The Midnight Hour

I'll follow the doctors' model of narration (well, at least the doctors at VCA) -- first the good stuff, then the bad stuff. The best news so far was that the biopsy from his lungs was NOT cancer!!! Some fun news: John, one of the night ICU nurses who has been caring for Nelson, said when I called at 1 am, "Nelson is such a cutie!" He said Nelson fell asleep on the weighing machine so they let him stay there for 1/2 hour after giving him his treatments. All the nurses are starting to say that Nelson is beginning to get a little testy about being roused out of his hospital crate/cage, but that he's totally easy after he's been coaxed out; they all said that's understandable after being poked, prodded, and pricked for so long now. John said Nelson is so sweet and said that he's a "head-jammer," which we all knew. When John was giving Nelson his treatments, John said he jammed his head into his gut. John also said Nelson is a "woman's dog" because he really loves the lady doctors or nurses. We're skeptical. The boy plays both sides, likes everybody. He's a regular playa'. He'll lean on anyone, sit on anyone's feet. John said Nelson even went up to another vet tech giving treatments to another dog.

We'll miss John, who is moving to Illinois where his kids live. He said he's got rotties, so he loves Nelson's eyebrows.

Now the bad stuff. Last night was a rough one for Nelson. When I called at 5:15 am to see how he was doing, John said his vomiting and diarrhea has returned after chest surgery, and they are in full effect. I won't go into gory detail. When we visited today, Dr. Lippo said that he wasn't worried about it because it could be stress from being in the hospital or something else, but that it would resolve itself eventually. I think I'll remind him tomorrow that the boy has a sensitive tummy, and that he always had, and that he had diarrhea prior to coming to VCA.

The really bad stuff: all the doctors say that Nelson can't survive outside the hospital right now until they finally figure out what is wrong with him and begin the appropriate course of treatment. Dr. Lippo said it's a double-edged sword; on the one hand, we're hopeful that his diagnosis is still pending, but on the other hand, they said they may never find out what's wrong.

But now I will subvert the narrative, and tell you something good about Nelson that Dr. Lippo said. First, he said that all the doctors and pathologists are working together to figure out what is wrong with Nelson (as they should!!!). Second, he said that the pathologists can't believe Nelson is still breathing and has not suffocated himself based on the biopsy and that it's all over his lungs, so he therefore must be having some really good lung tissue still; they said that if he was an older dog, he would be in serious trouble and not be like Nelson who can walk outside okay and still be breathing on his own. However, that good lung tissue he has could be severely inflammed, too, we just don't know because we don't know what disease he has. Another great thing Dr. Lippo said was that Nelson is interested in drinking water, which is a very good sign.

Natty, an ICU nurse who works Mon-Thurs, asked us to bring puppy pictures of Nelson. She wasn't there today, but we showed them to Jeff and Carlos, and Dr. Lippo. So on a healthier and happier note, here's a photo of the pup during better days when we lived on 17th St. He loves his sea turtle. He puts the body between his paws and holds the head in his mouth; it's his pacifier and he often will zone out while suckling it. We brought one of his sea turtles to the hospital with him.