After I posted last night, I gave Syd his phenobarbitol. He fought and fought going to sleep. It was sort of warm in the house, so I turned on the AC, but it wasn't working right. Syd was panting heavily and restless. So I went ahead and opened up the doors and windows again. (A storm came through last night again and kicked up some hellacious winds, but they were cool and felt good to where both of us got some sleep!) He did manage to wiggle his way off his bed onto the floor, so I just kept him there. His spot on his bed was taken up by Runt. I had found some really neat foam vinyl covered mats called Versamattat Sam's the other day (a seasonal item). It's just a little skinnier than a twin size mattress, consists of about 4" dense foam (like I already use for my crudely put together dog beds) and is covered with vinyl cover with zippers that you can replace the foam. The mat has a soft cotton silky side on one side, with all the other areas vinyl. The neat thing is that it actually accordians up, stacking one on top of the other and has a velcro closure to hold the pads together. My husband and I put two of them together and they were like a full size mattress. We slept on that in our tent for 3-4 days and it was more comfortable than the air mattress! They cost about $27.77 and are well worth every penny. Anyway, back to my update.....I put the Versamatt down and covered it with a sheet. When I turned around to lay next to Syd, I discovered Blue had taken up residence on most of the map. So in true mom fashion, I wiggled into the remaining space and stroked Syd until both of us fell asleep.
I awoke this morning and Syd was whining and looking at the door. Because he had been given plenty of water the past few days and hadn't peed since he had his catheter taken out on Saturday afternoon, I figured he had to pee. My husband was so tired last night that he went upstairs to do laundry and laid down on the bed for a second around 10:00pm and was still asleep at 0600. I woke him up to ask if he could help me take Syd outside. I got a super size towel (like a bath sheet) and we put Syd on it lengthwise. We then lifted him up into the wagon and took him downstairs. It was still raining heavily at that point, so we just took some hay from the hay doghouse and put it on the concrete floor in front of the open garage door with the closed cattle gates, so that he could still look out and feel the cool breeze. We laid him down and he laid down and went to sleep. I then went back upstairs and my hubby and I fell asleep until 9:30am! Guess we were all tired.
At 9:30am, we went downstairs to find Syd still panting and whining a little. Figuring he was hungry, we fed him a small can of dog food heated up. He ate that fine. We fed the other dogs and he kept looking at the bucket. So my husband gave him some of their food and he snarfed it down. He kept whining like he wanted to get up and so my husband laid down with him in the hay. Because the water had come into the garage from the rain, some of the hay got wet, so my husband went and got some more dry hay. Syd kept acting restless and noticed he had peed on the towel we still had lying underneath him, but he still hasn't pooped on his own yet. He was panting heavily and we both laid down beside him to comfort him. My husband thought since it was his birthday, he should do something special for him. Syd has always loved to watch the horses and run up and down the fence to watch them before his amp and a little bit after. So my husband went and got one of the horses and brought him up to the garage. Upon hearing him open the gate chain and seeing the horse headed his way, Syd started doing that whining that he did when he saw us at K-State. His tail was wagging and his eyes big. My husband came up to the garage door and Syd was going nuts, trying to get up, but he couldn't. So my husband tied the horse to his truck and came in and we loaded Syd onto his wagon and took him outside. We put all the other dogs inside the garage and wheeled Syd right up to the horse. He was a little hesitant at actually being up close and personal with the horse! But he sniffed his nose and then my husband took the horse back to the pasture. The whole time he was doing so, Syd was whining so loud it was crazy. (I'm sure the neighbors think we were torturing a dog or something!). He did that for about 2-3 minutes and kept looking for my husband. I then wheeled the wagon out to the area where the dogs like to play (next to the horse pasture) and let him watch the horses for a few minutes. We then took him back inside. I told my husband the one thing I would like to do is to try and put a towel underneath just Syd's middle to see if we can get him to walk at all. We tried that and he was able to use his front leg but the other two legs are weak and one had the toe curled under like he cannot feel it (even though he has reflexes on it). We tried to get him to walk with assistance, but he couldn't, so we just laid him back down into the hay. We gave him his phenobarbitol and prednizone, then we both laid down again beside him and all of us fell asleep, including all the other dogs who had crowded around us. My husband then went upstairs after awhile and as I laid there, I noticed Syd started moving his front leg funny and thought he might be trying to have a seizure. I went and got my husband to come down to be with him and when he laid down behind him to hold him, Syd calmed down and started to fall asleep. He then started snoring, which meant he was in a deep sleep. My husband then got up and I stayed right beside him sleeping. I got up to go inside to the computer and he was still sleeping. It seems it takes about 2 hours for him to go to sleep after giving him his phenobarbitol.
After he woke up, Syd started whining a little so I went back out and laid with him. He is still panting, sometimes heavily, and just seems weak. My husband left to go to Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries and get him some hamburger for his birthday and when he came back, Syd was alert and kept looking at him. It's cooler in the garage, but the wind went down so we put a fan in front of him to keep him cooler. After it cools down tonight, we will bring him inside for a bit before bedtime to be with us and then 2 hours after we give him his pill, we will take him back outside to lay in the hay and feel the cool breeze. That way if he has to pee or poop, he can do so easily without discomfort or waiting for us.
I plan on talking to the oncologist tomorrow to see what she thinks as far as time wise in waiting to see if the prednizone is going to help him be able to walk. It is easy right now because we are both off today, but when I will be alone and need to lift him up, I won't be able to while my husband is at work. So while I would love to pray for a miracle, somehow I don't think it's going to happen and we may have to make the decision to help Syd be able to run free again. While he is alert and still eating, he is obviously very weak (or doped up) and cannot use his hind legs. I don't think he would want to stick around and not be able to get around, so we will see what this week brings. I will miss him, but it boils down to quality of life and it's selfish for me to want to hang on. In fact I feel a little guilty for not freeing him on Saturday at K-State, but instead wanting him to be around for his 9th birthday. Not much of a birthday, not being able to get up and walk and get around, but one last goal I really, really wanted him to see. I knew he wouldn't make it to his 1 yr anniversary, so this one was important to me. He doesn't appear to be in pain, just frustrated I think. With that, I'll keep you updated on what we decide and when. If anything should happen tonight, I'll let everyone know. I want to thank everyone for their support and good wishes on Syd's 9th birthday! Happy birthday, my buddy boy!!!! |
