(Caution some Photos may be disturbing)

April 4th-2018

Just before dark, I had our pup Journey outside to go to the bathroom. Connie was with me, when she squatted and sent a geyser of poop all over the outside mat. Not once but two or three times! I ran over to Georges unit and got Janet’s phone to call Doug. It turned he was about 45 minutes away. I was freaking! I told him what had happened, and that he needed to return immediately so we could rush Journey into the vets in Indio. I had seen this before. Too many times. From what I was seeing, my heart was exploding with fear that Journey had picked up Parvo.

Before you jump to any conclusions. Lets make it clear that our girls are vaccinated for everything, and when we are at the Slabs, we know a pup without a strong immune system is vulnerable so we take extensive care to make sure they are leashed. When they need to run, we load them up in the jeep and take them far away for a play time. We use hand sanitizer, keep our shoes wiped when we go in the unit, and our girls are not allowed to have contact with other dogs. ZERO! We had even checked with our vet when she had had her third booster shot, and he told us that with the precautions we were taking she would be fine.

This however, was not fine! I was so scared I dang near shook the teeth out of my head, waiting for Doug to peal up to the RV. I do not know how fast he drove, but he was there 20 minutes or less after I called him. We locked up the Unit, and gave the keys to George and Janet. Connie was in tears, and took a watchful sit beside the unit as we gunned it out of the Slabs with Journey to a Vet that was over an hour away. I prayed so hard she would not die. (I must add here that George came running over to the jeep as we were leaving, and slipped us $20.00 towards the vet bill. He was in tears…bless his heart).

By the time we had arrive at the 24 hour Emergency Vet Hospital, Journey was pretty bad. I was having a had time holding back tears as I ran inside, and told them what had happened. They ushered Doug and I immediately into a large room, and within a couple of minutes she had spewed pools of poop all over the room. The assistant saw it, and told us, she sure hoped we had caught it in time! More tears. Within a minute or so, the vet came and and took sample of her poop. After a quick check, he told us he believed it was in fact a serious case of Parvo, and left the staff to clean up her mess while he did a ten minute test to confirm if she had in fact picked up the disease.

I was so distraught, that I left Doug with Journey and ran outside to pray my heart off. I pleaded so hard with God! She didn’t deserve this… I could loose her! Although I had not mentioned this before, she too had been attacked by a pit bull and I was going through the motions to keep her torn ear clean and cared for so it would heal. We sure didn’t need Parvo. I knew her odds when i saw how violently her little body was shaking to expel everything in her bowels. Please please God… don’t let it be Parvo!!!!!!

I went back in the room, and as Doug and I waited for the results in tears, we could hear a woman outside of the room, yelling and screaming at staff. We didn’t know what the commotion was but it didn’t sound good.

It seemed like forever before the vet returned, but when he did…oh my good Lord I have never heard such good news in my life. Her test was negative for Parvo! THANK YOU GOD!!!!!

Apparently she had picked up something, and we do not know from where, but the vet felt she would be just find. HE suggested they hydrate her so that she would not have to stay for the night. I am not sure what he was talking about…. but it made sense to me. She needed fluids, or she could have further complications. So they took her in the back and I waited, crying from gratitude, and thanking God for answered prayer!

I really believe God blessed us with a healing. We thought it was parvo, the staff thought it was Parvo, and so did the Vet. In fact, the vet even told us our odds of her making it before he went to run the tests. The relief on Doug’s face was so intense. It had scared him silly. After loosing Santana they way we had such a short time before, I don’t think either of us could have handled another loss. We love her so much!

Outside the room, we could Hear Journey crying, and the same woman whom we had heard prior was still in a frantic state in the next room. Right now, I tried to focus on Journey, and block out the sound of her screaming and tears.

When they came back to the room with Journey, I took one look at her and went banchi all over the vet assistance! What had they done to my baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I scared her pretty good because she ducked out and came back with he vet. Again I was yelling at him, and asking what the hell they had done to Journey. (Excuse the language, but I was in panic mode, and that’s what I said).

She walked in the room and had a Water Mellon lump or growth between her should blades. I have never seen anything like it! The vet calmed me down and explained things. Apparently this is a normal procedure. Instead of keeping them over night on IV fluids, they inject saline under the skin. Over the course of about 24 hours fluids they had given her would slowly be absorbed by her little body, and keep her hydrated without the need for a hospital stay. It was not hurting her…. she just looked like the hunchback of Notre Dame. To be truthful…she looked a little bright. Tired but brighter.

{On a side note, I did have the vet check her one ear that another pit bull earlier had grabbed and torn. He said that what I was doing was right, and that her ear should heal nicely. Whew)!

Doug had been back and forth to the bench outside, and after we had paid for Journeys bill, he had taken her to the jeep. That’s when he ran into the woman who had been crying and yelling in the next room.

To make a long story short, she had been walking her small dog to 711 to get a few things when a Pitbull and Boxer came charging at her. The Pit grabbed her dog in his mouth, and began to violently shake it. She rammed her hand in between two attacking dogs, and while kicking them, she managed to get her dog pried from those death grips. However in the process her arm had been shredded pretty good. She grabbed her little dog and ran to the hospital where they had to give her a couple dozen stitches to repair the bites she had received. Without waiting a pain med script, she left and ran to the vet clinic with her little dog, Baby.

The vets took a look at Baby, whose skin was so torn that it could be pulled over her scalp like a head scarf. It was a brutal mess. She told Doug they had given her a price to stitch Baby back together, but as per policy, she had to pay the full amount up front. Naturally she did not have that kind of cash.

Doug came to me and told me what was happening and we spoke with the vets to find out the severity of her injuries and the expenses to help her. We sure as heck didn’t have a lot of money to spare, but how can you walk away, knowing that without some intervention that dog would surely suffer or die?

Doug had already seen FOUR OTHER DOGS BROUGHT IN WITH ATTACKS FROM PIT BULLS and they had all been euthanized because they were in such bad shape. All of this happened in one hour and 15 minutes. Four Pit attacks…and not one of them made it. One was a father and his little girl who carried in a limp small dog, they had no chance of saving. Were we gonna walk away knowing yet another little soul might fall into the same fate as the previous four had? No way………….

So, we talked to the Vet who was taking care of Baby, and asked how much the bill would be in we were to cover it. They came back with an amount that was about $300.00 or more than they had originally quoted the owner, so Doug asked to speak with the manager. To make a long story short, they agreed to the first quote with pain meds, and we paid to have Baby taken care of.

Her owner did a little video for us to share what had happened and to tell out readers that we were in fact genuine when we told people what we were doing with our Ministry. There are far too many people blogging or asking for financial help out there and scamming innocent people that we want people to know we are doing what we are saying. WE are not asking everyone to tell you what we do… but a few might go a long ways to assuring our readers we are walking the talk for real. There may be people out there who will eventually want to be a part of our Outreach and offer financial gifts that we can use to help more people.

As time goes on, I feel we are going to meet so many more people in need between Canada and the USA as we make our rounds in the RV. It would be awesome if at some point some of our readers might partner with us to help more than we could on our own.

In closing for this night, we returned to the Slabs to find many people, including Connie rush over to see if Journey was ok. It was about 1:30 in the morning. Although totally exhausted and in much need of sleep, it was touching to see how many people cared and how fast word had spread. By this time Journey was pretty tired and quickly fell into a peaceful sleep as we called it a night. What a night it had been! Did I mention how I HATE pit bulls? There are good ones, but bad ones and bad breeding. The vet clinic told us 4 to 5 pit bull attacks a day are normal in Palm Springs and Indio. Many of them die. The pits run the streets in packs through out Arizona and California in some areas.  As of right now… I wouldn’t trust one for a million dollars. Until you have seen this and had your own dogs ripped apart, don’t lecture me on lumping them all together. I am not. I still personally wouldn’t trust one!

Cheers,

Sherry Lacey and Doug Dyck (Journey and of course Chicago)