We had moved to Arizona in June of 2015. We needed to get away from the cold weather that seemed to get worse year after year. No more cold, Let’s go to Arizona. We had vacationed in Arizona several times and we felt it would be the right climate and move.
Upon arriving, we got squared away with the house move. It happened to be record high temperatures that Arizona hadn’t seen before. Go figure, leave cold Ohio and enter a super heated desert climate to the tune of 120 degrees.
Once we got situated, we decided to seek out a pet park, lake, pond for Pumpkin. We found a really nice park with a Lake in Chandler Arizona off of Ray road. When we arrived, a lot of dogs were swimming in the lake. It had a concrete pier and you could see some dogs jumping off the pier into the lake. It was a really clean place and a lot of people were walking their dogs, watching their dogs play in the lake, etc.
Boy Pumpkin was overly excited. He loved swimming in lakes at Pet parks. He’d get in the water, and you couldn’t get him out.
So we let him off his leash and away into the lake he went. A little bit of hesitation because it had some large rocks just into the water. So Pumpkin navigated himself out past the rocks and he swam out a little ways. Then he’d come out of the lake and go back in. But his hesitation seemed due to the rocks. He then started going down the pier and would stand there watching the other dogs in the lake. He would come back off the Pier and run in the sand area. Then back to the pier. All of a sudden Pumpkin took a dive off the pier into the water. What a shock. He never showed that kind of assertiveness to get into a body of water. He ran in to water, but never jumped in. He never liked swimming pools. We learned that on our first vacation with Pumpkin to Florida. Never in his lifetime would he go into a pool. We would attempt to get him in our pool in Arizona and he wanted no part of it. We even bought a floating vest. Forget it. Since he couldn’t assess the depth of the water, he refused to go in. We got him in a couple times by picking him up and taking him in, but got back out right away. We decided we would not put him through the stress, and in the nearly 3 years in Arizona, we never took to the pool. He acted like he wanted in several times, but his fear kept him from exploring.
Now it’s into late August and Pumpkin starts to have heavy breathing issues. We would be in the car and all of a sudden, he would start panting really hard and hyperventilate occasionally. We realized it was over 100 degrees and thought he was not getting cool enough in the car. We put in a fan to blow directly on him. We would turn the ac down to where we was uncomfortable for us, but it seemed to help Pumpkin’s breathing.
Around the first week of September, we found a vet in Chandler and started his care in Arizona. They examined him and everything seemed ok.
We got all his records to the clinic from Ohio and it was moments from the house. Everyone seemed very nice.
Around the end of October, Pumpkin didn’t seem right. His breathing seemed to be a little rapid. He started being a little lethargic, so I decided to take him back. Once there, the doctor recommended x-rays of his chest.
She came back to the room and was alarmed. She put the x-rays up so i could see them. It showed cloudy masses in the chest area and she was very concerned and mentioned possible cancer. I was beside myself. She told me to get him into the VCA animal hospital in Mesa right away.
I left the clinic and drove straight home to pick up Brian and went to the hospital. The clinic sent his x-rays to the hospital so they would have them when I got there.
We got there and was met with an emergency room doctor. He didn’t have the x-rays, so he decides to do blood work, urine and stated that we needed to get with their internal medicine doctor, named Jessie Markovich.
We set up an appointment a couple days later, so she could get the x-rays and lab results to see what was going on. Now it’s the middle of October
Before our appointment Dr. Markovich called and was certainly concerned. So far nothing was coming up but all signs were pointing to Pumpkin having some type of cancer. Again, only speculation, especially since Pumpkin was a Golden, and they are very high risk to cancers.
She sent for more lab work. Another ultrasound of his GI Track and lung area.
Another couple days and we were back at the hospital for results.
The results were inconclusive. His white cell count was a little high, so she felt his body was fighting something, but No cancer as yet to be found. But not ruled out.
She ordered more tests, cultures, from more blood work and urine. Again, they came back inconclusive to what was going on. No valley fever, something that dogs were having in Arizona. Again cautioning us to probably some form of cancer. We were totally stressed out and thinking the worst. About 3 weeks of tests that came back inconclusive and no answers to what was going on.
One night we were laying in bed with Pumpkin and all of a sudden, he started having difficulty breathing. It was really labored. We decided to get to the animal hospital. We rushed him to the hospital trying to comfort him with words and petting all the way there. We were panicking because of his inability to breath comfortably.
We got into the hospital, telling the staff what was happening. They took us to a room and met a vet technician. She did his vitals, asked questions and said a emergency room doctor would be right with us.
An emergency room doctor met us and examined Pumpkin, and she stated that she wanted to do some testing, blood work, ultra sound. Over the period of 90 minutes or so, the doctor came back and said Pumpkin had a build up of fluid around his heart and lungs and was removing it. Here Pumpkin had over 1 liter of fluid they took from him. He was released with medication and given a follow up with Dr. Markovich. Over the next couple weeks, we would take him back in every other day or so to remove around 1 liter each time of fluid.
We made his appointment and met with Dr Markovich again. More tests. This time a cat scan. she saw some irregularities but needed more testing. Nothing conclusive.
During the dates of October 25, through November 23rd, we were at the hospital several times for several procedures, ultra sound, ultra sound guided biopsies, colonoscopy, blood work, needle biopsies of masses that the doctor wanted to make sure was not cancer. Some issues came back, but still not the underlying reasons for his condition.
Dr. Markovich decided it was time for exploratory surgery. They were going to cut him open from chest to pee pee to see what was going on inside him.
Surgery took place on 11/25/2015 and he spent Thanksgiving weekend in the hospital.
It was a very dangerous surgery and we were told he might not survive. We stayed through surgery, and he got into intensive care.
The surgeon came to meet us and told us that Pumpkin made it through surgery, but they found a mass in the sac that surrounds his heart. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he removed it and was sending it into the lab. Probably cancer.
Later that night, we came back and got to see him in intensive care. Our poor little guy was all bandaged up, oxygen hooked up to him. All kinds of machines. He was in intensive care. Now was the wait and see. Hopefully he would come through it ok.
We spent around 20 minutes or so, and didn’t want him to wear down anymore than he was. They came and got him. We left and called at midnight. Here he was eating a little and had finally gone out to poo and pee. They told us to get some sleep. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, and that he had to go through 48 hours to make it through surgery and on the mend. The doctor called the following morning and said Pumpkin was doing better, but she wanted him to stay another night in ICU. She would call us in the morning.
The next day they tried to get Pumpkin to eat something, but he didn’t want anything. Kathy, his aunt, flew in from Cleveland just before Christmas, because we really felt he wouldn’t make it. We went into the hospital and they brought him to a room for us to spend so time with him and see if we could get him to eat. He walked very slowly to the room, all bandaged up and his iv with him. We tried feeding him some pieces of chicken and dark turkey. he didn’t eat at first, but finally, Kathy tried again, and Pumpkin ate a few pieces. We worked with him, praising him and he ate a little more.
Our little guy was in the hospital approximately 4 and a half days. We took him home to recover.
We had gone out and purchased v neck t-shirts and cut the armpits so Pumpkin could move in the t-shirts. They kept him warm and kept his surgical dressings clean. He looked so adorable in his little shirts.
We name a couple small mistakes with his t-shirts though. We forgot to roll the bottom of the shirt up when he went outside to pee pee. He would come back and the t-shirt was all wet. We got with it and learned our lesson.
Our little sweetheart was healing and coming along pretty well.
At this time in Pumpkin’s life, he really never liked sleeping or laying on dog beds. During the days following bringing him home from surgery, Brian had set up his bed we had and covered it with a cooling pad, a blanket and than another blanket. Either Kathy or I slept on the couch next to him the next several days.
From that time on, the bed ended up a comfort area for Pumpkin, and he started sleeping on the bed throughout the days and nights moving forward. We really feel, he felt comfort with the bed and what he had gone through recovering surgery.
Now he’d rather lay on his bed than anywhere else. We were now very comforted seeing him take to his bed like he did.
From this time forward into 2016, Pumpkin was doing rather well, with minor issues. Dr. Markovich continued her follow up and we continued to test his blood regularly, urine, and anything that seemed odd, would be followed up on. He was monitored very closely over the next few months.
During this period we did find Pumpkin had a urinary tract infection, and they also found Staph infection. Big time antibiotics were given him to get him back to health.
After overcoming the urinary tract infection and Staph, he was going well and we really felt relieved that Pumpkin had done so well overall in 2016. He had gone through a lot in 2015.
Then we noticed Pumpkin drinking excessive amounts of water and his overall behavior had slightly changed. He leveled off in his energy level and we could tell something just wasn’t right.
It’s the week of Christmas, 2016 and we take him in for consultation and testing. We did a blood work up and urine analysts,
Results came back and Dr Markovich decided on doing a needle biopsy of his kidneys.
The results came back and here Pumpkin only had 25% of his kidneys functioning. She diagnosed Acute Renal Failure.
What else could pumpkin go through? Now we start a new diet of low protein. She starts pumpkin on an array of medicines for kidney infection, pain pills, nausea medications, along with approving a Chinese herb for kidney disease. Over the period of the next several months, We continued to change his diet due to blood tests that we did regularly to monitor his kidney values. Some of the numbers were elevated, but Dr. Markovich felt comfortable that attacking his diet and keeping him well exercised would give us a lot more time.
We would give Pumpkin subcutaneous fluids if she found him to be a little dehydrated during her examinations over the months. He had gone through about 4 different diets for renal failure, and finally we got to the point that food didn’t interest him anymore. We had started baking chicken and salmon and he would only eat in the later day, mostly evening. We did everything we could to get him to eat. More nausea medications, different attempts at enticing him to eat. Finally, he basically stopped eating. He was drinking water, and would come in from outside and look at his food bowl, but wouldn’t touch any food we would leave in it, in case he wanted to eat.
Over the next 6 weeks, we started giving him a liter of fluid through the skin. Overall, Pumpkin did well with this and it seemed to help him. We would do this at night before bedtime and then we were assured he wasn’t dehydrated.
The week of July 4th, 2017, Dr. Markovich recommended that we do a feed tube. A little scary, and knowing that we were going to have to do this ourselves made us cautious. Dr. Markovich stated that people to decided on tube feeding ended up very thankful, because of the quality time they were able to spend with their pet feeding them. If we didn’t opt to do this, Pumpkin was sure to pass within a week or so.
On July 6th, we had surgery done on Pumpkin to insert a feeding tube, down his throat. Dr. Markovich inserted the tube through his neck and down his throat. Everyone took the time to teach us how to administer his food. The first couple days were a big challenge. We made mistakes, like the food shot out of the tube entry and all over the wall and everywhere else. We weren’t holding the syringe tightly, so it pushed back out of the tube all over us. We finally got it down to a fine science. We prepared his food ahead of time, saved it in the refrigerator and when it was time to eat, we would warm the food up that also had some of his medications in it and gave it to him by tube. He did really well at receiving the food. Just a few times, he would let us know we were pushing the syringe of food too fast into the tube. In addition to the feeding tube, we continued to give him his daily subcutaneous fluids.
After about 2 weeks, Pumpkin wouldn’t touch solid foods, even leaving him different types daily. He would look at the bowl, smell and walk away. We knew he wanted to eat solid food, but couldn’t. He kept looking at the food bowl all the time, coming past it going to the potty.
Once we started the tube feeding, Pumpkin stopped drinking water. We let Dr. Marovich know, but she wasn’t concerned, because we were giving him plenty of liquids through his food in the tube fee. He didn’t want more water, because he was hydrated.
We kept this up for nearly a month. We had to alter his medications through the tube, because his kidney values started coming back somewhat higher.
The weekend of December December 16th and 17th, Brian left to fly back to Ohio to be with his family for his Nephew’s College graduation. He left Saturday and flew back Sunday at 630 pm.
I fed Pumpkin at around 530 pm and he and I left for the airport to be there by 630.
I told Pumpkin, that daddy was coming home. He ran to the car to go for the ride. We sat waiting at the airport terminal. The plane was a little late in taxiing and un-boarding. Pumpkin was anxious to see his daddy. I kept saying he’s coming. He’ll be here shortly.
Finally Brian showed up and Pumpkin met him in the front passenger seat. He started licking Brian and all the way home, Brian kept his hand on Pumpkin in the back seat getting kisses all the way home.
We got home, and Brian needed to give Pumpkin his pain medication for 9pm and his subcutaneous fluids.
He completed both and Pumpkin wanted out to go potty.
I noticed he was gagging just outside the patio door but he never vomited. Obviously, we were concerned if he vomited, it could affect the feeding tube. I told Brian to watch him. Brian checked him out and he seemed fine, no gagging. We was laying on the patio.
I started getting ready for bed due to my early wake up time.
I was somewhat out of it where i heard Brian say he found Pumpkin laying out in the middle of the yard. Something he never did before. he was sitting up looking off into space.
Brian, said he asked Pumpkin if he was going to die? He finally got Pumpkin up and brought him into the house. Pumpkin went to lay down on the rug he normally would lay on just coming in from outside. Since we were going to bed, Brian, picked Pumpkin up and brought him upstairs and laid him down in the hallway, where he always would lay, able to look out over downstairs.
Brian, noticed Pumpkin was out of it. His head felt heavy and for the first time Pumpkin didn’t help Brian, pick up his head. Seemed Pumpkin had no strength.
Brian called out to me, something about maybe we should take Pumpkin to the hospital. I was almost asleep and really didn’t react to his feelings.
Then Brian went to Bed and said Pumpkin was resting. He said he seemed comfortable and breathing calmly. Brian felt it was the pain medication kicking in and said to Pumpkin that he would be checking on him throughout the night.
Over the past 48 plus hours, Brian had very little sleep, jet lag, etc. He never slept through the night, ever. He always gets up to go to the bathroom a couple times a night and we would always get a bark to let Pumpkin out to do his business anytime between 2 and 5 am when we would awake to start his breakfast tube feeding.
The next thing I hear is Brian, yelling Pumpkin is gone. Still half asleep, i said where did he go? Then i heard Brian yell out, which haunts me to this day. NO! NO!
I ran out to the hallway, and here Pumpkin was laying in a position he laid in quite frequently, put had died in his sleep. His arms had started to get stiff, but his tummy was still a little warm. It hadn’t been long before he passed.
Our precious angel was gone……….
Why didn’t Brian get up? Whipped tired? Did Pumpkin let him and I sleep knowing how hard it would be when we finally got up to find him gone. He looked so peaceful. Here we found out from each other on the way to the hospital with pumpkin, that as we went to bed, we both prayed that if he was going to die last night, that God take him in his sleep. We both had to have know the time had come.
We took pumpkin in our car to the animal hospital and the doctor ruled he was gone. Now what? We were lost. We went home, went back to bed and cried ourselves to sleep.
Constant crying for days. This hit both of us harder than losing a family member. Harder than losing Spooky nearly twelve years earlier. Nothing could prepare us for this. Neither one of us could go back to work. NO Christmas with Pumpkin. The sorrow and pain continued.
Pumpkin was diagnosed with acute Renal failure, December 28th, 2016. He had surgery to put the feeding tube in 11/17/2017. He passed away December 18th, 2017. He didn’t survive a year from diagnosing his kidney disease and only lasted 1 day shy of 30 days from the feeding tube being placed in him. We wouldn’t have had him this long if we didn’t do the feeding tube. He stopped eating. Death was near.
The doctor was right. We enjoyed feeding him that last 29 days. We were so excited to see he was getting stronger, he had more energy, and at times, Pumpkin started to become the old Pumpkin again. His body just got tired, and the Lord called him back to his arms.