The 180 – Yaz Chronicles IV

Wow.  To quote a song: what a difference a day makes.

Yaz’s labored breathing yesterday morning, prompting a trip back to the hospital, is due to liters of air filling up her chest cavity and compressing her lungs, forcing her to take shallow breaths, which in turn exacerbates the problem.  Over the past 48 hours, she has had 4.75 liters of air drained from her chest.  Picture two 2-liter soda bottles filled with air, then add 3/4 of a third bottle.  That’s a lot of air, even for a big pup like Yaz.  However, once the doc drains it from her, it’s like she undergoes an amazing transformation.

I stopped by yesterday afternoon to check in on her, and I wondered if perhaps the staff at the hospital had exchanged Yaz for another, healthier dog.  She stood when I came in (on her own!), her tail beating an arrhythmic pattern on the wall.  A doggie grin lit up her face.

“What…?  What changed?” I asked, incredulous.

The vet tech, Brandy, smiled and said, “The only thing different today is that we haven’t given her any pain meds.  At all.”

And it all suddenly made sense.

Yaz is sensitive to chemicals in her body, but because of my stress over her injuries, I’d forgotten.  So, allowing her body to deal with the injuries on its own, she suddenly made a 180 in her prognosis.  Where yesterday I was steeling myself for the inevitable, by the end of the day, my heart soared with hope.

She walked out of the doc’s office on her own last evening, and made her way immediately to the water bowl near the door and proceeded to drain it.  Then she hobbled over to the treat canister sitting on the front desk of the vet’s reception area and sat carefully, looking between me and the treats.

Are you kidding? I thought.  She’s hungry?

She wolfed down five treats.  I had to tell her to wait until we got home so she could get a proper meal.  Then I walked her outside, where promptly squatted and peed, then squatted twice more to empty her bowels.

I was astounded at the sudden turnaround.

It’s as if she’s decided to get healthy in spite of the discovery of a broken pelvis, two broken ribs, a damaged liver, and breathing issues.  She’s quite young – having just turned 2 on the 27th of October, so she has that on her side.  But I also feel that it’s the overwhelmingly positive response we’ve gotten from our friends.

Thank you so very much for your thoughts, prayers, candles, and well-wishes over the past couple of days.  I know you’ve kept me going through this…and obviously, you’ve all made an incredible impact on Yaz, who has received your blessings and used them to begin healing herself.

I will continue to log her progress here.  We hope you’ll continue to read and put us in your thoughts.

And may all your kindness be returned to you in abundance.