Our Jacker Boy

What a week it has been for our little family.  Matt flew to Arizona for work last Sunday night and was gone until late Thursday.  On Monday and Tuesday night I took Jack to Standing Bear Lake~a lake near our house that we spend a lot of time at. Both nights it was super hot and Jack was just acting weird for example pulling on his leash or acting like he wanted to sit down all the time.  I honestly thought it was probably just too hot for him or he was mad because his dad was gone.  Either way I let him in the lake both nights to cool off.  Jack normally loves to swim but Monday and Tuesday night he simply stood in the water and looked at me.  Wednesday morning it was obvious that something more than just heat or obstanance was going on.  His temp was 105 by this time.  I called the vet as soon as I was able and they were able to see him that afternoon.  The vet, Dr. Dritley, ran blood work that showed Jack was both anemic and had very low platelets.  They determined that Jack had developed a bacterial infection from "something he got into".  Possibly from the lake or he ate something he shouldn't have~ a dog will be a dog :)  Dr. Dritley gave him an IV steroid and antibiotic and we were on our way.  Wednesday night it seemed like that was all Jack needed and he was going to turn around quickly then came Thursday morning...

Thursday morning I was awoken at 5:30am to Jack struggling to breathe.  I counted his respirations to be around 80 per minute and loud.  He was having to use his abdominal and chest muscles (accessory muscles) to help him breathe.  Luckily I work with amazing people who understood Jack is not just a dog, he is our baby boy and told me to not worry about work and just take care of him.  :)  I walked into the clinic as soon as they opened, without an appointment and they escorted me right back into an exam room.  Dr. Dritley came right in and looked Jack over again.  It was determined that Jack needed more tests including a chest x-ray.  The lab work had not changed much from the day before, but the chest x-ray held the most devasting news.  Dr. Dritley explained to me that because of the infection, Jack was collecting fluid around his lungs and even worse than that, because of the low platelets he was also bleeding into his lungs because he was unable to clot effectively.  Dr. Dritley calmly told me that we were not in crisis mode yet, but that if we couldn't get Jack to make a quick turn around he may not make it.  I was devasted and now I had to figure out how to tell Matt; over the phone in Arizona. 

I had no idea how to tell Matt what I had just heard and I knew I was not going to be able to keep myself together to tell him calmly.  But I also knew he was waiting for my call to get an update.  Having to pass on this information was one of the toughest things I've ever had to do.  Thankfully Matt was already scheduled to come home that night.  He tried to get an earlier flight that day but unfortunately had no luck.  Dr. Dritley's biggest orders were to keep Jack quiet and resting as this would be the best medicine for him.  Unfortunately and fortunately, keeping Jack quiet and resting has not been a problem these last couple of days.  Jack is normally full of life and energy and this last week it's all he can do to walk around the house.  I was able to stay home with Jack on Thursday to watch him and Matt stayed with him on Friday. 

I am happy to report that Jack is one tough dog and he is doing much better!!  He is still having to work harder than normal to breathe, but much better than last week.  No temp since Friday morning.  His energy level is still very low but the twinkle in his eyes has returned.  I have no doubt that our spunky little boy will be back to normal before too much longer. 



Immigration Appointment Is Done

I'm definitely late posting this information, but yes our immigration appointment for fingerprinting was done on June 14th.  We will hopefully be getting our approval letter in the mail for them any day.  This is the last piece of our dossier we are waiting for.  We received word late last week that all of our other dossier documents have been certified and are now on there way for authentification by the Chinese Embassy.  Things are certainly moving in the right direction!!