Spring is Here!

It's been an interesting transition to life without Buford--I miss him horribly, but I have to admit life has calmed down around here. Buford, may he rest in peace and run free from all pain, was a very needy hound. This was part personality and part medical. I fault him for nothing and if I had to do it again I wouldn't change a thing. However, changes have occurred:

• We all sleep through the night--no 1 AM and 3 AM bathroom sessions;
• Della RUNS, and there is no drag and beg about going back home at the end of a walk;
• Della has finally decided it is ok to sleep in Buford's chair;

And the list could go on and on. In essence, life has settled into a new routine and it is pretty good!

WOW! What Fun!

Della's play date yesterday was terrific. We spent it with 5 of Cindy Miller's Rapscallion Bassets: Booker (7), Bobbi (5), and the three of the 9-month old pups--George, Cara and Gemma. What a wonderful pack of bassets. Della romped, ran, chased, played, flirted, raced and rolled with all of them. She hasn't had playtime in ages and it was a wonderful thing to watch. They all got along so well that I'm sure there will be future play dates down the road.

The red and white basset is Booker. The two other pups are Gemma (in the back) and George.

Della--a Play Date!

In about an hour or so Della is going to have a play date with 5 other basset hounds! We're going to join Cynthia Miller and the Rapscallion Bassets for an afternoon of romping and hilarity. I'll post photos and video (if I can capture any--they're fast little buggers!) later tonight.

Buford 1/5/99 - 12/8/09 Godspeed--Mommy Loves You

It has taken me about 3 weeks to finally sit down and write an account of the final weeks leading up to that last car ride to the vet and a final farewell to my best friend, Buford. I can only hope and pray that those with more faith than I are correct--it is tough for me to completely believe--that we will one day be reunited at the Rainbow Bridge, Heaven or whatever may be next for all. He took with him a part of my heart that will always be empty.

It started on November 22, 2009....well, maybe it started a few weeks before but there was no consistency to it, just a random episode here and there that I chalked up to a "bad day" that was to be expected. But in hindsight those few "bad days" were warning signs of what was to come. On November 22, 2009 Buford a "bad day," a REALLY bad day. He exhibited bloat symptoms multiple times that day, but 1) he could not go into a full GDV due to his stomach tacking, and 2) each episode resolved with a massive belch within 20 minutes of starting. But still, something was wrong because it happened three separate times that day.

The next day he was fine. Then Tuesday same thing--a longer episode. He calmed down eventually and slept hard. My radar was ringing loudly--something was wrong. He had just been boarded, but he had been boarded a lot this fall for a day or two with no ill effects. He had a touch of constipation but that started to clear so since things were moving, I figured he was alright. He was eating, peeing, pooping, and seemed happy.....except for these random bloat episodes.

Wednesday he was fine. Thursday, same routine; Friday ok; Saturday ok; Sunday--minor episode; Monday: BIG episode---I called the emergency vet where his internist worked. How convenient: the internist was on vacation on this December 14th--it was November 30th. They urged me to bring him and treat him as an emergency case. So I raced. He was in abdominal pain so everyone thought "obstruction." X-Rays revealed nothing. Nothing except food in his stomach, gas in every inch of his intestines and stool ready to exit. We were sent home with every antacid on the market plus Carafate. Instructions--see the internist when he returns.

He responded well to everything until Thursday. 2 episodes a couple hours apart so I raced him over to his regular vet. Everyone was scratching their heads--it made no sense. There was nothing wrong, but clearly there was something VERY wrong. We decided to max him out on the Carafate--his acid reflux was off the charts and in trying to quench the burn he was drinking excessive amounts of water and gulping air, essentially causing self-inflicted bloat. Home we went with a bunch more Carafate tablets.

He again responded well--the Carafate was working.....until December 8th. He was fine at 4:30 PM. I went over to my mother's home for a quick dinner with her and was home at 5:45 PM. While gone he had an episode that I walked in on in the middle--a full blown bloat episode and for the first time went as far as vomiting. He was in pain--from the gas, from the acid and finally from the vomiting. Something must have happened when he vomited as his eyes were completely bloodshot. Not basset hound red, but total red. There were no whites left to his eyes--they were completely blood filled.

....and he finally burped and wagged his tail while looking at me. And my heart broke as I picked up the phone to make the one call we pray we never have to make but know we will one day. I cried to my vet, but I knew in my heart it was his time. He sat with me there on the floor getting ear scratches and head rubs while I talked about options--knowing there was only one.

I hung up the phone, picked up his leash, looked him in the eye and said one last time, "Let's go for a ride baby." And he raced to the car as he always did--as if nothing was wrong. And when I looked at him as we drove I saw two bloody eyes that held so much love I hated myself because I knew this was his last ride, something he loved, but he didn't know.

We got to the hospital and I sat in an exam room with my boy, rubbing his head, scratching his ears and keeping him calm while I talked through everything one last time with the doctor. For him to not get relief from all the meds probably meant that his scarred esophagus and/or stomach lining had started to ulcerate. The only choice would have been to put him on massive doses of predisone to treat the pain.

I looked at him and then at the vet and said, "For how long and for whom, him or me?" The answer was clear without anything being said--it would have been for me, and merely delaying the inevitable and quite possibly causing him more distress. I vowed I would never let him be in pain if I could at all avoid it, and I kept that promise at 8 PM on December 8, 2009.

My Buford baby did not go gentle into that good night. The first attempt: his vein collapsed. The 2nd attempt he almost bit the vet. Finally (and yes, I stayed and I was more of a wreck than can be described in words), the third vein held and my boy drifted quickly and quietly in my arms. In seconds he was gone.....and I wanted to go with him.

I stayed alone with him for a while, talking to him, kissing his head and face and trying to pull myself together so that I could drive home. How I got home I'll never know but I did. And I grabbed Della and screamed into her fur. It took Della a full week before she realized her brother wasn't coming home. She hit full doggy depression at that point and would sleep on the couch and wake frequently, snapping her head toward his empty chair and then sighing heavily while she put her head back down and went back to sleep. It's been 3 weeks and she still will not go near his chair.

I miss my boy horribly. I'm learning more and more about Della every day and for that I'm very happy--she is a delightful dog who lived in the shadow of her brother Buford and his ailments for the first 5 years of her life. She is not Buford, and I do not want her to be. But I cannot help wishing he was still here.

I buried Buford on Friday, December 11th on the farm. One of the vet tech's mother owns a farm just over the PA line and her mother offered me anywhere that I wanted to lay my boy to rest. I picked a spot on a terraced area overlooking the lake--it is beautiful there.

Something odd happened a week after he left for the bridge. Because of his struggles with Cushing's Disease, Buford had to go out almost every 2 hours or so--I became accustomed to sleep deprivation many months earlier as this had been going on for close to 2 years. Della was sound asleep next to me in bed--deep sleep in fact, but while she slept, something woke me up. It was a little after 3 AM, a usual "gotta go out" time for Buford. I was awake, very awake. So I picked up my book and started to read. After about 15 minutes or so I heard something that normally would have frightened me--a scratch against wood. I put the book down and listened thinking it was a branch and then I heard it again and it was not a branch--it was a scratch of a nail against the front door. I looked at Della who was still sleeping. And then I saw the cat also sleeping on the foot of the bed. I looked toward the bedroom door and out into the hallway when I heard something else: a woof. And I knew Buford was downstairs in the foyer as he often was, calling up to me not out of need to go out, but rather as a "HI Mom. I'm ok!"

I wasn't frightened, I was calm. My heart wasn't even beating fast. As crazy as it sounds, I'm convinced it was him. I know the sounds of this house better than I know my own inner thoughts and I have never heard anything that sounds like a basset hound woof except when it came from one of the pups. I have not heard it again since that night, although I find myself waking regularly between 3-3:25 AM almost every night.

He was with me from the age of 7 months until his last breath when he was 10 years, 11 months and 3 days old. And I wouldn't trade a single moment I shared with the dog for anything in the world--he was my heart dog and I will always love him.

Rest easy Buford. Until we meet again my boy.

Rough Morning for Buford

I'm not sure what's going on to be honest....yesterday (Friday) I fed him breakfast at his usual 5:30 AM and then I just couldn't stay up so I went back to sleep. I woke up around 7:30 to find him sleeping soundly nearby but I then found 3 areas in the living room where he had apparently vomited (and then "cleaned up after himself). Somehow I slept through the how event but he seemed fine.

He ate a 1/2 can for lunch - we're trying to increase his caloric intake in the hope of putting some weight on him - and he did fine. Dinner: he seemed alright for the most part. A little restless but he climbed up on the couch, snuggled down next to me and went into a normal dog food coma for a couple hours.

Then this morning: at 3 AM he woke up and tried to vomit. After a couple of retches he attempted to eliminate but nothing came out. He only did it once and then went back to sleep. He seemed fine and in his normal "I'm starving" mode for breakfast at 6 AM so I fed him. And it was as if he never had surgery! He gassed up like a balloon but belched and de-gassed fairly quickly. Then the hypersalivation began, and the "hoovering" of anything and everything in order to try to make himself vomit. It took about an hour to get him to to through his process: gas up, slobber, fight me to hoover, belch, de-gas, repeat.

Finally he settled down and fell into a deep sleep around 7:30 AM. I'm exhausted. And of course, it's Saturday------and even if I had to take him back to the specialty/emergency clinic, his internist is at a conference and won't be back until TUESDAY!

I hope he has an easier day....I'm thinking of spreading his meals out thoroughout the day now--same amount but give in smaller portions over the course of the day. Fortunately I am home this time of year and can do this with little inconvenience. This poor dog--he just can't catch a break!

3 Days Post-Op

Buford seems to be doing very well. The crying/moaning he was doing Saturday and Sunday have all but disappeared. He is walking well, even trying to trot a little which I work very hard to try and stop. Too much too soon and we'll be right back into surgery to fix whatever damage he's caused himself. His incision looks good. His appetite is terrific and his "business" is right on track. He has counter-cruised a few times, something I also I trying to discourage out of fear of him ripping stitches, etc.

Not all of his bloating symptoms have disappeared however. The surgeon did say that some dogs who have gastropexy still experience bloating but there is no longer a chance of a GVD since the stomach can no longer twist. Fortunately the symptoms are not very severe: he still licks the air on and off for about 30 minutes after meals--and it always subsides after each burp. Saturday and Sunday he experienced some hyper-salivation as well during the first hour after eating full meals but it also cleared up on its own. There has been no sign of physical bloating, nor has he vomited.

I have noticed that he is still pretty restless after meals--pacing, looking for more to eat, etc. And each time this has happened a very short and slow walk down the block and back again cured him.....well, the walk didn't but the fact that each time he we went he moved his bowels and THEN he settled down. So it appears that the dog who has never really liked walks now loves them and HAS to take them for more reasons than just exercise.

Hopefully he will continue to improve as each day goes by. He seems happy and still quite energetic--a very good thing.

Buford--post surgical update

The surgeon called a little bit ago and said that Buford did very well. Fortunately I have nothing new to report since the last update as nothing additional was found/done to him. He is going to be monitored very closely through the entire night as they need to make sure he does not have an abdominal bleed. He's on morphine (I could use some) and if he's stable enough he will come home tomorrow. I flat out told the surgeon that I'm in no rush to get him home if he's safer there. I'll pay the extra hospitalization charges to keep him there until Sunday just to make sure he's really ok the return home. He said he understood and that we would take it day by day.

Recap:

Gastropexy (stomach tacking)
Removal of spleen due to multiple nodules
Partial liver lobectomy due to the finding of a nodule
Tissue samples being sent for biopsy of stomach lining, intestines and the spleen/liver to UPENN
Clear evidence of esophagus damage from acid reflux (to be treated most likely with Prilosec)

Thank you all for being there for him (and me too).