Back to Ohio

Just about an hour after I posted my last blog about Lexie having Von Willenbrand's disease, Dr. Ellis called to tell me that not only was Lexie starting to bleed again (through all the gauze that they had packed in her wounds), but her latest blood work indicated that she DOESN'T have VW disease. Therefore, Dr. Ellis recommended we rush her back to MedVet in Worthington, Ohio to see another specialist who could hopefully diagnose the reason why her blood wasn't clotting. Dr. Ellis gave me another option of letting Lexie spend the night in our local ER for observation, but she was worried that Lou might not make it through the night. Because Justin had agreed to make up the hours he'd taken off work to be with me that day, he wouldn't be able to go to Ohio with me. So, I called my brother, Zach, and thankfully he agreed to go with me. I was terrified, however, to drive Lexie 3 hours to MedVet in her condition, and even Dr. Ellis said there was a chance Lou might not make it there. However, Dr. Ellis said that she felt the risk might be worth it because the specialists at MedVet would be much better at diagnosing her.

I should probably back up a little bit and explain that the issue was that Dr. Ellis and Dr. Ayers had to pack Lexie's eye sockets with gauze in order to slow the bleeding after her enucleation surgery, which means the gauze still has to be removed. So, the worry is that even if the bleeding stops right now, it could possibly start again when the wounds are re-opened and the gauze is removed. Therefore, we need to find out what's preventing her blood from clotting so we can fix it before unpacking her wounds.

Ok, so Zach and I went to pick up Lexie from Animal Care Clinic. I was afraid of how she'd look, but it was actually much better than I had expected. Dr. Ellis had wrapped Lou's head and eyes really well, and Lexie was even up and moving around. She was still my Lou, too, which pleased me more than I can even tell you. I had expected her to be this pitiful, lethargic, bleeding, dying, Franken-Dobie, but she wasn't anything close to that. I sat in the back seat with Lou as Zach drove us to Ohio. I am usually very careful about the speed limit, but I told Zach I didn't care if he got pulled over because we were racing against time at that point. 

Well, wouldn't you know that apparently the Storm of the Century just HAD to come through Ohio and WV right at that moment? Although we lucked out and only drove through heavy wind and some rain, the rest of Ohio was hit HARD. During the entire drive through half the state, we saw downed trees, branches, and the majority of towns we drove through were without power. The whole time, Lexie was so good. She just laid down beside me and slept most of the way. She was breathing pretty hard, though, which worried me, and I kept a close eye on her breathing the entire time. Then, when we were about an hour away from MedVet, we hit stand still traffic. After about 30 minutes of not moving, I started to panic, but then we finally started to move again. Just as we were about to take the exit to 270 toward Columbus, the exit was shut down! We ended up having to re-route through some town that had a billion stop lights, but the power was out so we had to do a four-way stop at every single one! I seriously thought I might have a heart attack at that point. 

Finally, 4 hours after we left Huntington, we arrived at MedVet. When I got Lexie out of the car, I could see a spot of blood where her head had been resting. They took her straight back, though, so I was relieved she was at least receiving medical attention. However, I told Zach when we sat in the waiting room that I wasn't expecting good news.

 When we finally spoke to the vet on duty that night, Dr. Miller, I was both relieved and surprised when she told me Lexie looked good and seemed stable. She said she wanted to do a blood panel since Lexie had had a transfusion that day and keep her overnight for observation. Then, in the morning, Lexie would be seen by an internal medicine specialist who could try to figure out why her blood won't clot. It was after midnight at that point, and Zach and I were both too tired to drive, so we got a room at a nearby hotel.

I called MedVet first thing this morning and they said Lexie did well through the night and all of her blood work looked good. So, now I'm just waiting to hear from the other specialist after he has a chance to examine her. I'm crossing my fingers for some actual answers today.