19/05/2025
ďżź This past Friday, we all woke up with excitement and anticipation for our trip to the New England Golden Jubilee reunion, in St. Johnsbury Vermont. In the morning, we all did our normal routine, had breakfast went outside and played some ball. We selected our music so the three goldens can do their musical freestyle routines at the Jubilee. The New England golden Jubilee was where Fireball did his first freestyle demo when he was nine months old. By 9:30am the car was packed, and we were on our way, looking forward to seeing all our friends, this was going to be a great weekend.
It was a nice drive and traffic was light. Shortly, after 1:00pm we pulled into hotel parking lot, in St. Johnsbury, we let the dogs out, so we could all stretch our legs. We walked to the grass and Fireball laid down right away. This is not normal for Fireball, heâs usually the first to go and seek out people and dogs to greet. We offered him water, and he drank but didnât want to walk at all, just laying down. Even when he saw other dogs and people, he didnât get up. We called around to local animal hospitals but could not get an appointment. We found Urgent Care Animal Hospital in Littleton NH, the closest vet that could see him and within a half an hour we were on our way.
He walked in and he seemed okay, tail wagging and greeting people, as goldens often do. Making you think nothing was wrong and you were overreacting. We waited there for about 2 hrs, while FB was in the back for an assessment, this hospital was super busy. The Vet, Dr. Chris came out and had a blood-filled syringe that he aspirated from his chest, I already know what that typically means. Vet said he was anemic, his blood was not clotting, and they did not have blood supply available, they did quick ultrasound but couldnât know where the blood was coming from, he mentioned the possibility of fluid around his heart and thereâs only a 10% survival and that he was not against euthanasia at this time. He couldnât do anything to help us at his hospital.
Without hesitation, we decided to take him to our own emergency hospital, Ocean State Veterinary Specialists in RI. Weâve been there before with our other goldens and Fireball was a blood donor in their blood donor program. It felt like a 10 hr+ ride not taking our eyes off of Fireball, his ears and gums were just a little pale, and he was not acting all that sick but we didnât know how fast he was losing blood and if we could get him to OSVS soon enough or if we lose him in the car. Seriously stressful, as we held our breath to get there as quickly and safely as possible. The Vet from NH called ahead and shared his findings with OSVS and I called ahead to give them an ETA, and they were ready for us when we arrived at 8 pm. They took FB in the back right away and again FB didnât seem to feel that crummy he walked wagging his tail, said hi to whomever he passed by. The emergency Dr. did a quick ultrasound and found multiple nodules on his spleen and possibly liver and felt he was stable at that time. Recommended he stay overnight for possible blood transfusion and ultrasound with the specialist in the morning and to figure a plan the next day.
Martini and Porsche were awesome all day. It was a long day for them as well, basically In the car for over 14 hours, with breaks here and there. They did go into OSVS, for a little while and do some impromptu therapy work in the waiting room.
Saturday, the am Vet found Fireball was still losing blood and was too weak to walk and was getting a blood transfusion to stabilize him before performing a splenectomy, they could not be certain what they were dealing with until they got in there. Saturday late afternoon Dr. Coronado called after performing surgery said FB was stable during surgery and is in recovery, he found 1 mass on his spleen, not that large in his opinion but a golf ball sized tumor and his liver looked good and no other masses were found. He lost 1-1/2 liters of blood during the surgery and now has been given a total of 3 transfusions and didnât except that he will need more. We will wait to hear back on the pathology report as to what type of tumor this was in about 5 to 7 days. Then we will decide what our next steps will be to give Fireball the best quality of life possible for whatever time he has.
Sunday morning the Vet said Fireball was improving and could go home today or tomorrow but he could have a reaction to the transfusion but that's rare and he needs to stay quiet, and we can wait until we see him to make that decision. We decided to be cautious and let him stay the night and bring him home on Monday. We did go up and visit with him on Sunday. He was super quiet, he recognized us, swayed his tail once and laid on his side, the tech came in and gave us food to offer and in true golden fashion he perked up to eat. The longest weekend everâŚ. We are so fortunate to have so many prayers and positive thoughts from all our friends on and off the mountain. I believe that helped Fireball pull through this and we look forward to bringing him home today. We definitely appreciate all the prayers and support! â¤ď¸
Truly grateful. â¤ď¸
