Bouncing Back!

So happy to report that Esa is feeling much better.  She is almost back to herself.  We can tell that she's not 100% because she acts tired at the end of the walk or she lays around some.

But she is getting better.  She's running around the back yard, up and down the stairs inside, getting in her play stance, and most importantly, bringing her "pinkie" to me to fill it with treats.

So glad she's feeling better.

An Outing with One and a Doctor's Visit with the Other

My weekend didn't really go as planned.  I was supposed to have a scrapbooking weekend away, but it was cancelled on Wednesday due to plumbing issues at the house.  I guess it was meant to be since Esa wasn't feeling well (see below) and I had plenty of stuff to do around the house anyway.  Friday was just cleaning and organizing the house (hopefully for the community yardsale this Saturday). 
Zed's Big OutingSaturday, we went to the Pet Fiesta at Reston Town Center with Zed.  We were going to take Esa, but knew it probably wouldn't go well with her not feeling well.  This was Zed's first big outing.  He had a blast - smelling all the different butts and hanging out with Momma & Daddy-o.  He was so excited, he didn't eat any of the free treats given to him.  We then went to Baron Cameron Park to do some geocaching.  We found one, but gave up at the 2nd one since it was right around where the kids were playing soccer.  Zed was exhausted on the way home.  We didn't even need his harness for him to stay in the back seat.

We then decided it was time to find out what was wrong with Esa.

Sick Puppy

So last Thursday, Esa acted REALLY tired and Dan and I thought it was just because she went to daycare on Wednesday.  Usually she is tired that night and next day, plus it had been about 3 weeks since she last went.  But she was not getting any energy back.  Saturday, we took her to the emergency vet (first time ever for her). 


Pre-doctor visit

You know she's not feeling good when she's somewhere she has never been before, lays down and is almost asleep.  Luckily, we had a vet who had experience with lyme disease cases and was pretty sure without the test it was lyme disease (we did do a test though).

Esa was good with the doctor touching her.  They took her in the back to get blood, which didn't go well.  We heard her yelping.  The next thing you know, the vet and 2 techs come back in the room and say "we came back for help.  Can you put a muzzle on her?"  Without hesitation, I said no.  Then the one tech asked about a cone.  Dan and I were able to get the cone on her, but as soon as we took our hands away, she pushed it off with her paw.

They then took her in the back to sedate her.  They told us to go to the waiting room, but within 5 minutes brought us back to the examining room to sit with Esa while the sedation took effect.  Well - she fought it the whole way.  They finally took her in the back again to get the blood and then brought her back out to us in the waiting room.   Below is the picture of her after being sedated, while we were waiting for the results.



sedated, but not giving in

The vet finally came out and said that they got just enough blood for testing and the test was positive, so she'd be put on antibotics. 

Even when we got home, Esa was still fighting the sedation.  We got the first dose of antibotics in her and got her to eat.  I tried taking off the bandage, but she was not having it.  She was growling at me and showing her teeth.  She just had enough of the poking and proding.  I did finally get it off while she was busy eating and she had this "oh, it's off" look on her face.

Sunday morning, we could already see a turnaround.  She was her normal whiny self.  She woke me up because I heard her whine downstairs (attention whine, not pain whine).  By Sunday night she wanted to play some.  This morning, she is doing so much better.  She was running around in the backyard and ran upstairs to wake Daddy-o up.

So, it looks like the antibotics are doing their job and she is on the med.  She will be on the meds for at least 3 weeks.  We will then see if she has another flairup.  It all comes down to that.  How often the flairups happen.  Wish us luck!