The Secret Life of a Sugar Baby (A tale of a newly diabetic dog named Nala and her trusty sidekick Simba).

*Pre-Diagnosis April/May 2020*

Hey it’s me, Nala! I’m from the little Island of Oahu, Hawaii. I must say that I’ve had a pretty sweet life so far! Simba, my great friend and I are very lucky to have two awesome parents who love us and will take care of us no matter what!  I’m a 7 year old Chi-weenie (Chihuahua and Dachshund mix), full of spunk and full of sass! You can call me the queen if you’d like! 

2020 has been a really rough year for me in general. I think my Mom quit her job just for us?! She’s been home every day taking care of us and we’re really happy about that!  Have any of your humans done that during this time? Aren’t we so lucky? Whatever this pandemic thing is, from that perspective I am loving it!  

When the Corona Virus came to our little island, I became a little sick. Mom didn’t know why I kept throwing-up and the Doctor said it was just a mild case of gastroenteritis. Mom was relieved, but I wasn’t fully recovering as I should have been if it was simply a mild stomach ache. I would have a few tummy episodes every now and then, but would recover a few days later. 

About a month went by and my eyes started twitching a lot. Mom thought it was so strange that I was always squinting at her. She hoped it was a wink, but deep down inside she worried about me a lot! I was also getting massive eye boogies! She was so amazed with how big they were and how sometimes they were so crusty! It was definitely hard to clean my eyes! They stuck to me like glue sometimes and I saw her get so frustrated! 

Then one day, my leg started to hurt and I was limping on my front right paw. The weird part was 6-hours later, it was fine and then my back left foot was sore and I was limping again! Mom was so baffled as to how this could possibly happen from one leg to another, so she made me a vet appointment for the next day just in case I was limping the next morning….. and I was!!

But I got her good! When I saw the Dog Doctor I was perfectly fine and walking well. The Dog Doctor probably thought Mom was crazy especially explaining that it somehow transferred legs like I was playing a game on her! But Mom got even with me and said she’d take all the meds that I need, and she made me drink them all every night! *cries*  Mommy’s friends seemed to think that I was doing this for attention.  So Mom even had a re-check scheduled for me the following week! What have I done?! 

Mom also noticed that I started to drink a lot more water and have a lot more “accidents”. It was unusual for me to do so and she didn’t know why. I didn't know why I was always so thirsty either?! This is something my brother Simba has always done! I really felt ashamed every time and I didn’t know why it kept happening and also why my stomach was always sensitive. 

One week passed and it was Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day to the best Mom I know! It was also re-check day! The Dog Doctor didn’t have great news for Mom! I had lost some weight since our last visit and he thought it was pretty weird how I’d been sick for a month and not gaining back any weight. He told Mom that he needed to do blood work on me again and do an ultrasound to see whether there was anything going on inside of me.

The Dog Doctor called a scary lady in to do a last minute ultrasound on me and Mom had to leave me there for a few hours!  Upon her return, Mom got the very bad news! I had lumps inside of me! I had two masses in my liver and one knotted in my intestine!! To make things worse - I now have pancreatitis! Mom was shocked! Mom doesn’t feed me anything out of the ordinary (no fatty foods, bacon, or table food), so my pancreatitis was a mystery along with my lumps! How did three more grow inside of me when I just had one removed six-months prior?? 

Mom was devastated that I had to go back into surgery. She couldnt understand why these things were always forming in my body! Dog Doctor was nice enough to let me go home to spend time with Mom for Mother’s Day, so long as she brought me back in the morning to prep for surgery.  Mom had specific instructions and although I was not happy to take liquid medicine that night, I was sure happy I was able to spend some time and snuggle with Mom! Little did she know that I would be at the hospital for days! 

The next morning came and Mom took me with her. I was very brave during my car ride, not knowing what would happen next. I sensed Mommy was sad about something, but I couldn’t put my paws on what it may be, or what lied ahead for me when I got to the hospital. But “Don’t worry mom”, I thought. “I’ll be strong for you like I always have been, as long as you will be there for me when I need you”. 

Until next time! 

Nala xx