Lily Is In The Hospital ;(

I took Lily up to the vet yesterday to get her weighed and for Chris (our vet) to see her, as she has not been eating for a week and has not been herself.

But let me rewind and start from the beginning. We started her a new medication called Slentrol, which is a weight loss medication. Lily has hypothyroidism and had packed on the pounds, but had finally stabilized at 114 pounds. She is a big dog by nature, but no need to be that heavy, so our vet recommended this medication, as she doesn't eat a lot and she is exercised regularly. She just needed some help. So we thought we would give a go. You may recall this post here that was posted just over 2 weeks ago, that she had a her first seizure after being on the medication for a month. I took her in to get checked and Chris thought it was just a fluke, but called the drug company to be sure and they said that has never happened before. Meanwhile after reading their website, I saw a case mentioned where a Beagle had a seizure while on the meds, but they considered it irrelevant. I mentioned it to Chris, who mentioned it to them and they said that was American (well the drug is American...). As apprehensive as I was to continue the medication at that point, we decided to continue with advice from our vet. Last Wednesday we noticed she wasn't really eating as much. So I called the vet on Thursday, before the holiday weekend and told him I was concerned because she was not eating. He told me to cut her dose in half and see how she does. I talked to M also about my concerns and we decided we would resume the meds once I saw that she ate. She didn't. So we stopped the meds. She was turning down cookies, wet food, cheese, you name it, she was having none of it. She would drink tons of water and then puke it up. I called back in on Monday and Chris told us to try a different wet food and he was happy we stopped the meds. I would take her for a walk (half of our usual route) and she would be dragging behind on the way back home.

So yesterday I decided I would take her up to the vet. She was down 10 more pounds, in just over a week. She usually love going to the vet, but yesterday she just sauntered in, head hanging low. Poor baby! They knew right away that something was going on. She didn't even get up when Chris came in the room. After he examined her, Chris decided that we needed to do blood work, start an IV to get fluids going and do some x-rays. He knew I would be reluctant to leave her, but at the same time I knew she wasn't well. They took Lily into the back, and there I stood with Gracie fighting back the tears that wanted to flow. But I knew I had to be strong for Gracie, as they don't handle being separated easily. I literally had to drag Gracie out if the building, with her looking back for her sister. She would not get in the car for me, I had to lift her in. She was having no part of this. Gracie has known Lily has been sick for a while, and was very nurturing towards her. Gracie's life without Lily is not life. Once I got her in the car, instead of hanging out the window, she stretched out on the back seat and sulked. I kept telling her Lily is going to be okay, as tears rolled down my cheeks. Once we got home, Gracie came in the house and went straight to bed:

This is how miserable she is!

I called M to inform him on what was going on and I told him very proudly I made it out of the office with no tears! I had to be strong for my babies! He called me a sap and told me I probably lost a few tears in the car. Which I agreed to. I told him I just didn't want to leave her there alone. I know she will get the care she needs, but if M was in the hospital I wouldn't leave him. M said it doesn't work that way for pets. It should!

The office called me with an update, saying she had spiked a fever after I left and they started her on antibiotics right away.

Another update came later, saying that she was responding well to the IV fluids, still wouldn't eat, but was wagging her tail.

The last update I heard from Chris was last night saying that the x-ray he did didn't show anything, but because of the Lily's size and the older machine, he was thinking of repeating it at the other office. Her fever had gone down, he is thinking maybe it spiked out of stress, but her pulse and heart rate is good and she is still responding well to the IV. He was really looking forward to seeing the blood results.

Here is another depressed Gracie picture from this morning, when Mike let her get in bed with me for some cuddles (she didn't even want to, Mike had to lift on the bed)

I have just heard back from Chris with her blood results, which indicated elevated liver enzymes, her kidneys not working properly and a high white blood cell count. We are still waiting for more blood results at this point, but she will be staying over night again. Chris said she is stable and seems to be perking up on the antibiotics, and  IV fluids, but she is not out of the woods yet.

Just wishing my baby gets a diagnosis soon and gets better soon!!