Annie on the Mend

Whew! It has been the craziest couple of weeks. Last week was probably one of the most stressful weeks of my life. Here's the long story:

Three weeks ago we took Annie to the vet because she had some weird little lumps all over the place. I had changed her food to a new organic blend, so our vet looked at her, diagnosed it as hives and sent us home with a prescription steriod for her. Fast forward one week. Annie starts limping and by Wednesday morning, can barely get out of her crate. Trip number two to the vet reveals a soft tissue injury, but no break. They also re-checked the weird lumps and found a sore on her that had some yeast, so we went home with another round of steriods, anti-biotics and pain medication.

Fast forward to last week. She starts limping again, but now two paws appear lame - her front right and her back left. She can barely walk. So that puts us at last Monday (8/20) and another trip to the vet. We end up with full body x-rays, blood work, cytology for the lumps and a fungal titer. $725. Ouch. The vet suspects some craziness called Blastomycosis. Tuesday morning the vet calls back - bloodwork is normal. By Tuesday afternoon, Annie is having trouble breathing. It was SO scary. I stayed up pretty much all night Tuesday into Wednesday and rushed her to vet as soon as they opened on Wednesday. I felt like I was laying at home watching my dog die.

Ended up that yes, Annie has Blastomycosis. It's a fungal infection that dogs inhale from spores of dirt. It's deadly. We really thought we were going to lose her. She spent all day Wednesday through Friday hospitalized. Friday after lunch she came home. She is doing so much better now, but we still have a long road ahead of us. She is on an anti-fungal med and will need to be for at least 6 months. That medication can damage her liver so we have to check that frequently.

She is now barking and looking out the window like her old self. She gets winded pretty easily, but doesn't seem to be in pain, which is great!

6 months

Well we made it to six months! HDog hasn't been dropped on his head, or met any other unfortunate fate, so I think we are all surviving! At his six month check-up he was 15 lbs 4 oz (25%) and 28 1/2 inches (95%)! Things he does these days:

- Sleeps through most nights 7:30 p.m. until 6 a.m.
- Babbles a few consonants, including what kinda sounds like Mama

- Tries like mad to crawl, pulls his knees up under him like crazy, but

also gets frustrated because he can't get anywhere!
- Blows raspberries

- Enjoys time in his Exersaucer, but gets frustrated when he can't get

things in his mouth

- Can sort of situp, tripod style for short periods of time

- We moved to the Britax carseat a while ago (around 5 mths), no

more infant seat for H!

- Started solids last week, just some rice cereal, but he is already

eating the full 1 TBLs, not without a lot of mess on his face though

- Loves to be outside, just stepping out on the deck will calm him down

- No teeth yet, but he is drooling up a storm!

Annie is one smooth dog.

So last night I got up to feed Henry and when I put him back down he was wide awake. So needless to say, we were awake for nearly an hour from 4-5 a.m.

Annie was just at the vet yesterday and got some meds for hives. So she was sleeping with us last night since she took new meds. She was sort of moving around and wouldn't settle while Henry was crying. So I grabbed her so she would spoon with me. That lasted a few minutes and she flipped over and put her back against Zach (leaving me w/her scratchy paws - thanks!). Then, she wiggled her whole body further upward until......she got her head onto Zach's pillow!!!! I started laughing! Zach just bought this crazy expensive pillow that he loves and the dog wants a piece!

Last night was not her first adventure in sleeping with a pillow:

And no, I did not put her there!