Jan 22 2001
It all began on Feb. 15, 2000. My Pinky lay limpless in my arms.. not a breath coming from her tiny
body. Oh God, I thought, I've lost her. Trying desperately to keep my composure, I shook her little
body until I saw her eyes open. What a relief! What seemed like hours was only seconds, but her
lifetime passed before me. I rushed her to the Vet and by this time, she acted like nothing had
happened moments before. She was examined, given a torbugesic injection, and sent home with
Torbutrol and Delta Albaplex tablets. She was diagnosed with having tracheal collapse, a condition
too often occurring in Yorkshire Terriers.

That night, she was having extreme difficulty breathing. At 3 AM I rushed her to the Emergency
hospital where she was immediately placed into pure oxygen and given medications. She was released
after 3 days. Four days later, this emergency was repeated. This time she was hospitalized for 6 days,
and again placed in oxygen. Four days later, she had another emergency, this time for 3 days. Five
days after this, another emergency. I was informed by the doctors at this hospital that there was no
one there to perform surgery for tracheal collapse, and that the only doctor they knew of performing
this surgery was in Texas. How wrong could anyone be? I wasn't about to give up, as I loved her to
much, and there was no way I was going to accept losing her. Needless to say, I walked the floors
with her countless times, especially outdoors because I became aware she could breathe better
outside. It's pretty brisk outside where I live during March, but I didn't care. I was going to do
anything to help her breathe better. One of the vets at the Emergency Hospital remarked, "This is no
way for you to live!". That did it! She just gave me more strength and determination to find a way to
get my "baby" well again.

My search began. This was when I discovered there existed Veterinary Referral Centres, which are
hospitals as well-equipped and staffed as any for the human population. The only way to get an
appointment is from a referral from your veterinarian. I went back to the Emergency Hospital and
asked if they knew of such referral centres, and they did. Now, why didn't anyone offer me this
information while my Pinkie was going thru all this distress? Why did I have to ask?

On 4/6/00, we had a visit with Dr Sweet, a veterinary surgeon , at the Veterinary Referral Centre in
Little Falls, N.J. He examined my little girl and was very concerned for her well-being. He did not
rush the issue of surgery. He preferred to carefully watch her over a period of time while on
medications. At first, the medication was helping, but after 2 months, it was no longer helping. I had
a decision to make. Dr Sweet would perform surgery on her by placing rings around her trachea, or
eventually I would lose her. This, of course, left me no option, even though I knew she could die
during surgery, I had to believe that some hope was better than no hope. On 6/8/00, Pinkie had her
surgery.

She came out of surgery and was doing as well as could be expected. At 10 pm that evening, Dr Sweet
called to inform me that Pinkie was not doing very well and that she needed to have a temporary
tracheostomy performed or she would die. I rushed to the hospital to see her. My poor little Pinkie.

Dr Sweet is a sweet as his name. He allowed me to stay at this hour of the night and was just as
concerned as I was. She survived that night and was hospitalized for 9 days when it was discovered
that she needed to have surgery on her voice box. It had become paralyzed and he needed to try to
save it. Well, she had this surgery as well, but she has lost the use of her voice box and a permanent
tracheostomy needed to be done. That's okay, she's still alive. A couple of days later, she was
released and sent home. She seemed to be recovering slowly, but nicely. Then something was wrong.
Again she wasn't breathing well. I brought her in to Dr Sweet, and 13 days later, Pinkie underwent
another tracheal surgery, this time more rings were needed to be placed around her trachea. Within 4
days, she was home with me again and doing okay.

She was recuperating for about 6 weeks when her distressed breathing began again. I brought her to
see Dr Sweet again. He was beside himself because this should not have been happening. What were
we to do? Pinkie remained in the hospital for almost 2 weeks with a breathing tube down her throat.
At this point, she could not breathe without it. She ran, she played and she appeared normal, that is,
if you didn't look at the breathing tube. This tube could not remain there indefinitely, so I had to
decide if a fifth surgery was to be done. Poor Pinkie! So alive and full of spunk. It wasn't as if she
could not move or was so terribly ill that she couldn't get up. My choice was surgery, or put her
down. How do you put down a dog who is running around with a toy in her mouth? Needless to say,
Dr Sweet needed to perform some kind of magic. What option did he have? I know he lay awake a
couple of nights just thinking of a plan to keep Pinkie alive. He felt if he enlarged the tracheostomy
opening, it would take pressure off the trachea and allow her to breathe. Other qualified surgeons he
conferred with told him he was crazy to perform such a surgery. He was still willing to do it, if I
approved. By now you should know the answer was that I was still willing to do it, and approved. It
upset me greatly to have surgery performed on her again but what choice did I have. Again, some
hope was better than no hope. Four days later, she was home with me, but there was no recuperation
period this time.

She was "brand new" again, just re-born. It was as if she were given a miracle pill. She is as spunky
and bright and alive as she was before all this happened. She has a large opening in her throat which
I must often clean, and I'm happy to do so. Other than that, she is healthy, thanks to Dr Sweet. It
was our lucky day when we met him. The emergency hospital just merely placed a band aid over
Pinkie's condition. They didn't fix it. Dr Sweet DID.

The moral of this story is to never give up hope. If you become discouraged, fight harder. Through
all my tears and grief during this ordeal, I have come out a winner. I still have my Pinkie!

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