Thanks to all for your prayers and kind words of support. This is my fourth try at posting a reply within the last several days. My responses seem to fly out into cyberspace. I don't know why this has happened, but this time I'll copy my post since I seem to ramble and type such long messages before hitting send, then poof it's gone!! OK, here goes...
Sophie is home and has regained much of her strength. She is definitely a little fighter. She came home after 10 days in the hospital weighing only one pound. Her hair in several spots was so matted next to her skin, that no shampoo and detangler could help. I carefully cut these out after she was home for a week during her first bath. She's lost lots of hair but she is so spunky and sooooo smart. My love for her cannot be measured. She received round the clock care from the doctors and hospital staff. I cannot thank and praise the staff at the vetenarian hospital enough, Sophie was given extrodinary care. Since she was in isolation I could not visit her to give her moral support to live, but her doctor did the next best thing, she allowed a couple of Sophie's toys and blanket to be placed next to her in her bed. One toy I chose was Sophie's teddy bear that plays the children's nighttime prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep....". Sophie would press on the hand with her mouth while playing with her favorite teddy to start this tune. Since she couldn't do this, each of the hospital care team would press the hand when they were at her bedside. Therefore this comforting tune from her home along with her toys and blanket gave her reassurance that I didn't abondon her. She was weak for the first week after returning home but she was so glad to see me and her other family members. After spending 7 days on three medicines including an antibiotic along with pedilite and a drop of karo syrup each day, she's almost back to normal. She's growling as she plays with her toys and her older and bigger brother. She outruns our other two dogs, too. She's a fantastic little fighter. I'll be posting photos later. Love and gratitude to you all.
