We spent our Monday with Morie almost exactly like we spent last Monday…at least I think it was Monday, all my days seem to run together. I have to stop and try to think what day what happened because we spent most of the week taking care of and/or worrying about Lily.

Lily went to the vet the first time last Monday. There she was diagnosed as having an infection in her elbow and given some nasty antibiotics, which she refused to take. Have you ever tried to pry open the jaws of a dog who didn’t want to open their mouth? It’s not easy and when I would get enough clearance to try and stuff the pill into her mouth, hold her chin up, stroke her throat, etc., she would just end up spitting it out. So needless to say, she was not getting the medicine she needed to combat the infection.

On Tuesday evening, we ended up taking her to the emergency vet where they treated her for the infection, lanced the swelling and sent us home. We got home around 1:00 a.m. The rest of that day, I kept an eye on her and I didn’t like at all what I was seeing. The puncture the vet had made in the swelling was continually draining (which, of course, was a good thing) but was really hard to deal with. Thank goodness for hydrogen peroxide. By Thursday morning, she had thrown up three times during the night, had refused to eat or drink and the fur on her elbow was peeling off. My husband had gone to work but before he left I told him that if I called him, he had to come home. By 8 a.m, I was afraid that Lily was dying. She was lying listlessly on the floor and barely responded to me but she would wag her tail a little. I called the vet and told them we had to bring her in and at first, they said they didn’t have any appointments available. I resorted to begging and because I was crying, I think they felt sorry for me. They told me to bring her in and they would work her in. We took her in shortly after that but it wasn’t until 2 p.m. that the vet called us and said he felt she needed to be hospitalized and given fluids and intravenous antibiotics….to the tune of $1200. But, she’s our baby, at least one of them so I told them to go ahead. It turned out that her kidney function was reduced and the vet was concerned that she was in kidney failure. We really didn’t know if we were going to bring her home or not.

Blessedly, by the end of the 48 hour hospitalization, her kidney function had returned to almost normal and when we picked her up Saturday afternoon, she seemed to be in good spirits.

Because of the Covid-19 bullshit (can you tell how I feel about it), we hadn’t been able to talk to the doctor when we picked her up Saturday afternoon. The technician who brought her out to us at the truck only said that her elbow was still draining. I can’t remember now if she told us why it wasn’t wrapped or not. We got her home and she was out in the back yard and even wanted to play with her basketball, which I don’t know why she chooses that ball as opposed to a tennis ball. I even sat down in the grass to take a selfie with my husband and the girls in the background. It was after that picture that I turned around and realized Lily had a gaping 3″ hole in her elbow. I was appalled. I went in the house and call the vet’s office and inquired why we weren’t told about this gaping wound and the receptionist I talked to said they hadn’t wrapped it because I had told them I was a little concerned about the mounting cost and for them to wrap it, would be $30. Oh my god.

While Lily was hospitalized, the vet called several times a day to give us updates on her condition. I think he was worried that her health may be failing and the infection had permanently affected her kidneys. One thing he said was that he wanted us to bring Lily back on Monday so he could show us how we could do the epidural fluid infusions he wanted her to have daily for the next week. And lucky for us, my daughter is a nurse and my son is a paramedic. When I called the office to make the appointment, the receptionist didn’t seem to know what I was talking about and by then I was getting a little pissy. We had wracked up about $2,000 in vet bills. She said she didn’t know how it would be possible for the vet to show us how to do the infusion since no one was allowed inside the building (again, bullshit). When we got to the animal hospital, the vet ended up coming out to the truck and he and his technician treated her there and wrapped her wound. He said at the time that he felt that next week we could bring her in and have the wound sutured otherwise it would take a long time for the gaping wound to heal.

So, by now, Thursday, she is doing well, It’s difficult to keep the elbow wrapped, but we’re doing the best we can and my daughter the nurse has been coming over to do the infusion. Good thing too because I can’t do it…I can’t even look at it.

Our fur baby seems to be recovering. I’m so thankful.