REally Sad and REally Sick.

Let's wander back a few months shall we?

We lost our sweet girl, our big dog, Charlie in June. Old age and hip dysplaysia. She was our fur-child for fourteen years. It was heartbreaking for all of us but especially John. Charlie was his dog, John was her human. Then, close to her 4th birthday Olivia became sick with a fever that hung around for four days. It was a very difficult time for John and I as parents to watch her and do all that we could with no luck of conquering the fever. Eventually after a second visit to the doctor she received a shot of rocefin (sp?)and the fever broke...like a river that had been blocked by a dam, the fever broke! Wouldn't you know it, I got sick too. Then, as luck would have it, John caught the bug. The problem with John's bug is that it was mean. It was a Super Bug, he ended up being hospitalized for 7 days with a drug-resistant pneumonia. He is home and recovering. Praise God! Then, two nights ago, I took our little dog, our Freddy, out to the back yard. Twenty minutes later I went to bring her in and she was running around in circles. Not the "there's a squirrel that I must get" circles, but drunken sailor circles. Her eyes were twitching, she could not focus, her head was that of a bobble head doll and she kept falling down. I just knew that she had either 1) been bitten by a snake 2) eaten a mushroom 3) suffered a stroke. Upon taking her to the vet, we were told she had "Old Dog Syndrome" which is an inflammation of the inner ear and creates a "vertigo-esque" condition. Poor thing! The only one who has not succumbed to death or severe illness in our home is the cat. I have had a top secret conference with her. She is to avoid everyone and everything except her litter box, her food and her water for at least the next two weeks. We'll see.