Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

THURSDAY August 25 2005

5:00 P.M. UPDATE

Juana reports ...

     This morning Erin arrived early and she was giving Laura and Big Bear (we named him Big because we have a Little Bear also) their morning meds, and she knows that Bear had a sore by his privates, so she brought him into the hospital trailer. We tried to put a big soft E-collar on him, but that one didn't work--too big, so we borrowed Misty's E-collar for now, and Misty got the bigger one. I doctored his sore with Animax and we are to do this at least two times a day till he heals. Big Bear will stay inside with his soft E-collar on, probably three or four days or so.

     Also Cici (my baby girl--not really, she's up for adoption) has a little sore on the side of her face (by her eye) we've been doctoring for a while, and it's healing up and is nothing serious.

     The big thing that happened today is that after Patch had been doing so good, this morning when I called Rita, like always to check on things before I come to work, she told me that she took Patch outside to the small kennel right outside the hospital so he could do his business, and he threw-up and had red blood in runny stool. She also said that Patch tore up his bed inside his crate. I asked Rita to please take everything out of his crate, and I told her that I would call the doctor to ask if he could see Patch. Donna (a vet tech) answered and said the doctor wasn't there yet, but she told me to give Patch 3-4 slices of bread and let him pass it on through. I hope that it will help Patch. We are not to give Patch anything to stop his diarrhea, she said, as we want to clean his stomach. We are to keep an eye on him. When doctor comes, Donna will tell him this.

     So, we gave Patch a couple of slices of bread, which he just loved. Doctor Morton called back later on and talked to Erin. He said the same thing and to keep an eye on him and give him more bread. Patch has been in and out of his crate and outside in the small kennel, and he is doing good. He hasn't vomited or had a runny stool like this morning. We still have him on a light diet, will see how he does during the night and will report more tomorrow.

     Another thing that happen today that is just cute: Puppy Brownie (the only different colored one) was digging into Leo and Blind Mother Freckles' kennel, and she got stuck under the fence. All the other puppies were just barking, like telling her, "Come on! You can do it!" Finally she did get all the way into her neighbors' kennel, but it didn't bother Leo. Freckles didn't like it too much, and she didn't come out of her shelter. She was just probably listening and wondering what exactly was going on. Brownie the pup was running around with Leo, and all the other puppies were just barking at her. Pablo came and put her back with her brothers and sisters, and everything was back to normal.

     While still in the hospital Dad was given some sort of a swallow test, which indicated that he needed to eat pureed foods and drink thickened liquids, and they talked about the possibility of silent aspiration, which occurs when unbeknownst to anyone some food and/or liquid goes down the wrong tube into the lungs causing pneumonia, but we kept feeding him and giving him the thickened liquids.

     This morning at the skilled nursing facility they gave Dad a barium swallow test and saw that food is staying in his mouth and lodging in two different places in his throat, where some of it is being aspirated without Dad or anyone realizing it. And Dad's chest x-ray shows that he's beginning to get pneumonia. The therapist also advised that ice cream is the worse thing we could give Dad because although it's thick while cold, the moment it's in one's mouth, it quickly warms up to 98.6 degrees turning to a thin liquid. For some reason neither the doctors nor the nurses at the hospital had ever warned us about ice cream.

     Dad also went to the physical therapy room today in a wheel chair and stood up (with help, of course) holding onto the parallel railings.

     They told us to bring some comfortable clothes tomorrow so they can get Dad dressed to let him and everyone else know that he's on his way to recovery.

From: Ofelia Gipson

To: straydog147@yahoo.com

Subject: You're Really Appreciated

Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 23:18

Hello Erin/Juana,

I wanted to let Bill know that his Dad and family are in my prayers. Definitely sounds like it's been an emotional situation to deal with. And I wanted to let you know how much you and the staff are appreciated for continuing to run everything so smoothly (in spite of all that's going on).

As usual, it thrilled my heart to read about another "happy ending": Jeannie and her new home. And for that, I'd like to say "Thanks Tom Shrout"! I wish you and Jeannie a long, happy life together!

Hugs & kisses to all the babies.

Ofelia