We got up bright and early and left for Starkville this morning to arrive at 9:00 instead of our usual 2:00 afternoon visits. We were concerned about the infection and wanted to spend more time observing him today. There's not as much going on during the week-ends and not as many people in and out so we felt an extra set of "Kirby Keepers" would be good.
Jennifer called about 8:45 to say that he had not run any more fever during the night which we were happy to hear. They did a subcutaneous IV for fluids in the early morning. When we arrived we asked Jennifer if she thought our vet would allow Kirby to have a bath since he had all tubes removed. She went and asked and Dr. Sullivant gave the okay. Kirby came out a little while later wrapped in a towel and looking like a WHITE dog again and smelling sooooo much better. Days in the kennel and all of the things that he's been through it was so good for him to get a bath. She said he really enjoyed it. It just made him look like he felt better.
We made our camp site in our private waiting room and Kirby lay between us trying to sleep. He made some strange wheezing sounds while sleeping and Russ recorded it and showed it to Dr. Sullivant who came down and said it wasn't wheezing but whining. It was nothing like we have ever heard before and we were pretty concerned what might be causing discomfort. She said he had been given a pain medication at 4:00 am which had made him pretty loopy and off balance but she would half the dose. We decided to wait and watch a little while and were glad we did. This was Kirby's way of trying to tell us he wanted to go outside to do his business. He did all of his outdoor chores and enjoyed being outside. Not the energetic dog he was three days ago but nothing like the lethargic dog we had yesterday either. I think we are on the right path. Dr. Sullivant said when they took the jugular PICC line out there was some puss on the needles so it wasn't just a superficial skin infection. We are so blessed that God led us to question things yesterday and draw attention to the fact that his behavior was not characteristic even for him as a sick dog with kidney disease.
Today he has taken numerous car rides with his head on mama's shoulder or his head hanging out of the window with dad. You can tell when he's trying to get us to DO something. LOL He also stands his ground when he doesn't want to go back inside. Digs in with those legs and regardless of how shaky his balance is --there's no doubt what he's saying. We are so proud of these behaviors. We have not gotten used to his sweet eyes wandering aimlessly yet. It is a really hard transition for all of us but he is teaching us about resilience. God is teaching us about trusting his timing.
Speaking of timing, we are going to take Kirby home tomorrow afternoon. Happy Father's Day to Daddy! We will go to church and lunch with Kelly and Morgan and then head to MSU to begin the training of how to take care of Kirby all on our own. We plan to take him back on Tuesday afternoon for them to check his fluids and kidney values to see how it is all working away from the hospital environment. I know he will be so happy to get back to his house and backyard and companions, Kasidy and Kada-Joy. They look for him every day when we come home. They smell his scent on us and try to find him. Bless all three of them. Kirby didn't sleep very much today which is good. For a few minutes he let Russ hold him and went to sleep. We hope that means he will sleep tonight. It was hard to leave him knowing that he didn't want us to leave. Every time one of us moved, he was concerned. He cries when he goes back to his kennel. Yes, it is time to come home! Thank goodness he is alert enough to know when we have been there or when we leave. We thank God for these blessings. As we lay with Kirby between us protected and loved, we thought about all of the children of the world who do not have this care. I said prayers for them and thought about how wonderful heaven is going to be. This world is not our home and one day every little child will feel our heavenly father's arms wrap around them in love. I pray that someone will provide hugs for them while they are traveling this earth, too.
Thanks for your continued support and prayers for our Kirby. We can feel the prayers. God is good and we give him the glory for the marvelous things he has done in our lives.
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