For The Love Of Sydney

page 11

     People may ask after reading Sid's story, "Why didn't we take her to the emergency room?"   There is two answers for this question.  The vet informed us on, Thursday that if she needed surgery for this, ( so called blockage)  it would be costly, around one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars.  We were more then willing to pay this to save her life.  The emergency room is around five hundred dollars,  for the office visit and blood work.  Two hundred was spent on Thursday, to add another five would have taken half the money we needed for her surgery.

     The second reason is six years ago we had a another bad experience.  This time it was with the emergency room.  Our world was turned up side down after taking our beautiful, Sweet Pea to the emergency room.  He was a one year old brindle pit bull.  We loved him dearly, just as we did, Sydney.  He passed away four hours after bringing him home from the emergency room.  So, clearly dealing with the emergency room was out of the question.  At this time we were still under the understanding that we were dealing with a blockage, not Pyometra.  In the end the amount spent trying to save, Sydney came to the amount of $537.00.  Pretty crazy, am I right?  

     One week ago, today we lost our girl to Pyometra and yes I'm coming to terms with the horror she suffered.  Today, I bought a thank you card.  It will be mailed out tomorrow to the second vet who did his best to help.  He was so kind and understanding with our distress that day,  that he didn't bill us for the Euthanasia of, Sydney.  In my eyes, that is a doctor who truly cares.

     

For The Love Of Sydney

page 10

     With Sid no longer with us, our home is not the same.  It's so quite and still in here but not in my mind.  I'm still feeling a lot of anger for what had happen because it didn't have to end this way.  She was taken from us so suddenly and so young.  I know this sounds crazy but we're still breaking up over this little pup.  It's going to take a long time to put her memories to rest in my mind.  I know most people might say, (It was just a dog) to us she was our family.  

     Our other three dogs, Zues, Zoey and Dutches are missing her too.  When we came home Wednesday without, Sydney they knew something was wrong.  Zoey searched every room in the house looking for her sister.  She stared at us as if asking, "Well, where is she?  What did you do with her?"  For five days now she has done nothing but sleep.  The same goes for Zues, so I know they are depressed, lonely and confused.  I've heard over again that dogs have no compassion, no feelings.  This is not true, I witnessed the love and compassion Tuesday night when Zues tried his best to comfort Sydney in her last hours.  I see it today in the sadness in their eyes.  

     People please, if you take nothing else from Sydney's story, I beg you to be aware of who you put your trust in, in the time of an emergency.  Search for answers on the computer, ask your veterinarian a hundred questions and most important demand a simple blood test!   Don't walk out that door without a blood test.  You might not get a second chance.

For The Love Of Sydney

page 9

     The doctor walked in with the blood results in hand.  The somber expression on his face finally told the truth.  "Put her down! Please put her down!"  I cried out wrapping my arms around her entire body. Crying out of control, I whispered into her ear "I love you, Sydney.  Baby girl, I'm so,so sorry." 

     The doctor told us that Monday her blood was at 33 and today on Wednesday it's at 47.   That her kidneys and liver was already shutting down.  Her little heart was barely beating.  The doctor came back within 10 minutes with the shot to put her to her final rest.  

     Finally her suffering would stop.  I just pray she forgives us for making her suffer so long.  We both cried over her still body like two babies.  We cried for her suffering, for our loss and for the deep anger in our hearts.  This should not had happened and we both knew it, one simple blood test last, Thursday would have saved her life.   How could that first vet make such a huge mistake,  how did she miss the symptom's when I told her about the white and pink droplets.  Was she just too busy that day or did she just had a bad day that my poor dog had to suffer and die.  One simple bottle of antibiotics if started last, Thursday could have saved her all this pain.  One doctor who should have known better, who should have tried harder and cared more.  So there you go, Sydney's story has been told.  The tears run down my face this moment so please forgive me.  The loss of our baby will live in our hearts forever.  We will never forget her or what she went through this past week.  We have five wonderful years of memories of love, laughter and joy that we can cherish.  We are still blessed to have and love our Zues, Zoey and Dutches.                                                         If Sydney's story can help save one beautiful dogs life, I am grateful.  I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read and cry with me.                                                                                                                                                            God bless you and your pets.

     

For The Love Of Sydney

page 8

     Jim  fell to sleep on the couch around 5:00 a.m., I made another pot of coffee and watched the candle flicker in the dark kitchen.  The sound of the clock ticking seem to get slower with each loud tick.  I continue watching the blanket slowly go up and down.  Every time it seem to stop, I'd jump up to rub her back and head, pleading for her stay.  I guess, we as humans can become selfish in so many ways.  Just the thought of our own loss, our pain makes us deny the truth.  Why was I willing to let her suffer instead of letting her go in peace?  At least she would pass at home.  This was only home she'd ever known, the place where she had been loved for five years.

     The sunrise was nothing more then a blessing of relief.  She made it through the night.  We made it through the night together.   Maybe now, just maybe we'd have a chance.  Or had time already taken away our only chance?  Last Thursday, if she'd been put on antibiotics then she might of had a chance.  It's now been seven days and only two days of antibiotics.

      Wednesday morning, once again sitting in the vet's office begging for any kind of help.  Begging for answers because we know in our hearts she's out of time.  For a whole week we've been pleading for someone, anyone to help us save our baby.  The guessing game, the run around, the waiting, the watching her suffer was done today!  We had, had it and we demanded answers today.  Did she have any chance at all to live?  Yes or no, is all we asked for with tears running down our face.  

     The nurses held her still, trying to draw blood from her front left leg, on the first try the vein burst.  I was holding her backside talking to her trying to calm her down.   She turned her head back towards my voice, looking for her mommy.  Her bloodshot eyes pleading for me to make them stop.  Pleading for me to take her home were she could feel safe.  She was so far into dehydration that they couldn't get any blood.  After trying both front legs, both back legs and even from her neck.  I burst into tears because, we finally had the answer.  It was over, she's so far gone.  We were to late.  We had failed her, for the first and only time.

For The Love Of Sydney

page 7

     Tuesday evening around 9:00 p.m. Sydney was still fighting for her life. And the more I think about it the more I believe she was fighting more for us then herself.  She was still trying, even after all the pain she was feeling in her weak little body.  She was still trying her best to please us because she loved us that much.  Never once did she ever complain.   If anyone was to look at her, they'd never known she was so sick.  This sweet angel would continue to lick my face or hand as I lay beside her crying.

     The vet's office would open at 7:00 a.m.; I had to keep her alert and alive until then.  Our hope was to get her on an IV with antibiotics, to get her strong enough to have the, Ovariohysterectomy ("Spay.")  As She slept peacefully at beneath my arm, I could feel every faint breath she took.  I placed my hand on her tummy, it was becoming bigger, and I knew the infection was taking over, going into her bloodstream.  I lean over to kiss her gently as if it was my kiss goodbye.  I stared at her little gray face, her eyes, ears and nose just so I could remember and never forget.

     Long night ahead, 2:00 a.m. Jim and I refused to sleep.  Not even a single minute could be lost of loving and letting her know how much we adored her.  We'd both broke down crying as we tried to comfort her, she was shivering again in her sleep. When suddenly Sid's father,  Zues slowly walked over to us sitting on the floor.  Sid, lay between us on her pillow, beneath her blanket.  He must have heard our whimpers.  He licked Jim's face and then Sydney's.   As if telling her to get up and play.  He licked her ears, and eyes and smelled her breath.  He knew, I swear to you, Zues knew she was dying.  He walked over her body to her right side and lay beside her gently laying his head on her neck.  He let out a quite sigh as if saying, "I'm here, you can go now."

    

For The Love Of Sydney

page 6

     The infection was still flowing leaving a mess on the sheets, towels and blankets.  This made me happy to see, I know this seems strange but as long the pus was draining it means her cervix is open. This is called open Pyometra, we want the pus to drain from her uterus. When this happens the pus is also found under the dogs tail and on bedding or furniture.  With a closed cervix, the pus is unable to drain and it collects in the uterus causing the abdomen to distend.  While the bacteria releases toxins that are absorbed into the bloodstream.  Dogs with closed Pyometra become severely ill, listless and very depressed.

      Five hours had past since she took her first antibiotics.  I lay beside her petting her tummy and talking to her until she finally feel to sleep.  At 2:00 p.m. she slowly got up and walked towards the back door, I let her outside to go potty.  When she came back inside she gulped down some water.  Within a few minutes she started vomiting up the water.  She lowered her head as if saying "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."  I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her neck, kissing her and telling her that it was o.k.

     It was down hill from the point, I called the vet and told them that she is now vomiting up her water.  They told me that she may have drank to much to quickly. Try to get her to drink slow and to put time in between the drinking.  She seem to want more and more water, it was heartbreaking not being able to give it to her when she wanted to drink. But, it seem to be working she kept the water down for the rest of the day.     Until 7:00 p.m. the water started coming back up.  From the point on she couldn't keep pedialye or water down, even small amounts came right back up.   The vet had closed at 6:00 p.m. once again we were on our own.

      Dehydration was now my concern, how do I keep her from dehydration?   Even worse trouble was the infection seem to be less and less, her cervix was starting to close.

For The Love Of Sydney

page 5

     The Sydney we all knew and loved was slowly disappearing right before our eyes.  That bright light that once shinned so bright was now gray and distant.  It was if she was giving up any hope that we were going to save her little life.  As if she'd begged for our help and now she's given up on us all together.  Oh my God, the pain we felt watching her drift farther away.  We had to be strong for her sake and ours we couldn't give up hope. We couldn't give up on her.  We were still hanging on to hope that one day she'd be welcoming us home from a hard days work.  The love from our dogs could brighten up any kind of day no matter how bad it had been.  They made it all worth it and I wasn't about to loose one of them.

     Tuesday morning time for Sydney's first pill.  Trouble I thought, how she won't eat anything.  I climbed out of bed, wiped my eyes and went towards the kitchen.  The first thing that came to mind was cheese, I'll try putting it in cheese.  I put a small amount under her nose just so she could smell it.  Her big eyes looked up at me and then she turned her head.  I called her name softly begging her to try.  A few moments later she slowly took the cheese from my hand.  I smiled and hugged her tenderly telling her how good she was, while placing the pill into another piece of cheese.  "Here baby, have some more." I whispered, as she turned her head away.  "Please, try." I begged her again.  No response, not even a glance towards my voice.

     Fine, cheese is not doing it lets try peanut butter.  I put the pill in the peanut butter, she turned her head.  "You love peanut butter." I told her petting the top of her head.  "O.k. peanut butter is out for today.  Maybe tomorrow."

I walked back into the kitchen and opened a can of soft dog food.  The first piece without the pill.  Slowly she ate the food, then she looked up as if asking for more.  I put the pill in and she ate it along with four small bites.

     You have no idea on the joy I felt by seeing her eat such a small amount.  That was enough for me, it was a wonderful feeling.  For the first time in a week she ate something.  Maybe later she'd eat more, and tomorrow more.  Thank, God our girl was on her way back.  I couldn't be any happier then I was that minute.