She's coming home!

Okie Doke is being discharged from critical care tomorrow! We can't wait :o!

She will go straight to Dr. Holland's office for an examination and the doc will determine whether or not she needs the endoscopy. We are hoping that she doesn't so she can come straight home.

He healing has been quite miraculous, she was in pretty bad shape. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

Coming Home Soon!

Talked to the vet this morning. He said Okie Doke is doing great! She is eating all on her own and very active. He said her blood work is so perfect that they are not even going to check it again! She is still not back to 100% as the doc says though. I asked him when she might come home, and he said if she didn't have the endoscopy scheduled for tomorrow, he would probably release her tonight! We have to talk to Dr. Holland tomorrow and see if she still needs the procedure, and maybe she can come home tomorrow! We can't wait! We have been missing her like crazy!

She's Eating!

Guess what? Okie Doke IS EATING ON HER OWN!!! We are so excited!!! They gave her a special food that is already partially digested, but as of our last visit she had eaten real food and kept it down for quite a few hours! It is step 1 for coming home. They said the might even take her G-tube out tomorrow if everything is still going well. YAY!

A Good Day!

Okie Doke is doing much the same. Her personality is becoming more and more normal by the day! Today she was her usual sweet, but bossy, self demanding tummy petting every second of our visit (which she received of course)! She also stood up on her own outside! So, she is stable and waiting. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for her and for us, keep it up!

Here are some photos from today's visit. You can probably see how much better she is looking!


Petting please!


Relaxing outside.




Sitting up on my own!

Some Encouraging News

She pooped! I have never been so excited about a bowel movement! What is mundane and gross for the rest of us is a good sign for Okie Doke. They told us tonight at the clinic that she stood up on her own outside and went numbers 1 & 2! Unfortunately though, she did vomit once today, even though they have been suctioning her stomach out regularly. They told me she is "stable" though she cannot eat yet. So, now it is just a waiting game. We are hoping she will get stronger and stronger over the weekend in preparation for her endoscopy!

More pictures!

Okie Doke is doing well, acting more dog-like by the day. When we arrived today they were giving her plasma. Made me wonder where the doggy plasma stations are located, and how ethical sharing dog plasma could possibly be (honestly, I have no clue where they get it). The doc this afternoon said there just must be some kind of hole in her system somewhere. Hopefully, with the endoscopy, we can find it! We took some more pictures with the camera on David's phone today. They let us take her outside again! She had a great time sitting in the sun. In all of these pictures her eyes are closed, but she was very alert while we were there (eyes open and looking around a lot), but was closing her eyes to bask and rest in the sun. She was so cute and pitiful, she kept raising up her little IVed leg for us to rub her tummy. They also said she was growling today, which I would say is a good sign--she's a feisty one!

Keep praying!

The Endoscopy

Okie Doke needs the endoscopy. Dr. Holland said she wants to wait until Monday though, when OKD will hopefully be more stable. So, for now we are shooting for Monday morning!

Pray for Okie Doke's health and for us too, we are stressed out in more ways than one!

Thanks Everyone :)!

OKD update for 10/12/07

I called about Okie D this morning. The tech said she tried to suction her out during the night, but her stomach was empty and she's had no vomiting (yay)! She still can't thermo regulate, so pray for that. Don't know yet whether or not they are going to do the endoscopy.

update

Well, I took a cute photo of Okie Doke from our visit tonight to post on the blog, but it didn't save. She was much the same, though very sleepy as it was past her bedtime. As we were leaving they were giving her some pain meds so she could sleep. She is still bleeding in her stomach and hopefully they will go in with the scope tomorrow. Please pray for her as they will have to put her under for it (though the doctor said the risk would be no more than usual).

She let out a big sigh when we were there (though it sounded more like a cell phone buzz because of the tube in her nose), like she does sometimes. It usually signals a mixture of, "I'm glad your here" and "can't we get this over with." It is the kind of sigh she makes on long car trips, etc. The vet tech said she was really cute because when she was attending to Okie Doke she started to roll on her back a bit for stomach petting. If you know OKD, it's a good sign! That's our girl! Keep her in your prayers please :)!

It all started when...

About two days ago OKD started vomiting. We took her in to our regular vet across the street. I guess they see vomiting all the time, so they gave her some subq fluids so she wouldn't dehydrate and some oral medication (I have never understood oral medication for vomiting by the way). Overnight she couldn't keep the meds down, and she wasn't eating or drinking. We took her back in to the clinic the next day. They ran some blood work on her and found that she was terribly dehydrated. They took their sweet time shooting her up with more subq fluids and dextrose (to get her sugar levels up), then sent us to the critical care/emergency clinic in OKC. That is where she has been since yesterday afternoon. When she first arrived, she was a pitiful sight, she couldn't even lift her head to vomit or stand on her own. She was also freezing (she had a temp of 96 and the norm for dogs is around 100), and couldn't thermo regulate on her own. This made me feel like a horrible "dog mom," like I hadn't acted quickly enough, even though we took her in the first day we saw trouble. I guess she went downhill so fast because of her incredibly small size. She was so depleted that she required a 24 IV just to get her well enough for testing. They gave her the IV, 3 medications to stop the vomiting, antibiotics, and pain meds. Of course, all of these had to be alternated because her system is too small to handle them all at once. We have been visiting twice a day (which is rather draining since the clinic is about 40 minutes away), and it seems to lift Okie Doke's spirits each time. This afternoon she was looking much better, and they allowed us to take her outside, which I think gave her a much-needed break. When we got there, we found they had put a little tube in her nose leading to her stomach. They had suctioned her stomach a couple of times, and found what the vet described to be mass amounts of horrible stuff, much of it blood, in her tummy. They have been treating her with something that is rather like a strong version of Pepcid AC to control the bleeding in her stomach, and for the moment it seems to be working. The vet also told me that all of her electrolytes, sugars, etc. were all at good levels now. All of her organs seem to be functioning correctly at this point as well. She is still having trouble thermo regulating, even with her heated cage, IV fluids, and rice sock. And now that the tube is in and her stomach is cleared, she is not longer vomiting as far as I know. So, that's the story to date. Sorry if it made you queasy. David and I are going to go up and see her here in a little bit. Keep praying for her, she is such a sweetie and we love her so much!

Okie Doke

Well, we were all set for another big traveling adventure (this time to the UK), but we are still here in Oklahoma dealing with an adventure of another kind. The littlest member of our family (that would be Okie Doke) became violently ill day before yesterday. She is currently at the critical care hospital in Oklahoma City, and we have been visiting twice a day. She is doing quite a bit better today, and I will post updates and details later. For the moment, here are a few photos from David's camera phone from our visit!

Please keep her in your prayers!