July 28, 2013

A.J. started throwing up again around 2 AM. Greg took him out while I cleaned up. He brought him back, and I immediately had more to clean up. We both hung out with him outside for a little while. We came back in. More cleanup. I finally directed A.J. toward the laundry room just to make cleanup easier. I sat down on the floor and leaned up against the washing machine, and A.J. laid down next to me and leaned against the dryer. He continued to throw up. We sat there for a while without any incidents, so I got up and headed back for the bedroom. A.J. got up and started throwing up again. I was trying to clean and (unsuccessfully) keep him off the carpet. I finally got him back into the laundry room.

At this point Greg was getting a little tired and frustrated. “Are you going to sit there on the floor with him all night?”

“Well, I can’t let him keep coughing up all over the house.”

“So you’re going to sit there all night?”

“I don’t know what else to do.”

“You’re sick. If someone has to sit there let me do it.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re going to sit there all night?”

And so it went. Eventually Greg got into bed and picked up a book while I sat on the laundry room floor with A.J. After a while I realized I did need some sleep, so I decided to see if A.J. would destroy the door if I left the room and closed him in. I closed the door and got into bed. After about five minutes he whined a little. About five minutes more and I heard a scratch on the door. I got up, walked up to the door, and at the next scratch said “NO!” One more tentative scratch…”NO!” Nothing. So I went to bed. This was around 3:00 or 3:30.

A.J. kept quiet after that, but within half an hour I was awake with my own scratchy cough. I tried a cough drop. That worked a little, but not for long. I finally got up and took some cold medicine. That worked, and I was back to sleep around 4:30.

At 6:00 A.J. was up coughing away again. I was going to leave him there, I could clean up the laundry room later. But Greg couldn’t leave him. He got up and let him out. I could hear A.J. wandering around the house coughing up more loveliness, but decided Greg let him out, it’s his problem. I went back to sleep and didn’t get up until after 8:00. That was just after Greg and A.J. got back from a walk. I knew this because Greg had given A.J. some food when they got back. As soon as I got up and opened the bedroom door, A.J. came in, walked into the bathroom, and threw up dog food all over the bath mat.

It was 8:15 when I got onto the computer and discovered the Humane Society vet hospital opens at 8:00 on Sundays, so I called right away. We got an appointment for 3:00.

We spent a lot of the rest of the day outside. A.J. was able to sleep a lot. When he wasn’t sleeping he was hacking up gross things.

Through it all he’s been a lovely little guy. He doesn’t know his name yet, but he comes when I call him to me, wagging his stumpy little tail and ready to lean against me and be petted. He is going to be a handful though. I ate lunch outside, and when I took my plate in I came back to see him with his front paws on the table looking for anything I might have left behind. We definitely can’t turn our backs on this little guy.

The visit to the vet went remarkably well. It was obvious the vet thought we were exaggerating when we told him how much A.J. was coughing up. Then A.J. decided to demonstrate. (Good dog!) We left the vet with 10 days of antibiotics, 7 days of anti-inflammatories, and – so we can sleep – 7 days of pain medication that’s supposed to make him sleepy. Also, no more walking until he’s better, he’s on bed-rest right now. He came home and drank some water and ate some food, then crashed. I wish I could fall asleep that easily.