My Angel

My Angel - my light of my life. I am very scared for her right now. Even though I know she will be OK.



Sunday night I was washing dishes when I heard her trying to get up. She has a hard time on the wood floors, so you can hear her scramble from a mile away. But this time it sounded different. I went around the corner to see if I could help her. She was turning her head from side to side like she didn't know where she was. And she couldn't get up. I tried to help her, but she just couldn't do it. Then I noticed her eyes. She had nystagmus. If you have ever been drunk and had "the spins" when you tried to lay down, or if you have ever had vertigo. Nystagmus is when your eyes can't focus, and they are kinda twitching. Moving rapidly side to side. Not the lids, the eyes themselves. They are moving and you have no control over it, and can't make it stop. The room is spinning. Angel's eyes were doing that. I told my husband, if she were human, I'd swear she had vertigo. I told him to go to Ask.com and see what could cause nystagmus in dogs. He came up with Vestibular disease.



Well, all I knew was my baby had to be OK. I sat in the floor with her until it stopped, about 15-20 minutes, then tried to see if she could walk. I got her to follow me down the hallway, and back up again, thought everything was OK, it was all over. But when we got back out to the kitchen, she fell, and it started all over. Then she started throwing up. So off the emergency vet we went, I was a nervous wreck. They had to bring a gurney out to the truck to bring her in, and that really did me in! I lost it! They had to keep her overnight, said that it probably was Old Age Vestibular Disease. I picked her up Monday morning and took her to her regular vet, Dr. Wolfe, (he is her life-saver, literally). He said the same thing, and kept her Monday. I stayed home from work, cried all day, went back to see her Monday afternoon, no change yet. He said it could be 72 hours to a week, but he thought she would come out of it.



So scary! But I trust Dr. Wolfe, her life has been in his hands before, and he got her through just fine. He is very gentle with her.



She can't control any of her movements, her tongue just hangs out, because she can't control it, either. She can eat a little, but drops the food very easily, so just a couple bites of wet food is all she can do.



The house is very lonely without her. I miss her.