Sept 26, 8:30pm- Well it has been a LONG 24 hours.
Last night around this time Baylor started acting different. He was not
responding to us calling him, he was pacing, panting, and would not eat/drink.
I laid on the floor and he was just staring off. I was shocked at his
restlessness despite some pain meds we gave him. His symptoms were different than
anything I have ever seen him do. All I can say is that Baylor is like another
child to me, and Mama knows when something is not right. So, I started
researching symptoms and followed my gut that it may be "Bloat". Charles rushed him to a 24hr hospital at 12:30am. They had
him diagnosed with bloat and prepped for surgery within 14 minutes. The doc and
team were so kind and called us along the way every few hours until he was
stable at 6:45am. In the surgery they untwisted his stomach and stapled it in
place, checked out other organs, and removed his spleen due to numerous nodules
on it. We have to wait about a week to get results from pathology on the
nodules, but he is stable. I saw him around 1pm today for about 10 minutes as he is
on pain meds with IV and I did not want him to be disconnected long. After
school, the whole fam got to go visit and he was much perkier and even gave us
a little tail wag! He is still groggy, but we are praying he gets to come home
tomorrow. Prayers for our furry boy to feel better and have a quick recovery.
We love our Bay-bay and want him home to snuggle with.
Sept 27, 7:00pm- Guess
who is home?! Baylor is doing great thanks to all the prayers! Still a lil groggy,
but walking a little, wags his tail, drinking small amounts of water and even
eating slowly! We have lots of medicine to give throughout night...BUT OUR BABY
IS HOME!
Sept 29, 7:30pm- Heartbroken.
Tonight we ask for prayers for our baby Baylor. Those of you who are blessed to
have fur babies know how much space they take up in our hearts. He has held our
hearts for almost 12.5 years and we simply will not give up. He has been there
through every tear, snuggled every moment we needed him, made us laugh, helped
raise 2 babies (lets face it, sometimes he gave me 'the look' to remind me they
needed diaper changes), and taught us more than we ever thought. When I got home from work today, I found him in terrible
condition. A neighbor taking a jog helped me load him into the car so that I
could take him back to ER. They are running lots of tests, sonograms, x-rays,
bloodwork, etc. We just called and he is resting "comfortable". Doc
will call at 6am with updates unless we are needed before then. Please pray for
healing and that God's will is carried out. We love this lil man so much!
Sept 30, 6:47am: Doc
called twice during night and he is stable. Will likely not come home today,
but we can visit throughout the day. They are giving him fluids through IV, and
nutrients through a tube in nose. All major tests (including white blood count)
came back normal. Still waiting on pathology report for spleen
and no real answers on the loss of limb activity, but he was able to stand on
own and walk a bit for doc. So, that may be attributed to pain meds,
dehydration, and not eating for almost 2 days. I feel good about his progress
so far and can't wait to snuggle our stinky boy during a visit today. Words
cannot express how treasured he is.
Sept 30, 12:30pm: We got a chance
to visit Baylor in the hospital. He
appeared very drugged, but knew we were there.
I even got a few kisses. It hurts
my heart to know he is not eating and had to have a nutritional tube put in
that runs from his nose directly into his stomach. To keep him from pulling it out, he also has
to wear the cone of shame. Talk about
not fun! He did stand for a few seconds,
but fell over and was not steady on his feet.
We are not sure why he is having so much trouble these last few
days. To make matters worse, because he
cannot stand, he is using the restroom all over himself. I wish we could take all this stuff off him,
have a warm bath at home and just cuddle together. It was hard to say goodbye, but we could only
stay for a few minutes due to his IV medications. Hoping he has a good afternoon and we will
see him tonight.
Sept 30, 5:30pm:
We had picked up the kids from school and just gotten to HEB when we
received a call from the vet. She broke
our hearts stating that Baylor was continuing to decline. She mentioned he still was not eating,
standing, or doing anything on his own. She
said we could visit at any time and we decided to wait an hour until the new
staff shift change took place as we had grown close to Dr. Blair and she has
been treating Baylor ever since the bloat surgery Sunday night.
Sept 30: At exactly 9:03pm our family lost our most faithful
member Baylor. Baylor was the most joyful and young hearted 12 year old
standard poodle you could ever imagine. Making a decision to let him go was
both heartbreaking and peaceful at the same time. We knew by the look in his
eyes he was ready tonight. Praise the Lord for answering our prayers for
clarity in decisions. Thank you to everyone for the calls, texts, and messages
over this past week. There are no words for the pain we feel, but I am 100% positive that he is with Daddy in
Heaven and doing all his tricks for popcorn. Our house has an awkward silence
without his nails walking on the laminate floors and I am staring at his empty
bed with tears. He was our world and we could never repay him for his love and
faithfulness. I know I have asked for a lot of prayers already, but if you
could continue to pray for healing and comfort that would be appreciated.
Watching the kids mourn is a tough thing. My prayer for
every single person reading this is that you find your animal in life and love
it with all your heart like we found in Baylor. Animals will reward you many
times over with love, patience, laughter, and faithfulness. So, whether it is a
dog, cat, bird, horse, snake, hamster, etc...find that animal in life and love
it.
To our sweet Baylor, I know you are running in Heaven
with your ears flapping in the wind. You truly lived life as if the gate was
left open every day. We love you so much Bay-bay. You can never be replaced in
our hearts and one we cannot wait to give you treats and hugs one day
soon. Say hello to those in Heaven and always
remember what a special companion you were.
All the way around the world and back again...us 4.
