Sorry not to have updated earlier. I was hoping to be able to report a full recovery when I did so it didn't sound like I was whining. The good news is that she's home. The bad news is that she's not out of the woods yet. We brought her home the other night. She'd chewed out her catheter - twice in the same day - so they decided to give her meds orally. After a few days without the IV, thankfully she could come home but we were told she'd still have pnemonia for 3-4 more weeks. Oddly though, we were only given ten days of one antibiotic and 14 days of the other with no scheduled follow-up visit. I'm very grateful for the wonderful care she received and even more thankful that our baby is home again. There were days when it didn't sound exceedingly hopeful so we're positively thrilled that she's improved enough to eat, drink and take oral meds, while laying around the house and shedding on all our favorite things again.
When I expressed concern about bringing her home b/c of exposing the puppy (and even any neighborhood dogs who might wander into the yard) they said that she likely wasn't contagious anymore. Yet they still treated her like she had a deadly plague and made us leave via the cat exit.
I sent the puppy to DB's for a few more days just to be sure. Another vet in the practice, who is the one that told me she wasn't contagious, also pointed out that the puppy was already exposed in the beginning so it wouldn't hurt to bring her home and leave them together. I'd prefer to err on the side of caution though so I called DB. It distracted me from that pressing urge to tell her that, if they'd only told me she was sick in the beginning, the puppy never would have been exposed at all.
Anyway, our big dog is breathing easier, still coughing, but probably not as much. When she does, we all notice now and hold our breath for a second as though she's going to drop over or something. In fact, I'm not sure there's anything she's done, including breath, that we haven't noticed this week. I suspect we'll have one very spoiled furball on our hands eventually but that's okay. It just feels so good to have her home, even though she's not fully recovered just yet. I keep reassuring myself that if they'd expected a relapse they wouldn't have discharged her so of course she'll be fine in another week or two.
I've called a another vet we used in our old neighborhood and made an appt to take her down there for a follow-up next Monday. Hopefully, by then though she'll be much improved. She sleeps a lot but is showing interest in things, and has barked a little at noises outside. Not like her usual old self but encouraging for us. She'll only eat canned venison now, not her dry food and not any other canned food we've tried, so we've really come to appreciate how economical her past dry food preferences were.
The vet handling her case said there wouldn't be a bill. There was. I haven't paid it yet. They only told us she'd be coming home that afternoon and DD had to work so I picked her up by myself at the end of the night. When they gave me the printout, they'd written off some of her care but we were still charged for meds, tests, and various other expenses. Since i wasn't expecting it, I didn't have DD19's checkbook with me so I was told we could send it in later this month. She's sitting next to my desk now. I'll have to take a pic and upload it so you all can see our beautiful furry trouble-child.
She also has 3 younger sisters so I'm hoping one of them will be willing to dog sit for us after Ash is done with school. 
).
