My 3 days of Hell...and other tidbits.

So, I apologize for my recent absence from my blog...writer's block, I guess. Above you'll see the last happy picture of me before my 3-4 days of hell. So, one day previous to this picture I went to the vet to get my second series of shots and have my first visit with my new Michigan vet. Then, 3 days after this picture I became miserable...absolutely miserable!!! I was scratching, whining, itching, scooting...something was definitely wrong and I couldn't get comfortable. I've never felt anything like it before...and I've never seen such a concerned look on Jeff and Nisa's faces before.

Julianne was able to take me to the vet while Jeff was at work on Wednesday afternoon and they didn't know exactly what was causing my symptoms but acknowledged it looked like an allergic reaction to something. All kinds of ideas were thrown out there...allergy to the vaccine, allergy to some eaten plastic, stings by bees/spiders/other insects, reaction to grass or fertilizer/pesticide, reaction to my antifungal ear medication, some food allergy, full glands, panosteitis (a rare inflammation of the periosteum that surrounds my bones)...the list goes on and on. So they just kept throwing more meds at me...antifungal for my ear, antibiotic for my paws, Benadryl for the allergy type symptoms, an anti-inflammatory in case I had the panoestitis, and an anti-parasitic (cause they found some parasites in my poop...gross, I know!). But I wasn't getting any better.

Late night Wednesday night, Jeff and Nisa couldn't take it any longer and they took me to the emergency vet...I was miserable, my eye was swelling shut, and I had a swollen lump on my nose. They gave me a shot of Benadryl and watched me for a while until I went to sleep and then back home we went with a quick stop at a 24 hr. CVS to load up on adult Benadryl tablets...1 every 8 hours they suggested.

Well, Thursday wasn't much better and by Friday morning with me still having the same symptoms, Jeff cancelled the latter part of his morning appointments and took me back to the vet. That's right...3rd time in 3 days!!! Now I was even having some shaking and tremors. It was crazy! The only places where I seemed to find temporary comfort was behind the toilet in the bathroom and on the glass on the coffee table. Jeff looked like someone shot his dog...an analogy that I was almost hoping to have literally happen because I was so miserable.

Well, after the vet visit Friday, several hours had passed and nothing had significantly changed. Jeff finally called my first mom...my first non-biological mom, Melissa. He got her voicemail and left an urgent message for her to call, and also emailed her just in case. Later that night they finally got in touch and I watched Jeff pace around the house (his thing when he's on the phone!) while he talked to Melissa for 45 minutes. She seemed to be saying some helpful things because the worry in Jeff's face was starting to dissipate. So long story short (yeah right!) she recommended stopping all of my meds except the Benadryl and anti-parasitic and even offered to come visit me and take me to her vet. She said she'd even drive from Windsor, Canada that night, the next day (Saturday), and demanded she was coming if I wasn't 95% better on Sunday. Whew! What a relief! So, that's what we did. No more meds!

By the next afternoon I was feeling so much better that Jeff and Nisa even felt comfortable to leave me while they went to see their friends Mark and Kristen for Mark's surprise birthday party (Happy birthday Mark!). And since then, everything's been gravy! I couldn't be more thankful (and I know Jeff and Nisa too) for Melissa's guidance through this tough time. She was awesome! "Above and beyond for a breeder", is what they told me. Although we never fully figured it out, we think it may have been an allergy to my 2nd vaccine...and for my 3rd vaccine, I was given some Benadryl before and after with better results. Ok...sickness over and done...on to better topics and pictures! Thanks for reading!

So here's a picture of Jeff wiping my paws off...Baby Wipes and towels...after playing in the wet, muddy yard. That time of year I guess. They seem to think it's pretty cute when I sit on their lap for a paw cleaning.

All credit to Jeff and Nisa's friends Pat and Meghan...and Jeff's hygienist Jody...for suggesting the sleigh bells on the back door for me to ring when I need to go outside to "potty" or "poop". I was so smart, I figured out this system in no time...and as a result had much less frowny faces from Jeff and Nisa when they had to clean the floor after one of my accidents. [edit- the bells aren't working as well as they once were...as I've now been told I've "regressed" in my potty training. I don't know...I just like peeing on the floor...sue me! It's fun watching Jeff and Nisa clean it up! However, I will say, it looks like their patience is decreasing, so I'll try and work myself out of this. I'll keep you all posted.]

And here's one final picture for this edition...it's me eating some peanut butter out of my Kong. Jeff and Nisa look so relieved when they exasperatedly say "Now I can finally get something done!" while I go to town on the Kong. Cool for me! I love the concoctions they put in there...peanut butter, apples, carrots, bananas, etc. And Nisa has the cutest dance that gets me excited for the Kong..."Fruit salad...da..da..da..da..dada.da! Fruit salad...da..da..da..da..dada.da!" Funny stuff, man!