Tragedy Strikes and a Miracle Happens

Taking Lisa back to my house for the night was relatively uneventful. My boys, Tedi & Tyler, are incredible foster brothers. While intensely curious about the newcomer, they still gave her space as if almost sensing Lisa was special. Penny also briefly stayed at my house prior to going on to her new family, and that was Tedi's first time acting as foster brother. I was quite impressed by him having never seen him in the role prior. Tyler, the other Son of Anarchy, is very experienced at dealing with these "other dogs" and naturally does a great job. Lisa was very cautious about the house. She liked walking around it though. Walk here, walk there and back again. Not being a housebroke dog, this activity keeps you on your toes!

The next morning off to the dog dentist we go! Lisa handles the car okay, although you can tell it's a new experience for her. I don't think she's made up her mind if she likes it or not. Lisa's time at the dentist goes by quickly and I get the call to pick her up. On our way back home, I hear her in the crate beginning to vomit - or at least the sounds of that. Getting the car off the freeway, I get to safe spot, stop and check on her. When I look, there's nothing there - no vomit, no bile, just some saliva. She had stopped so I figured perhaps she's carsick and with an empty tummy, there's nothing there to come out. I give her a few minutes and she seems fine otherwise so I get back on the road and head home.

We get back to the house, I put her in the crate and begin to make dinner when I hear those same sounds again. Gosh, she's gonna throw up again. This time, she seemed panicky. I kinda figured maybe it was a reaction to the anesthesia and she was having a hard time recovering (not knowing where she was, confusion, etc.) so I take all the dogs outside. It was then I got my first definitive warning sign -- I saw excessive foamy drool and saliva on the corners of her mouth. I called the dentist's office - got their voicemail. I called the surgical tech's cell phone number that he gave me - got his voicemail. I turn around and Lisa had walked a little bit away from me, when I caught up to her I saw her stomach and entire midsection was blown up like balloon. OMG!!!! She's BLOATING!!

I had never in the 18+ years of ever having dogs never had a dog bloat on me before. Thankfully, I recognized the symptoms as quickly as I did. Guess I did retain some of those wonderful health articles I read each month in the Bagpipes! When I re-tell this story, I tell people I panicked. I literally had a panic attack. Now, I'm not one who panics, I leave that to others. I'm a person of action, while others are standing around with their hands on their faces and mouths open. Well, I must have mentally smacked myself in the face and told myself to get it together, cuz I snapped out it somehow! I grabbed my trusty iPhone, got to the web and typed emergency vet and my town's name. I didn't even spell the name of my town correctly, but Google figured it out what I meant. The first hit was a vet's office not 10 minutes from house. They were still open and specialized in emergency situations having 2 e-vets on staff. I called them and told them I had a dog that's bloating and we're coming in!

Don't ask me how I drove there, but I did. I've driven in emergency situations before and frankly, I don't like it. I do remember taking my Toyota Highlander off road for a bit on the short hike over there. At Angel Veterinary Center, we were met by Doctor Hassler. She immediately went to work on Lisa, whose poor tummy looked like it was going to explode it was stretched so tight. She looked like she was pregnant. Xrays confirmed bloat, but not the usual images were seen. After several attempts at inserting a gastric tube failed, the Dr. Hassler's initial diagnosis was confirmed, Lisa's stomach had twisted the opposite direction. Emergency surgery was needed to save her life. With prayers said, I agreed to the surgery.

My husband joined me at the vet's office and together we waited and prayed. I couldn't help but cry as I sat waiting for any news. I refused to believe that God would bring Lisa this far only to have it all end like this. "I know you have something special in mind for her, Lord." I kept praying. If you know anything about dogs and bloat, you know there's a 50/50 chance they'll survive the surgery and that the dogs still aren't out of the woods even if they do survive the surgery. Not knowing her previous health history and knowing that her age was working against us, the odds were not stacked in our favor. Some might have just put her down rather than go through with the surgery, but I saw so much potential left in her I had to give her that chance. With the odds stacked against her, I never gave up hope or faith that she would pull through.

The door opened to the exam room and Doctor Hassler appeared. She had a calm look on her face so it was hard to read how things went; gotta love the professionalism. Lisa had not only survived the surgery, she did flawlessly throughout it. There was no damage done to her stomach or spleen. There was very little fluid in her stomach, too. She was stapled stem to stern, but she made it over the first major hurdle. Thank you, Jesus!