Sweet Darla

We have had many sleepless nights over the last week since Darla came down with a nasty gastrointestinal infection. She was so sick...Poor baby's stomach was miserably upset with frequent (and many times bloody) diarrhea, she wouldn't eat (she wouldn't even accept treats!) and was very, very lethargic. She would offer up a tail wag and kisses if you came to her, but that was about all that she could muster the energy for since last Monday night. After two trips to the Vet, 5 different medications around the clock, and still no improvement, she was admitted to the Veterinary Clinic on Saturday morning. It broke my heart to leave her, but the Vet felt that she needed some gut rest, intravenous fluids and some blood work to help determine the issue. Fortunately, the X-Ray that she had earlier in the week ruled out ingestion of any foreign objects (I was so worried after all my sewing projects that she might've gotten a hold of a pin :-().

I just got off the phone with the on-call Veterinarian and it seems that Darla is doing much better! The doctor believes she had a severe case of gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach). They are still unclear as to how she got this disease; common causes include: food intolerance, parasites, bacterial infection and cancer. She has gotten several doses of IV antibiotics, she is eating readily and has her energy back! We are just waiting on her morning blood work to determine that her protein level is improved as it was lower than it should be from her lack of food over the last several days. I should be able to bring her home tomorrow!

Nick and I are scheduled to travel back to California...Nick will be coming this weekend after he returns home (YAY!!!!) and I'm actually supposed to leave tomorrow to drive to Indiana to fly to California with Kris and her kiddos on Tuesday. JP has so graciously offered to look after Molly and Darla for us while we are away. We have been trying to come up with all of our back-up plans should Darla still need continued Veterinary monitoring here in Tennessee...For now, all we can do is pray that she regains her health and feels like herself as soon as possible. Nick and I have been so worried about Darla this past week, I can't even imagine how difficult it is to have a sick human child...


Dad and Darla, sleeping buddies and kindred spirits :)