worst.night.ever.

My beautiful, sweet, adoring, baby girl gave me the worst scare ever.

After having a leisure filled day of shopping and movie watching we came back home to find a few m&m's on the floor.

Weird.

I had a bag full of them on the counter since I was planning on using them for something I was baking...

Then I see the worst thing ever. 14oz of baking chocolate in a bag. All I found was the bag. No chocolate anywhere. I look around closer and I start seeing piles of puke everywhere. Frantic Mr. Bumblebee and I are looking at Tucker. He is the smaller of the two, and would be a lot worse if he got any chocolate than Tess. He seems fine. I run upstairs to check the lethal dosage of chocolate for a dog. Mr. Bumblebee calls upstairs to me that it's Tess and she's not doing well at all. She was drinking water but throwing it up as soon as it hit her stomach. She was full, she felt pregnant. Not good.

I jump into action mode and without a second going by I pull out my blackberry and call the E-Vet. Tell them I'm bringing her in and how much she ate. I get directions within moments and we are out the door.

I figured that Tucker must have not gotten any, since I'm sure Tess wouldn't let him eat any of it. She's just a piggy like that.

We grab her and run out the door. Fly into the car and scream down the street. The whole time she is throwing up all over me. I don't even care. I call my mom to tell her what is going on. She used to work in a Vet office and she lets me know that it's good that she is throwing it all up.

We get into the office and they are waiting for her, they rush her to the back and then I'm left to fill in details. I had them the wrapper and they ask to induce more vomiting. Go for it!

I tell Mr. Bumblebee to go back and grab Tuck in case he's gotten any. He leaves me alone at the office to grab my other baby.

I ask when I will talk to a doctor and she tells me

"As soon as they have her stabilized, they will come talk to you, but right now they still need to work on her."
Stabilize?

Really, it's this bad? I knew it was bad, I know what can happen but it was so surreal. Was this happening?

Surprisingly I hold it together. Mr. Bumblebee and Tucker show up. Tuck is just fine acting like a paranoid freak as he HATES the vet.

Finally a doctor comes in. She tells us Tess has had 2x the lethal dosage for a dog her size. The doctor says they've gotten her to throw up a lot so that is a good sign but that we aren't out of the woods. She could still slip into a coma, have a seizure or worse die.

Her heart rate is at 150bpm which is extremely high.

Mine is, at this point, right up there with her.

After waiting some more they say they are going to keep her overnight and do blood work to monitor her organs. They are also going to administer the charcoal and will know more tomorrow.

Send me home. Few tears were shed but again, not nearly as many as I thought I would.

I call my mom and give her an update and come spend time with Tucker.

I go into a cleaning frenzy and figure out how to keep her from ever getting onto the kitchen counter again. We have wonder dog on our hands and this is going to be no easy task.

I call again at midnight and they say she is resting and I can come again in the morning at 7am to see if we transfer her to another vet or she can come home.

We wake up and throw on clothes to get over there.

She's doing well! Took charcoal like a champ. Ready to go home but needs to be watched 24/7 for any signs of organ failure or coma. Feed her bland diet and keep in contact with regular vet.

Whew.

NOT!

Never did the doctor mention "Oh, P.S. she'll have running charcoal/tar poop pouring out of her uncontrollably for the next few hours so keep her off carpet."

Good Heavens almighty! What a joyous surprise that was.

So, after a full day of cleaning carpets and watching my baby like a hawk, she is acting a lot more like herself. The doctor said that she can experience the effects of a chocolate OD for up to four days after the incident.

Through this whole ordeal I was surprised with how Mr. Bumblebee stepped up to the plate. I knew just walking into the door of an E-Vet was going to be pricey but when talking to the vet about estimates and such, I began to get nervous. Right when I was going to say "How much?" Mr. Bumblebee stepped in and said "Whatever it costs, doesn't matter."

We have two dogs and live in an apartment. You may not understand it but we are a family, and I love it.