Lucky Lena

My sweet Lena has had a rather tough past week. I think she saw the light at one point.

Last Thursday we woke to our dog getting sick, we were worried but thought maybe she just ate something bad. As the morning went on, she got sick again. I had to leave for work and so did Bryan. Luckily Bryan and I both had a weird feeling about this and he was able to take off at noon and come home to check on her. She had gotten sick again. He held her in his lap for a few hours till she got sick yet again, it was time to call the vet. He took her in (thank you Bryan!) and after x-rays, blood work, and a thorough doggie check up, they confirmed that she had swallowed a forgein object(s) and they were stuck....just like that, emergency surgery began.

Bryan and I sat at home and worried while we shook our heads in disbelief at the situation. There was always a chance she might not make it through surgery. 3 hours later the Vet called and said Lena swallowed two objects...one being a rough metal object about 1inch long and the other a red hard plastic object that oddly resembled a dog paw, a bit bigger than a quarter. This paw-like object was in fact the one that was stuck and blocking her small intestines. The good news, she made it through surgery. The bad news is they had to take out a FOOT and a HALF of dead intestines! Had we waited any longer, the next day even, we would not be seeing our little brown Lena again.

These objects did not come from our home, our only assumption is they were licked up and swallowed on a walk one night that week.

They put her back together and stapled her up and saved the objects for us to ponder. Poor Lena spent that night at the vet all by herself. The Vet did stay with her till midnight to make sure she woke and her temp was ok. I on the other hand woke every hour thinking about how she needed her blanket and how cold and lonely she was. I called first thing in the morning and they reported that Lena was having a hard time maintaining her body temperature and wasn't eating, and that she was in pain. She was on a "bear hugger" to keep her warm which is a super sweet sad image. Bryan and I spent that day in tears with our thoughts all over the place; "she's only 3, why would she swallow something like that? How did she get that down? Where is it from? Will she be ok?" We were then told that she would need to stay another night to continue the IV's and get her temp up BUT they were closed on Saturdays so we would have to transfer her to the Dogs and Cats Emergency Vet in Bowie.

Our crew of 3, drove to the Vet and picked up our 4th. She was p a t h e t i c. I thought maybe she would perk up for one second, but nothing. She just laid in my arms while the Vet explained it all to us. We drove her to Vet #2 with visions of "this being the last time with Lena" ran through our minds. We kissed, petted, and sweet talked her and admitted her in. I really liked that they had 24 hour care here and we could call whenever we wanted to check on her.

I called before we went to bed that night and they reported that she was resting comfortably. I woke that morning and called right away to check on her again. A sweet chipper nurse told me that she had maintained her body temperature overnight and that she licked a meatball (a meatball? wow, she's not going to want to go home)  and she also reported that she ate a little, and that she likes to be "hand fed". I started thinking Lena was milking this.....anyways, she said if Lena stays this way we can pick her up today!

Bryan picked her up and she was back home where I had turned on the fireplace, placed her bed in front of it, with the sun shining perfectly on it and fluffed up her favorite blanket. Lena laid in that bed for the next 12 hours straight. Her battle wounds contain about 7 staples up and down her long belly. She's on a few different meds, pain meds at first and now antibiotics for a few weeks.

It took her a few days to act like "Lena" again but I am happy to report that she's back to walking around the house, licking the floor, begging for bananas, and barking at any molecule that floats by all while wearing a fashionable cone.

As long as we continue in this direction we hope that she will be ok. Infection is always a scary thought in the back of our minds, but we hope she gets a clean bill of health when she has her staples removed next Tuesday.

Lena, don't do that to us again. Long live that little brown dog!