Today was one of those days that goes in completely unexpected direction. I had a 9 am vet appointment for the birds to get their nails trimmed. It was their first trip to their new vet in Boulder.
Things there went as expected. Henri was happy and flirting with all the girls. Grace was very angry and puffed her head up like a hawk-headed parrot looking tough grumbling at anyone who passed. Ferne and Clover just hung together and Gabbie clung to me like a piece of a gum.
Things went well for a while. I was discussing Henri's history with the vet. He's 30 years old and has some heart damage to his left ventricle. Because of this he has fluid on his liver and it means his heart has to work extra hard. As a result, he sometimes has these terrible pass-out episodes. Each one it seems he'll surely die.
Today at the vet, for no reason, he had a series of several of these episodes. The next would start before he'd recovered from the last. He didn't "come out" of them either. More so than ever, it was clear he was dying. We spent the day in the animal hospital with him in ICU in an incubator getting oxygen.
He was very weak, hardly able to stand. It was clear he wouldn't be coming home.
He did come home tonight, but he is still very weak. He did eat some scrambled egg, but other than that, he's not eating much. He's in bed now. He didn't even want to come out and say goodnight.
At least he's not in any pain. Hopefully he makes it through the night and gets better. He's such a good bird.
**Update from the next morning. Henri pulled through. While he's still weak, he's eating and acting more normal. Hopefully he won't have anymore episodes (wishful thinking).
Here is a short video of him feeling better. He may be feeling and looking better, but you can see that I'm still a wreck over the whole thing!
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