Thank you for praying!

I wanted to post a quick update on the puppies. For starters though, thank you to everyone who was praying for Brinley and for us as we walked through this challenging time. I think it helped me just knowing that people were thinking of us and praying for us.

We now have both puppies at home and feel a tremendous weight lifted from our shoulders. The synopsis is as follows:

While Barkley's liver was initially affected, she is expected to make a full recovery. She will be on antibiotics for approximately 2 weeks and we will get her blood work checked in 3-4 weeks. She is back to her normal self and her energy levels are back to normal as well. She did get spoiled for the few days while Brinley wasn't home and is adjusting to having her sister back and having to share some attention.

Brinley ... she was affected the worst out of the two. Her BUN levels remain high at 99 (normal range is 10-20) and her blood creatinine was between 3.5-4 yesterday when we picked her up (the normal range is .5 - 1.5). The vet said there wasn't any sense in keeping her though since she was fully hydrated, eating normally with an active energy level. Basically, the tests show that there is some kidney damage. We will go back in a week to have her blood checked again, to see if she is maintaining the progress. She will be on a special diet and take medication, which we can handle. Throughout all of this, we have learned a lot about kidney function and the "tell-tell" signs of kidney issues and the more we learn, the more Grayson and I believe that quite possibly, Brinley already had kidney issues prior to the accident. She has always drank more than Barkley, had to go outside more often (which we attributed to a smaller bladder), she has always had dog-halitosis and has required more rest than Barkley. Apparently, these are the early signs of kidney issues. It very well could be that she always had kidney issues, but since we never did the blood work on her, we have no baseline to tell. Regardless, she is doing great and you would never know that she had an accident at all. She is eating up all her food, she is back on a regular schedule and playful as ever!

We are so relieved to have both of our dogs home and I am so thankful to you for thinking of us and praying for us as we went through this. Without getting too gushy, I will say that having experiences like this really helps to put life into perspective. Last night at 3:30am when they woke us up needing to go outside, instead of being angry or upset that I was losing sleep, I found myself greatful that they are able to relieve themselves at all! Instead of getting upset when Brinley had a little accident on the carpet yesterday, I found myself thankful that she is able to pee! That tells me her kidneys are working and that makes me happy.

Ultimately, this little lesson has changed my perspective completely and has caused me to be less selfish with my time and attention. These are helpless puppies that require our attention and care, they didn't ask to be brought to our home, we made that choice and now it is time to care for them like they deserve. From here on out we will simply continue to monitor their behavior and watch out for any abnormalities, but otherwise we will continue living life and not worrying until we have to. So thanks for praying and for thinking of us!