Happy New Year?

Happy Monday! Happy New Year! Today we welcome students back from break, and have five new students starting! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. Mine was pretty awful. I was fighting a cold the days leading up to break and finally ran a fever on Thursday night, so I had to call in sick on Friday and cancel my family get together on Christmas Eve. Multiple Covid tests were negative, so I either had a bad cold or mild flu. The fever broke on Christmas, but I could do nothing but get up to walk the dogs around the house and lie back down again in the days following. My dogs slept on the couch with me, one warming my feet and one at my head. 

It was probably because we were all lying low that I missed my dog Ares' decline. He had stopped eating much the week before the break and I made a mental note to take him to the vet. Of course, the vet was away till Tuesday, but he called me on Tuesday afternoon with an appointment for Wednesday afternoon. I had noticed that his abdomen was distended and sure enough, the vet said it was ascites, which is never a good sign. He referred me to an animal hospital that could run blood tests and do ultrasound. Long story short, the fluid in his abdomen was bright red blood and his hemoglobin was only 2.5 and his liver function tests were all abnormal, indicating a liver ailment, probably masses. He needed an emergency laparotomy, which is expensive, and the vet wasn't sure he would make it through the surgery due to the low hemoglobin and his age. He let me stay in a room with Ares while I made the heartbreaking decision to let him go. I spent time giving him treats and letting him lie in my lap and telling him that he was the best dog. The vet was gentle and unhurried and said I did the right thing. I know I did. It's so hard. I'm heartbroken.