Hey Folks,
Just want to ask for y’all to be praying. It’s been a rough couple of days in several ways. First off, one of our RV slides broke and can’t be repaired here in El Paso. We could potentially find someone to fix it in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but that wouldn’t be until after Thanksgiving and it would be extremely spendy and our family would need an alternative place to stay while the repairs are done. As of right now, we are going to make do without it and try to avoid the time/resources necessary to repair. So our small living space just got smaller. Mom is a "space-organization" master though, so her skills combined with shipping two big boxes of belongings home, means we are in OK shape. Amazing how little you really can live with!
Much more concerning, Rosie was hospitalized yesterday and is being treated for Parvovirus... a virus with about 50-70% survival rate. She started getting sick on Monday night, shortly after eating a dehydrated chicken foot. So we automatically assumed she was reacting to that. Over the last few days, she continued to worsen with symptoms (diarrhea, vomiting, drooling, loss of appetite, etc..) pointing toward a potential obstruction in her gut.
On Wednesday afternoon, we took her to a vet in El Paso, which proved to be a horrible experience. They tested her for pancreatitis and the test came back negative, so they gave us antibiotics. The first issue is that we still didn't know what was going on, so why are we giving antibiotics? Secondly, the antibiotic had to be given with food...which Rosie had been refusing to eat since Monday. She couldn't even keep down water, much less food. Mom inquired as to how we were supposed to give her the antibiotic with food when she wouldn't eat, and the tech told us we needed to force feed her. Ugh! If we did that, the food and meds would all just come back up. The only benefit from the time and money we spent at that vet office was that they did rehydrate her, relieving concern for dehydration...at least for another day.
Thursday night, she became even sicker. Explosive diarrhea, raspy breathing, moaning, and constant drooling, with morning bringing bloody stools. This was the last straw and we drove farther into El Paso to take her to TLC Animal Hospital, who's reviews are stellar. Finding this place has proved to be an absolute blessing, for which we have been thanking God. They were very concerned by her symptoms and recommended hospitalization with plans for x-rays, bloodwork, IV fluids, and careful monitoring. After a sad good-bye to my little baby, they took her into the back and we returned to the RV without her. A few hours later, we received news notifying us that they were unable to complete X-rays since she couldn't keep down the Barium, but that her bloodwork showed that she had Parvovirus.
This was a hard blow, since parvovirus is a known killer in dogs. It also was very unexpected because they don't typically see Parvo in 4 year old dogs. Fortunately, Rosie isn't a puppy, so has a better likelyhood of fighting back. While we could bring her home and give her treatment, statistics show that at-home care gives the dog a 50/50 chance of survival while hospitalization increases her odds to 70%. Additionally, monoclonal antibodies have recently shown really good results with increasing survival odds with a speedier recovery. (Remember hearing about these during the COVID days?) The vet suggested this as an option, however they were out of them...but they kindly arranged for a manager to drive across town to locate some from another animal clinic. We are so grateful for these wonderful staff members who are doing everything they can to take care of dear little Rosie.
So now we are playing a waiting game. The morning update said that she was a little more alert today with slightly less drool. She didn't vomit all night and they are starting her on a liquid nutrition diet, since she hasn't eaten since Monday morning. Obviously they can't guarantee anything, but right now the vet thinks she does have a good chance of pulling through. They will be keeping her for sure until Saturday morning, potentially longer, but the next 24 hours will give us a good picture of how she's going to respond to the antibiotics and antibodies. For now, as wrong as it feels to leave our furry family member behind, we are headed to White Sands for a day or two. We can't help in any way by staying in El Paso, and we do have a time crunch for when we need to make it to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We will be receiving regular updates and if we can't pick her up as soon as she's ready to be released (believing the Lord will bring about her full healing), they also have a boarding option we can utilize if necessary. I hate driving away from where my baby is, but feel really good about the hands she's in... both God's and the TLC staff.
As if a horribly sick dog and a broken slide weren’t enough, we nearly got hit by a train at an intersection (cross bars didn't come down early enough to alert us to not drive onto the tracks!) and Dad lost his phone in Walmart (which we did recover, thankfully). Additionally, this city has a bit of a past for Mom…who came here with a friend back in the early 1990's. While driving into El Paso on a desert road at 10:00pm, they were actually the victims of a random drive-by shooting! The car pull alongside of them and shot at them and blew out the driver side window. Praise God neither Mom nor her friend where injured, but you can imagine how terrifying that was for them. Mom has stayed in touch with that friend every so often over the years, and was looking forward to hopefully seeing him while we were in town…only to just recently find out he actually passed away in late 2021. So she’s dealing with the shock and grief of that as well. All that to say, it’s been a rough time in El Paso, Texas for the D-Team, but we are trying to remember that God is in control and has a plan for everything.
In fact as I was writing in this post, I had music playing, but wasn’t really paying attention. In what I would call a God-Moment, a song on my playlist started and the lyrics stood out to me:
I have walked through days of plenty with the sunlight on my face I was thankful for God's mercy, for His goodness and His grace But then the pathway narrowed, I became this heart of stone Then I felt Him drawing nearer, "Child you never walk alone" God is good in the good times and better in the bad Oh I know He is unchanging, never will and never has But to me the more I need Him, the more my heart is glad God is good in the good times and better in the bad I have never once forgotten all about the many ways He's led me through the valleys of my deepest darkest days But when I'm lost in trouble and anxiety sets in In that moment of my weakness I'm reminded once again God is good in the good times and better in the bad Oh I know He is unchanging, never will and never has But to me the more I need Him, the more my heart is glad God is good in the good times and better in the bad
Wow. Such a timely reminder that even when times are bad, God is just as good as when life is great.
Until next time, God bless!
That's not good.
I'll be praying for sure.