Chapter 3 [The Past] Mad Dog Hotel
Lu Qi went to the supermarket and bought a bath towel.
After completing the hospital admission procedures, the doctor asked her to bring Lulu's blankets and food from home, saying that the familiar scents would reassure the puppy.
But there was nothing in her house that Lulu was familiar with.
Lu Qi returned to the hospital carrying the newly bought towel.
She looked at the puppy in the cage, a tiny bundle with an IV in its front paw to prevent it from biting off the needle, and a plastic cap around its neck.
It lay listlessly on the pee pad, but when it saw Lu Qi, it immediately stood up and barked urgently at her.
Both front paws, whether they had needles in them or not, were anxiously scratching at the metal door. The puppy's soft nose and mouth were also desperately trying to squeeze out, managing to peek out a little from between the bars.
It seemed to be in good spirits, which put Lu Qi at ease.
The doctor took the things she brought and said, "Visiting hours are at noon and in the afternoon, so you can come and spend more time with it. We will also send you videos and photos of it in the group every day."
Lu Qi nodded. "Thank you."
The doctor repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of parvovirus, but since there were many successful cases of treatment and Lulu seemed quite lively, she was still willing to think positively.
Lu Qi touched the puppy's nose that was sticking out through the cage.
"Be a good boy and listen to the doctor. I'll come see you again tonight."
She brought the ball she bought yesterday with her, so Lulu can look at it and play with it if she's bored.
"That's all for now. We'll let you know if anything happens," the doctor said.
Lu Qi hummed in agreement and walked towards the door. As she stepped out of the ward, she heard the puppy's anxious whimpering.
It called out to her again and again. Lu Qi turned around and saw it frantically pawing at the iron gate with its soft front paws, standing on its hind legs, its dark, round eyes eagerly following Lu Qi's disappearing figure.
"Waaaaah—"
Those eyes seemed to be asking Lu Qi: Where is this? Where is she going? She forgot to bring it!
A slight ache appeared on Lu Qi's nose, and she turned her head away.
She's not a doctor, so there's no point in keeping her here.
She paid two thousand yuan for hospitalization at the front desk. The doctor hesitated to speak, but she couldn't understand his well-intentioned reminder.
The time for visiting patients conflicted with evening self-study, so Lu Qi asked for leave again.
The school teachers knew she had a mental illness and were always quick to grant her leave.
As night deepened, she hurriedly went to the hospital with her schoolbag on her back after finishing her afternoon classes.
The puppy, who was lying down sleeping, noticed the noise, opened its eyes, saw Lu Qi, and immediately jumped up, wagging its tail happily and expectantly at her.
It thought she had come to take it home.
Lu Qi smiled slightly, and the assistant nurse helped her open the cage. Lulu rushed into her arms.
It was still a soft and warm lump.
"You still haven't eaten anything today." The assistant's tone wasn't very friendly.
Lu Qi hugged the puppy and followed his assistant's gaze to the two metal trays in the cage, one containing dog food and the other containing water.
"Are you still throwing up?" she asked.
"I got an anti-nausea injection, so I stopped vomiting."
This sounds like a good sign.
Lu Qi stayed there for half an hour before putting Lulu back in the cage.
It left her body, was locked in a cage, stared blankly at her, and called for her to come back again and again until Lu Qi was completely out of sight.
Lu Qi returned to her rented room, wrote two pages of math, and her phone vibrated a few times.
In the group chat created by the pet hospital, an assistant doctor sent a video.
There was a small dark red patch on the diaper pad.
The assistant informed Lu Qi that she still hadn't eaten and had diarrhea with bloody stools that evening.
Lu Qi was stunned for a moment, and his brain suddenly felt dizzy as he stared at the magnified black and red.
She put down her phone, picked up her pen and tapped the unfinished formula, paused for a long time, then suddenly let go of the pen and went to get the sertraline on the table.
After opening the medicine box, she remembered something and hurriedly grabbed her phone, typing a message in the group chat:
"Thank you for your help, doctor."
After typing that line, Lu Qi held her phone and began searching for information about canine parvovirus on websites and forums.
The next morning, a document was sent to the group chat.
The attending physician, Dr. Qi, replied below: This is Lulu's blood test report for today.
The white blood cell count has increased somewhat.
Still refuses to eat.
Now that it's willing to eat, it's out of danger.
Lu Qi opened the document, and various technical terms and abbreviations came into view.
She couldn't understand it, but according to the doctor, she seemed to be getting better. That was good news.
Students are not allowed to leave the school during lunch break. Lu Qi asked her homeroom teacher for a leave slip. When the homeroom teacher asked her about it, she was silent for a moment and said that the psychologist told her to talk to her more often recently.
The homeroom teacher, unsuspecting, gave her three days' worth of notes.
She took a taxi to the hospital and bought a bag of Gulu sauce from the hospital's pet supplies shelf.
The doctor said that as long as Lulu is willing to eat, her illness will be considered cured. Snacks often contain many palatability enhancers, which might help stimulate Lulu's appetite.
The assistant doctor helped her open the iron cage.
Lulu lingered inside impatiently.
It had only spent three days with Lu Qi, and it didn't know why it trusted her so much.
Inside the cage, a heating pad was added under the blue and white pee pad. The assistant explained to Lu Qi, "It is very weak, and we need to maintain its core body temperature now."
Lu Qi hugged Lulu, who was rushing towards her, and noticed that it had switched to the paw with the IV catheter inserted.
The assistant said, "That paw was swollen, and we couldn't insert the needle, so we switched to another one."
"Then you stay here with it for a while, and call me if you need anything."
She closed the door, and Lu Qi placed Lulu on her lap.
Lulu lowered her head and nuzzled her hand, her little tail twirling and swishing nimbly.
She unscrewed the packet of gulu sauce, carefully avoiding the IV tubing, and coaxed softly, "Lulu, Lulu, can you eat a little? It's very delicious, isn't it?"
Lulu sniffed it but didn't open her mouth.
It flicked its tail for a while, then lay down, nestled on Lu Qi's lap, and dozed off.
Lu Qi gently touched its head and continued to coax it, "Eat a little, just a tiny bit, okay? You haven't eaten for almost four days, Lulu..."
Lulu drooped her head wearily, her neck limp, her tender little head almost melting into Lu Qi's palm, showing no appetite for the snacks at her lips.
Lu Qi picked it up and suddenly noticed water stains on its school pants.
She thought Lulu had urinated, and when she wiped with a tissue, the texture of the tissue looked like congealed menstrual blood.
The bright red color suddenly struck Lu Qi's eyes, making her dizzy and her ears ring, with a thick smell of blood filling her mouth and nose.
Lu Qi hurriedly put Lulu back in the cage and opened the door to call the doctor.
The attending physician arrived with his assistant.
He adjusted the IV drip rate, had his assistant check his temperature, and took a moment to explain to Lu Qi, "Intestinal mucosa."
Lu Qi stood behind so as not to obstruct the treatment, "Intestinal mucosa?"
“Yes,” the doctor explained in an easy-to-understand way, “parvovirus can gnaw at a dog’s intestines. What it’s been passing in the last couple of days is blood and mucus that has been gnawed out.”
Lu Qi shuddered.
She looked past the busy vet and saw the puppy curled up on the pee pad.
“It…” Lu Qi opened her mouth, “It’s shivering, is it cold?”
"It's cold, and it hurts."
He changed Lulu's headgear, and when he took off the plastic headgear, it scratched the small gold nameplate on its chest.
The doctor removed the collar and handed it to Lu Qi, saying, "Keep this for now, otherwise it'll be uncomfortable to wear two around your neck."
Lu Qi remained silent, clutching the collar engraved with Lulu's name and phone number in her hand.
That evening, she received a video from the hospital at home.
The assistant doctor stroked Lulu's head. Her eyes were closed, and she was motionless, as if she were in a deep sleep, with only her abdomen rising and falling slightly and rapidly.
The next morning, another blood test report arrived, even earlier than the previous day.
The doctor didn't offer any explanation. He asked Lu Qi, "Would it be convenient for you to come over and talk today?"
Lu Qi rushed over, and the doctor took her to the examination room.
"That's right, we performed an emergency rescue last night," he said, then immediately added after seeing Lu Qi's pale face, "She was saved."
Lu Qi breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor continued, "However, the blood test results this morning were not ideal. Since your prepaid hospital fees have almost been deducted, we've called you here to discuss the follow-up plan."
“I will treat him,” Lu Qi said.
The doctor hesitated, "Why don't you go take a look at it first, and then make a decision?"
Lu Qi stood up.
She didn't go to the inpatient area, but went straight to the front desk and paid two thousand.
Two thousand, four thousand, six thousand, eight thousand...
Lulu's condition was getting worse and worse. She hadn't eaten at all, and the slightly chubby puppy was gradually showing her ribs.
When Lu Qi held it, it felt like she was holding a handful of bones; every segment of its spine was visible and palpable.
Its milky smell disappeared, replaced by the smell of dirty blood and a hospital.
But it's not getting worse every day.
Lu Qi's blood test reports would occasionally improve by one or two points, and each change of two decimal places gave her a glimmer of hope.
The seven-day recovery period for the small case has ended.
Lulu still hasn't eaten, but she hasn't died either.
It didn't die. It's not like the doctor said, that it would only last seven days, and if it could be cured, it would be fine, and if it couldn't, it would die.
It is still alive. When it sees Lu Qi, it will use its swollen forelimbs to support its emaciated body and wag its tail at Lu Qi.
It looked at her with such expectation and trust, and no matter how many times Lu Qi threw it into the cage, it would always greet her with enthusiasm and joy the next time they met.
Every night, Lu Qi scrolled through various discussion threads:
The dog passed away on the sixth day after contracting parvovirus.
Five signs that a dog with parvovirus is recovering.
Seeking expert advice: Is treatment necessary for this dog in this condition?
Day 10 of Recovery: The doctor advised me to give up, but thankfully I persevered.
Her search results are filled with various historical records:
"Canine parvovirus sequelae", "Cure rate of parvovirus in a one-month-old Golden Retriever", "Professional canine parvovirus hospital"...
In the rented room during the night shift, the glow of a cell phone stayed on all night.
There were two empty boxes of medicine in the trash can, with the words "sertraline" and "citalopram" faintly visible on the exposed parts.
Day 5 of treatment, day 8 of parvovirus infection.
When Lu Qi put Lulu back in her cage, she noticed that Lulu was walking unsteadily and couldn't stand up straight, and her tail wasn't wagging as happily as before.
The doctor paused for a moment, then said, "...Anemia. This tiny puppy, with its daily blood tests, is anemic."
"Then, then we don't need to get blood tested every day," Lu Qi said. "Just check every two or three days."
The doctor nodded. "Okay."
Lulu's two front paws had their fur shaved off, and IV needles were inserted into them alternately.
The hair on its rear end was also shaved.
The rectal bleeding was persistent, and the mixture of mucus and blood stuck to the buttocks. To keep it clean, the assistant doctor shaved off the hair that was tangled with blood. Without the hair to cover it, it looked frighteningly thin.
No blood test report is needed; Lulu's condition is clear at a glance.
Its hind legs trembled more and more violently, and its tail wagged less and less.
The assistant doctor placed a diaper pad on Lu Qi's legs.
She had to wear a diaper pad to hold Lulu; otherwise, her clothes would be stained with warm blood and flesh during just half an hour of visiting time.
Seven days of treatment, ten days of diagnosis.
Lulu saw her but didn't wag her tail.
It still struggled to prop itself up to greet her arrival, but its tail hung limply between its legs and remained motionless.
Lu Qi's hands trembled uncontrollably. As she prepared to leave, it was as if she were putting a handful of lukewarm bones into a cage.
Lulu didn't call her.
It lay in the cage, quietly watching her go.
Lu Qi walked downstairs blankly, pushed open the door to the consultation room, and asked, "Doctor, are there any other options?"
The doctor remained silent.
The girl spoke softly, her voice floating in the air like dust, but the look in her eyes weighed heavily on the doctor's heart.
She was begging him, begging him to give her some more hope.
"We could try a blood transfusion," the doctor said, adjusting his glasses. "We'll put blood from a healthy dog into Lulu's body. The newly injected blood will contain mature immune cells, which might help her fight the virus."
Those bloodshot eyes suddenly brightened, like a drop of clear water being poured into sand.
Lu Qi nodded hurriedly, "Okay, okay."
She became anxious again, "But I don't know where I can find dogs willing to donate blood."
“We can help you find it,” the doctor said. “You can go back now. I’ll let you know when we find it.”
"Okay, okay, thank you doctor, thank you so much."
At 11 p.m., Lu Qi received a video from the hospital.
The doctor first used several abandoned dogs adopted by the hospital for tissue typing, and two of them were a match for Lulu.
In the video, he held up a blood bag in one hand and comforted Lulu with the other.
A thin transfusion tube was inserted from the blood bag in his hand into Lulu's body.
The next day, Lulu's various indicators showed rapid improvement.
Lulu wasn't the only one infused with fresh blood; a warm current of vitality also entered Lu Qi's heart.
She was extremely grateful that she hadn't given up.
A miracle is about to happen—
However, this was a miracle that seemed like a bubble.
The improvement brought about by blood transfusion is illusory and short-lived.
Within a day, the entire bag of healthy blood was wiped out, and the newly arrived immune cells were completely devoured by the ferocious virus.
“Actually, it’s also suffering if it keeps enduring this.” The doctor said for the umpteenth time, “I understand you. This is your first time owning a dog, and you must have a lot of expectations. It’s hard to accept that you’re facing something like this right away.”
"But you have to consider that even if Lulu is cured, she will have very serious aftereffects, which will be a lifelong pain for her."
Lu Qi knew.
She knew, she knew that was about enough. It stayed here every day, with six or seven small needles a day, an indwelling needle for 24 hours.
Dogs are very good at enduring pain, but when those tiny needles went in, she could hear Lulu screaming even through the door.
The treatment alone is so painful, and its intestines are still being gnawed away by the virus.
How much intestinal mucosa has leaked out? Does this one-month-old puppy still have a section of healthy intestine left?
That's enough, Lu Qi has thought enough.
But when she went to say goodbye to Lulu, and Lulu, wearing a hood and supporting her jagged body with needles in her front paws, looked at her with longing, Luqi could only say, "Doctor... is there any other way?"
It's so small, it hasn't seen the world yet.
The doctor shook his head. "We've tried everything we could."
"Could you please give me another blood transfusion?" Lu Qi pleaded.
“Yes,” the doctor agreed, “but whether it will ultimately be effective is hard to say.”
He sighed, "There are effective drugs abroad. Last year, one of my colleagues even brought back two vials, but now they're banned and we can't bring them in anymore."
"A miracle drug?" Lu Qi suddenly looked up. "How much does it cost to get it?"
"This isn't about money; it's about the regulations our customs have."
Upon hearing the words "miracle drug," Lu Qi regained some of his composure.
"Could you send me a picture?" she said. "I'll ask my family when I get home."
The doctor was powerless to persuade her; he knew how stubborn the girl was.
He sent the picture to Lu Qi and agreed to a second blood transfusion.
Lu Qi stood in front of the cage and touched Lulu's head with his fingertips.
It couldn't stand up, so it struggled to turn its head and licked her with its pale tongue.
A note from the author:
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