The Dresden Files - 12/9 Ember is now at peace

I couldn't help myself with the title of this thread. It makes me smile! The Dresden Files are some of my favorite fantasy books about a magician/warlock detective in Chicago. I love them and the name, so my new beardie baby is now Dresden. He will soon have a brother whom I am adopting this weekend from a family not far from me. They are moving out of state and want him to have a good home. They tried to sell him on CL but had no takers, or if they did they didn't like who was inquiring because they want him to have a good home. They are giving me him, plus his whole 55 gallon tank and stand for super cheap.
Dresden was 10 inches and 47 grams as of 8/3/2011 and was hatched the week of May 9th, 2011 which makes him 13 weeks old.

Here is Dresden as of this morning

This is the soon-to-be-brother. I need to find him a name. How can you name a beardie before you meet him or her?

--Maggie

 

[MissT]

ANd I told you back then it would be no time until your house was full of beardies LOL! I think Doyle was such a blessing to you, even though you only had a few days with him! You have learned more in the last 4 months than most of us have in 3 years! LOL!

 

[McSkweeky]

I've only learned because I ended up with a beardie with problems that I have to fix LOL Plus it helps I've made amazing friends!

 

[HaleyMaree]

I am sorry Ember is not doing so hot. : (

~Haley

 

[Mirthy]

the pics of Dres and Nezzie side by side are amazing! Those two with their yellow beards! Norris only does black with his!?!
Poor little Ember. For awhile I had to give injections to snakes and it was the worst! I really feel for you. I wish I was closer to come over and help cuz having to handle even a little tiny thing like missy Ember can be tricky, eh? HUGS

 

[MissT]

I think it would be even trickier than injecting an adult. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it is to get the right place! I hit a vein with Kazi a couple times he always let me know and flicked his arm to get the needle out. But at least he was big with plenty of muscle. Poor Embers little legs are only tiny- I'm looking at Travis now an wondering how on earth I could inject him and it seems I
possible!!!

 

[breezybri]

Hows Ember doing??? I hope she is feeling better! Thaddeus thanks you for the tank cover and hopefully you will get to meet him soon... maybe when he isn't so grumpy

 

[Mirthy]

Best wishes, Maggie. Hope all is going well over there.

 

[athenacp]

Been thinking of you...hope Ember is ok!

 

[McSkweeky]

I'm so sorry I haven't updated this lately. It's been super busy at home, school, and work so getting online has not been a priority at all.

Ember is doing OK - she is on doxycycline now and seems to be improving. The swelling isn't proving as of yet, but she is feistier and moving a bit better which is good. Her colors have brightened up a lot too. She's not nearly as dark as she was before. Her tail has started to die off though - she's now got about 2 inches that are shriveled up The vet thought maybe it was a clot that caused blood supply to get interrupted or it may just be the infection taking it's toll on her body. I email the vet with photos regularly and she calls and we talk about once a week just to keep tabs on Ember. I love my vet. She is amazing - often calling at 7 or 8 pm long after the office has closed just to give me 10 minutes of her time.

Dresden and Nezzie are doing well. Nezzie is up to 450 grams give or take. I'm trying to give her less feeders and more salad. She's grumpy! Dresden has been uninterested in food more or less. He eats a handful of butters a day and that seems to be about it. Goofy boy.

I'll post some pics later today when my computer isn't acting like a *****.

EDIT: Apparently you can't post m-o-r-o-n. So my computer is acting really really slow and won't load pages and it's frustrating. So there.

 

[Mirthy]

Life is always the priority. It sounds like you have an amazing vet! Fantastic!
Thanks for the update, Maggie. I'm sure Nezzie will eventually learn to like her veggies and Dresden just needs to push past everything. Ember sounds like a little trooper. Shame about her tail but she is just going to have that much more character...showing on the outside how tough she is on the inside!! She sure is one little fighter.

I took Norris to the vet this week. Vet said he was one of the healthiest looking dragons he's ever seen...but Norris is still having diarrhea...just dropped off another fecal today and should have results back tomorrow. Other than that, he's still eating and alert and active. Thought I'd give you a mini update.

Hang in there! Hope things slow down for you soon. Take care and happy holidays.
Carrie

 

[McSkweeky]

It's been exactly a month since I found out Ember has septic arthritis. I made a very difficult decision and let her go to beardie heaven this morning. She fought so hard, but it was time. Her tail was necrotic, and she was beginning to lose the function in her back legs. She was miserable. I am happier knowing she's better now, and no longer suffering.

It has been a very hard day. I cuddled with Ember last night while she slept. She wanted no dinner or breakfast and was miserable. I know she knew it was time. My vet was amazing, spending half an hour with me and Ember discussing why I knew it was the right time and he agreed with me. It was sad, but it was as good an experience as a euthanasia can be. He offered to do a necropsy on her to find out exactly what was wrong and I agreed to let him. If nothing else hopefully he will learn for next time so another beardie won't have to go through what Ember did.

The hospital had been having a fundraiser for another beardie, Norbert, who had a similar condition to Ember but it was localized to her (yes, she's a girl) right arm so they did a whole arm amputation for her yesterday. I donated to it of course and asked how Norbert was this morning while spending the last few minutes with Ember. Dr Maas actually let me meet her and showed me xrays. I was so happy for Norbert. She has an MBD underbite and cute little squished snout and a very pretty yellow like Nezzie.

I had cut my finger making beardie/turtle salad last night, and then once I got to work this afternoon I had to move my car due to very tight parking conditions and too many cars. I was so distracted I didn't even realize I was close to the fence and I completely smashed up the bumper in my car. I lost it. Between issues with work, school, and Ember then throw the car in on top it I was done. Just done. I hadn't really let it all out and I did it in from of my bosses and coworkers. Score 1 for me. It's only a bumper, nothing major.

I'm so glad Ember is in a better place and today is over. Let the healing begin.

 

[beardie parents]

I'm sorry you had to let Ember go. I wish she would have gotten better but it wasn't to be. There was something else wrong that no one could do anything about. It wasn't your fault. I'm glad she's no longer in any discomfort and pain. I know you hurt at her loss.

 

[Beardednoob]

 

[McSkweeky]

Thank you beardie parents and Michael. You're all sweet.

I know I want another dragon at some point. I can't have a nice viv all empty, and certainly will need something to fill up the hole in my heart. I've started emailing David from Carolina Classic Dragons to see if he can help me find another beardie. It'll be a while yet before I'm able to get one, but it's never too early to look

 

[Mirthy]

and looking helps the healing. And you are too wonderful a beardie parent to have an empty viv!