Saturday, August 16, 2008

Emergency Room Part 2


Monday night I get home from work to discover that Barkley the Dog cannot get up. I roll him over to see what is up with him. He moans. He has this huge tumor looking thing on his chest. Todd is home about 5 mins after me and we make trip #2 in 1 week to the 24-hour emergency vet office. Sweet. They test the tumor....its a fatty tumor and it's not necessary to remove it today. We will only have to remove it if it causes him pain or makes it tough to walk. So why is he having trouble walking? He has hip dysplasia which we medicate when he flares up. After a myriad of tests and x-rays (can you hear the cash register knocking up the bill?) they diagnose that he must have taken some sort of fall to irritate his hip issues. They send us home with some pain pills and anti inflammatory meds.....and a bill of over $500. For those keeping track that's over $650 in the last week between Barkley and Sasha. Gulp. We give Barkley his meds and we all fall into bed. The next day Barkley is not eating and still won't get up. We call the vet. This continues all week. Keep giving him the medicine and he will get better. By Wednesday, Barkley won't climb the stairs and has to be carried outside to go pee. Yesterday Todd took the day off to see if we need to take Barkley back into the vet. He decided slept in a little. Barkley didn't get his normal pain meds first thing in the morning yesterday....and wouldn't you know it? Barkley comes running up the stairs to see Todd. WTF? We figured out that the PAIN MEDS were knocking him out so much that he was afraid to walk or climb stairs. We have pretty much eliminated the pain meds except for 1/2 a dose when he sleeps now. Our boy is back to being a full time tail-wagger and face licker. Whew.

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