Big worries about Texas

17 September was the last night of our vacation in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 650 Km from home. The time was 23.30 hrs and my I-phone was almost empty. So to load it I placed it on the sideboard. I noticed, that I had missed a call from home, from the Bechstedts. Ulf and Anette Bechstedt are dear and close friends of ours, who stay at our place and guard everyhing, so that we can go for a vacation. As it was already that late, I decided not to call anymore, but send a WhatsApp. Anette even answered me and said that they wished us a pleasant and save journey home. We went to bed and that night I had a terrible dream. At 08.00, I saw a WhatsApp appearing on my phone, which made my blood leave all the veins: Texas, our almost 9 year old Bobtail male, the dog of my heart, catch of the eye, shadow, shortly said: I can read and write with him, had a stomach torsion and was being operated at a “well known” clinic in Echt/NL. During the night the veterinarian had called and said everything is sofar okay with him. They had to remove his spleen, as this was enlarged. He stayed in the clinic that night so that they could observe him, in case he would get heart rithm disorders. PANIC!!!! What had happened? The evening before, Texas had gotten his food as usual before going to sleep and he had eaten this. The Bechstedts hadden’t gotten to bed yet and noticed that Texas was trying to throw up, but nothing came out. This happened several times. Immediately the Bechstedts grapped his stomach and it was round and hard as a ball. To Anette and Ulf it was clear that this was a stomach torsion. They immediately tried to contact me, but didn’t receive any answer. Harry’s number only sounded like: tuut tuut tuut… and the secret number of our wonderful veterinarian Liesbeth Vanholen was switched to her voicemail. They left a message, but received no answer. Bechstedts knew that time was the main factor with such a stomach torsion and had distress and where frightened. Anette remembered that there was a large clinic in Echt/NL who have a 24 hrs emergency service. This was correct. With the help of a sonde, the veterinarian managed to turn the stomach back in its original position. Until than the Bechstedts had stayed with Texas. Now the veterinarian started to explain to them that it was better to operate Texas and to fix his stomach, as it could happen that the stomach would turn again. The operation would cost approximately € 1500,-. As Ulf and Anette where scared about the live of Texas, they agreed.
What had gone wrong until than: Anette received my WhatsApp at the moment she was in the clinic in Echt/NL. By accident, Ulf had saved Harry’s number wrongly in his phonelist. The secret emergency number of our vet, stood on voicemail, as she had duty that night and could have been reached via her normal phonenumber in her clinic. These two numbers, Anette and Ulf had not tried to call. They also could have driven to her house/clinic and try to wake her up, but due to the stress they didn’t think about that. I almost fainted in the hotelroom was worried and feared for Texas’ life, that my dog had to be operated in Echt. Some negative experiences with this clinic made me nervous and I was frightened to loose Texas. I immediately called the Bechstedt at our home, to get all the info first hand. The veterinarian had explained them, that the enlarged spleen was pushing against the wall of the stomach and therefore the stomach had twisted….. What a nonsense. This is almost the same as telling adults that stork is bringing the babies! By the way, the spleen had not been send in for further investigation. In Belgium, they do not operate a stomach, who can be turned back by using a sonde. It is even recommend to work with a sonde and under no circumstances operate. The fixing of the stomach is no guarantee that the stomach will not twist anymore. I called the clinic, to find out how Texas was doing. Sofar everything was fine with him, he had even been outside and was curious. The would like to keep him an extra night for observation in this clinic. On my question, if a veterinarian would permanently be available, the answer was that this was only sporadically the case and they would come by now and than to see how he was doing. This, I didn’t liked at all and asked if it would be possible to take hime home. We wouldn’t arrive in Belgium before the evening anyway. The assistent couldn’t answer the question and asked if I could contact the clinic again around noon. This time she told me that we could collect Texas at 20.00 hrs from the clinic and  that the veterinarian would also be present. I also had to pay € 1522,-, with the remark that they preferred cash. The assistant (afterwards we found out that she was a vet) explained that Texas had to take several medications and that he should eat several small meals per day. Also his temperature had to be controlled and should lay between 38.0 and 39.0 degrees celcius. Before I was able to see Texas, I had to pay first. On my question: can I see the bill, I received the answer that this was not possible, maybe on the screen of the computer. Finally I was allowed to see him and he was located in a small bench. Too small for him to be able to lay on his side. In one of the other benched there were other dogs. I could cry and knew that this was a uncomfortable situation for my Texas. On the way home I studied the enormous vet bill. One and a half hours operating costed € 830,- and the small can of Hills Diet Food was charged with € 2,57. In that case you are lucky that shaving the belly before the operation is no separately charged. As we didn’t want Texas to be by himself the coming night, Harry stayed on the couch with him. Texas stood all night long in the livingroom, panting for breath. Harry didn’t sleep for a minute. Besides that, Texas had lost urine and was wet. He wanted to lay down, sat every now and than, but the laying down didn’t work out. He was also drinking alot. His temperature was okay and he ate small portions. That changed aroud 16.00, when he was having 40,8 fever. We immediately drove him to Liesbeth Vanholen, our veterinarian. She found out, while scanning his stomach, that his blatter had the size of a football!! Immediately she placed a sonde into the blatter to empty it. An enormous amout of darkbrown/black fluid came out. Back home and observe him, to see if he would make a pee and how much he was drinking. Because, what goes in has to come out. That unfortunately didn’t happen. Texas lost urine uncontrolled and didn’t pee when lifting his leg. On Saturday and Sunday the blatter was emptied again at the vets office. The echo showed that there was something present in the blatter that should not be there. It could be a lump of blood, or in the worse case a tumor. Texas received medication, hoping for a miracle and we where terrified to loose him. Sunday afternoon he peed normal for the first time and I was very happy as also his temperature was going down. In the mean time we had already tried twice to get the veterinarian, who had performed the operation, on the phone. He was busy and was supposed to call back. But nothing happened. On Sunday afternoon, Texas was doing so bad that Harry contacted the emergency number of this clinic and made clear to the vet on the phone, that we expected from the vet who had performed the operation, that he would contact our veterinarian within the next 30 minutes. Also the operation report had to be send immediately to our veterinarian. This was done. During the conversation between the two vets, it was noticed that Texas had a dark spot on his stomach wall, which had been removed. This however, was NOT in the operation report! As a result of this, Texas should have only been allowed to eat very small portions! My vet had expressed the suspicion that during his stay in their clinic, he did not pee at all and that he had a operation trauma. Several matters where discussed and it was mentioned that things had not been done according to our wishes. Monday was a good day and he almost peed normaal again and I was releaved. Tuesday, things where wrong again and he had 40,8 fever. Immediately back to Liesbeth Vanholen. The blatter was okay, so that could not be the problem. As he had blue spots on his belly after the operation, the only thing that came up was a peritonitis. Therefore a blood sample was taken and the result showed a large infection. Texas received a second antibiotica, which helped. Last night (read Wednesday evening), the veterinarian from Echt called asking how Texas was doing? Very kind, after a week! This conversation also revealed that the communication between the staff and us had not been passed on to the vet. Offcourse no one felt responsible for the complications that had come up. The total amount of costs, that had been crreated at my own vets office also have to come out of my pocket. If I would have bought a new sofa and something would not have been correct, the guarantee of the manufacturer would have made that the sofa would have been repaired for free. A veterinarian clinic, does not make any mistakes and therefore have never to do anything for free. Ain’t that awesome? Today, Thursday, 8 days after the operation, Texas is almost the old one again. Walks to the gate, barks at dogs who are passing by on the street and is even jalous again, when I stroke another dog. We where soo scared that we would loose him. Without our wonderful veterinarian, Liesbeth Vanholen, we would have lost with all our grief and worries. Also we would like to thank all friends and relatives, who have feared with us over Texas. An enormous thank you to Ulf and Anette Bechstedt, for noticing that Texas was in a life threatning situation and have done all they could to save his life. They have taken the large responsibility they had very seriously. It is something special to have such good friends.