Poor Kronk!

  My poor poor baby boy!  It started out on a Tuesday night.... Kronk didn't sleep.  He wanted to be held, and the he would cry a bit and want to hide.  I stayed awake all night with him and Andy was of course at work.  By the time 6:30 am came around, my dad went to pet him and he screamed bloody murder.  It about killed me!  His neck was killing him.  He NEVER lets us know when he is in pain, he always deals with it and goes along with life, but this was B A D!  It was quiet coincidental that he had an appt already that morning at 9 for a random check up.  

  When we go to the vet, he asked what seems to bother him.  I said, "well, turing his neck to the right."  What is the first thing he does...?  Crank Kronk's neck to the right.  Kronk screamed again and tried to escape.  They needed to get xrays to see of he slipped a disc.  That was a task for sure.  I had to go back and try to calm him down so they could muzzle him.  He was fighting and screaming, pooping and peeing all over me and everyone else back there.  It was terrible.  i wanted to cry.  They got one xray and couldn't really tell what was wrong, so Kronk was referred to a neuro surgeon in the O.C.  We had to take him right then, no time to waste.  I stopped at home and packed up some stuff to spend the night at my brother's.  Then we went to take Kronk to see Andy.

   Andy got Hans to come in for a while at work so he could come to the hospital with us. That was the longest drive in the history of the world.  We got to the hospital and they were amazing!!  They saw Kronk right away and told us what they needed to do.  They needed to knock him out, inject dye into his spinal column to see his nerves ect, and then do the surgery on his neck (c-2) to be exact.  The surgery should only have taken 45 min and the dye tests would be a little longer.  

    We went to lunch because me being a retard, hadn't eaten all day.  Not smart for being pregnant.  I anxiously awaited a phone call and decided it had been way too long, so I called myself.  Well, the Dr told me... "he didn't need surgery." Oh thank goodness right?  Wrong!  She continued to say, "He has spinal meningitis, do you know what that is?"  Of course I know, my brother had it and almost died.  It is a very serious sickness that kills people and probably dogs.  My heart sank.  I almost wanted him to have the surgery so that he could heal and be fine.  With this sickness, nobody knows what exactly causes it, how exactly to treat it, and when or even if it will go away.  It just sucks!

   They kept Kronk that night in the CCU and I called every three to four hrs to check on him since it was his most critical time.  He got through the night and we went to visit him Thurs morn.  He was sooooo happy to see us.  He had that lamp shade thing on and bells on his neck.  He just wanted out.  But, we opted to have him stay one more night to be sure he kept down his meds.  It killed me to leave those sad eyes alone for another night.  But, his pain seemed to better and his spirits were high.  

   We finally got to take him home on Friday.  He was given steroids, pain meds, anti-biotics, stomach easers ect... to get him better.  He was so happy to be home... and I was so happy he was home.  I was worried, but happy.

   As of right now, he hasn't relapsed.  Knock on wood!!!  He had a bad night a few nights ago, but is ok.  He has been slowly decreasing his steroids, which could cause a relapse, so everyday is scary.  We were told that he could relapse at anytime within a year.  But, if he doesn't... the chances of it happening again are slim.  The Dr. called it an auto-immune meningitis.  She doesn't know what caused it... maybe he ate something or maybe not.  It is so hard because of not knowing what triggered it.

   I don't understand why something so crappy happened to such a good and loving dog.  I will never understand.  He is such a gentleman of a dog, I don't know what I would do without him.  It was so hard to think he could have died.... I told Andy, I don't want anymore dogs.  It is too hard emotionally!  He has brought so much happiness to our lives... especially me.  Kronk and I are always together.  Andy goes to work and who is at home with me...?  Kronk of course!  He is an excellent traveller and pretty personable so I take him lots of places.  

  Anyways, I am happy he is happy right now.  He loves chasing his lizards and kitties!  He lets Mochi abuse him and he loves food so much right now!  I can't wait until he gets to meet his little brother!  He will be such a good protector!