We've had a whirlwind of the past 30 hours. I can easily write this now because Uley is home, sleeping, and showing improvement. Let's back up...
Wednesday night we took Uley to the lake with our friends and their dog in the hopes that he would learn to swim. After 15 minutes or so of bringing him in the water and throwing a toy or stick further and further each time he finally got the hang of it. he LOVED swimming! He couldn't wait for us to throw something back in so he could swim and go get it. We were so PROUD! We ended up staying for about an hour and decided to call it a night. Uley was clearly exhausted and I was a little concerned we had overworked him. When we got home he started breathing heavily, his eyes wouldn't really open, wouldn't eat or drink anything - we were concerned. Jay thought I was being overprotective and that he was just tired, so I called my mom to get another opinion and she agreed that he was just tired. I tried to convince myself that, but he wasn't acting right. I looked up an emergency vet and some symptoms just incase of over exhaustion or heat stroke. He started heavily drooling and was lethargic, his breathing didn't slow down at all. We took him outside before bed because we were all tired and then we noticed he kind of collapsed. He couldn't hold himself up and couldn't walk. Now Jay believed that something was wrong and we were both freaking out. He ran upstairs got his keys, checked directions to the emergency vet and we quickly left. Jay drove double the speed limit and even considered running some lights (which he didn't). Uley was unresponsive, looked horrible and we kept trying to assure ourselves we were about to pay a lot of money to hear he was tired.
Jay carried him inside quickly explaining and the worried looking vets (assuring, right?) rushed him to the back to run some tests. We were lead to a room to wait.
The vet came in later, told us his body temperature was abnormally low, he still was breathing heavily and drooling, he was unresponsive, and had a stigma in his eyes. He got all the information we could think of, and they would run some more tests. He came back later and told us his chemical balances were off, his glucose levels were almost double the norm, and he had no idea what was wrong. He thought diabetic but with no previous symptoms it was doubtful. He told us big fancy words of something wrong with his brain, that he could have ingested something in the water or outside or inside without our notice. They continued to monitor him and put him through vet ICU. We were sent home for the night and they would call us if things got worse.
We slept horribly. We kept hoping nothing would happen and that we would only awake from an alarm, not a call. We were so relived in the morning to know he wasn't doing any worse and Jay called to get an update. They said he was doing much better and we could probably bring him home that day. He still wasn't fully aware of what was going on but his glucose had dropped and his chemical balances were normalling out. Jay tried to go to work, but he said he just sat there perplexed about Uley.
He got another call that morning saying that something could be wrong with his brain or spine. He's having troubles walking and still had a slight stigma in his eye, but was continuing to improve so there was not much to do but continue some tests and wait.
I went to visit him and I've never been so happy in my life that he noticed me. He crawled towards me, wanting me to hold him as I pet him and spoke to him calmly. As scared as I was, it was so good to just see him again - since we hadn't since before we brought him in the night before. The Dr. told me again it could be a brain or spine problem, perhaps a tumor but he was showing improvement still and they would run more tests around noon. He took him out so I could see him walk and he had a problem with his left side of the body. You would think he had a stroke with the way his brain wouldn't connect with him walking. He stumbled and fell and it broke my heart. It was hard to leave, but Jay and I would be back after noon.
When we came back the vet said he could go home, his blood tests were almost back to normal and he was still improving. He walked further this time and the stigma had disappeared. The only conclusion we could think of is a brain/spine problem, or he ingested something in the water or something like a mushroom out in the grass.
Jay took Uley and I home while he went back to work. I watched him diligently and laid on the floor with him while he slept. Later that night Jay and I took him out and noticed he was walking better and faster - he even went to the bathroom on his own - we were so proud to see him improving and to have him home!
Today he's still improving and hopefully a weekend of recovery and rest will do him good. We're sleeping on the floor, we've brought our mattress out so he didn't try to jump around or move too much since he's still so weak - I don't want him injuring himself on top of everything. While we still have no clue what happened or what is wrong we're just happy it's improving and hopefully it'll soon be a thing of the past.
Jay and I have never been so scared in out entire lives and we're reassured just knowing he is home with us again.
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