We met Charlie in the middle of May. We picked him up in South Carolina just 2 days before we moved out of our Apex house. The girls, Brandon and I immediately fell in love with Charlie. He was so gentle with the girls and loved to be with people.
That first day we took him for his first walk. He did terribly. He only wanted to lay and sleep. The girls couldn't get enough of his soft fur and the little kisses he would willing offer to anyone that got too close.
About a month after we moved into our new home Charlie fell down the few stairs on the back porch and immediately we knew something was wrong. It didn't look like a bad fall, but he was obviously in pain. The next morning we took him to the vet. They discovered he had broken his elbow. Since this break was in such a bad spot they couldn't just put on a cast. He required 2 surgeries to place a screw in his elbow to hold it in place until the elbow healed. For 6 weeks we had to be extra careful with him. He needed to be carried up and down all stairs, wasn't allowed to run or jump and couldn't play with other dogs until he was healed
The day before he was cleared to get back to normal activity we found him out in the yard acting very strange. He was walking around very clumsy, almost seemed blind and wouldn't eat or drink. We immediately took him to the emergency clinic and they discovered he had low protein levels and thought it could be due to issues with his liver.
While we waited for the ultrasound and other tests the doctor had us treat him with several medicines and a special diet. Suddenly he became a dog we had never seen before. He would run and jump and chase the girls. He was so sweet, but obviously completely spoiled rotten from all the extra care he had received.
The ultrasound showed that he did in deed have a liver shunt. Meaning that instead of the blood being processed through his liver it was going through this extra vessel and the toxins from his foods were being put right back into his system. He could continue on his medication for a little time, but the only long term fix was surgery to close the shunt. Our family prayed about what we should do and over lots of discussion we decided we had to offer him any chance he had to live a long life, so although expensive we decided to have the surgery.
They asked us to wait 2 weeks for the surgery. So they could get his liver as healthy as possible before they operated on it. All the extra time I got to spend with Charlie really brought us so close. He was such a mama's boy and I fell head over heels in love with him. He finally loved to take walks and would try to visit with each dog that crossed our path. His favorite past time was to find any shoe he could and run off with it so you would have to chase him.
During Charlie's surgery they discovered that his liver was missing some of its anatomy and it could not be corrected. Blood could not be passed through his liver so his body created the shunt to allow for the passage. The thing that was killing him was the only thing that was keeping him alive. There was no more that we could do to help him. We decided that rather than watch him deteriorate and lose his puppy spirit we would put him down. It has been such a tough decision. I have been crying so much over the last few days that even my face hurts. It just shows you how special of a puppy he really was to touch our lives so much in a short amount of time. I feel so blessed the Lord put him in our lives.
The girls know what has happened to Charlie and have handled it better than I had expected. They are already asking for another puppy. My heart is going to need some time to recover, but I know we'll get another dog at some point. For now I just like to think of the sweet boy we got to enjoy.
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