A harsh new reality
Bella is at the vets. She's been there overnight and is on a drip and waiting to be seen by the Clinical Lead who'll do an ultra sound of her abdomen and potentially an X-Ray of her chest to see what is causing internal bleeding.
48 hours ago, life was completely normal and all was fine. But Eddie and I had noticed that Bella was becoming increasingly lethargic. She's definitely not been her usual self for weeks now, but we put it down to the hot summer we've had. Then when it cooled down and she was still listless I called the vet, who told me not to worry, but to call again if we were still concerned.
On Friday (it's Sunday morning), Eddie came back from a walk and said she was walking behind him by the end. The same thing had happened to me on the Thursday - and that was it. I called the vet and took her in on Friday evening.
The vet said she looked fine - and she did - no loss of appetite, coat shining, nose cold, ears up, sound etc. You would never have known anything was wrong unless you were us. But she is our dog, and we just knew she wasn't right. Then, the vet saw that she was pale when you looked at her gums and her eyes - it was the only anomaly - so she took some blood and said she'd call with the results the next day.
Yesterday I spent the entire day with the phone in my back pocket waiting. When the call came, it was to say that they suspected internal bleeding which was causing anaemia, hence the pallor. Bella had to go in for the ultra sound. I left her there, sat in the car and burst into tears.
The vet has been great, calling in the evening to say that Bella was fine and on drip of saline and electrolites. When she called again an hour later, it was to let us know they'd done the ultra sound but couldn't find any fluid or mass near or on her spleen, which is where they were looking as they inititally suspected a tumour on the spleen could be causing the bleed. Because the test was inconclusive, they've asked the Clinical Lead to take another ultra sound today to either rule in or out this possibility.
If they rule it out, the next step will be to X-Ray her chest and see if there is anything in her heart or lungs. I am trying hard not to imagine the worst, but with these options in front of us it is extremely hard to stay positive. She is only seven. And the absolute best dog ever in the whole world.
48 hours ago, life was completely normal and all was fine. But Eddie and I had noticed that Bella was becoming increasingly lethargic. She's definitely not been her usual self for weeks now, but we put it down to the hot summer we've had. Then when it cooled down and she was still listless I called the vet, who told me not to worry, but to call again if we were still concerned.
On Friday (it's Sunday morning), Eddie came back from a walk and said she was walking behind him by the end. The same thing had happened to me on the Thursday - and that was it. I called the vet and took her in on Friday evening.
The vet said she looked fine - and she did - no loss of appetite, coat shining, nose cold, ears up, sound etc. You would never have known anything was wrong unless you were us. But she is our dog, and we just knew she wasn't right. Then, the vet saw that she was pale when you looked at her gums and her eyes - it was the only anomaly - so she took some blood and said she'd call with the results the next day.
Yesterday I spent the entire day with the phone in my back pocket waiting. When the call came, it was to say that they suspected internal bleeding which was causing anaemia, hence the pallor. Bella had to go in for the ultra sound. I left her there, sat in the car and burst into tears.
The vet has been great, calling in the evening to say that Bella was fine and on drip of saline and electrolites. When she called again an hour later, it was to let us know they'd done the ultra sound but couldn't find any fluid or mass near or on her spleen, which is where they were looking as they inititally suspected a tumour on the spleen could be causing the bleed. Because the test was inconclusive, they've asked the Clinical Lead to take another ultra sound today to either rule in or out this possibility.
If they rule it out, the next step will be to X-Ray her chest and see if there is anything in her heart or lungs. I am trying hard not to imagine the worst, but with these options in front of us it is extremely hard to stay positive. She is only seven. And the absolute best dog ever in the whole world.
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