Our Strange Inheritance continues: The blood transfusion #strangeinheritance, #fortheloveofdogs

Once again, Bella was ripped out of our arms and taken away. She woke up yesterday morning and I knew right away something wasn't right. She was very lethargic and refused to eat. Since she hadn't pooped, I assumed that was the problem. 

I had taken last week off to a certain extent to see to Bella, so I had to stay at work yesterday which had me biting my fingernails.  Good God do these dogs know how much we love them? More than anything on this planet, we did not and do not want Bella to suffer. Between losing her eye surgically, then another surgery in her good eye then going blind after cancer surgery, we just don't want anything done to extend her life if she must live it in pain. 

*explosive sigh*

I am tired of people lecturing me about blind dogs living an unfulfilled life, but I will admit to seriously thinking about it yesterday when we got the call that Bella needed a blood transfusion. It seemed no one could tell us why. Her regular vet was in charge and he sent my husband into the valley to another clinic who could do the transfusion. There was a lot of push pull on the payment side, so we whipped out our credit card and took it from there. We decided to worry about payment later. By yesterday at five we still didn't have an answer. We were told we had to leave Bella at the surgical center and they would get back to us about her condition. We waited, and waited, and waited.  During the wait time, we had two more calls about payment from the same clinic. What about credit cards don't you get? I thought. I was ready to throw the phone out the window, but that would have served no purpose. 

Today we were told we could pick  up Bella. They said she had anemia but no one knew why. Her bloods were holding, so far at least, but nobody could tell the future. Although it is not the answer we would have liked, perhaps it is the only answer that could be given. Bella did poop out black stool with the consistency of old blood, but using an ultra sound, the doc couldn't find anything leaking.  Bella's regular vet will take over from here and so the search will go on to find the cause of Bella's anemia. If there is one. Of course I've read everything on the internet about anemia in dogs, but that just served to scare me to death and set me to wondering: How much is enough?

Now, of course, I am wondering if Bella's confusion over the weekend might have been related to low oxygen.  My BFFF went through this after her cancer surgery. She's people and Bella isn't, but how much different can we be when it comes to anemia? I am used to this kind of stuff in humans, but dogs? This is an entirely different matter altogether. I have no answers and have no idea what is the right thing to do. 

The main purpose of a blood transfusion is to stabilize the dog while the underlying cause of the anemia is determined and other treatments can take effect. So far we don't have any new treatments and no one seems to know why she was so ill. I can't even get someone to call me about about the biopsy! My patience is thin, decidedly so. Our Bella was close to death  and skirted it, again. We are nervous wrecks and I sure as hell could use a good night's sleep along with a shot of Jack Daniels. 

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