My Easter Drama

Yeah, I know Easter is long gone... and I'm going to talk about this anyway... so be cool!

So, here's the story about how on Easter weekend, my dog Cinnamin almost gave me a heart attack and a nervous breakdown. Friday night, when I got home from work, I noticed that when she came in from outside, she'd had a bout of diahreah. I figured that she'd been eating sheep poop again. (That's one of the "perks" of being a dog, living on 5 acres, with a pond and two sheep). So, I gave her a mini-bath, fasted her overnight, blogged til 2am and went to bed. I wasn't too concerned - because, hey, we all know I'm NOT psychic!

That night, she spit up water a few times, which she'd been doing regularly... having a drink of water, and then about 10 minutes later, there'd be spit up. I was thinking that maybe she was having reflux... again, not too worried. Her kidney function isn't the greatest, but she was drinking water and peeing regularly, just spitting up a little water now and then... I really was doing a great job of not being neurotic about my dog.

Saturday morning. I got up in the morning and drank a cup of coffee and sat down to do some blogging before it was time to leave for work. Cinnamin didn't look real perky, how perky do you look when you are a 16 yr old dog with 2 knee surgeries under your collar? Having had a night of diahrea and spitting up?

She came back in, drank some water, and promptly threw up, and once again - I saw that she'd had more diahrea. This time it had that terrible "bloody diahrea" smell. So, I again cleaned her up, and started that wiffle waffle thing about "should I take her to the vet" and "can I afford it" and "am I being overly worried" and "will I be late for work" and "why the hell does this shit always happen on the weekend" and "naturally it's a holiday weekend" etc.. And as I was standing there, frozen with indecision and angst... she threw up again, only this time it was blood.

Nothing like a precious dog throwing up blood to get a person into overdrive! Not recommended, but nevertheless, effective as hell! I called the vet, threw her into the car, exceeded the speed limit, and made it to the vet's office a half hour before closing time. Now, I do realize that veterinarians need to have days off too... but why the heck can't they stay open ALL DAY on Saturday? What's this with the closing at noon on Saturday shit? I work on Saturdays. People I know work on Saturdays... Sundays too...

Anyway... I got there, and the only available vet is some new person I've never seen before. Young, prissy, inept... (these are the nice words I'm using to describe her - stupid bimbo is more accurate... but I won't say that because it isn't nice). So, two blood tests later, the diagnosis comes back as "her Amylase is so high it's off the chart" but her kidney function looks better than last time she was in, so it's got to be pancreatitis. The vet is all cheerful and perky, she gives me some anti-nausea medication, and tells me not to feed her until the next day, and that it will run it's course, no big deal.

This is exactly what I wanted to hear (the no big deal part). Cinnamin is no longer throwing up blood, just spit - every 10 minutes or so... and I'm really really wanting it to be no big deal... so I take her home, give her the medicine, arrange for my son-in-law to check on her, and off I go to work. Again, let me reiterate - I am clearly NOT psychic!

I got home at midnight, walked in the door... and Oh My God! There is bloody diahrea everywhere... my dog is throwing up every 5 minutes... naturally it's the middle of the night on a holiday weekend... and I just freaked! So, I called the emergency vet.

They said, "Bring her in now! Pancreatitis is life threatening, especially if your dog is 16 years old, even more so if her kidney function is not what it should be." Now I'm in full panic mode. It takes 4o minutes to get to the emergency clinic. Luckily the vet on duty was not a stupid bimbo - he listened to me, he listened to my dog, he inspired confidence and trust. He agreed with the pancreatitis diagnosis, explained how serious that was in elderly dogs with kidney disease, and said she was dehydrated and needed to be on IV fluids STAT and that if I'm lucky, she might respond favorably within the next two days. The estimated bill was $650.

In my mind, I crossed off my electric bill, my phone bill, my house payment, my bank of america payment, and my food money. I said, OK do it, signed the papers agreeing to pay, and sent her off to be pumped full of fluids and anti-biotics, anti-nausea, anti-diahrea, and anti-pain medication. I said to the Master of the Universe, "I have no desire to live in this world without my dog - so, if it's her time to go, plan on it being mine too."

At this point, I was too upset to do anything more than pace and pray... well... I don't think it was actually praying - begging is more like it. I did send her Reiki. I did talk to the Red Jesus. Every 3 hours I called the Emergency Clinic. She had stopped throwing up, the diahrea had stopped, she was resting comfortably, and I started to relax just a teeny bit.

By midmorning on Sunday, the vet was feeling encouraged enough to say that if they could get her to eat something and keep it down, she'd be able to come home. So far, so good.

At this point, I'm going to interrupt the narrative, because for the rest of the story to make sense, you'll need some background on the following:

• Reiki
• The Red Jesus
• The Medical Assistance Program
• Devas
• Brotherhood of Light
• Animal Communication
• Pan
• Pancreatitis in Dogs

So, please bear with me while I compile those posts - once they're uploaded - I'll finish my story. And yes, it's a cool story.