We've had quite a busy week, but then again, what week isn't? Some of the highlights included: attending the first Carolina football game, catching up with friends from high school over dinner, smiling as Parker waved "bye-bye" for the first time, cheering at a softball game, enjoying a kickball game win, enduring emergency intestinal surgery for Brice...
*Hold-up...did you say Parker waved "bye-bye" for the first time?
Yes; he did! I actually teared up a little when I noticed how excited and proud he was. I'll try to capture it on video soon to share with our faithful blog readers!
But, in all seriousness, our furry baby, Brice, actually did undergo intestinal surgery on Saturday. You might remember when I posted recently about this problem we were having. How Brice had been eating Parker's pacifier tops. Well, it turns out we weren't quite at the end of the story.
Here's a short version of what happened:
Thursday morning, we noticed Brice wasn't feeling well, but thought he might be just a little under-the-weather. When we came home from work, we immediately knew something was wrong when we saw he hadn't touched his peanut butter we left him earlier. (If you know Brice, you know he never passes up an opportunity to eat peanut butter). We contemplated whether or not to take him to the emergency clinic, but we finally decided it would be best to go ahead and take him in to be seen. Parker was already in bed, so Jon stayed home and I left for the clinic. We figured it wouldn't take long - it was only 8:15 and the receptionist said there was only one other person in line. I even joked with Jon that I would see him the next day!
After a few hours we were finally seen. The x-rays showed a possible bowel obstruction, but we couldn't be sure. It was already 2:30 am so I decided to take him home, monitor him overnight (the little bit that was left) and take him to our veterinarian first thing the following morning.
The patient pre-op
Friday morning, we knew Brice wasn't any better. After dropping him off (and crying profusely), the vet discovered several bottle nipples in his stomach. They thought the nipples were the problem so they worked to make him throw them up. At 6:oo pm the vet's office erupted in cheers as he threw the last one up; or so we thought. They wanted to see him Saturday morning just to be sure.
Jon took him Saturday and called me on his way home to let me know that they were keeping him for surgery. From the x-rays, the vet could tell that there was at least one more nipple that had become lodged in his bowels. They scheduled him to undergo an emergency intestinal surgery. Following surgery, we learned that he had six inches of dead intestine that had been removed. It had been completely deprived of oxygen and blood. If we hadn't gotten him in on Saturday, his chances would have severely diminished.
He's now recovering. He's not at our home, but at the next best place for him. Jon's mom and Chris are keeping him for a little bit while he recovers. They are able to give him the extra attention he requires while we are at work. I don't know what we would do without their help and love for Brice. Chris sat with him all day on Friday and provided us with updates while the vet worked to figure out what was wrong. It meant a lot to me knowing that someone was there with him. The latest update was that he finished off an entire can of cream of chicken soup. Sounds like he is getting much better. Before we know it, we will be enjoying our evening walks again.
At the end of this entire ordeal, we think he had a total of nine nipples in his stomach at one time. I guess the crazy dog has been "counter-cruising" and sucking these things down one-by-one. He didn't even chew them; just swallowed them whole. I know he's had one or two in the past, but it hasn't ever caused problems. The major factor in this case was the quantity at one time. Needless to say, we will be baby-proofing and Brice-proofing our house ASAP!
In addition, if you need an excellent vet in the Columbia area, I definitely recommend St. Andrew's Animal Clinic. Their staff is amazing and they worked very hard to make sure Brice was taken care of.
Wow - I think this is the longest post I've ever created. Now that I'm finished rambling, I'll leave you with what you have really been waiting for - new pictures of Parker! Here's what he has been up to lately:
Riding in a big boy car seat
Pulling up on anything and everything
Feeding himself (even one-handed)
Finally, here are a couple videos from the past week:
Splish Splash
Our little professional crawler
I'm so glad to hear that Brice is OK!! That must have been so awful! On a different note, Parker is so incredibly cute. I can't believe how time has flown since January. I'm glad you guys are doing well. We miss you!
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