One hell of a scare...
We had a really bad scare on Tuesday. Furby, our dog, got really sick. I took him to get his yearly booster and rabies shots. Everything seemed fine until we got home. I took him home in the bus and he seemed fine until we got off and I took him out of his travel bag then started on the short walk to the building. Then he started panting and gasping for air. I thought he was just tired and gave him a bit of water but then I took a good look at his tongue and it was turning blue! I put him right back in his travel bag (with the top open) to rush him home and as soon as we got there I yelled to my mom that something was wrong with him. She rushed to put on some clothes (we were both panicking and crying by then) we ran out to grab a cab to rush him back to the clinic.
He was pretty bad off. According to the doctor it wasn't a reaction to the shots (which we don't really believe). He says the heat of the bus (which was only warm) made him struggle hard to breathe, he was way too overweight which didn't help, and that caused his trachea to collapse. They gave him oxygen at the clinic, a bunch of shots and covered him in ice packs (he had a temperature of 106!). Basically they got him stabilized.
When Furby was mostly better I had to take take the bus back home again because mom ran out without much money and she said she thought she left some water boiling on the stove. I got more money, after turning off the stove which she really had left on, and went right back to the clinic, which was closing by then. Furby had to be transfered to an animal hospital in Manhattan (on 55th st and 9th avenue) where he stayed overnight in a oxygen unit.
We got home a quarter past midnight. Mom and I were both a wreck. I was having sharp pains in my chest, probably from all the emotions and it took me a long while to fall asleep. The next day I still had a dull ache in my chest and I probably should have gone to the doctor myself but we had to go pick up Furby at the hospital. My cousin Rene (actually my cousin's ex-husband but I call him my cousin) took us there in his car, left us at the hospital while he went to deal with an appointment he had, and came to pick us up hours later (it was a long wait). Furby gave us another scare in the car, but I figured out that he was having trouble breathing again because of the smell of exhaust so I told Rene close all the windows and turn on the air conditioning full strength directly on Furby and that eventually helped. We finally got him home alright.
Since then he seems to be fine. We keep fans on all the time for him now and we have plans to cut off all his excess hair tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning. He's officially on a diet because the doctor says he needs to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. He needs to see the doc again in two weeks for a checkup.
Financially, we're screwed. Almost two thousand dollars has left our hands. The shots, plus treatment and medicine for a heat spot on his chest cost $82. Cab to the clinic was $7. Several bus rides, plus train ride home totaled $12. The emergency clinic visit plus Furby's new diet food was $285. Trip to the emergency clinic was $40. Overnight stay in the hospital and everything they had to do for him (which was less than what was done in the clinic, btw) was $1,464.25. Finally mom gave Rene $20 to help with gas money. And Furby needs another checkup and blood work done in a couple of weeks.
82+7+12+285+40+1,464.25+20=$1,910.25
And I'm not even counting the six dollars and change I spent at Dunkin' Donuts for lunch while we were waiting for Rene to come pick us up. I guess this proves just how much we love Furby though. Thankfully, we didn't have to pay the $1,464.25 bill in cash. The hospital helped my mom apply for a line of credit called "Care Credit" that's specifically for hospital treatment of both pets and people. If she pays it off in three months she won't even have to pay interest, which is good.
Oh, and did I mention that mom had to pay $15 for a hair cutting kit to shave down Furby's fur? It just keeps piling up. Though it's better than paying $60 to take him to the groomers.
That's not even all that's happened this week (today was a bit of a frustrating day too), but I'm just too exhausted to write anymore. Barely got any sleep with all the stress and worry, plus early phone calls and appointments. I'm only awake because I took a nap from 10:15am to 1:30pm. Got a stress headache and I just generally feel like shit. I could sleep for a week. *yawn*
Someone send some good luck vibes our way, please?
