aStarSeeker
12-20-2005, 04:53 PM
I haven't posted in ages, although COD remains the smile in my mornings.
I needed to post this here because I'm not getting over this and I know it's just OK here. Here goes:
On December 2 we had a house fire. In the walls and floor of the living room, evidently.
My husband Rich came home and found the house blocked with smoke. He crawled around on the floor, unable to see, to locate our 6 cats and 3 dogs. Two of our kitty babies, Laddy and Hank, were already dead of smoke inhalation in the hall way.
He found everyone else, too, got them out of the house, gave them all mouth-to-mouth and CP to get them to breathe again. Laddy and Hank were gone.
He threw General, our 125 Golden Retriever up over his shoulder to get him out of the house, again to get him into the car once he was breathing, and again to get him into the emergency vet. Rich separated his shoulder and cracked a rib doing this.
Pauley, another snuggling kitty, passed that night because he had too much carbon monoxide in his system and his liver failed. Kharma and Bentley, who were on the other side of the house, fared the best of the kitties, because they were near a leaky door. They were able to come home after 2 days of oxygen. Thank GOD.
Rich sat with General for 16 hours, holding his head up and mouth open so General could breathe. In the end, however, it seemed that General wasn't oxygenating. His lungs were too damaged from heat to work, and they kept filling with fluid. We had to let him go.
The other two dogs, Shelby and Morgan, were near that leaky door and he was able to get them outside. They did the best of the dogs, with just a day of oxygen and observation.
Tosha, my last kitty, wouldn't come to Rich from under the bed at the far end of the house. Evidently the bed saved him, because after 10 days in oxygen, being intubated (?), and with a little feeding tube into his tummy, he began to respond well.
So we lost 3 of our 6 kitties, and 1 of our 3 dogs.
Today we're in a very nice temporary home, where we'll be for 6 months or so. I can't say enough about Erie Insurance, because they didn't blink at finding us a place that would take all our pets. We're all together. I took Tosha in to the vet today to have his feeding tube removed. Once he started eating orally, we knew it was safe. I was feeding him via the tube when he looked at me, leaned over and starting eating the other cats' food at the same time. What a relief! It was touch and go for that little one.
We're devastated and walking in a daze. Please keep our babies in your prayers. We know the universe will organize itself to let us honor them by adopting more kitties and dogs, but "normal" will never be the same. Hank, Laddy and Pauley won't be vying for space on my lap and General won't be following me around the yard or greeting us at the door.
I can't say enough good things about Highway Vet in Bowie, MD, or Anne Arundel Emergency Clinic in Annapolis. They when above and beyond to help our babies and to make certain we were involved, able to touch, hold and feed them, etc. They're worth every penny of the 18K we had to mortgage to get. A vet and vet tech at AAEC took Shelby and Morgan home with them for 2 days each to help us, and Highway Vet even boarded them free for about a week until we moved out of the hotel and into the temporary house. Again, talk about going above and beyond again!
This fire has shown me the absolute best in human hearts, and sadly, I keep wondering how much lower one person can continue to go to show me the worst -- and she keeps showing me. Nonetheless, I try to find blessings in all of this. We already have someone who has contacted us about a DLH girl named Emmy, who needs a home. She's orange, which means she could be adopted in Hank's honor. I'm not sure we're ready, but are we ever?
In the meanwhile, check your homeowners' insurance. Hug your babies every day and let them sit in your lap until they're ready to get down, because they're with us for such a short time we need to treasure every moment's purr and kiss.
Thank you for listening. I'm sorry to share bad news, but thank you, too, for understanding.
Christine
I needed to post this here because I'm not getting over this and I know it's just OK here. Here goes:
On December 2 we had a house fire. In the walls and floor of the living room, evidently.
My husband Rich came home and found the house blocked with smoke. He crawled around on the floor, unable to see, to locate our 6 cats and 3 dogs. Two of our kitty babies, Laddy and Hank, were already dead of smoke inhalation in the hall way.
He found everyone else, too, got them out of the house, gave them all mouth-to-mouth and CP to get them to breathe again. Laddy and Hank were gone.
He threw General, our 125 Golden Retriever up over his shoulder to get him out of the house, again to get him into the car once he was breathing, and again to get him into the emergency vet. Rich separated his shoulder and cracked a rib doing this.
Pauley, another snuggling kitty, passed that night because he had too much carbon monoxide in his system and his liver failed. Kharma and Bentley, who were on the other side of the house, fared the best of the kitties, because they were near a leaky door. They were able to come home after 2 days of oxygen. Thank GOD.
Rich sat with General for 16 hours, holding his head up and mouth open so General could breathe. In the end, however, it seemed that General wasn't oxygenating. His lungs were too damaged from heat to work, and they kept filling with fluid. We had to let him go.
The other two dogs, Shelby and Morgan, were near that leaky door and he was able to get them outside. They did the best of the dogs, with just a day of oxygen and observation.
Tosha, my last kitty, wouldn't come to Rich from under the bed at the far end of the house. Evidently the bed saved him, because after 10 days in oxygen, being intubated (?), and with a little feeding tube into his tummy, he began to respond well.
So we lost 3 of our 6 kitties, and 1 of our 3 dogs.
Today we're in a very nice temporary home, where we'll be for 6 months or so. I can't say enough about Erie Insurance, because they didn't blink at finding us a place that would take all our pets. We're all together. I took Tosha in to the vet today to have his feeding tube removed. Once he started eating orally, we knew it was safe. I was feeding him via the tube when he looked at me, leaned over and starting eating the other cats' food at the same time. What a relief! It was touch and go for that little one.
We're devastated and walking in a daze. Please keep our babies in your prayers. We know the universe will organize itself to let us honor them by adopting more kitties and dogs, but "normal" will never be the same. Hank, Laddy and Pauley won't be vying for space on my lap and General won't be following me around the yard or greeting us at the door.
I can't say enough good things about Highway Vet in Bowie, MD, or Anne Arundel Emergency Clinic in Annapolis. They when above and beyond to help our babies and to make certain we were involved, able to touch, hold and feed them, etc. They're worth every penny of the 18K we had to mortgage to get. A vet and vet tech at AAEC took Shelby and Morgan home with them for 2 days each to help us, and Highway Vet even boarded them free for about a week until we moved out of the hotel and into the temporary house. Again, talk about going above and beyond again!
This fire has shown me the absolute best in human hearts, and sadly, I keep wondering how much lower one person can continue to go to show me the worst -- and she keeps showing me. Nonetheless, I try to find blessings in all of this. We already have someone who has contacted us about a DLH girl named Emmy, who needs a home. She's orange, which means she could be adopted in Hank's honor. I'm not sure we're ready, but are we ever?
In the meanwhile, check your homeowners' insurance. Hug your babies every day and let them sit in your lap until they're ready to get down, because they're with us for such a short time we need to treasure every moment's purr and kiss.
Thank you for listening. I'm sorry to share bad news, but thank you, too, for understanding.
Christine