Roade to Recovery from Sepsis

THANK YOU friends for all your e-mails, phone calls, Facebook messages to me and mum. All the prayers and healing thoughts have helped me recover, but I think they've helped mum more, and I thank you for that!

Now I just want to keep you updated on my recovery since I know not everyone is on Facebook. I know a lot of you care about the SuperDALE, so I am going to keep you in the loop!!

TUESDAY:

MY vet clinic opened on the Tuesday following the Bun Bun long weekend. Mum rushed me in first thing in the morning to get checked by Auntie Sue, my other vet.

Before leaving though, I told mum that she should really serve me breakie in bean bag. I had just started eating the night before, so I don't think breakie in bean bag is too unreasonable of a request.

Ready to eat NOW!


Yum Rotisserie chicken,


Chop chop, I don't have all morning, Auntie Sue and Auntie Jen are waiting for me!


That's more like it!


Now go get me a straw for that chicken juice,


When I arrived at the clinic, the first thing Auntie Sue said to mum was "poor baby, she's really not feeling well is she?". She checked me all over and she said my elbows, my shoulders, my back were all so SuperSORE, and I still had a low grade fever, so she went all out with her acupuncture needles to try to make me feel all better.



She said it should bring my fever down too,


Auntie Kate, my other vet tech came to hook me up to IV to continue my fluid therapy. (mum: She was being pumped full of sedative at the ER, we were trying to help flush her organs out. The vet, and all the techs were all furious at the use of Acepromazin on Sunshade, and the way she was dosed.)


At around lunch time, mum thought all my wonderful Aunties deserve some treats,


While mum went to buy treats, MY Auntie Jen sat with me,


Mum bought me an eggie for lunch,


I ate it and mum was happy,


(mum: This was the update I put on Facebook for Tuesday (04-10-12):

As many of you know, I brought Sunshade in to our own vet clinic to have her examined and evaluated by Sue, the attending vet at our clinic. Other than Jen and me, everyone else at the clinic thought Sunshade looked pretty out of it. She was walking, but very gimpy. She was looking around, but not woofing and bossy like her normal self. So Sue freaked out a little bit, she didn't expect Sunshade to be this weak. The receptionist also came up to me and tentatively asked "so she is looking good???". To them, the way Sunshade looked was so much weaker/worse than how she is normally. Only Jen and I knew Sunshade was actually "improving" given the condition she was in prior to today.

Sunshade had been having a low grade fever (39.4ish) for the last day or so. When Sue did acupuncture on Sunshade today, she did a point that would help with fever. Prior to acup treatment, Sunshade was at 39.4. Three hours after Sunshade's acupuncture treatment, her temperature was back to normal at 38.8!! She wasn't on anything other than IV.

We stayed at the clinic until 5pm. Sue sent us home with another liter of fluids to get into Sunshade. She also wants to recheck Sunshade tomorrow (Wednesday), once she gets all the blood results back from today.

I just took Sunshade's temperature, and she is holding steady at just under 39. Normal is 38-39. Hopefully, there will be yet more improvement tomorrow!

She ate breakfast, lunch, dinner no problem. Had a stool that was a bit soft.

While I was at agility with Jaffa, Sunshade apparently walked D-Guy to Bosley's pet store again. Unfortunately, they were closed and we had one disappointed girrrrlie. It's great that she's feeling well enough to walk :-)

THANK YOU for continuing to pray for Sunshade. She will come around, i know it!!)

WEDNESDAY:

I ate my breakie and we headed out the door to go see my Auntie Jen and Auntie Sue again. Before leaving, I grabbed a rockie on my way down!!


(mum: Another GOOD sign - she grabbed a rock on her way down the ramp when we left the house to go to the vet!!!

All those rocks lined up on the rails were hand picked by Sunshade from various places. She would carry them back to the car and well....yes I put them in the car... Just don't have the heart to not bring them home with us lol.....

Anyway, her ritual is that everytime she walks down that ramp, she has to grab a rock on the way down. A lot of the times she would just chill in the yard with a desirable rock in front of her, or she would drop it on the way out the gate to go for a walk. Every few days she would run out of rocks to take and I have to go hunt down every single rock and put them back ob the rails.

She stopped doing that when she got sick, didn't do it yesterday, but did it just now!!!! Very happy :-))

Once we arrived at MY clinic, I had a talk with my Auntie Jen. I LOVE my Auntie Jen!!!

I was hooked on IV again,


I told mum that since I've been soooo SuperPERFECT....


I really should get a big treat!!


Starbucks Oat Bar all gone.....


By the end of the day, I was doing so SuperAWESOME that my catheter was able to finally came out!!



Auntie Jen giving me a nice face rub for being soooooo good,



No more home IV means no more x-pen means I get to sleep on the big bed!!


(mum: Facebook update for Wednesday (04-11-12):

Sunshade and I came home not long ago from another day at our vet clinic. Sunshade had one last day of IV before the catheter came out. All her blood results are excellent. Kidneys and liver functions were fantabulous. She had another acupuncture session since the session she had yesterday helped so much. Like I had said before, the low grade fever that she had had for the last couple of days went away within three hours of the acupuncture session. Her sore joints were moving so much better. The leg swelling was completely gone too by the end of the day yesterday.

The wound is healing well from the inside out. However, Sue decided that with an infection that went systemic, she would like Sunshade to be on another 7 days of antibiotics on top of what the ER had prescribed. Sue is a holistic vet, when a holistic vet is pumping your dog with antibiotics, you know how serious the condition is. Our clinic finally had to get the wound Culture & Sensitivity report directly from the lab because the ER never sent us the report even though we had asked for it. Then report came back showing that the bug was sensitive to both of the antibiotics that were prescribed by the ER. This meant that Sunshade really only needed to be on one antibiotic. So once she's finished this 7 day round, we will drop one of the abx to make things easier for her tummy and continue with the other one for at least 7 days. Will need to be re-evaluated then to see if more is needed.

Sunshade was cheeky as ever at the clinic today :-) She was sticking her head in between the staffs' legs to demand ear rubs, and then onto all the different treat drawers throughout the clinic, barks in front of them until someone comes and FEEDS her! Physically, she still isn't 100% yet, but mentally, she is pretty darn close!

I will continue to update Sunshade's wound progress, but I imagine the updates won't come nearly as frequent as it had been over the last 6 days. I am looking forward to catching up on some sleep, and of course, catch up with the rest of you :-)

Thank you again to my big FAMILY (including all you blog readers too) for coming back day after day for updates, and sending prayers, love, and healing thoughts to us. I think most of you have realized that we have something truly special going on here, and I'm so grateful to be the beneficiary this time. I know I would do the same for other family members if and when they are needing the support. ((((BIG GROUP HUG))) )

THURSDAY:

Auntie Helen came to visit me, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? (look at my face)


Helen does Reiki, so she came to do Reiki on me to make me feel better. I said how about a treat first? Look at my SuperPAW on Helen's leggie!


She said no, and I said YEAH!!


And I WON,


While Helen was treating, I asked Helen's son Shawn if he wanted to try and take MY Truman away?


Mum decided to see if I would eat some food since I didn't really want to eat anything today.

Surrrrrrre I'll take spoon feeding!


Then I took over,


And finished the entire bowl!!!


After eating, I did what a true lady would do following a meal, I wiped my SuperMOUTH!



(mum: Facebook update Thursday (04-12-12):

Well, Sunshade had a hard night last night. Not sure why. She kept waking up every hour, hour and a half panting and whining. Every time she did that, I would take her out to the yard to pee, and then bring her back in to settle her down. Same thing would start again an hour or so after. I took her temperature the second time it happened, and it was 38.9, which is borderline normal, but still normal. She also drank a ton of water in the middle of the night too, which was VERY unusual. She's never drinks any water in the middle of the night!

Morning came, she didn't want to eat the special cooked food that she normally would go nuts for. She ate it fine last night after coming home from the vet. Tried giving her some of her favourite treats, turned most of them down with the exception of a small piece of dehydrated liver. Took her temp again, it was still 38.9. Checked her wound, looked great, wasn't more red or warmer.

Called our clinic to give them an update. Jen, our tech called me back to say to put her back on pain meds. We had taken her off them all day yesterday because she was feeling and acting so bright. She and the vet Sue wondered if Sunshade's body was adjusting to not having IV to help flush everything. She had been on IV for 6 days. Maybe weaning her off the IV would have been a bit better. Anyway, Jen told me to keep taking her temperature, give her the pain meds, keep an eye on the wound, and lots of rest. Before we hung up, she told me "You've got my number at home, and I'm not going anywere!"... poor Jen.....

In the evening, my friend Helen, who is a Reiki practitioner came over to give Sunshade a treatment. Just before Helen arrived, I offered Sunshade some food, she turned it down. As soon as Helen walked in the door, Sunshade started throwing her Truman (dale stuffy) around, went to treat drawer to bark for treats. Mid-way through treatment, I offered her food again, and she started eating it off the spoon. Then she licked the bowl clean, and went to wipe her face along the doggie bed after she was done eating. All of a sudden her energy and appetite was back upon seeing Helen?? Maybe she was just so bored and tired of me and being stuck at home with me???

I took her out to the yard for a pee just earlier, and she walked me to her hole and started digging. Of course, that meant she had to get a rinse down!)