I need your prayers please!

Last week when I wrote my post about getting back on the wagon I didn't mention what was going on in my life.  If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen the tweet about prayers for my dog Duke.  Well here I am asking anyone who reads my blog to say a prayer for him.

Last week Sunday I noticed that Duke seemed to stumble up the stairs.  My mom noticed he had a limp.  My dad looked him over, felt around on his back legs (where he had the limp and what seemed to cause trouble for the stairs) and didn't find anything to explain it.  No big deal right?  Wrong.  The next day it was worse.  Duke could no longer go up stairs and he was struggling to walk.  Both of his back legs seemed to give out on him, or it was painful for him to use them normally.  We left him sleep in the house that night.  The next day he didn't seem any better so we left him sleep in the house again and made the decision to call our vet the next day.

Wednesday morning my mom called and took the 1pm appointment time that was available.  I left work at noon to run home quick to get Duke and take him to the vet.  He has been eating and drinking like always so his weight hasn't changed since his last vet visit.  Duke is an 83 pound Gordon Setter.  Lifting and carrying him is no easy task but you do what you have to do for those you love.

Duke tested semi-positive for a disease carried by ticks.  It's not Lyme but it has similar symptoms.  We started him on antibiotics and some pain medicine.  The antibiotics were supposed to have helped by today and if there were no signs of improvement then Duke needs to go back.

Sadly, Duke has shown no signs of improvement and according to my dad he's worse than yesterday.  My mom will be calling the vet's office right at 7:30 am when it opens to see if we can get him in tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that they have an opening.  I will not be going this time.  My brother is done with high school (graduates Wednesday) so he will go with my mom to do the lifting and carrying of Duke.

Lex always tells me POPT, power of positive thinking, so that's what I am going to do.  Another great quote to remember during this time is from the TV show Hellcats.  Savannah always says, "Positive outcomes only."

As much as I try to be and stay positive it breaks my heart to see Duke struggle to walk and I would assume be in pain.  So I ask all of you reading to say a prayer for Duke that this next visit to the vet will have better results.  My thoughts are that it's something besides the tick carried disease he tested semi-positive for.  Whatever it is I hope the vet can figure that out and how to treat it so Duke can return to his normal life and no longer need to be carried long distances or up the stairs.

I apologize that I never posted those interesting posts I mentioned I had floating around in my head last week.  They're still floating around and I will do my best to post them this week.

Do you have a furry child or furry sibling?

Duke certainly is part of our family.  My mom calls him her son.  He's such a special dog to us with an amazing personality that he will be hard to replace.  Replace isn't the right word as you can never replace a family member but I don't know how else to describe it.