Let me just cut to the chase: Lolli's home! And we are very, very thrilled!
Ok, now I'll back up to where I left off Saturday night.
I woke up early-ish Sunday morning and immediately called the animal hospital to check on Lolli. Her stats were continuing to improve but she still had zero interest in eating any food. The person I spoke to on the phone encouraged me to bring any special food she liked with us when we came to visit.
We weren't able to make it over there until after church, so it was about 1:00 when we arrived. Unfortunately, we had to wait in the waiting room for a little while. Fortunately, there were plenty of pamphlets for us to read.
Eventually they called us back and we got to hang out in a private room with our sweet girl. She was so excited, she immediately squatted down and let out a bucket of tee-tee. :) Actually, that was probably from all the fluid she's been getting.
We brought with us a baggie of her dog food and some dog treats, but just in case those didn't work, we also had a slice of cheese and a baggie of Katie Wynn's cheerios.
It was really strange because she was SO excited to see the food but after the first bite, she just wouldn't eat any of it. She would occasionally lick it in my hand but never actually pick it up to eat. We were really bummed out.
After about a thirty minute visit, we could tell Lolli was getting really tired. Plus, our toddler was getting antsy in the room. She can only rearrange the two chairs so many times, you know?
We watched her get loaded back into her cage with her heating pad and gave kisses and waved bye-bye. The tech said she laid her head on the side of the wall as if she was sad when we walked away. Talk about heartbreaking!
As we left, we hoped for her stats to continue to improve and for her to gain an appetite. We didn't want her to have to stay on the IV much longer.
The emergency animal hospital that we were at is only open when normal vets' offices are closed. That means they closed at 8am Monday morning and Lolli had to be picked up no later than 7:30. In an attempt to get everyone to daycare/work on time, Matt was up early this morning and out the door by 5:30 to go pick her up. He really is the best daddy, even to our fur baby.
He arrived back home shortly before seven, just as I received a text from Sarah, our vet tech. She wanted to remind us that the hospital should have a blood sample to send home with us and not to let them forget. We immediately checked the bag they gave Matt and sure enough, there was no blood sample included. So frustrating! This blood sample was taken before the meds were started and would act as a baseline to compare for the Addison's disease test. And since they closed at 8, we didn't have much more time.
Matt was loading Katie Wynn up to take to daycare and we formed a plan. He would swing back by the hospital to get the blood sample and go to work; I would finish getting ready, take Lolli to vet, drive out to his work to get blood sample, take it back to our vet's office, and then finally go to work. Not the way we wanted to start our Monday morning, but it would work.
I had the foresight to call the hospital to let them know he would be coming back for the blood sample. After being put on hold for a few minutes, the girl came back on the line to tell me she had checked all the refrigerators but the blood sample must've been discarded. Seriously!??!
We got a lucky break. They hadn't actually given her the steroid yet that would alter her bloodwork, so the test could still be performed. Thank goodness!
During the hour-ish that Lolli was home between the hospital and the vet, we set up a blanket and heating pad for her in a chair. I noticed she wasn't in the chair and looked over to find her in her normal spot: on top of our throw pillows. She looked at me as if to say, "Seriously, woman. Have you already forgotten where I lay?" I slid the heating pad in behind her and said a tiny little prayer that her IV port wouldn't drip blood all over everything.
I dropped her back off at our vet's office on my way in to work. They were all thrilled to see how much perkier she was! Even the ladies at the front desk could tell she was feeling a lot better. The plan for the day was to do the Addison's test, give her her first shot for it, and hopefully get her to eat.
Around 1:00, I texted Sarah for an update. She said Lolli had eaten some baby food chicken and also some real chicken. Yay! They were trying to go easy on her little stomach and didn't give her much, but considering she hadn't eaten anything since last Tuesday, that was huge improvement!
When I arrived this afternoon to pick her up, they had her IV taken out. They said by that afternoon, there was no more tearing the chicken into little pieces, that she was stealing it from their hands! They also said that she had growled and barked at a few dogs that had passed by, so she must've really been feeling more like her old self!
At home, we were greeted by a happy dad and an excited little girl! There was lots of gentle petting and exchanging of kisses. :)
Lolli has already run circles around the house and gone outside to use the bathroom. She sat under the highchair during dinner and ate a slice and half of cheese. While she is still not back to 100%, she is MUCH better than she was on Saturday and we could not be happier. We still don't have the official results from the Addison's test back yet, but that will come in the next day or two. We have some medicines to continue giving her right now while she builds up her strength and gets used to eating again, but hopefully we'll get to where she just needs the monthly shot and no daily meds.
THANK YOU to everyone who has asked about and prayed for her. We are indebted to so many people who have helped her get better in any way over the last week!