This is the second (and last) part of our experience with Hank’s bout with bloat and stomach torsion (gastric dilatation volvulus, GDV). If you missed part one, start HERE. Disclaimer: I am not a vet or any type of animal expert. This is merely our experience with canine bloat and GDV.

When I left off, we had brought Hank home from the vet after a 48 hour hospital stay. We were all really happy to have him home and so relieved….

As the days went on Hank regained some strength and started to act more like himself. Having food in his system again helped him have more energy, as well.

I took him to a follow-up vet appointment on Friday afternoon, four days post-surgery. He only weighed in at 113 pounds (he’s usually around 125). The vet was very happy with what she saw, though. She said his incision looked great (he had dissolvable stitches, so no need to get those out, thank goodness!) and his heart sounded good. His temperature was normal and he didn’t have any discomfort when the vet palpated his abdomen.

She instructed me to finish up his round of antibiotics and start to wean him off the pain medication. She also said to stick to leash walking, with no running or jumping, four 14 days total (through July 6). Up to this point, Hank hadn’t had any issues with licking and thus hadn’t needed a cone. Naturally, the day after his vet follow-up, that changed. Ironically, he didn’t mess with his incision at all. No, he was licking his IV site on his arm, to the point of making it raw. First he earned a sock…

That proved effective for about 24 hours and then it wasn’t. So we moved to the cone of shame, or rather the inflatable protective collar of shame. Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but still effective nonetheless.

Funny thing is, he loved the collar. Strange dog, but I’m glad it wasn’t a fight and he seemed fairly comfortable in it. By day 12 post-op (July 4) Hank was completely off his pain medication and no longer needed his protective collar. He seemed like he was pretty much feeling back to his old self. It actually became a challenge at this point to keep him calm and keep him from running around. Finally, after 14 days of rest, he was allowed to run around in the backyard again. He was pretty tickled!

Hank is quick to wear out when he plays in the backyard, so we are limiting how much he gets to run around and making sure he gets enough rest. We are also working on getting him back to his normal weight, since he lost 10 pounds during all of this. But he has been doing really well and continues to act like his old self. I like to think he doesn’t even remember everything that happened.

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I knew about the risk of bloat in deep-chested dogs back when I researched the breed and knew we would have to be proactive in preventing it. We have always done so (elevating their food bowls as recommended by the vet, restricting exercise before and after mealtime, etc.). I grilled the vet with a lot of questions about anything we needed to change. She told me we weren’t doing anything to cause this and that sometimes it just happens. There haven’t been any scientific studies done on the causes of bloat, so all of the recommendations to prevent it are merely widely accepted best practices. The only thing we could have done differently would have been to have elective surgery to attach his stomach to his abdominal wall to prevent stomach torsion. I didn’t want to put him through unnecessary surgery to prevent a condition that may or may not happen. Now we have a lot of thinking to do on what we might do for Scout….

This whole experience has been very harrowing. I know that we are really lucky that Hank survived, as he progressed so quickly. Had his condition worsened anymore before he got into surgery (lost blood flow to his heart, lost blood flow to his esophagus, gone into shock, etc.) he would have either died or needed to be euthanized.

I’ve been pretty freaked out since all of this happened and I’ve lost my peace of mind. I think eventually I’ll go back to just being mindful of it, like I used to be. But for now I can’t help watching both dogs like a hawk for signs of bloat, and sometimes even checking on them in the middle of the night if I wake up. I am definitely counting my blessings that Hank is still with us, and that both of our dogs are currently happy and healthy.

They have been getting lots of extra love and attention lately!

This is a long post, even after I split it into two parts, but I wanted to share everything that happened with Hank recently. Definitely a PSA for anyone with large and/or deep-chested dogs! FYI – This is just our experience. I am not a vet and not an expert in any way.

Hank started showing signs of bloat less than an hour after I got home from my Ragnar weekend on Sunday, June 21. It started with him seeming restless and uncomfortable. He didn’t act overly excited, and kept laying down and getting back up, as if he was uncomfortable. After he came inside from his nighttime potty, around 10:30 PM, he began trying to throw up without producing anything (textbook sign of bloat) and then his stomach ballooned to the size of a cantaloupe. Barry yelled that he was bloating and we needed to get to the vet. When a dog bloats, every second counts. Bloat and the resulting stomach torsion are one of the leading causes of death in otherwise healthy dogs, and it happens fast.

I panicked and literally ran in place for nearly a minute before getting my head together, grabbing my purse, and rushing out the door. We left a crying, panicking Scout (our other dog) behind us.

Once in the truck with Hank in the backseat, Barry tore out of the driveway and I frantically contacted the emergency vet and let them know we were on our way. When a dog bloats, they can die within two hours from the onset. I begged the vet for anything we could do, and they said to just get there. It was 35 minutes away.

Five minutes into our trip I climbed in the back to ride with Hank. He was having trouble keeping his balance and was crying, panting, and still trying to throw up. I did my best to steady him while petting him and saying soothing things to him to try and calm him down. I was so scared, though, and the trip up the interstate seemed to take forever. In actuality it took only 25 minutes or so. Five minutes before we made it to the vet Hank laid down, stopped crying, became very weak, and was only holding his eyes about halfway open. I was shaking him and holding his head up, terrified he wouldn’t open his eyes again if they closed.

When we arrived at the vet, Barry rushed him inside and I parked the truck and then followed them in. They diagnosed him with bloat, and tried to pass a tube to his stomach to relieve the pressure/gas. This is the first approach for treating bloat. Unfortunately, Hank’s stomach had twisted (known as gastric dilatation volvulus), so they couldn’t pass the tube. Bloat itself does not kill dogs, but GDV does. When the stomach twists it cuts off blood flow to the stomach lining and can also cut off blood flow to the heart. Even when blood supply is not cut off to the heart, stomach torsion can send the dog into shock. So they got rapid IV fluids going to prevent/treat shock and took him into emergency surgery.

During the surgery Hank’s spleen started to bleed. In addition to untwisting his stomach and tacking it to his abdominal wall (to keep it from flipping again) they also had to perform a splenectomy. We headed home during the surgery because it was going to be awhile and he was going to have to stay at the vet anyway. We tried to get some sleep, but I couldn’t sleep until they finally called around 3 AM to let us know he was out of surgery and doing well. The blood flow had been cut off to his stomach, but once they got it untwisted it pinked back up. Apparently Hank was still charming people, even in his pained and medicated state, because the vet called him a ‘stellar’ patient.

Over the next 24 hours the main concern was that Hank could have heart arrhythmias, due to the stress of acute bloat and the interruption in blood flow in his body. Luckily he never showed any signs of this. He remained at the vet until Tuesday evening for observation. Scout was so mopey while he was gone. She wouldn’t eat and just walked around the house crying.

Barry brought Hank home about 48 hours after his surgery. It was such a relief to have him home, but in some ways it was also scarier for me. I was afraid he could take a bad turn, and afraid of his large abdominal incision coming open.

Hank was extremely tired and mostly slept at first. He was on antibiotics and pain medication, and was restricted to leash walks with no running or jumping (good thing he doesn’t have to jump to get on the couch). This wasn’t a challenge since he was so weak and worn out. He was also prescribed to eat small meals every 4 hours to get his GI system going again.

Scout was so happy once Hank was home, though, and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Hank definitely had the worse end of the bargain – emergency surgery and all – but this whole ordeal was really hard on Scout, too.

This is a pretty good place to stop for part one. I’ll pick back up with how he did in the days following his return home, and how he has been doing since.

Have you ever had a pet that required emergency surgery?

I’m linking up again this week with Debbie for her Wednesday Word link up! Click the button below the see who else is linking up and to join in.

Last week we talked about being humble and having humility. This week we are talking about modesty. They seem very similar, but they are slightly different.

Being humble has to do with your inner state and feelings, and how you interact with others. On the other hand, being modest has to do with how you think of yourself, and not talking yourself up or putting your accomplishments on display. It can also have to do with physical things – like dressing modestly. In short, being humble has to do with actions and behaviors, while being modest is more of a personality trait, an innate quality.

Despite their differences, though, the two do kind of go hand in hand. Modesty starts with you, and translates into humility towards others. Although they’re different I don’t think you can have one without the other.

Furthermore, I think modesty is sometimes used with a negative connotation. People use it to imply that you’re not owning your accomplishments, to the point of not taking credit for something or downright denying something. But I prefer the positive spin – it means that you have respect for yourself, but you’re also not boastful. You act humbly and you don’t show off. How does that relate to running?

Well, I think there’s a balance between owning your accomplishments and bragging. If someone asks you how a race or run went, it’s alright to tell them about it. Just keep it simple, and save the play-by-play for the ones who really want to hear it.

And don’t forget that people, especially your friends and loved ones, like hearing good news. They want to celebrate with you. So go ahead and show that medal off! Just maybe don’t wear it to work the entire week after the race.

What does being modest mean to you? In general, do you think it has a positive or negative connotation?

It’s always fun when your birthday falls on a weekend, because you can celebrate the entire weekend. Add to that my dad and his girlfriend, R, coming down to visit, and it was especially fun! The weekend centered around three main things: food, hiking, and card games. Things started off Friday morning when I met up with Kim for a run. She surprised me with a strawberry pound cake, and it was delicious! I ended up with two cakes for my birthday weekend – the one from Kim and a strawberry angel food cake from the grocery store.

My dad and his girlfriend got down here on Friday evening and we had homemade shrimp tacos for dinner – one of my favorites. On Saturday we went hiking to the Cascades (a 77 foot waterfall). Unfortunately, Barry had to work this weekend, so he couldn’t join in on the festivities during the day. We had a great day for hiking, though, and the Cascades were as gorgeous as ever (Richard, I posted a video on Instagram!).

After our hike we spent some time running around doing a few things before meeting up with Barry at the house. We played a few rounds of Dutch Blitz and a fun dice/card game called Deer in Headlights. Then we headed out for a birthday dinner at MK’s Pizzeria (I had a create-your-own Greek pizza!), followed by some birthday cake back at home.

Sunday morning was low key. My dad made French toast out of some local brown sugar cinnamon sourdough bread. Then, on a whim, I decided we should go check out a place nearby I had heard of called Dismal Falls. Like the Cascades, it is also part of the Jefferson National Forest. It was a very short hike down to Dismal Creek from the parking area, where we got to enjoy some nice views of the 33 foot falls. It would be a great place to go for a swim and I’ll have to take Barry there sometime!

After that it was time to say goodbye to my Dad and R, as they headed home in the early afternoon. I spent some time doing a few things around the house and then snuck in a short run before Barry got home from work. Hank and Scout completely crashed after our guests left. They are so funny. They just get so tired anytime we have visitors and anytime we go somewhere.

As Hank and Scout were recovering, Barry got home from work. We had a hodgepodge dinner of leftovers and some birthday cake, and then capped off the evening with a game of Gin Rummy. Not a bad birthday weekend, if I do say so myself!

Have you ever played Dutch Blitz or Deer in the Headlights?
What is your favorite birthday treat?

P.S. Speaking of hiking – Scott Jurek captured the Appalachian Trail speed record yesterday. He covered the nearly 2,200 miles in just 46 days!

It’s been awhile since I did one of these!

1. I made a fruit pizza last weekend for the 4th of July. Last year, I made Barry one for our fourth wedding anniversary (because what else do you give your husband when the traditional gift is fruit and flowers??). This year, I made it more red, white, and blue by using raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. I still wanted to use mandarin oranges, though, so I threw those on there too.

I should probably make this more than once a year, because it’s pretty yummy. On the other hand…. considering how much sugar is in that thing maybe it’s best I stick to just once a year.

2. My little sister has decided to run her first half marathon! That in itself is very exciting. What’s more exciting is that she is planning on running the Hokie Half Marathon.

I am also running the race this year (I’m a ‘legacy runner’ – and this is the third year in a row), and we will be running together. The only race we’ve ever run together was the Spartan sprint race last year. Lets hope we don’t somehow end up that muddy at the Hokie Half!

3. I finally framed my Blue Ridge Marathon poster. I was so excited to get a race poster when I picked this one up at the expo.

It took me two and a half months to fame the thing…. so logically, it will only take me another two and a half months to decide where to hang it!

4. I recently got new crocs. I wear crocs around as my indoor house shoes (aka slippers). I bought a new pair with the intention of them being my ‘camping crocs’ to wear in our camper.

I started wearing them around to break them in and haven’t actually stopped wearing them. It turns out they’re really comfy and I didn’t realize how broken down the VT ones are. I’ve been wearing them since 2007 and I guess it’s time to replace those!

5. My 27th birthday is this weekend! My dad and his girlfriend are coming down to visit and we have tentative plans to go hiking (weather permitting) up to the Cascades.

We also have plans to go out to dinner somewhere. The place we were going to go is on ‘summer break’ from June 29 to July 15. That’s what happens when you live in the vicinity of a major university. A lot of the businesses tend to take breaks during university downtime. So I’ll have to choose something else!

Tell me some things of your own!