Today has been an awful day. Actually, it started late last night. We had family in town for the holiday (I’ll talk about this some other time), and after dinner I noticed that Nugget was sitting on the floor and panting pretty hard. I checked her closely, and it didn’t seem like she was in any significant distress. Over the course of the evening, I kept watching her, and her labored breathing and panting continued. We called the emergency hospital, and based on their recommendations we decided not to bring her to the hospital. Over the course of the night, we called the hospital a few more times to ask questions about when we should worry. Right before we went up to bed, she refused to eat her food (and my dog NEVER skips out on food). I started to get especially concerned. At 4:30, Nugget woke up with a coughing/hacking sound and seemed very restless. She was no longer able to sleep, and she was back and forth between the bed and the floor every few minutes. Her panting was still fast and labored, neither one of us was sleeping, so I decided to just take her to the emergency hospital and make sure she was okay. I actually thought she was having a hair ball issue like last year, but that maybe it was blocking her breathing in some way.
Not a good day
Long story short…she is in congestive heart failure. There is fluid filling up in her lungs, and they put her in an oxygen tent and on diuretics to try and reduce the fluid and make her breathe more comfortably. The cardiologist is coming in to the office today and will examine her and run an echocardiogram. Based on that, we should know if her heart problem will be manageable with drugs or if this is it for her.
I left her at the hospital at 6:00 am to come home. I’ve checked on her several times, but I really don’t feel like they are keeping me sufficiently updated. I may just get in my car in a bit and drive back over there to get some answers if someone does not call me back soon.
When I got out to the car…I noticed that there was a HUGE dent in the front bumper. It was my husband’s car I was driving, and because of the location of the dent and the way I was parked, I’m fairly certain it must have happened the other day (on Sunday). So, on top of the fortune we are spending to try and save my dog, repairing the car will cost another small fortune. Oh…and I spoke to my midwife when I got home this morning, and it turns out that I failed my one hour glucose test (that I took on Friday). Yup – not good news. I’ve decided not to bother with the 3 hour test – I’ll just go on the gestational diabetes diet and monitor my sugar with the finger pricks (as appropriate).
So…can I crawl back in bed and hide? I still have to cook dinner for 8 tonight, and all I want to do is curl up and cry. Please no more bad news today.
I am so sorry. Hopefully you are getting good news about Nugget. My thoughts are with you.
I’m so sorry! What a terrible time. I hate days like that. Sometimes the best thing really is to just get back in bed and sleep it off like a bad dream. Good luck!