Today is a rough day. Gracie's dear companion, cheerleader and brother Bugsy died yesterday Gracie and her other companion Charlie were there to say goodbye. It was absolutely heartbreaking. Bugsy seemed fine, happy and hungry Wednesday, but yesterday he seemed to be feeling progressively worse throughout the day.  He was sleeping lots and his little body felt warm. I kept trying to cool him with damp cloths, but at one point he went to stand up and fell over so I called Erin and told her I was taking him to the vets. It took me about 10 minutes to get there and I carried Bugsy in wrapped in a towel, I knew he wasn't feeling good. I had called ahead and they took me straight into a room when I got there. The tech came in immediately and took his pulse and temperature. She walked out the door and no sooner did she shut the door that she came back in. She said she had to retake his temperature because it was very high. She took it again and it was 106.7, normal high for dogs is about 102.  She immediately said she needed to take him back to start cooling him down because it was dangerously high. I felt absolutely sick! She walked him back, then about 30 seconds later she came back in and said his heart just stopped but he was still breathing...what should she do. I said do whatever you need to do to help him. Then I called Erin, knowing it was close to her news time, the worst time of the day to reach her. I was crying when I told her Bugsy had a dangerously high fever and that his heart stopped and they were working on him to stabilize him.  The tech came in and said they got his heart restarted, but were still trying to stabilize him and bring his temperature down. I held the phone up so Erin could hear what she was saying.  Erin had to go, but was trying to get there as soon as possible after she was finished editing a reporter piece at the station.  The Dr. came in to update me on Bugsy. She said his condition was extremely grave and that he was minute by minute but they were doing everything they could to stabilize him. I just couldn't stop crying. It seemed like forever waiting for the next update and to hear Erin was on her way.  The doctors at Village Vets came in to update me before Erin got there but I was able to call and have Erin on speaker phone so she could hear everything going on.  They said Bugsy had some kind of a huge mass in his belly, his fever was coming down but that he was extremely grave at best.  They could try to keep him alive through the night, but that it was time to consider what was best for him so that he wouldn't suffer.  We made the painful decision to let him go and be at peace and out of pain.  My friend Emily was kind enough to go and bring Gracie and Charlie over so they could say goodbye too. Erin held Bugsy with Gracie laying right beside her, me by Gracie with my hand on sweet Bugsy and Charlie pacing anxiously. It took just seconds for the drugs to work. Bugsy was gone. Erin and I were crying as Gracie and Charlie sniffed their brother and friend. it was so fast. I never would have imagined at the start of the day that I would be saying goodbye to him that night. It was absolutely heart wrenching! What a night. So today Gracie felt warm and was acting out of sorts and was limping. I wasn't sure if it was all the stress of losing her companion and my being oversensitive to her possible symptoms,  but I called GVS and asked if they could look at her.  Dr. Katz in emergency took at look, said she seemed fine and her temperature was normal, but decided to take a blood test just to check her white blood cell count since she was a chemo patient. She came back a few minutes later with the results---Gracie's white blood cell count had dropped dangerously low and if she came into contact with anything her body wouldn't have anything to fight it with.  It's hard to know what to feel when you hear that, but after Bugsy the day before is just seemed like another cruel blow. Dr. Katz switched Gracie to a tougher type of antibiotic treatment to allow her white blood cell count a way to rebound. I was to keep a close eye on her because if she spiked a fever or started to throw up or not want to eat I would have to bring her back to emergency.  We were lucky to catch it when we did, before she was actually sick.  I took my sweet Gracie home with some new meds and orders to keep her pretty much on home quarantine. She was so tired on the ride home, but I was so happy she was coming home with me and that Charlie was there to keep her company.  She was hungry for her dinner, a good sign, then slept hard the rest of the night. Charlie stayed close and kept a watchful eye on her.
Bugsy--faithful friend and family member.  We miss you & love you!