"Daisy at the Doctor?"

Thursday evening we came home and noticed Daisy didn't look so well. She was trembling, unsteady on her paws and "off". We offered her treats, which she denied, and water which didn't stay down. We decided the best thing to do would be to take her to the Emergency Room Doggy Hospital. I spent almost 8 hours there with her while they ran numerous tests including blood work and X-rays. Her white blood cell count was elevated which is an obvious sign of infection. The Vet and the radiologist suspected something called Pyometria. It basically is an infection in the uterus. This can happen in dogs who are not spayed. When Daisy was 6 months old we learned of her liver shunt and opted not to spay her. We were told that spaying her could be fatal. Pyometria in itself can also be fatal. So, here we were. Standing on a double edge sword. We chose not to spay her because she could have died and now because we chose that option, she may die unless we choose to do an emergency spay which in turn means she could still die. Follow? The ER wanted almost $5000 for the surgery and additional procedures. It's an extremely difficult decision - knowing when it is too much to spend on our beloved pets. How much is too much? How far do you go?
I decided to bring Daisy home and wait the few hours to speak to our family vet, Dr. Duffy. We trusted him and knew he would be honest with us and lead us in the right direction. We brought Daisy in that morning and made the decision to proceed with the surgery. It was risky, as all surgery usually is, but the vet was confident. As far as the financial aspect, it was steep.
Daisy came through the surgery however did have a difficult time coming out of the anesthesia. We were told after being extubated most dogs will come around in 5 minutes. This took Daisy over an hour. Dr. Duffy also said, "Out of all the spays I have done, I have never seen a dog sleep much as her." This was all secondary to her liver condition. The good news was, Dr. Duffy did not see any evidence of Pyometria. The bad news was her WBC's were still elevated. Not as high as they were in the ER but out of normal range. We were told this can mean anything-pneumonia, lymphoma or something of unknown origin.
We were able to see Daisy that evening. It was hard. She didn't look well. It hurt to see her in the state she was in. As we were leaving, Katie was screaming, "I want Daisy. I want Daisy." It broke my heart.
The next morning the twins kept asking, "Daisy at the doctor? Daisy boo-boo get all better?". We went to visit with her again and she looked much better, not 100%, but better. We were allowed to take her for a brief walk (in the picture above you can see her little IV) and after spending some time with her we once again went home without her. Today, Matt and the twins were able to visit with her and she was back to her ol' self. Jumping up and down, wagging her cute curly tail. She whimpered when they put her back in the cage. Hopefully Daisy knew we would all be coming back tomorrow to bring her home.
So, we are now in a waiting game. The vet will repeat her blood work towards the end of the week. We are praying her WBC's are lower and heading towards a normal range. The only thing we can be sure of now is the house is empty without her and we can't wait until she is home with us. We have the popcorn waiting for you Daisy and all the carrots you want!