The Things You Do for Love

In January of 2000, I was blessed with a sweet little puppy. I found her huddled at the back of the cage at the Humane Society. She was scared, and timid. Right when I saw her, I knew that she was supposed to come home with me. She was all legs, and just the cutest little thing, black with tan markings and white front legs and belly. I named her Haylee Lou...and she is the best dog that I have had the pleasure of meeting.

We've been together for 10 years now, and things are beginning to get rough. About a year ago, we started working on getting her to lose weight (she'd gotten fat over the years), and so I changed her food and we started getting her moving more. The weight started coming off...this would be how I missed her health problems. 2 weeks ago, she wasn't acting like herself, and the big thing that made it clear that she wasn't feeling well was that she didn't meet me at the door when I got home. She was still under the blanket I left her under, and wagging her tail.

The next morning, I called in for a substitute and I took her into the vet. They ran tests and determined that she has kidney failure. The doc wanted to keep her overnight to receive treatment, and if we could get her levels down enough, we'd go from there, but if we couldn't, we'd have to have a difficult conversation. I lost it right there. Just thinking about the possibility...that was one of my hardest days.

The next day I went to see her. Her levels had gone down 20 points, sounds good, but they wanted them down about 70 points. So I opted to have her stay another night at the hospital. I didn't want to leave her. I stayed with her for about 2 and a half hours, just talking to her, petting her. I tried to stay calm, so that she would know it was okay. She laid with her head on my lap (which she never does), I stroked her ears, and I told her that when she's ready to let go, it was okay. That I would be okay. That I want her to do what's right for her. That I didn't want to lose her, but it was okay, if she needed to go. I called my mom (who was in Mexico) and put her on speaker phone. She told Hays how much she loved her and wanted her to get better. We were all pulling for this dog that has touched all our lives. I had wonderful friends sending love and prayers to my girl, hoping for a recovery. I learned the greatness of the love that surrounds me and my pups as we went through this time. I thought I was going to lose her. I started accepting that I was going to have to let her go.

BUT...I came back the next day, and though she
had only gone down another 20 points, she was acting happy, more energetic, and the huge thing...she was eating!! I decided to bring her home!!!

We've been home now for a week and a half. I have to give her an IV fluid treatment twice a day, as well as special food. Over last weekend, I watched as she became blind. It was amazing how fast it came on. We went into the doc on Monday for a follow up. He said that her retinas are detaching because of hyper tension. So now she's taking a pill for that. Other than that, the doc is thrilled with her progress! After 4 days on the hyper tension pill, Haylee's blood pressure went from about 250 to 111!!! That's HUGE!! And she's put on 2 pounds!! All pointing to good things. The doc is hopeful that her sight may come back, and he's optimistic about her well being. He says that dogs with a third of the kidney problems she has stop eating and have to be let go...but Hays is different. She's strong, she's focused, and she's living life.

We are adjusting. I wake up earlier now so that I can give her her morning IV treatment (it can take up to a half hour). I walk outside with her, so that she doesn't fall off the deck (though she's getting better at knowing where the stairs are). At times, I blend her food, to get her eating--but she's eating, and mostly on her own. I know that right now we are on borrowed time...I know that our time left together is short, but I'm willing to stick this through, as long as she is. She's not in pain, she's not suffering...if that starts happening, the doc and I will have to have that difficult discussion. But for now, I am spending a heck of a lot of money, and spoiling Hays rotten. She is the best dog that I could have ever asked for, and she deserves the best in return.

Thank you to all of you out there that have been sending your love and prayers our way. You will never know how much that means to me (and Hays). It was that support that got me through one of the hardest points in my life. This dog is my family, she's my girl...