We need to stop the bleeding. "If this was your dog, what would you do?" I asked. The Veterinarian explained with tears filling her eyes; "I'd take him home and spend another day with him." I was filled with questions; I felt like I was reliving Tilley's medical emergency only three years earlier.
"I'll give you something to stop the bleeding; it will give him and you time," she said. Luke had a massive tumor on his liver that had ruptured causing him to fail really quickly. Knowing that we wanted to do a home euthanasia but wanting to do what was right for Luke; I looked to the Vet for solid advice. She told me to take him home and give him whatever he wanted. But this was not a long extension; it was only for a day or two. That allowed us time to give Luke his "last day."
I was given Aminocaproic Acid and Yunnan Baiyao to dose to Luke. The results were amazing and I wanted to share this because it gave us time without causing Luke to suffer further bleeding. It was unbelievable when I gave it to him; he was able to get to his feet and even go out to pee. I could not believe how fast it worked. It also made Luke feel better of course because he was not losing blood at the rate that he had been.
The first, Aminocaproic is a pharmaceutical and the second, Yunnan Baiyao is a Chinese Herb. I don't know if one worked better than the other or if it was the combination; but these pills gave Luke and us the time we needed. The time to make plans, the time to avoid euthanasia at the Vets. We'd had no time with Tilley and had to make the decision right then and there. I already knew that I'd wanted Luke put to rest at home and this allowed us to do just that.
We spent the next day giving Luke his favorites; cold meat smoked turkey and potato chips, that's it. That's all he wanted and that is what he got. I lay beside him for hours and followed him around the yard when he wanted out. It was a wonderful but sad day; a day we could not have had without these two drugs.
The drugs actually worked so well that it gave me a false sense of no more urgency. But it was short lived and I knew what we had to do. I didn't want Luke's last moments with us to be suffering and perhaps an emergency situation. I knew the facts and what had to be done; the drug had just given him and us extra time.
I was going through closets the other day and found these two bottles of pills stashed away. I couldn't look at them when it happened but did know that I wanted to write about them in the future. I'm glad I came across them because hopefully others in this situation will be aware of this wonder drug.