Marley -n- Me

My husband, Russ, and I drove Marley straight to MSU Veterinary Center in East Lansing.  He had joined me at that point with it encroaching on midnight. And he agreed. We couldn’t let her go out like this.  She was our tough girl.  It was a stressful car ride.  She didn’t want to move.  She didn’t want to pick up her head.  Car rides are one of her most favorite things in the world and there was nothing in her body that elicited any kind of enjoyment.

We pulled up to MSU Veterinary Center about 2AM and they came running out with a stretcher.  The Vet and his tech picked Marley up and put her on the stretcher and whisked her away into another door while we went to check-in.  After 30 minutes or so, the doctor came in to discuss Marley.

They had stabilized her and put in a new IV with fluids.  He was going to get her some good pain meds and she would be evaluated first thing in the morning once the full staff was in.  He said “You are in the right place.  We have every kind of specialty represented here.  This is where Marley needs to be.”  And within 15 minutes, we walked out of MSU without even getting to say Goodbye to our girl.  I got it.  The key was getting her stabilized.  She was where she needed to be now.

Within 12 hours, we had a diagnosis: Pancreatitis and Pneumonia.

I was both relieved and, again, pissed off that this diagnosis was missed at the previous clinic that had her hospitalized.  But I did my best not to focus on that.  Marley was in the right place NOW and that was what mattered.  A feeding tube was placed the same day.  Her bloodwork continued to be monitored.  She was started on a new slew of medications.  And she slowly gained strength for the next three days.  MSU was about an hour and a half drive from us so I could only see her once a day.  But I braved the afternoon traffic every day (minus an onslaught of expletives every dang drive) to go see her.  The 3-4 hour round trip drive was worth the 15-20 minutes of time to lay with her and see her face and scratch those ears.

Marley -n- Me Hanging at MSU

On the fourth day, the Vet called for her afternoon check-in and said the last step was getting Marley to eat again.  Her bloodwork was continuing to improve but her eating was the last step to be able to release her.  I decided to take Marley’s boy with me to see if she would conjure up some strength to eat for him.  They have a special bond and love for one another.  As a Mother to both the two-legged and the four (three!)-legged variety, my greatest happiness is the true love and respect that my human son has for my furry children.  If anyone could entice her to eat, it was him.  I wasn’t really expecting her to start eating.  She had refused for the staff since she had been hospitalized.  I had started doing the research of what it was like to have a dog with a permanent feeding tube, thinking this was the next logical step.  Marley had now been EIGHT DAYS without food.  Her current feeding tube had only been providing Clinicare, a liquid nutritional supplement.

We pulled up to MSU and I was actually the most nervous sitting in the waiting room.  This would determine some next big steps…

And then much to my surprise this happened:

Marley Eating for Her Boy

And this:

Marley Eating for Her Boy

And this:

Marley -n- Her Boy Love

And, of course, this:

Marley -n- Her Boy Love

Our girl was back.