Louie has a death wish....

It was time for Louie to get neutered.  We didn't feed hi after midnight.  We headed to the vet and he was super excited to be going on a ride!  We arrived at the vet's and wished Louie good luck!  They said his surgury would start around 11am.  They would call when he was all done.

I used to work for a vet, so I know how long a neuter generally takes.  I didn't expect to hear from anyone until at least noon.  The phone rang at 11:10, I saw it was the vet....  I answered the phone "What's wrong?".  Dr. Dawn, our amazing vet said, "Laurie, Louie just stopped breathing on the table, we are trying to get him back.  I knew you'd want to know.".  That was it...  I hung up the phone and began to sob.  Louie had already won our hearts in the short time we had known him.  I had to explain, in kid terms, to my daughter (then 2) why I was crying.  I had to call my husband.  Joe got very choked up when I told him.  We all sat around and waited, not so patiently, for the next phone call.
About an hour later, the phone rang.  I was preparing myself for the worst....  Dr. Dawn said, "Laurie, we got him back!  But he is not neutered..."  I was so pleased!  What a huge relief.  This was when we learned of all the potential bulldog issues...

We went to pick the little stinker up and Dr. Dawn told us we should go see a specialist - a cardiologist!!!  Really, we have a dog that needs a cardiology consult????  It was believed that Louie had spontaneous, pulmonary hypertension, which caused him to die on the surgery table....  Off we go to one, of only two dog cardiologists in Colorado!!