Haley’s Story: A Journal Entry
This is a journal entry I wrote while Haley was still sick.
——————————
Four days ago a vet told me my dog was dying.
She was diagnosed with a deadly virus called parvo. Three days ago she had started vomiting and having diarrhea non-stop, and by the time we got her to the emergency clinic her gums were white from dehydration, her blood sugar level was half of what it should be, and she was cold.
I did what anyone would do. In that small, quiet, white hospital room, I cried. I thought about the memories I had with her and the possibility of never having more. The doctors, however, said she might survive, so we went home to let them take care of her.
I then went online. I researched this terrible virus and found information that was like light shining into a cave you thought was your deathbed. It was instructions on how to heal a dog with parvo holistically at home. The 100 pages worth of instructions were in front of my eyes, asking me: “Do you have what is takes?”
The doctor had said she was likely to die – as he put it, “She may survive, but I don’t see miracles often.” The nurses, somewhat contradictory to the doctor, said she had a 50-50 chance of survival. On the other hand, the holistic animal caretakers online had saved 35 our of 36 puppies. Their instructions were thorough, understandable, and doable – not easily doable, but doable. Even though I had no experience or education on healing animals, I gained a sense of hope with the thought that if I could do as they said, Haley’s chance of survival could be higher than if she stayed at the hospital.
That led to reality, though: taking care of her at home with myself and the occasional help of family members would mean giving her a medicinal oral dose hourly. It meant that even through the night, I would have to wake up on the dot – whether it be midnight, or two o’clock, or four o’clock. It meant waking up five minutes early to make the medicine, taking five to ten minutes to give her the medicine, and another five minutes to clean up afterward. That left me forty-five minutes worth of sleep in between at most if I was able to fall asleep right away every time, which I knew was impossible.
Yet at the hospital, she would be taken care of by others –I could get a decent sleep at home, so long as thoughts of Haley quieted down enough to let me. I would be able to continue my life normally at home, finishing homework and doing chores and watching movies, instead of having it revolve around medicine, cleaning up vomit, and finding time to sleep.
This, however, would come at a cost. At an average of $900 a night which included IV fluids, medicine, tests, and blood transfusions, keeping my puppy at the hospital would be expensive. If I kept her at home, the natural remedies would cost at most around $200.
Lastly, the issue of environment: did I want my baby sleeping on a concrete floor in a cage separated by glass from the rest of the world, with unfamiliar, gloved hands poking needles into her, or did I want to keep her home, where she could be surrounded by familiarity, the comfort of her doggie bed, and her loving, attentive family?
Against the strong advice of the vets, who made sure I was aware she had a high chance of dying that day since we were taking her away, I took Haley home. The way the nurses were talking, I could tell they were more than concerned; they were sad. In their faces I read, “They’ve lost her…and they don’t even know it.” I started holistic treatment as soon as we got home.
This happened four days ago. As I write this, Haley is sleeping at my feet. Yes, she is still sick. Yes, she is very tired, and vomits, and has diarrhea, and her temperature is a bit high. And no, I don’t know if she’ll survive. I really don’t.
What I do know is that she’s much stronger than the vets thought – or at least, the natural medicine is. And as long as she doesn’t give up, I won’t give up either.
——————————
Haley survived!
Filed Under My Parvo Story, Parvo Treatment | 2 Comments
Tagged With heal parvo, parvo experience, parvo story, parvo success story, parvo treatment
Comments
2 Responses to “Haley’s Story: A Journal Entry”
Leave a Reply
I bookmarked this site, Thank you for good job!
Nice work! I’ll have to do a cross post on this one