Not so fun weekend

Friday at work wasn't the best day, so I was looking forward to going home for a better night and relaxing weekend. Wrong! When I got home Nick told me that Bailey was acting lethargic, shaking, and having diarrhea. We closely monitored her for a little while and then we saw her (warning - this may be TMI) have horrible bloody diarrhea- it looked like straight blood coming out. I pretty much screamed and we both looked at each other and said, "let's go". Since it was Friday night we had to bring her to the animal ER. I sat in the back seat with her and was so scared by the way she was acting that I started crying. I knew this was bad. This was our second trip to the vet ER this week (the previous Sunday, Bay's birthday [March 14th], we brought her and Sophie out to play fetch, but they collided and Bailey needed facial sutures, and even went under general anesthesia). So going back a few days later was not fun and this time it was much more serious. The doctor walked right in and just by first look at her said, "You have a sick dog". He ran blood tests and diagnosed her with HGE - Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis, which can be fatal, but has an unknown cause. He wanted to start her immediately on IV fluids and antibiotics and keep her overnight. We were told to come back in the morning at 7am, before they closed, and that she might need to be transferred to our local vet at that time. They told us we could call throughout the night to check on her, but no news from them was good news. Nick and I said a prayer for our girl before we went to bed that night. At 1:16am I awoke from a bad dream about her and it took me awhile to go back to sleep. In my dream, Nick and I were in a car driving along a beautiful meadow, but Bailey was chasing after us and we couldn't stop the car. I was screaming at Nick to stop the car and let her in, but he couldn't. Then I woke up. I was going to call the vet, but I thought I would never be able to go back to sleep if the news wasn't good. Nick and I were there at 7am and Bailey was doing better, thank God, but the doctor told us he was worried about her during the night. She started vomiting at 1am with blood in it and vomited 2 more times so he performed an x-ray (and didn't charge us for it - thanks Doc) to rule out any other problems. Although her bowels were in distress, it was normal. He gave her some antivomiting medicine and thankfully it stopped. He wanted us to take her to our vet so we went there at 9am and they hospitalized her there until they closed. They sent us home with an IV, more antibiotics and antivomiting medicine. Nick and I had to watch her carefully the rest of the day and night to make sure she didn't move because of the IV and catheter in her vein. I called my nurse practitioner friend, Sara, to get some tips on how to handle the IV - thank you Sara! But every time we had to take her out to go potty was a real pain in the a**. At 2 am, on the last potty trip outside for the night, the IV ended up detaching from the catheter and blood starting pouring out. Nick started to freak out a little, but with my phlebotomy experience I knew what to do and took out the catheter and applied pressure with gauze and then wrapped coflex around her leg. I think she was actually happy to not be "trapped" by the tube leg thing anymore. Nick and I were about stressed to the max by this point, although I know I was a little relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about her moving in the night with the cath and IV bag attached to her. On Sunday she gained a little bit of her appetite back but wasn't drinking much water and was very tired. I took a nap but Nick woke me up a little later because she was shaking again and acting lethargic. We called the ER vet and they gave us some warning signs to look out for, especially dehydration. Today I stayed home because I was still worried about her. She didn't want to eat in the morning and was acting lethargic again. We scheduled an appointment with the vet today and as soon as we got in the car she started to perk up, but we were glad to get some reassurance from the doctor. We talked about her bouts of getting better and then worse, but he said that was to be expected and if we had what she has, we would be hospitalized for a week. He said it will take a good 7 days for her to return to normal, but he wants us to touch base with him daily on her progress. We may have to re-cath her and do more tests to pinpoint what the pathology is that is causing her illness. She seems to be doing better, at least better than 2 days ago, but hopefully she will recover fully in the next few days. It's been an expensive week at the vet, but we LOVE this dog so much that I know we can both say it is one of the most worthwhile ways to spend our money. She is a part of our family, our first "child", and I can't imagine living life without her. That is going to be one of the hardest challenges in my life to deal with. I had a taste of it this weekend, and I don't want that day to come for a long, long, time. God willing it won't.