A lot of things have happened since the last time I posted. I am just going to touch on a few of them.
We lost our Jack Boy rather suddenly on March 7th. It has been a while so it is easier for me to talk (ok, type) about it. It was very tough. He was having some major issues one day. Would not eat and could not keep water down. Of course, Jack starts this on a Friday night, so the only option is an emergency vet clinic. (Can you hear the cash registers clinging?) So we decided to watch him for a while. It did not get better and by Sat. night Allen and I knew he was in trouble. We took him to the emergency vet. They ran about $700 worth of tests and told us that he might have some sort of blockage and was dehydrated. Well Duh Jacka$$. Then they told Allen they wanted somewhere around $1,300 to keep him one night and give him some fluids, and THAT didn’t even start to solve the actual problem. For THAT, we needed a $3k surgery. Allen, after picking his jaw up off the floor, told the vet to make Jack comfortable enough to bring home, and we would figure out a place to take him the next day. A friends heard about it and recommended a vet in BFE Texas for us. We went all the way out there and met, as far as I am concerned, what must be God’s closest cousin. Now, in between the time we got him home from the evil vet and to the saintly vet, Jack had actually passed a pair of my underwear. Go ahead and chuckle. They were one of my favs. (Silly dog). While we knew this was progress, Jack was leaking stool and blood and still would not eat or drink. I have never in my life dealt with such messes. It was just awful and the entire time Jack was in pain. It was just a horrible time. So we take him to God’s cousin and this man operated on Jack for ( get this) $350. (His exact words were, “I’ll do it for $350. No worries. I drive a Chevy and it’s paid for. Let’s just make Jack better”) He opened Jack up and his stomach to make sure there was nothing else in there because Jack’s condition was not improving. He didn’t find anything in there but it seemed like from the second he stitched Jack up, Jack started getting better. So after monitoring him, we brought him home. The night we brought Jack home, I heard him roaming around the house at 5:00 AM. So I got up at six and walk out to the living room. I jumped back when I thought there was a snake on the floor. Alas, this was not a snake, but an entire pair of panty hose stretched out from limb to limb that Jack had passed………just like that……stretched out from limb to limb. Unbelievable. We called God’s cousin just to let him know and he could not believe it himself. When he operated the pantyhose must have already been in jack’s intestines, and unless he opened those up too, there would never be any way to detect it. (we even took Xrays and they didn’t show there) So after he passed those, Jack’s conditioned quickly improved to 100%.
We spent the next Saturday playing in the yard with Jack, Alex, and some neighbors from about 1:00 until sundown. Jack was his old self again. Playing with the ball and Chopper and Alex. He was looking very good! Just a few minutes after the last neighbor left, Jack was acting funny. He was dry heaving but nothing came up. Jacks’ problems had gone on well over a week and Jack had only been better for a day or so we naturally assumed that this was still related. Of course, it was a Sat. night again. We let him sleep outside that night since that is where he preferred to be. When I got up on Sunday to check him, he was not doing well. His tummy was bloated. He would not move unless we absolutely made him, and later in the day would not move at all. It was Sunday so God’s cousin wasn’t around but his answering service recommended an emergency vet in Burleson. We loaded Jack in the car and headed that way. I was crying before we even arrived because something was telling me that, whatever this was, we were probably not going to be able to fix it. The doc took one look at Jack and I knew right then we were not leaving with our boy. I was crying again before he even discussed it with us. In a coincidence completely unrelated to his previous complications, Jack stomach had flipped. (Don’t get me wrong, I am sure swallowing and digesting the entire bottom part of my outfit in one gulp severely damaged Jack’s digestive system, but he was fully recovered from this when his stomach flipped) The doc took some Xrays, and explained to us that he could operate, but due to the severe nature of Jack’s condition, it was not likely that Jack would even survive this operation. So after all that, Allen and I had to make the decision that night to put Jack to sleep. It was very tough, and my biggest regret is that Jack had to go through so much just to get to this.
Allen and I love big dogs. One of the risks you run with big dogs is big complications. We went through something very similar with our first Doberman, Buster. Jack was a fantastic dog and we miss him too much. Life around our house is much quieter. I would give up quiet and easy though to have Jack back. Maybe someday in the future we will get another big dog. But for now, we are doing well with just Chopper.
We spent the next Saturday playing in the yard with Jack, Alex, and some neighbors from about 1:00 until sundown. Jack was his old self again. Playing with the ball and Chopper and Alex. He was looking very good! Just a few minutes after the last neighbor left, Jack was acting funny. He was dry heaving but nothing came up. Jacks’ problems had gone on well over a week and Jack had only been better for a day or so we naturally assumed that this was still related. Of course, it was a Sat. night again. We let him sleep outside that night since that is where he preferred to be. When I got up on Sunday to check him, he was not doing well. His tummy was bloated. He would not move unless we absolutely made him, and later in the day would not move at all. It was Sunday so God’s cousin wasn’t around but his answering service recommended an emergency vet in Burleson. We loaded Jack in the car and headed that way. I was crying before we even arrived because something was telling me that, whatever this was, we were probably not going to be able to fix it. The doc took one look at Jack and I knew right then we were not leaving with our boy. I was crying again before he even discussed it with us. In a coincidence completely unrelated to his previous complications, Jack stomach had flipped. (Don’t get me wrong, I am sure swallowing and digesting the entire bottom part of my outfit in one gulp severely damaged Jack’s digestive system, but he was fully recovered from this when his stomach flipped) The doc took some Xrays, and explained to us that he could operate, but due to the severe nature of Jack’s condition, it was not likely that Jack would even survive this operation. So after all that, Allen and I had to make the decision that night to put Jack to sleep. It was very tough, and my biggest regret is that Jack had to go through so much just to get to this.
Allen and I love big dogs. One of the risks you run with big dogs is big complications. We went through something very similar with our first Doberman, Buster. Jack was a fantastic dog and we miss him too much. Life around our house is much quieter. I would give up quiet and easy though to have Jack back. Maybe someday in the future we will get another big dog. But for now, we are doing well with just Chopper.
JACK BOY
lost March 7, 2010
Alex turned 2!!! I can't believe that two years ago was the best and most painful birthday I ever had, when Alex came into this world to share this birthday with me. He is so much fun and just makes me giggle every day. His big thing is Thomas the Train. Thomas is a celebrity around our house so naturally, we had to do a Thomas party. Alex did very well for himself! He got an actual Thomas the Train to ride, a full on backyard redwood swing set/playhouse, and a kiddie 4 wheeler to drive around the backyard and terrorize Chopper.
It was a good party. It was threatening to storm all day so it was nice and cool for the majority of the day. Later on in the evening, but that didn't slow things down! All of the adults hung out o the patio and the kids went out and played in the rain. it actually even got a bit chilly!
Below are just a few snapshots form the party. Hopefully Aunt Stacy took some better ones than me (not hard to accomplish) and will send them my way. I have been horrible about getting the camera out lately. I don't even have any pictures of Easter!
I made cupcakes
Alex on his train
The kids playing with the awesome bubble machine Joe and Teresa brought for Alex!
Chopper is really getting some distance on those long drives!
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