As you all know our Bandit Boy has been in the Animal ER for the past couple of days. I will start from the beginning.
Dustin and I wake up to our iPhone ringing and his work phone ringing, yes this was weird and we knew something was up. It was our neighbor Jason calling us. Seeing how he facetimed our iPhone and his work phone all at the same time we knew something was wrong. I call him back because we missed his calls and Jason has a look on his face. I didn't know what to expect and he tried to not give us bs and get right to the call. He told us that Bandit was in the animal er. I am sure my face looked shocked/worried and that was exactly what I felt.
As Jason was explaining what was going on I just started having tears in my eyes. He explained that Krystal (wonderful girl living in our house with D's sister) and her boyfriend let Bandit out and they noticed how swollen his stomach was, they contacted Jason and they took him to the Emergency Vet in Winchester. (after consulting with Bandits original vet) The vet said they were going to wait a night and see if he could pass the mass that was in his stomach.
Now Once Jason said surgery was a possibility I had to leave. I took my computer and went into our bedroom. I heard Dustin say something about a flipped/twisted stomach and I lost it again. Yes, I was thinking of Marley and Me and could not stand the thought of putting Bandit down while we were 10 thousand miles away. Thankfully, it was not a flipped stomach.
Being so far away is really hard. Thankfully we called the vet and gave them D's work phone number and said to contact us with updates. They said that Surgery was going to be a last resort. The good thing was that Bandit was passing gas and fluids. We waited about 12 hours and the vet said that the mass had not moved and that Bandit would need surgery.
Once again I got very upset but tried to stay calm. The Vet said that because he had fluids and was already there he would be fine. Of course, us being on the other side of the world the surgery was happening during our middle of the night. We told the vet to call us anyways and let us know what happened and how he was doing.
1 am we got a phone call from Jason. Jason updated me on how Bandits surgery went and that his stomach was full of dog food. His stomach was so full that the stomach could not pass the amount of food he ate. It was so full it would be like you and I eating 2 Thanksgiving dinners. Thankfully Bandit made it though just fine. He is now recovering, he needs to take it easy, no excitement for 2 weeks, if not more. The vet also called us and kept us and is keeping us updated on his progress. While the vet was doing the surgery she did a preventative procedure called a stomach tackt. This means that whatever she did it will prevent his stomach from flipping/twisting because in big chested dogs, at his age (8) it would be likely that his stomach would flip at some point. I am glad that she did this procedure so we don't have to worry about it.
During this whole time I was freeking out. Bandit is a member of our family, anyone who knows Bandit knows that he is a sweet, sweet boy. Even though I am sure I could not do anything there all I wanted to do was go home and be there so when Bandit did get out of the Er I would be there taking care of him. I know he is in good hands at home but for some reason I don't care all I want to do is be home with our boy. Am I crazy? I don't think so. But I will get over it and skype with him when he gets home ;)
I know what your thinking, How did Bandit get into the food. We don't know. His bag of food was new and not torn into (it was in the coat closet). The only thing we can think of is that the latch on his food by his bowl didn't close and bandit hit it and saw how to open it and eat. Bandit is a smart boy, he can open the gate from the deck to get down to the yard, so I believe that he saw once he nudged the bin he could open it just enough to get his head in there.
I believe that this probably could not have been prevented. There were probably times where I didn't close the bin all the way. When Bandit gets hungry he gets excited and nudges his bin. Who's to say that this would not have happened with us being home? Who knows, all I know that if Krystal and her boyfriend were not there he may have been in a lot worse trouble. I am thankful they did the right thing. Yes, it was a VERY expensive visit for bandit, but what were we going to do, not pay the bill and let a member of our family die that could have been prevented with surgery? No we would figure out how to get it paid for and we did.
Jason was so wonderful keeping us updated and his concern for our boy was great. He is also going to be caring for him for the first three days back home. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family to care for him (yes, Jason has become so close to Dustin and I that he is family). Thank you Jason, for everything you have done and for listening to us and calming our fears.
I am also surprised of how many people on facebook responded to my posts about Bandit and his condition. I am so thankful for the support from friends and family who asked what they could do or said that they are pulling for him. I am sure if Bandit could speak our language he would say thank you all, from the bottom of his stomach ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment