Much to Be Grateful For
by Janine Adams

My dog, Kramer, has had a tough couple of months. And, therefore, so have I. Poor Kramer appears to have been born with a delicate constitution. Being the ever-zealous dog mom that I am, I faithfully vaccinated him every year until his hyped-up immune system turned on him. It started attacking his own tissue, thinking it was foreign. This is known as autoimmune disease, and Kramer suffers from several different ones.

The diagnoses began in March 1999, but it was late summer/early fall 2000 that was so difficult. Between early August and late October, Kramer battled a bout of severe hepatitis and kidney infection, more than 75 ticks attaching themselves to him (and he got off easy-Scout had more like 175), two episodes of bloat and the permanent shutting down of his adrenal glands.

This latter malady, known as Addison's disease, is one of those good news-bad news things. Sure, it's bad news that something as important as adrenal function is severely impaired. But the good news is that it's controllable, even if the medications aren't cheap. Addison's is difficult to diagnose-to the point where dogs are near death by the time they're diagnosed-but we were lucky: our crackerjack vets caught it quickly.

So now that his medications are stabilized (we're supplementing with medicine the cortisol that his adrenal glands are no longer producing), his liver and kidney blood values are looking good, he's gone a whole month without bloating again and (knock wood) none of those ticks gave him any diseases, we can breathe a little easier. He's looking good and feeling good. People in the park are commenting.

And now that I'm no longer living in constant fear about his health, I can look back and reflect upon how easy it is to take our dogs' good health (and our own, for that matter) for granted. Scout is much more robust than Kramer but she hurt her neck in October and it shook my world to see her in pain. Thankfully, that lasted only a couple of days (an emergency visit to the chiropractor helped immensely), but I now know better than to take her good health for granted.

When I look back on August, which was probably the worst month of this ordeal, it's a blur of worry, confusion, and feelings of helplessness. When someone you love is completely dependent upon you, as our dogs are, you bear a huge burden to do the very best you can. I'm fortunate to have a team of caring vets who put ego aside and listen to one another's opinions. I am also lucky to have a husband who is open to the holistic care I seek for our dogs.

For a couple of months there, I was a stay-at-home dog mom. It sounds almost silly-and it seems impossible that caring for two dogs can be a full-time job. But the calendar was bursting at the seams with veterinary appointments, blood tests, phone consults and chiropractic adjustments. Needless to say, my bank account was not bursting at the seams.

Thanks to his sweet disposition and the frequency of his vet visits, Kramer is very popular at the local animal hospital. The receptionists and vet techs all greet him like an old friend. He never has to be restrained. He's a model patient. It's kind of silly, but I take such pride in that and I'm grateful that vet visits don't stress him unduly.

My feelings of helplessness over these past few months have been replaced by feelings of gratitude as I watch Kramer romp in the park chasing his frisbee and being chased by his sister. Somehow, even the annoying things that Kramer does-things that he didn't do when he was feeling so bad-make me smile. After watching him refuse to eat anything but the tiniest bit of baby food a couple of months ago, I watch with genuine pleasure as he eats the fresh food I prepare for him.

Thanks to what we've been through together-including the four-week period after his bloat where my husband and I never left Kramer home alone, not for a moment-I feel closer than ever to my eight-year-old dog. I'm sorry he's suffered, by I'm grateful he's survived and even seems to be flourishing. And I'm grateful for the chance to care for him and to get to know his every mood shift. After these last few months, I certainly can no longer take either dog for granted.

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