Melody's Crisis



As they say, hindsight is 20/20, and looking back, I should have taken Mel to the vet's when I first noticed her "not being herself". However, some vets have no experience with Addison's, and perhaps she would have gone undiagnosed. I'll never know, but I sure do fault myself for not keeping that vet appointment... On the other hand, without me witnessing her crisis, maybe I would not have taken her disease as seriously as I do now?

It was December of 1997 when Melody began acting strangely. We had being trying out a natural diet, and I had decided to eliminate kibble totally. The other dogs thought it was great, but Melody seemed fussy. As she's a bit overweight anyway, I didn't worry about it. We all have preferences when it comes to food, right?

She changed in other ways, too. She would rarely come when I called her. It seemed too much trouble for her to get off her comfy couch. She IS a very snuggly dog, I really did think that she was too comfortable.

I remember bringing home McDonald's cheeseburgers for the dogs, and she just picked at it. That was when I really started to worry.

And then she was cold. Very cold and shivery. She slept with me with extra covers that night. I awoke at 7:30 AM to her kicking me with her hind legs. That was all she could move. I picked her up and she was stiff. Her head flopped back, and I ran to call emergency.

Of COURSE it was rush hour, and it SEEMED to take HOURS to get there. When we got there, the doctor looked her over, and said "I think we have an Addisonian here". He might as well have said we have an alien here - I had NO idea what he meant - PLEASE LET HER LIVE! is all I could think.

Her temperature was low, very low at 96F. Normal is 101F. They had problems giving her an IV, because her blood pressure was practically zero, and her veins had collapsed.

After the emergency vets closed, we took her to her regular vet, where she had more blood tests, and stayed the rest of the day. I worried all day about her - I was an absolute mess. Then the phone call came from the vet - she had tested positive for Addison's. He said that 10 years ago, she probably would have died as no one knew about Addison's back then.

Well, I didn't know, either, so I did as much research via the library, and internet as I could!! The links I've listed, are ones that I've found helpful.

Melody (sweet thing that she is) thought that it might be nice to help other doggies and their owners with Addison's Disease.


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