Once again, there's never really a boring moment in this house (or out of it)!!
We noticed last week that Hank wasn't eating like he usually does (finishes his entire bowl by 9a), but didn't concern ourselves too much. However, that continued. So, B put some coconut oil on his food and he ate that day, very quickly! So, we were thrilled! The next day, we repeated the coconut oil and he ate most of his food. However, Sunday night he started to dry heave! Then, Monday morning, he started to vomit and that continued all day. He has been known to eat Miss P's socks since she was born. Thus, we are used to this routine on occasion. However, as the evening progressed, we knew this was different.
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| Our sweet little man!! |
As soon as B awoke Tuesday morning, he called our vet and they got him in immediately. He had lost almost five pounds. They did an x-ray and blood work. They couldn't see much on the x-ray and the blood work indicated Pancreatitis. Our vet warned us that Pancreatitis is usually fatal. He wanted us to get to an emergency clinic immediately. So, B drove us to the specialty clinic. B had a work appointment and so Mom met me at the clinic so that B could leave.
The doc told us that most of his labs could be attributed to his seizure medication. So, she wasn't as concerned about the labs/pancreatitis, but she wanted to do an ultrasound to see if there was a blockage that the x-ray missed. She told us it would take at least an hour and would cost more than we spend monthly on all of our utilities. She said there wasn't reason for us to wait and she would call once they were finished. So, Mom ran me to a nearby grocery store to try to complete my grocery trip for the week. As we were checking out, we received a call that Hank was ready and our suspicion was proven that he clearly had something obstructing his stomach!!
So, we got back to the hospital quickly. At this, she came in and gave us our options. We could do incredibly invasive surgery and they could cut his abdomen open and then start digging through his stomach to make sure they could find any and everything. Or, we could attempt endoscopy. They would need to anesthetize him and send a camera down his throat, into his stomach, and see what they could find. Then, they would go in with another tool and try to pull it out. This was much less invasive and had a much quicker recovery. He could even come home the same day.
When we found out how much this would cost (all of our household bills for a month), it made the decision so difficult. This is our little man. We've had him since our first year of marriage!! He has become P's protector and tried to sleep outside of her bedroom door as often as we will allow. He seems to know when I'm going to have a seizure. He is just such a precious gift to our family from the Lord!!
B was finishing his appointment and so I called him and cried for a while as I tried to make this decision for our family and our sweet little fur ball.
We love this little guy so much and can't imagine not having him with us. So, after conversations with our vet, B, Mom, the doc, and then, most importantly, the Lord (I know I had it out of order); we moved forward with the endoscopy. At this point it is late in the afternoon and my heart is broken that he is going to have to go through this surgery. I continue stalling, just hoping that he'll throw it up as he had typically done.
Then, we called in the Chief of Staff at the clinic and got his opinion and had a nice discussion with him. If you can believe it, all of this delay was helpful. My delay in deciding what to do, gave the outside radiologists a chance to finish reading Hank's films. When the radiology techs were taking some more x-rays, they happened to get some of Hank's chest, not just his abdomen. Due to this, the radiologist happened to notice a tumor/growth in Hank's lung, that even the doc had missed.
It could be cancer. It could be benign. It could be brand new. It could be ten years old. They have no idea and it would require very frightening surgery for them to just be able to do a Fine Needle Aspiration. So, back to prayer. We are just supposed to pay close attention to noticeable changes.
They sent us home at this point saying he wouldn't be ready until close to 9p. We got back in time to meet P at school! She was immediately asking for him. Rudder was singing at the top of his lungs (aka: weeping and gnashing of teeth) when we returned home and P noticed it was different without Hank at home. All of these events confirmed that we made the right decision.
So, I began to prep everything for our Bible Study/small group that would be joining us for the evening. Within a few minutes of returning home, the phone chimed with a call from the doc. The surgery went very well and he handled it much better than she expected AND they found the problem!!!!
HELLO KITTY!!!!
Yes, Hank ate another one of Pierson's socks. However, this one was lodged much deeper in his stomach than the others (this is why they believe he wasn't able to get it out on his own).
I thought I got a good deal on these socks since they were in the dollar section at Target!!!
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| BEFORE!! |
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| AFTER!!! |
Thus, the most expensive sock purchase we've ever made!!!! As B put it, it was starting to compete with the price for his senior boots!!!
Then, as the doc went further, she found that one of P's dolls was missing an important undergarment!!!
How in the world he ate all of that, whole? How he survived? It is all amazing!! Thank you, Lord!!!
The doc said she would call after he was up and walking around and then she like to give them another hour or so. However, she called back soon after and said he was improving much faster than expected and we could come get our little man!!!
We were so blessed through the whole process. It was a blessing that Mom was able to be there to step in while B had his appts. Then, it was a blessing that Hank survived. Then, it was a blessing that we each celebrated a birthday and had a little bit of cash from family and precious friends that we were able to use to help with the cost of his surgery. We still have some saving to do in order to pay it off completely. However, P's reaction and Rudder's reaction when Hank returned home was priceless!!!!
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Roman 8:28
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