Ellie Remembered

Here's the shadowbox that I made and a memorial video as well.

Dealing with the Loss

The pain of losing Ellie is getting a little better for both of us. We're both dealing with it differently, but it’s still harder on Travis.

The day we found out, I made cookies just to get my mind off of what had happened for a little while; we took the cookies with us to give to the vet and vet staff when we went to talk to him about what had happened. But since then, I seem to be taking a fairly direct approach to mourning. Today I went to see Ellie’s grave; Mom has it set up very nicely with flowers and a couple chairs. I've also begun thinking of a little memorial shadowbox for Ellie that will hold her collar tag and a photo.

Travis on the other hand is fighting his impulse to replace things when they’re broken. He’s already looking at puppies. Though he knows it’s too soon, he also thinks it would help him to stop focusing on the loss of Ellie. We’ll see what happens…

Burial

Daddy buried Ellie with her collar and her tennis ball this morning.

Ellie's Gone

Ellie Stats: Deceased, not yet 1 year and 6 months old

• The vet called Travis and told him that Ellie passed away last night at around 8 o’clock. He said that after surgery she continued to vomit, and nothing they gave her would stop it. We are devastated not only because we've lost Ellie, but also because there is still no apparent cause for her illness and eventual death. It is very frustrating and difficult to deal with.
• We both left work for the day to mourn the death of our beloved Ellie.
• We decide to let the vet perform an autopsy in the hopes of finding something on the cellular level that could be the cause of all of this. I’m not sure when we’ll hear back about it.
• We decided to bury Ellie at my parents’ house.

Surgery

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

• 7:48 am ~ We took Ellie back to the vet this morning. No improvement over the night and she continued to have nausea and vomiting. I just hope they find whatever is making her sick when they cut her open, and she can start getting back to her usual plucky self! :(
• 9:51 am ~ The vet called and said Ellie's bloodwork work was good and that her kidneys have completely recovered since last week. They're going to move ahead with surgery, and the vet said he'd call to update us as soon as he "popped his gloves off".
• 11:18 am ~ So the vet just popped off his gloves and called Travis. He. Found. Nothing. Ellie has a healthy gut, and yet she's vomiting "digestive blood" - whatever that is. So he sewed her up and is going to keep her there for 7 days or so while she recovers and they try to get her stomach chemistry back to normal. He'll keep her hydrated and on pain meds as well. Freaking 18" incision for naught...
• Vet said she made it through surgery without missing a beat, though – strong and regular heart rate, good oxygen levels the whole time. That’s good at least.

Back at Home

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

We brought Ellie home today at noon, but she's been nauseous ever since. I was hoping she would get her appetite back after she got home to a familiar setting, but no luck. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it was just the movement of the ride home that has upset her stomach. I'm happy to have her home, but worried that we're headed right back to where we started. If she's no better in the morning, then back she goes to the vet....

Coming Home Soon

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

• Ellie seemed even better today. Nothing turned up on the barium test so that's great. She still won't really eat though (other than a little kibble yesterday) so she's probably going to be there at least until Monday. I wish she would just get her appetite back so she could come home!
• Vet called and said that Ellie ate today and would've finished all of it if she hadn't found the pills that the vet tried to hide in there. lol I think she's coming home tomorrow! :D

Hopeful

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

Yesterday's Ellie update was a bit scary, but God heard our prayers and today held better news. Ellie was in much better spirits today and started eating some food. She didn't really know what to think of the soft canned food, so she would kinda gum it then spit it out. Was kind of funny actually. When Travis visited this afternoon, he thought it'd be a good idea to give her something more familiar to eat and requested some kibble that she could try. She ate it. Go figure. Lol

Though she's still very weak, Ellie was able to walk around on her own today and was very happy to see all her visitors today. My dad went to visit her, and he said she tried to leave with him instead of following the vet. Sweet, but a little sad too. I know she's ready to come home and be away from all those other strange dogs that are back there in the other kennels.

Anyways, the vet was pleased with her progress and started her on a barium test earlier today. As of later this afternoon nothing was really showing up, so he said they would do another check on the progress of the test in the morning and a little more blood work. If they don't see anything, and if she will poop, then she's good to go! If they do see something with the test, then they'll go ahead with the surgery (but at least they'll kinda know where it is and it won't just be "exploratory").

The vet was much more hopeful today (though to temper expectations, he reminded us that nothing is for sure and that things could turn around at any time - especially if it's a blockage), and was pleased with her progress.

Keeping our fingers crossed!

A Little Better Today

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

Ellie is doing much better today so no surgery yet (yay!). They're doing a barium test instead, but she's started taking food and water, so the surgery may not even be necessary now. (double yay!) We'll see what is the barium test turns up, and the vet will be in touch with us tomorrow. Those prayers ...are workin'! :D

Not Much Improvement

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

So...unfortunately the news for today isn't good. Ellie's kidneys are better, but we can't say the same for the rest of her. She has still refused any food given to her, and as of later this afternoon, she has started throwing up again...this time with blood in it.

The vet seems convinced that it must be some kind of blockage in her digestive system that is causing all of this; the kidney issue was just a byproduct of the dehydration. Long story short, and after much talking, we've decided that the best thing to do for Ellie is to put her under the knife and do exploratory surgery.

If she's no better tomorrow, they'll do the surgery. Hopefully they'll find what's causing the problem, and she can get on the road to recovery. If they don't find anything...well then we're just s.o.l. and out of ideas. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Visited Ellie at the Vet

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

• Travis went to see Ellie before work and said she wagged her tail a little, but that was about it. The vet wasn't there yet. He called the vet later at 10AM, but they were still running some tests to see if it's some kind of kidney disease. So still no word.........
• So we heard from the vet at around noon, and all they could say is it's not Addison's Disease. Which is good, but they still don't know what's causing the acute renal failure and they've run out of tests. Vet said Ellie will probably be there a few days. Her kidneys are improving but not as quickly as they should. Still a waiting game…
• The vet keeps asking if she has ingested anything poisonous (like antifreeze) that could be causing this. I just can't think of how she could've gotten ahold of anything that would do this!!! So frustrating.
• Lauren went to see Ellie after work. She's definitely better than yesterday but still very sluggish and weak. She was laying down when I came in but her head was up. She didn't react to me much so I was a little disappointed, but at least she's improving. She'll probably be there until Friday as they continue to pump fluids into her.... Vet seems to think it might have been severe dehydration that caused the kidney problems.

Ellie is Very Sick

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

• Ellie continues to have upset stomach.
• After work today, Travis came home to find Ellie listless and unmoving. She had had diarrhea but hadn’t moved at all. We took her to the vet ASAP.
• Vet tells us that Ellie was on the verge of death. It was kidney failure and her potassium levels were fatal. But they pumped her full of fluids and she somehow pulled through.
• I posted on facebook, “The vet called earlier this evening and told us that she was severely dehydrated and had nearly complete kidney failure. Still don't know what caused it (though a blockage has been ruled out), but we'll know by tomorrow morning whether her kidneys will be able to recover. They have her on IVs and said that she was acting better than when we first brought her in. Not out of the woods yet though, and only time will tell how things turn out...”

Ellie's Sick

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

• Ellie is vomiting up yellow bile for most of the night. She doesn’t feel well at all.

Still Stressed

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

• Ellie has had diarrhea off and on all month. We think it's still stress from people randomly shooting fireworks.

Ellie Hates the Fireworks

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 5 months old

• Ellie is having some diarrhea. We think it’s due to stress caused by the fireworks. She is apparently still very scared of them.

Ellie the Cuddle Bug

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 3-6 months old

• Over the past three months, Ellie hasn’t really chewed up anything. She’s really coming into her own and starting to act more like an adult. She is very affectionate and loving, and loves to get on the couch and snuggle even when there's obviously no room for her. lol She also sits her butt on the plush chair and couch in the livingroom; it’s very funny.

• Occasionally she acts as though she’s afraid of men. She wants to meet everybody, but she’s just a little slow to warm up to guys. She also still doesn’t like to be outside on her own.

Ellie Eats Drywall

Ellie Stats: 1 year and 3 months old

• Ellie hasn’t chewed up anything in quite a while, but she somehow chewed a hole in the livingroom wall yesterday. The WALL!! Wtf?! Hopefully this will not be a trend…
• She's still scared of stuff outside, and keeps almost constant vigilance in the livingroom window.
• Ellie is starting to hesitantly bark and even sometimes growl at things outside when she’s in the house. I guess she's starting to act a little like a pyr. She sometimes surprises herself, though, as if she doesn’t know the noise came from her. lol
• Still runs and hides whenever Samson barks at anything.
• Still has her puppy coat - very soft and very thick.

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Ellie Stats: 1 year old – Happy Birthday, Ellie!

• Ellie’s a year old, and while she hasn’t chewed up anything in the past couple of weeks, she did destroy our tree skirt the first night that we had it under the christmas tree; she’s also continued to chew up a few other things including our comforter (for a second time). Hopefully she’s almost done with that behavior.
• She’s still fearful about some things, but getting a little braver.
• Samson seems to have finally noticed her and is starting to play with her every night. He’s also trying to “dominate” her. Been trying to teach him better manners…
• Ellie is about as tall as Samson, but is still a skinny puppy. I guess she’ll fill out over the next year like Samson did.

Growing Pains

Ellie Stats: 7 months old, 80-ish lbs.

• Ellie’s been limping a lot. We think it’s growing pains and have been giving her half an aspirin to help with the pain.
• Probably related to the aspirin (and because Travis didn’t give her some food to go with it), Ellie threw up several times yesterday and overnight. She seems to be better today (haven’t given her any aspirin today) and so we gave her just a little bit of food to see how she keeps it down. So far so good…

LESSON LEARNED: Always give FOOD with aspirin!

Starting to Grow Up

Ellie Stats: 7 months old

• Ellie’s personality seems to be transitioning from puppy to adult. She’s been a little less playful all the time and a little calmer. Sleeping more; eating less.
• Ellie chewed up the kitchen rug. Apparently she still hasn’t learned that those are off limits…