I spoke with Dr. Klaser around noon, she said Lilo seemed brighter today, but she was waiting to test her electrolytes level at 2pm to see if she had improved.
At around 5:15pm, Dr Klaser called. She said Lilo's blood glucose level dropped to half the normal level, that she isn't looking good. They tried to force food on her with little success. She suggested putting a feeding tube in her, meaning anesthesia and cutting holes in her tummy. Because of her low blood glucose, they have to do more frequent monitoring on her, keeping her there over the weekend would cost $1000 per day. We're already $5k in, about two months worth of our salary combined. While we would do whatever it takes to get Lilo better, there is just no guarantee that inserting a feeding tube would really make her better. (This was all happening while I was at my co-worker's roof top deck end of summer happy hour. So I had to leave before most people show up.)
After speaking to Dr. Klaser, I called Dr. Parrish for her opinion. We spoke for a few minutes, she was very helpful. I decided to bring Lilo home. If she is dying, I would much rather have her spending her final moments with us. I could pay another $2k to keep her at the vet, get the feeding tube in, and she could even die during anesthesia procedure, without her family close to her.
Lilo has been through a lot. She was a breeder's dog, probably caged or confined, before she was rescued. She came to live with us three years ago, free to roam in the house. I can see she gets very depressed over the past few days, being locked up in a cage again. I just wish I can speak dog language and let her know we're doing this to help her get better.
We arrived at CVRC at around 7:05pm. We finally met Dr. Klaser (we spoke so many times over the phone) in person. She said unless a miracle happens and Lilo somehow turns around at home, we likely would have to put her down tomorrow. Lilo is only 5-6 years old. She is so young still! We are pretty depressed about the news. She left the catheter on Lilo in case we need to bring her to ER overnight for more IV fluid or to our regular vet to be put down, so they don't have to poke, yet another hole, in her vain.
Cameron was driving us home (I was too emotional to drive). Well, Cameron was pretty emotional too, we totally missed the exit to I-97. So we had to turn around. We didn't get home until 8:50pm. We were starving! But first thing I did, try to get Lilo to eat. I squirted chicken broth down Lilo's throat, I put a/d canned food on her nose so she would lick it. When I held the spoonful of a/d in front of her, she actually ate it willingly. She ate about 2/3 of the can. In the meantime, my sister was steaming chicken and rice for Cameron and I to eat. So we finally ate our dinner at 9:30pm, and Lilo started shaking/shivering (due to low blood glucose). I was forcing sugar on her and she hated it. Back to me eating dinner, then I thought I should give a small piece of chicken to Lilo (it's just steamed chicken with a bit of salt. no marinades.). Lilo ate the small piece of chicken. We were more than excited. I gave her almost half of my chicken while Karen prepared another small piece. She ate a lot of chicken. Hopefully, that's enough to help her out.
It's 11pm now, Lilo is no longer shivering. We're monitoring closely and hoping for the best. And we're turning on the heat to keep her warm.
Please keep Lilo in your prayers!
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