little family instead.