Sick as a Dogger , Spring 2009  edition

Some people use their lunch hour for lunch, I use my lunch hour for unscheduled emergency trips to the vet.

I knew this morning that we were going to have to go to the vet, but I didn't know how soon that was going to happen. I had hoped for the morning but I settled for 4:30 and then I went home for lunch...

Much like first thing in the morning but more so. I called the vet and they said to bring her in and they would work her in. I dropped her off and they said they would call me when they knew something. I spent the rest of the day sticking close to my desk because they were going to call anytime and I didn't want to miss the call.

They never called.

I left for my scheduled appointment and waited. And waited. and Waited. A few minutes after I arrived a man and his son and their sleepy looking cat were called to an exam room. They did not stay long. The cat had to stay, they had to go. And then I really started to wait. A little girl wafts through the office and annoys me for no reason. She's there, she can see my dog and I can't. I hate her.

I'm pacing back and forth and the last image I have is those men leaving and how sad they were. I was under the impression that they had the cat put down. They didn't, the cat was just very, very acutely ill and the doc was in the back working on it. And I'm waiting and my dog is in the back and no one has spoken to me except the receptionist and while she's nice, she's not fixing my dog and giving her back to me.

Wait, wait, wait

I am beginning to really hate the little girl. I'm getting more freaked out by the minute and I'm practically in tears. I know she's dieing and I know I'm going to have to put her down, probably before I leave the office. She's still throwing up and the lower GI issue is still happening. It's the Addison's or a recurrence of the hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. She's doomed. I'm doomed. I notice they have cleaned off their Big Board of Patients. My nephdogs are no longer there but Dogger and Tex are. I'm hoping that Tex is the only late patient on there but I know he isn't, the board is a bad sign. Dogger is doomed.

Wait, wait, wait.

Finally! A tech appears with Dogger! She's alive and bouncing! Dieing dogs don't bounce! The vet goes over the results of her blood draw and everything is good, her electrolytes are actually better than they were last week, her liver panel is flawless and the only concern is that Dogger is very,slightly dehydrated. it turns out that they practice has seen several dogs with flu symptoms since the weekend and she feels that dogger has  Dog Flu. The doc has given her a shot of an anti-nausea med and they gace her 500cc's of fluid and she's good to go. I get a bottle of anti-nausea pills although I would have rathered an antidiarrheal but I was too stoked to ask a lot of questions. I took my Dogger home.

And then it took her hours to throw up again. We had been home about fifteen minutes to remind I should have asked for something for her lower GI. Oh, and lets all thank Gawd for letting us have wet-dry vacs and kitty litter. Really, they are blessings from above. Keep praying for my Dogger, she's not out of the woods yet.