The weekend from hell
Friday at 7 pm, I'm working from home, it's 90 degrees outside and I'm trying to work until 8. I notice that Alice is panting. Hard. Stupid me, I had a flashback to when Bagel was with us and he panted like that from the heat. I'd given him a bath and it cooled him off so I tried the same thing with Al. Only she wasn't hot, she had pneumonia again, the third time in a year. She emerged from her bath shivering and breathing hard.

I rushed her to the doggie ER, where they didn't even talk to me, they just whisked her off to an oxygen cage. I walked away, her leash in my hand and couldn't quite get to my car before I starting crying. She spent 24 hours in that cage, getting IV antibiotics and various treatments. We went by Saturday at noon to visit her, she was still breathing hard and couldn't wait to get back inside to the oxygen cage. Saturday night, we picked her up and settled the $1163.00 bill. The doctor there wanted us to consider removing the lobe of her lung that's been having the problem, since it never really cleared up. That is our last resort.

She still wasn't breathing very well and we debated at length about whether or not to take her back to the ER, but eventually decided to just let her sleep in our room, that she was wiped out and needed to rest. She settled down next to me, still breathing a bit hard. At 5 am, I woke up and reached to pet her, to make sure she was still with us.

She didn't move. Her skin was warm, but she wasn't moving. I called her name and she didn't respond. I called Andrea's name, she did respond. I reached to turn on the light and by the time I reached back to Alice, she had stirred ever so slightly. Even then, she could barely do more than lift her head. I said the magic word (treat) and even that only got her up a little, not into the full run that it usually provokes. We spent the rest of the night in the office, her on the futon with me, me laying awake, listening to her breathe and praying (yes, praying) to every saint and every person (and Ellie) I've lost to watch over her and help that lobe clear. I finally fell asleep only to be awaked at 8 am (on a Sunday!) by some yahoo wanting to adopt a beagle.

The antibiotics are starting to kick in, by the end of yesterday, she was arroooing on the phone to Melinda. We're now sitting with her 3 times a day in the bathroom with a humidifier, then clapping her on the back to loosen the gunk in her lungs. She hates it but if it can save her lung (and her life), that's what we'll do.

If you pray, please keep Alice's little lung in your prayers. If you think good thoughts, please think good thoughts for Alice. If you do anything that connects you with any outside force that might be able to help Alice's lung clear, please make that connection on her behalf. She may be almost 12, but she's still got a lot of living to do.