Dear List, Well we made our way to the vet today. Stevie has had kind of a rough couple of days. Very staggery and shaky last evening, some vomiting and his spirits seemed to be quite low. Especially today, after a thorough exam, blood work and chest films, they could not come up with a definitive diagnosis. We are going to start to reduce his steroids and he has only two more days to finish up the discontinuance of his Phenobarb. They are questioning as to whether he is perhaps suffering from a sort of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. They want us to increase his out going activity and try to stimulate him more. They think that he would benefit from some other "canine company" as well. He has been rather "sheltered" in that department for sure. So perhaps for some short periods of time at first and we will see how it goes. This just reinforces my decision to eventually get a companion for Stevie, (of course I would love to have another Berner and I definitely think that both Stevie and I have enough love and devotion to share!) but that would be down the road a ways. So my oldest son is going to bring his big girl over (Mika and Stevie are wonderful buddies and always have been ) I hope that this will help bring Stevie out of his funk. I hate to see him this way after coming so far. The original vet that we first saw was there today and was absolutely flabbergasted to see Sweet Stevie looking as good as he is. He said, "I wouldn't have bet two cents on that dogs life that afternoon". He apologized for being so hasty in discussing euthanasia but he felt at the time that it would be the only humane thing to do. Of course he knew about the medical treatment that we sought out, but I told him about the power of the "List" he was genuinely impressed especially when I told him just how many people that I knew of who were pulling for Stevie and the countless others that we didn't know about. He thoroughly and completely pleased that I went against his suggestion, he gave us a big hug and admitted that he was only human and like the rest of us he makes mistakes and misjudgments. I felt better after our conversation as I had indeed felt some animosity at the time for sure. So if anyone has any further suggestions for my beloved boy I would welcome them greatly. Thanks again in advance. Big Berner Hugs and gentle Kisses Karen and Stevie xoxo
