[Dailydrool] REALLY REALLY SAD HARD WEEK IN RED BAY LAND

[Sandi Wittenberg]

Last Tuesday evening we returned from a successful week at a dog show.  As
we were leaving FOR the dog show, Craig came down with a sore throat and
cough, which got progressively worse over the course of the week.  On
Saturday at the dog show, Pat got the sore throat and by Sunday she had the
horrid cough.  On Tuesday, we returned home in horrendous heat and humidity.
In retrospect, Pat was extremely quiet and subdued on the trip home,
sleeping a lot and the cough was worse.  When we got home, we got all of the
dogs outside at my house, they explored the HIGH grass in the yard, got
drinks and played.   Pat pre-cooled her van and we loaded up the girls and
puppies to go to her house.   When she got there, she pulled her van into
her attached garage and left the dogs in the cool van while she went inside
to turn her AC on and cool down the house.  She sat down on the end of the
couch to listen to her phone messages and either fell asleep or passed out.
When she awoke/came to, she immediately rushed out to the van and the dogs
were in bad shape.  Our precious little red boy, Quigley had died.  The
other two puppies were not moving at all but breathing.  The four adults
couldn't walk.  Pat took her garden hose and started spraying them all down
in the van.  As they became a bit more responsive, she dragged them out of
the van and outside onto the shaded patio and continued to wet them down.
The adult dogs responded fairly quickly and at that point she called me.   I
immediately went over to her house.  When I arrived there, Quincey was up
and walking but Quizmo was laying on the patio whimpering.  I wet towels,
wrapped up the two puppies and rushed them to the vets.  Through extensive
intervention over the next 24 hours, both puppies survived and appear to
have no ill effects.   Pat and I are both devastated, but Pat is particular
devastated because she was there and is bearing this terrible quilt.  The
puppies came home on Thursday afternoon and are doing well.  

On Friday morning, I went over to Pat's to help give the pups their meds.
Pat seemed to be sicker and was having trouble breathing.  I went back to
her house about 3 PM and forced her to drink lots of fluids and eat some
pudding.  I left there at 5:30 PM with plans to return at 10 PM for evening
meds, feeding and getting the dogs settled for the night.  I decided to go
back at 9:15 PM and it is a good thing I did.  When I got there, Pat was
semi-conscious on the couch.  I roused her (with a lot of difficulty), took
her temperature (and took care of puppies and adult dogs while waiting for
the thermometer to beep), her temp was 102.5.  At that point she vomited all
over me (yuck) and almost passed out.  I told her that she needed to see a
doctor and she consented to me taking her to the ER (that in itself was
miraculous).  Quite a deal to get her in my van but it was quicker than 911
because the hospital is only 2 miles from her house.  Got her there , they
took her immediately; her BP was 57/30 and oxygenation was 84%, temp was up
to 103, respiration was God awful.   Within 25 minutes they had her on
oxygen, xrays taken, two iv's going, two sets of blood work drawn and a
diagnosis of severe double pneumonia.   About 11:30 PM she was becoming
lucid and could respond to questions.  At 12:30 AM, she told me to go take
care of her dogs, so I went to her house and stayed there for the night - no
sleep. On Saturday morning, I took care of her dogs and went to the hospital
to see her . much to my surprise, she is in Intensive Care.  Temperature is
down to normal, oxygen saturation is at 95% with oxygen canula, respiration
112, BP is 84/47.  She has had three different antibiotics so far . they are
hitting her with a variety until the blood cultures grow.  She is lucid and
aware how sick she is . and not fussing about being in the hospital.  She
told me last night that she thinks I saved her life.  I told her to remember
that next time I am bitching at her about something.

If you would like to send her a card you can send it to her house and I will
take it to her:  Pat Alton, 2817 Densmore, Toledo OH 43606.   She is in St.
Anne's Hospital in Toledo Ohio but no flowers etc. are permitted in ICU and
she isn't up to taking phone calls.  

Now, the whole "falling asleep" on Tuesday evening makes more sense . she
obviously had pneumonia then and very likely low oxygenation and low BP.  I
hope this realization makes the loss of the puppy Quigley a little easier to
deal with for her.

For the time being (now going on 4 days), I am keeping Pat's dogs and
puppies at her house and splitting my time between the two houses (about 15
minutes apart).  The twins (age 16.75) helped me by doing puppy/dog sitting
for 3 hours on both Saturday and Sunday.  If Pat's hospitalization continues
past Wednesday, I may have to bring her 4 girls and the 2 puppies to my
house.  But I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I am operating on adrenalin and grit . I am sure I will crash sometime but
my calendar will not allow it for at least three weeks.  And . I was
supposed to be showing Stachie, Ouija and Lena this past weekend in Toledo .
obviously that didn't happening.  I made Craig to get a chest xray to be
sure he doesn't have pneumonia also . he doesn't.  But the blood cultures
that came back on Pat are a particularly nasty bacteria that can attack the
heart, so I am having him call his cardiologist this morning to be sure he
is on the correct antibiotic.  I am going to Chicago on Friday - Sunday, so
I am trying to clone myself before then since I have no clue how to keep
this boat afloat when I am not here.

Sandi --- who may need to be committed in the near future. 







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