Phew…I got through a crisis.

Hey, look at that! I disappeared for a few days again…and do you know what that means? lol

I’ve been put through the ringer.

We took our pup, Marla, in for a routine spay procedure Wednesday morning, picked her up that evening and brought her home. The next morning at 530AM, my husband left for the airport on business and wouldn’t be back until Sunday. I fell back to sleep after he left, and woke up to Marla bleeding heavily from her abdomen, despite the incision still being intact. I rushed her back to the vet after being told to come back just so they could check on things, and they sent me home to wait for an update.

They reopened the incision to find that she had uncontrollable internal bleeding, most likely due to a surgical site being left unclamped or stitched up. They fixed whatever was bleeding, but saw that she was not clotting and was still showing a slow bleed. What they did not mention Wednesday evening was that upon the opening incision, they noticed abnormal bleeding. The doc did not make note of this in her records, so we brought her home blind to a problem.

So, after the second surgery to fix the bleed, they panicked at the fact that her hemocrit levels dropped drastically (15 points). Here’s the kicker: I got the panicked call from the vet just after I hung up with my mom who had explained that her doctors are sending her to a skin cancer specialist to have three areas removed that they’re positive are, in fact, trouble.  I lost it. I had to rush her from one clinic to the next, where they put her under for a third surgery to explore the possibility of an active bleeder elsewhere. Nothing was found, so I had to transport her to an emergency veterinary hospital to be monitored that night. She ended up needing an emergency plasma transfusion around 130 AM, because she was still not clotting and her blood counts were still decreasing. After that, her tests came back showing some stabilization. I had to transfer her from the emergency clinic back to her regular vet clinic on Friday morning, where they monitored her all day.

At one point, her levels dropped slightly and they mentioned another possible plasma transfusion. They thought she stabilized and didn’t need the transfusion, but wanted to monitor more overnight, so I transferred her back to the emergency clinic Friday night. Her levels dropped even more, and this time her red blood cell count dropped as well. So, they called at 1AM Saturday morning, asking for permission to perform a second plasma transfusion.

Because Marla had been showing signs of recovery (walking, finally wagging her tail, and using the bathroom), I made the decision to allow the second transfusion. I called my husband crying, sick to my stomach, and begging him to tell me I made the right decision for her, even though the cost of this entire crisis was going to be pretty hefty. He eased my mind with a sleepy “yes, of course you did, we’ll do everything we can”.

The next morning, things seemed to be stabilizing, but they were not going to release her until she was stable for 24 hours. Herrick, luckily, worked pretty hard and got an early flight home, and we went to visit her around 5PM Saturday evening. By that time, she still wouldn’t take food from anyone, but the moment she saw him, she looked brighter and more energetic. Of course, he’s the only one that got kisses.

After we left, she started eating her meals, drinking, and taking her medications orally instead of through her IVs. We called yesterday morning to find out that her counts were still stable and they felt that it’d be best to let her come home to recoup and be loved. On our way, though, we got a call from a technician, that we later found out relayed some test results incorrectly, that her counts dropped 4 points and they wanted to keep her. Luckily, we still drove out there to get her, because her levels were still on par with what she was showing for the last two days, and they didn’t feel the need to keep her.

Upon her arrival home, Marla has shown GREAT improvement. She’s eating more, drinking more, and even stealing pizza again. Haha. She’s running through the yard (slowly, of course), and she’s finding quiet recovery sleep in Maddie’s bed. (Luckily, it’s low enough to the ground that she’s not overexerting herself.)

When it rains, it pours, and it just HAD to happen when my husband was out of town. The word is that Marla has a rare blood disorder, whether it’s Von Willebrand’s or a hemophilia that she’s deficient in, we’ll find out. It just so happened that there was a mistake in the surgery on top of her disorder, and I’ll tell you one thing…

…I’m not sure how I’m even functioning at this point. I honestly feel like I got hit by a train. Haha. My back, my neck, my shoulders…they’re all sorts of messed up. I slept 12 hours the night Herrick got home, and I still feel like I need to catch up.

But one thing’s for sure:

We have a special pup on our hands…and the silver lining to Xenii being with the State Police now is that we prevented a future accident where they may have fought. If that had happened and Marla good bit, we would probably lose her solely to blood loss. Xenii probably would have been blamed, only because we wouldn’t have been aware of the real problem – a blood disorder. This is why I truly believe my foot got in the way for a reason. Things happen for a reason, and you’ll find that out if you give it time, you’ll know that reason.

I’m home!