Sammy--- not looking great.

niknak1128 · October 2012

Just got off the phone with the vet. Leaving in a couple of minutes to go visit with him and my mom. Still not eating today. Platelets dropped even more. Seems like he's destroying his red blood cells so now they're afraid he might have a bleed although they never saw anything on testing. Kidney levels are stable. Seems depressed.. takes a lot of coaxing to get up.

I am so sad. Basically she said that they're going to start steroids at this point because that will stop the destroying of red blood cells and make him feel better. She said the potential is that if he does have some type of cancer, steroids will make it harder to detect and may progress it but they haven't seen anything on testing that indicates cancer. (still waiting for lab results).

She said steroids is kind of the last treatment aside from surgery if they do find cancer. So we wait until the lab testing comes back Monday and decide what to do. My mom has already said this is really all she can do to finance it.. and honestly how can I be upset about that? I mean it's $3500. I can't be mad at her for that.

I feel sad that he's there and not home where he wants to be. I feel sad that I haven't been able to spend the last week with him because he's been in the hospital since Thursday morning. I've visited him twice for about 30 minutes the first time and an hour the second time but it doesn't seem like enough. I'm mad that DH doesn't seem like he cares really. He's like well honey dogs die. Yeah well that really doesn't comfort me ya know. I obviously know that dogs die but Sammy is only 7 so this is something I expected to deal with like 5 years from now. I feel guilty for all the times I've yelled at him. even though I know we all get on our animals about something.. I still feel guilty. I feel guilty that maybe this infection started long before we even noticed and I was too busy to see that he was sick. =(

killian09 · October 2012

((Hugs)) I'm really sorry to hear this update on Sammy. I hope the steroids help. Either way, I'll keep your family in my thoughts. I understand how important a dog is as a part of the family.

pb&fluff · October 2012

Oh man. I'm sorry sweetie. This is so hard, I'm sure. Our dog was sick quite a lot before we figured out what was going on with her. Eventually our vet diagnosed her with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and we know what we can and can't feed her. I know it's not nearly the same as what you're dealing with, but I understand the not knowing what is going on and worrying all the time. Our dog is our baby right now.

Big hugs to you, I know you need them right now.

bananers · October 2012

I'm so sorry. I hope the steroids help. ((hugs))

4legsRbest · October 2012

I am so sorry, I know how hard this is, I wish I was there so I could give you a giant hug. You have done everything in your power for him and I know he thanks you for it. My 4-legged kids and I are praying so hard for Sammy and hope he bounces back. I wanted to share my favorite quote with you. I lost my should dog, a chocolate lab, in 2009, at the very same time I was reading a Dean Koontz book and came across the quote below. I know it may not help right now as Sammy is still on the precipice of a great decision, but just know you have done more for him than most people would have and I believe, with every fiber of my being, that our dogs know what we are thinking and thank us everyday for taking care of them with such love and respect.

?Dogs, lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you're going to lose a dog, and there's going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can't support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There's such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware that it comes with an unbearable price. Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and the mistakes we make because of those illusions.?

ravenclaw1 · October 2012

ugh, that's the worst.

we're obsessed with our dog, and I can't fathom what that would be like for us. I hope he's ok

pinktrojanbride120107 · October 2012

Don't blame yourself. Sammy knows you love him, he's just got to fight to get better!

niknak1128 · October 2012

Just got back from our visit. we were there about an hour and a half this time. It gets harder and harder to leave him because he wants to come home so bad. We did get him to eat some chicken while we were there. He hasn't eaten at all today or yesterday but he ate a container of chicken for me and my mom. And he seemed to enjoy it. We took him outside, even though it's freezing!! But he liked that alot. He went potty and barked at some cats and played. He was happier outside.

Basically, they said that they would be surprised if it's cancer because they can't detect it anywhere. They're leaning toward some tick disease or some other infection that just got to him too badly. However, I highly doubt that it's tick related because he's never around that kind of environment. Our dogs are mainly indoor and our back yard is fenced and DH takes really good care of our yard and I Just can't imagine him being exposed to a tick.

All in all, they're going to call me tomorrow and let me know how he does after being on steroids through the night and all day tomorrow. I have an OB appt. at 3:30 so if he's doing better on steroids, I'll probably pick him up and take him home. They said they can send me home with oral steroids and anti-biotics. I'm probably going off work tomorrow so at least I know I'll be home with him every day and I can watch him more closely and I'll probably make him some chicken and feed that to him instead of his regular food.

Breaks my heart. He's just such a good boy and I love him so much and I wish I could just make it all better.