update on mara

mara is okay, but we had a really rough day yesterday...

after a visit to the emergency vet on sunday due to fever, weak back legs, and loss of bladder control, mara returned yesterday for a urinalysis and an ultrasound. our normal vet took one look at sunday's x-ray and knew something wasn't right. during the ultrasound, he found fluid in her abdomen and an enlarged spleen. due to fear of puncturing her spleen, he was not able to extract any fluid for testing. he said he wanted to open her up immediately and find out what was going on. his initial thought was that the fluid was blood, and that she might have a spleen tumor and need to have her spleen removed. regardless of what it was, he said it was serious.

after a talk with my friend who is also the vet tech at our hospital, sean and i prepared to not wake her up if they found something that she would not recover from. this, especially difficult because sean is out of town. thankfully my friend meike was able to come and be with me. i said my goodbyes, just in case, and held mara while she was put under anesthesia.

after about 30 minutes in surgery, the vet came out and told me that he had no bad news. the spleen was severely enlarged, but the fluid was not blood and his thought was that the spleen was infected. he removed it and it has been sent to a lab for testing. there are a number of things that it could be, and we won't know for a week for sure.

mara and i sat around in the hospital for about 4 hours while they gave her fluid and monitered her as she woke up. thanks to german hospitals, mommy never has to leave her side unless she's on the table...

as of this morning, almost 24 hours after surgery, mara is doing well. she's 13, so coming out of anesthesia is a bit longer. she's not moving around much, but she did get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and she's looking like she may need to again. she's eating and drinking and everything is staying down. she's got a 7 inch incision in her belly and bruising all around it which looks horrible, but my baby is alive...

if anyone reads this, send positive thoughts, prayers, vibes - whatever - our way... thank you!