From Yesterday Until Forever: Our Worst Nightmare in Living Color

I'm usually a fairly laid back person, trying to find the bright side of things, able to roll with the punches... but with that said, I also tend to get overly paranoid about some things.

When we first got our puppy Porter I was worried about everything. Would he eat too much food too fast, would he fall down the front steps, would he suffocate if we put too many blankets in his crate, would he choke on the squeaker that he managed to chew out of the squeaky toy...?

And thankfully, I've never had to experience any of those things (except maybe stumbling down the stairs a time or two).

Unfortunately, a week ago [almost exactly] I came home and soon discovered that something had happened to Porter.

I noticed that he was walking a bit oddly and would drag a back foot every so often. Within a few minutes that turned into barely being able to walk. I called Dustin and he rushed home so we could take Porter to the vet. [insert extreme panic and frustration here... our vet isn't open on Fridays, and none of the places I was calling [oops, while driving. Dustin was in the back laying with Porter] would accept emergency walk-ins]

We eventually ended up at Meadow Hills. Dustin had to carry Porter, who was now panting and salivating much more than usual, into the vet where we rushed into the back to let the doctors take a look at him.

That began our 5 hour, nearly $700, tearful wait. I'm pretty sure we were both in shock. And what made it worse was that we were kept away from Porter, out in a waiting room, only hearing from the doctor a few times during the long period of time we were there. We had absolutely no idea what could have happened. Poison? Injury? Stroke? All we knew was that his blood work and urinalysis came back normal, with no indication of what was causing Porter's symptoms.

After not nearly enough answers for the amount of money we forked over, we had to transfer Porter to the Mid-Columbia Pet Emergency Services clinic in Pasco. This place is AMAZING. They got us right in, let us sit next to Porter and stay as long as we wanted, and spent as much time talking with us and explaining things as we needed. Although we had very little information, we left Porter in good hands for the night and headed home.

After an almost entirely sleepless night, we got up early to go see our boy. At this point Dustin and I were still a complete mess. I started bawling when I saw one of Porter's footprints on the kitchen floor... Dustin said he had started crying in the shower because he saw some of Porter's hair... yup... we're that awesome.

When we got to PES we were taken back to see Porter right away and were greeted by a few wags of Porter's tail (which, in itself, was an improvement from the night before). The doctor told us that he didn't eat or drink anything all night and hadn't gone to the bathroom even though he was on an IV all night. She suggested we take him out to walk in the grass and see if he would go for us.

Porter was still extremely weak and unsteady, requiring the assistance of a special sling that we had to slide under his abdomen and hold up to help him walk. He was stronger than the night before, but couldn't walk more than about 15ft before laying down and panting. BUT once we made it out to the grass he sniffed around and found a spot to go to the bathroom.... having to lay down half way through doing his business because he couldn't stand.

We made it back inside and sat with him while the doctors went over their most recent blood work and urinalysis, along with an x-ray. Still nothing.

Although we had no concrete diagnosis, the doctors were leaning towards a few options 1) neuro-toxin 2) fibrocartilaginous Embolic Myelopathy or 3) some sort of a spine or disc injury. If it was a toxin, there wasn't much we could do at this point other than continued IV and getting him to eat and drink and then see what happened. If it was #2, FCEM [which I can't pronounce], his condition would slowly begin to improve and after three weeks we would see the full progress that would be made... sometimes only 60-80% of what the animals former ability was. If it was the third option, he would always have some discomfort unless we opted to travel to WSU Vet Teaching Hospital and have an exam and MRI conducted, and possibly surgery to correct any problems. None of the options sounded better than the others.... they each had their good points and bad (prognosis, recovery time, expense, etc.).My parents came to see Porter [and make us go get food... we hadn't eaten dinner the night before since we were at the vet and had come straight to PES that morning without bothering to eat. We didn't have appetites anyway], get an update, and then Porter was treated to a doggy massage and chiropractic adjustments before we left for lunch.

After taking a short [but MUCH needed] nap and eating a little bit we went back to see Porter. We were very pleasantly surprised to find him moved to a bigger kennel [they even washed all the blankets we had brought in with him the night before so that he would have them in his new area] and sitting up excited to see us! The doctors said that he was still wobbly, a bit weak and unsteady, BUT that he was acting much more alert, and was sitting and standing on his own from time to time.

We took him out for a walk WITHOUT needing the sling and could tell he was starting to do a bit better.

[Now that I'm writing this, I'm realizing how only a couple days seemed like weeks at the time. It felt like forever had passed between getting to see Porter each time. I'm sure stress, worry and lack of sleep has a lot to do with that.... just a guess.]

After emptying his bladder, we all settled in for a family nap in the kennel [yes, IN the kennel... it was that big!]. It was nice to hear the doctor mention that she wished more pet owners [or pet mommies and daddies] would be like us and be willing to spend so much time with their pets and snuggle with them. After our little nap, my parents came back with my sister to visit Porter again, and even smuggled in some treats!

We took another short break to get some dinner [we actually had a little bit of our appetites back after seeing an improvement in Porter] and to grab some things from home for Porter. I think the doctors and vet techs thought we were moving in! We had several of Porter's toys, his giant food container and dishes, treats and pepperoni, blankets, and of course... his pillow.

The doctors were so wonderful and encouraging. The doctor that had been there Friday night when we first arrived came back in Saturday night and couldn't believe the progress he had made in the time that she had been gone. She even asked if we wanted to take him home! We [reluctantly] opted to leave Porter at PES for another night... he would get another night of IV to help flush out anything bad in his system, and would have around the clock eyes on him just in case he needed anything. Dustin and I also needed to attempt to get a decent night's sleep, which I knew wouldn't be possible if we took Porter home... remember that bit about me being a worry-wart?

After another night away from our Puppy we were ready to bring him home! We were feeling more rested and much better than we had the last two days.... Dustin even managed to sleep in a little and I even did my makeup! I'm surprised the employees at PES even recognized me when we went to get Porter. I hadn't bothered to do so much as throw my hair in a ponytail the days before.

We picked up a VERY excited Porter [excited was great to see.... he was definitely getting his attitude and personality back], along with all of his stuff. I found myself crying in the car on the way home, but this time they were happy tears. We finally got to have our puppy home again.

So where are we now? Porter has regained a LOT of his strength and ALL of his personality and spunk. He has a long way to go in his recovery, but we're amazed with his progress in just a short [no.... long...] week since this nightmare started. We're still crying a lot of tears.... the first time he climbed up on the couch by himself, the first time he picked up one of his toys wanting to play, the first time he army-crawled again... happy tears. Happy tears knowing that we still have our puppy with us after what could have been a weekend ending with a much worse outcome.

Porter has enjoyed way too many treats since he's been home, but Dustin is a bit of a push-over and wouldn't have it any other way. What better way to a boy's heart than through his stomach, right? He's also improved enough that he's been able to have a couple [low key] play dates with his best friend, Koa. They get cranky that we won't let them run and rough-house too much yet, but that will all come with time.

While we still don't know exactly what happened or how, it doesn't matter to me as much anymore. Yes, it'd be helpful to know what caused all of this to help avoid it or to know better how to proceed with Porter's care, but so long as Porter is home and healthy and continuing to make small improvements every day... I'm happy and content.

Porter is not enjoying his 24/7 supervision... especially because he can't be sneaky and get under the deck or bark at the neighbors... but I think he'll just have to get used to it. It'll be a LONG time before he's allowed outside by himself or allowed to be left alone. But I don't think he's hating the extra attention either ; )

I don't think a day will go by that I won't look at Porter and smile at his playfulness, be grateful to be his human, and thank God that he's still with us. And a special thank you to my parents for being there for us this weekend in more way than one, Dustin's parents for caring so much and not giving up, and to all our friends and family who have been so thoughtful and caring and supportive. Porter is definitely loved by many!