Morning update:
This morning Sweetpea is keeping very much to herself... still feeling poorly! Poor girl! But she is eating small amounts every two hours... about a teaspoon to tablespoon at a time of boiled lean mince and rice. She seems to prefer the mince and rice to the boiled chicken and rice.

I fed her during the night and took her outside for water and a toilet break.  She did a lovely big firm poop first thing this morning and a good sized piddle, so I believe she's truly on the mend now that she's home. She's lost lots of weight and is very weak still...

Oh how we love her! 

So many people have called, WhatsApp'ed, Facebook messages, emailed, donated, etc. it's all just a blur now and I seriously can't keep up with my thoughts, or my housework, or my garden and office work which have all fallen behind.

Especially yesterday with bringing Sweetpea home; it was very scary knowing the Vet took her off of her Intravenous fluids to let her come home because he felt it would help her with her possible fears, anxiety, and depression... She wasn't eating much there and maybe not at all.
​
Thankfully after a few hours home she started eating very small amounts, much to our delight and relief! She always looks very sick after she's eaten, and then she goes into seclusion to be alone which is so unlike her... but after a while, she relaxes and goes to sleep and there's been no vomiting thankfully. We're continuing to encourage her to eat and drink two hourly...

Caring, Loving people have also been praying for her from all over the world.

Thank you for your prayers and love. We are so grateful to everyone who has contributed in one way or another which has been such a blessing to us all and especially helped me to stay strong for Sweetpea, my son and our other little dog, Trixie.

Today, Sweetpea has found a darkish corner in my room to be by herself, so I put her bed there. Around midday, I went to check on her and this is what I found...

(photo above)
Andrew sitting on the carpet quietly with her, so that she knows she is loved and not alone in her suffering. How special is that photo... 🥰


Afternoon Update:
This afternoon, my daughter came especially to visit Sweetpea.  Sweetpea was still in her healing corner when my daughter came in.  Usually she's wild with excitement when my daughter visits, but she's not feeling well, so she stayed where she was, so my daughter visited her in her healing corner and they sat together by themselves for at least half an hour. They looked so sweet together, I had to take a photo... another beautiful one that I will always cherish, because all my dogs have adored my daughter, so I knew that Sweetpea would feel a whole lot happier because she visited her.

It was amazing to see how much Sweetpea perked up once my daughter had visited.  
This afternoon, Sweetpea ate a good tablespoon of her mince and rice and even took a real stroll around the yard afterwards for the first time since she arrived home from the animal hospital.  

We are still offering small amounts of food to her every two hours and she's drinking water on her own, but if she does not get up around the time we feed her, we carry her out to her water dish to make sure she's having some fluids regularly and moving around a bit.  We let her find her own way back to her bed, or wherever she wants to be and feels most comfortable.  

I am so grateful to the Vet and his staff, and everyone who has helped Sweetpea to get batter.  I'm so grateful for all the Gifts of Love that have been given and shared in one way or another. I am grateful for the people who genuinely love and care for animals... and those who seem to really understand and care for us and how we have been feeling also... and I'm grateful for my children who have always had such loving hearts towards our pets and most of all, I am so grateful to Heaven, and that we have our little Sweetpea home again and that she's alive and recovering well... I am so-so-so very grateful! 

~ Panayiota

07h30:  I received a call from the Vet... Sweetpea can come home!  
 
She's still not well and not eating enough (maybe not at all yet)... but he said she needed to be home and maybe being home she wouldn’t be so anxious or depressed and that would help her to get better more quickly.  So, we picked her up around 9am
 
Lord help her still please
 
After we arrived home:
Sweetpea is looking much happier to be home, and stronger... walking around weakly still, but even jumped on the chair and snuggle next to me. She was shivering under a towel cos they bathed her for her homecoming and she was still a little wet.
 
She's going to be alright. I will know for sure though when I see her eating.
 
We boiled chicken for her yesterday... now we have to boil more, because the Vet says no herbs and spices  Yesterday I added mixed herbs thinking that would be good for her!  Well, I guess the rest of us will enjoy that with lemon juice
 
Trixie is so happy to have her sister back. She’s being very respectful and quiet. She knows Sweetpea is not well
 
We are extremely grateful to have Sweetpea home. Thank you. will never be enough.
 
Total remaining hospital stay bill was:
R3305 I thought it would be a lot more. Although, R250 was already taken off of the full bill due to a dear friend donating straight into the vet's account.
 
I paid from all the kind donations received: R2200.
 
The remaining amount still to be paid is R1105.
 
If anyone could help us to pay off the remaining R1105, that would be wonderful.  Thank you.
 
We will continue to try to fund raise for when Sweetpea is all better.  We could need:
 
Spaying for Sweetpea: R1850
 
Chipping x 2 dogs: R375 each dog
 
Vaccinations x 2 dogs: R485 each dog
 
Sweetpea is still not eating  but the vet feels she has more chance here at this stage... she started her life out abused and who knows what she went through when she was a puppy, so it seems she was very nervous without us while at the hospital.  I’m so glad she’s home now.
 
She's still very ill and weak and has lost quite a bit of weight, but walking and drinking, but mostly sitting or lying by herself in hideaway places, like under the couch on the hard floor in the lounge.  We wondered “Why?” because it’s very unlike her.  She's usually all over us trying to get into our skin. We're giving her, her space. She's very nauseous he said, so we just have to give her time for her gut to repair itself while we do all he suggested to help her with her healing.
 
I won't be fully happy until she's eating... but for now I'm at least happy and to be honest, a little scared that she's home. It's a huge responsibility to take care of such a sick doggie. All we can do is to love her and respect her space and do what the vet told us to do and hope she will come back to us more fully and in good health soon.
 
I wasn’t happy with her lying under the couch, so pulled a couch closer to where I sit and put her bed on it… we picked her up and put her in it and she stayed there for the rest of the day.  Happy that I could reach over to her and keep my hand on her head and stroke her.  She became very relaxed and went to sleep.
 
Later
We were just blessed with a lovely rainstorm to water our garden and save me a tomorrow-job so I can spend more time with Sweetpea. So wonderful.
 
I never got to my computer at all since this morning, so my work catch-up is still waiting to be done, but I did catch up on a whole load of much needed housework and even a little garden work thankfully.
 
I made boiled white chicken and rice and boiled lean mince and rice for Sweetpea as suggested by her Vet and added a little Himalayan salt. I first offered her a piece of chicken soon after she arrived home. She turned away from it, still feeling very nauseous. Later I tried a little mince and rice and she took a tiny bit and soon after sat up looking very uncomfortable with her tongue hanging out as if she was going to vomit. But a short while later, Andrew offered her a little nugget of mince and she ate it!
 
We were delighted. Now, every two hours we've offered her the mince and rice and she's taking about a tablespoon at a time. Feels sick for a while after then lies down and sleeps. She is also drinking water.
 
I'm sure she never slept much at the vet due to anxiety, but she's sure making up for it now.
 
I will move my bed to the lounge again like I did for the first two nights of her illness before she went to the hospital, so that she's off of the bedroom carpet and near the door in her little bed next to mine if she needs to be let out, and I will also make sure she has a bowl of water near her and set my alarm to offer her food at least once or twice during the night to help build her strength up
 
Goodnight to you all.  Thank you for everything you’ve done to help Sweetpea to come home to us.  Thank you for your prayers, your good wishes, your love and also for your kind and generous donations.  We are all very, very grateful   
 
~ Panayiota
And also, on behalf of, my son Andrew, Sweetpea and Trixie

Our dear little Sweetpea was going to come home today, but she is still too weak and distant and not eating yet. We’re praying she will come home tomorrow, but will not rush her healing.  She needs time.
 
At the animal hospital, they have put in her little room, some fresh cooked chicken pieces and small pellets, but she just turns her head if you bring them near her. She is drinking her water though.
 
I can't wait to hold her in my arms and feel of her unconditional love again.  When she was well, she made me belly laugh every single day. My son and I are missing her very much. I've cried a whole lot this week. Unbearable pain over the threat of losing her, and because I just couldn’t bear to see her in such a state.  When well, she’s the most vibrant, happy and mischievous little dog, full of life and pure joy!  So, to see her down like this is just so WRONG!
 
We call her Sweetpea Rascal, because on one hand, she’s the gentlest, sweetest, most passionately loveable, adorable, carefree little Sweetpea, and then there’s the very spirited little Rascal that comes out whenever we play or take her for a walk, where she just goes wild and shows another side of her personality altogether.  She has a lot to learn about good behaviour on the lead, but I felt we needed to help her gain her confidence first, because the little dog we got from the shelter for abused animals in Pretoria was a very frightened and timid one.  Seeing her so ill in the animal hospital reminds me of the shelter dog she was, because she was the only one hiding away in a corner looking so afraid when all the other dogs came to greet us, barking as loudly as they could, “Tame me!” Take me!”
 
Trixie, our little mini-Doberman, has also been missing Sweetpea.  She has been searching for her a lot and whimpering, which she never did before.  Also sleeping a lot more.  For the first two days that Sweetpea was in the hospital, we never saw Trixie eat anything other than a small crust of freshly home baked bread that Andrew offered her.  She wouldn’t even chew on a bone I put down for her, but at least she’s back to eating now.  I think she will be delighted when Sweetpea comes home.  I don’t know why she’s missing Sweetpea because they are totally the ODD COUPLE.  Sweetpea is too boisterous, wild and active for much older Trixie, but I think that in some way, Sweetpea has been teaching Trixie how to feel young again.  The only way to describe this odd couple of sisters is that Sweetpea is the bull in a China shop and Trixie is the China doll!
 
I was disappointed when we were told Sweetpea couldn’t come home, but when we saw her, we understood that her doctor… Vet Dirk Gouws, knows best and Sweetpea definitely wasn’t ready to come home yet.
 
When she saw us, she did make good eye contact and wagged her tail, then moved, still weakly, out of her corner to get closer to us… but not too close.  She’s still feeling too terrible and I think that overstimulating her would only serve to make her feel worse.  She seemed to love our gentle touches and rested her head in our hands a few times… a kind of doggy hug… but when we stopped touching her, she seemed to go back into her feeling-sick-trance as her head sunk down to the blanket and she just stayed there until we called her back to raising her head and eye contact again.  She’s still a very sick little doggy.
 
We did take another video which can be seen under this post on the Patty’s Keys Facebook page.
 
There has been no donations to assist us with her veterinary bills today, unless something has been paid into the Vets account which we have not heard about yet, so, our fund raising efforts remain the same as yesterday.
 
Fund raising for Sweetpea
Please, if anyone else can help us to raise funds for Sweetpea’s lifesaving hospital treatments and stay, we would be most grateful.  We would also ask for enough over to have her spayed, her extra tooth removed and any vaccinations she now needs, when she's healed from this disease of course.
 
The shelter we got her from should have had her spayed and vaccinated before handing her over to us, and we have been unable to get any information from them about Sweetpea.  I’m not even sure they were aware that they had her as they have not answered any of my questions about her… I have written to them three times to no avail!  Last time they asked for a photo of her which I sent, and still nothing from them!  So, I have to presume that Sweetpea was not spayed or vaccinated by them before she was gifted to us from the Sanctuary by a dear faraway friend.
 
Donations update... Thank you so much!

R450.00
R1172.50
R250.00
R500.00
R300.00
R200.00
R250.00

Expenses paid on the first two vet visits of three:

R750.00
R175.30

Remaining donation funds available to go towards the R3000-R8000 for Sweetpea's lifesaving hospital stay and treatments:

R2197.20

If anyone is in a position to help us with Sweetpea's veterinary bills, please donate to:​

Or, you can donate directly into the Vets account to help with her bills. 

ABSA: 409 475 1639 (CHEQ)
Branch code: 630 395
Reference: Donation for Sweetpea Ryall

Vet: Dirk Gouws
Monument Animal Clinic
59 Second Street
Krugersdorp North
Gauteng
1739

Telephone: 011 660 2813

email: dirkvet@monumentvet.co.za
 
Gratefully,
 
~ Panayiota

After my visit with Sweetpea this morning at 11am I updated my Facebook friends:
Sweetpea is VERY sick still. Only responsive if I touch her... (turns and looks me in the eyes... It seems that a spark of her own light has returned to her eyes I thought) but, she's very distant otherwise. No wagging tail and wouldn't budge from the corner she was sitting in to come sit closer to me It was hard for me to reach her where she was.

I could see she's feeling terrible. The vet says that there's a slight improvement in her condition. Still some bouts of diarrhea, but no blood. She is drinking some water and passing urine now which are hopeful signs.

When I called for an update on her condition early morning, the Vet was in surgery and so he couldn't tell me she that was okay.  So, with the way my mind can play tricks on me, by the time I got there at 11, I'd already decided they were hiding some terrible news from me and I was already in tears! The vet came out of his surgery to accompany me to Sweetpea and give me a quick update on her condition which I felt was so very kind of him!

Leaving Sweetpea to go home, I was hurting so much, because she is obviously still so ill... I was a bucket of tears again. Sat in my car until I could stop crying enough to drive home.
 
Father in Heaven please save Sweetpea so that she can come home again soon.
 
Please everyone keep her in your prayers until she's home and all better again.

Thank you so much for all the love and prayers shown and given already May Heavenly Father bless you too.

Wonderful news
At 3pm my son Andrew went to visit Sweetpea, and by then, her condition had improved a whole lot more.  He took a little video which I can't add here, but will add to my "Patty's Keys" Facebook page if you would like to see it there.  

When I saw the video, I was so delighted that I wrote to my friends on Facebook:
Andrew visited Sweetpea pm. She got up weakly and moved towards him and he even saw her tail wag!

Looking at the video, she's a whole lot more responsive. I think she's turning the corner to getting better now...OH HAPPY DAY!  

She is coming back.  It seems she has found her "fight for life" spirit again.  I am so grateful!  

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Donations update... bless you all... those who donated and also those who uplifted and all who showed their care in one way or another.  It has all helped me so much to get through my own worries for Sweetpea.

R450.00
R1172.50
R250.00
R500.00
R300.00
R200.00
R250.00

Expenses paid on the first two vet visits of three:

R750.00
R175.30

Remaining donation funds available to go towards the R3000-R8000 for Sweetpea's lifesaving hospital stay and treatments:

R2197.20

If anyone is in a position to help us with Sweetpea's veterinary bills, please donate to:

Or, you can donate directly into the Vets account to help with her bills. 

ABSA: 409 475 1639 (CHEQ)
Branch code: 630 395
Reference: Donation for Sweetpea Ryall

Vet: Dirk Gouws
Monument Animal Clinic
59 Second Street
Krugersdorp North
Gauteng
1739

Telephone: 011 660 2813

email: dirkvet@monumentvet.co.za

Please keep in mind that depending on Sweetpea's survival, which we are very hopeful of now, we would also then need funds to help her to be spayed, have all her vaccinations as we still don't know if she ever had those done by the shelter we got her from, and have her extra tooth removed, so please help us by donating, and thank you once again to all who have donated already.  We would not have been able to save Sweetpea without your kindness.

One of our students, Grant Matthews, wrote today: "It is a ‘brave heart’ that allows another being into their hearts." 

He understands... 

Thank you to all who are following Sweetpea's story and are praying for her and there for her and/or us in one way or another... THANK YOU SO MUCH! 

~ Panayiota.

A picture of Sweetpea when she was well.  She has the most intense and expressive eyes.

Yesterday after seeing the vet in the morning and receiving three injections, Sweetpea was so ill that she was too weak to get up and was incontinent and just lay there on her urine soaked bed.  It was then that I decided she needed to go back to the vet and it was after this photo was taken that Sweetpea started to pass blood stools and then I knew she was in serious trouble!  The vet had told us in the morning to come back in 24 hours if she was no better, but I knew that she couldn't wait and went back again as soon as his clinic opened in the afternoon.

Today's update on Sweetpea's condition:
I visited Sweetpea at the animal hospital at 11am today.  She is very weak and still lying down, but I could see in her eyes that she was happy to see me. She drank water while I was there, then vomited, but at least she is drinking. I hated having to leave her behind. She’s still on intravenous fluids but they said she’s not passing blood anymore, thank goodness.

When I arrived at the animal clinic and was waiting to visit Sweetpea, two very old ladies were already waiting with a very old, brown and grey furred little dog. He was more grey than brown and looked straight into my eyes with his grey eyes. I was sure he couldn’t see me, but he knew I was there. They went in before me to see the vet and a short while later came out crying bitterly without their little dog.

Oh, how my heart ached for them.  Tears welled in my eyes. I wanted so much to go and hug them both… I KNOW the OWEE pain they were feeling… been there too and promised I’d NEVER EVER have another dog again because of how unbearable that pain is, and now I have two… I’m sure these will be the last, because I’ve cried and cried over Sweetpea being so ill and the threat of losing her! It really is unbearable pain for me.

I feel hopeful for Sweetpea after seeing her and told her to remember her beautiful spirit so that she can come home to us

Tonight I arrived back home at 7pm after visiting my dear old daddy who turned 90 today! I spent a good many hours with him and loved my time there.  I really needed a loving family break, so it was healing for me to be there after visiting Sweetpea earlier.

Donations update so far for which we are truly very grateful beyond words:
R450.00
R1172.50
R250.00
R500.00
R300.00

Expenses paid on the first two vet visits of three:
R750.00
R175.30

Remaining donation funds available to go towards the R3000-R8000 for Sweetpea's lifesaving hospital stay and treatments:
R1747.20

If anyone is in a position to help us with Sweetpea's veterinary bills, please donate to:

Or, you can donate directly into the Vets account to help with her bills. 

ABSA: 409 475 1639 (CHEQ)
Branch code: 630 395
Reference: Donation for Sweetpea Ryall

Vet: Dirk Gouws
Monument Animal Clinic
59 Second Street
Krugersdorp North
Gauteng
1739

Telephone: 011 660 2813

email: dirkvet@monumentvet.co.za

Thank you for all the love and care that has been shown to Sweetpea during her time of need.  I have also needed the reassuring love that has come, so I am very grateful to you all.

~ Panayiota

We took Sweetpea to the Vet this morning and she was given three injections and we were told to continue with her oral medicine.  By midday, Sweetpea was still deteriorating.  She was either sleeping or suddenly disappearing. We would search all over for her and finally find her hidden in some unusual dark corner of the house or garden, or uncharacteristically in one of my flower pots outside just sitting there looking so miserable.  If you knew what a happy, active, vibrant little dog she is, you'd know how painful this was for us to see her so ill.

Thankfully my son was able to take off a little time from work this afternoon to take me to the vet... I was crying too much to go alone because I knew Sweetpea was too ill and giving up! She was suddenly having blood diarrhea and groaning in pain, etc. I needed him to help with carrying her with a towel, in case she needed to toilet again... to contain any messes.

She has been diagnosed with Parvo... in hospital on a drip... 50/50% chance of survival. I have to give her a chance because she's such a lovely little girl and we love her so much and have been very blessed by her love in return, so we could not let them put her down.

We've been told that Sweetpea's treatment is going to cost anything between R3000-R8000 we will only know once she is healed... I'm holding onto ever grain of HOPE I have in me.
 
Donations update so far for which we are truly very grateful beyond words:
R450.00
R1172.50
R250.00
R500.00

Expenses paid on the first two vet visits only:
R750.00
R175.30

Remaining funds available to go towards the R3000-R8000 bill:
R1447.20

If anyone else can help, please donate to the banking details attached.

The friends who have donated and the friends who have prayed and shown their loving care have made so much difference to how I have personally managed to get through these last three days. I have the worst headache and I'm wiped out from it all, but they have helped me to remain strong for Sweetpea's sake.

Please keep praying for Sweetpea to make it and come back home soon.

Thank you so much,
​Panayiota

Hi everyone, Our new and lovely little brown dog, Sweetpea, who we've had since September 2020, has been deteriorating since last night. Stayed in her bed all night, no vomiting or diarrhea, but saliva dripping from her mouth.  She has been ill for three days now. 

​We were gifted Sweetpea from an animal shelter for abused animals, by a dear friend.  She was so frightened when we first brought her home, but she's just a bundle of joy for us now (when she is well), and she has such a funny character.  It's breaking my heart to see her so ill.

I'm still expecting an abdominal obstruction or a severe infection. She's not eating or drinking since last night when her injections from the vet wore off... she's too quiet and still.

Doing strange things like if she does get up, going to a dark and secluded corner in the house or yard and just sitting there facing a corner or lying down there on the cold concrete in the garden... in my frightened mind, it's a dog finding a place to die. She's feeling very ill. Vet opens at 07h30... we have to take her back asap.

I know that these are hard times for everyone, but if someone has the financial ability to help and are willing, please could you make a deposit into my FNB account or phone/email the vet to ask for their banking details so that your help can be anonymous and reference it for Sweetpea Ryall.

My banking details are attached and the Vet information. Please help us to help Sweetpea. We love her so much.  When she is well, she makes us laugh every day, but now we are just so worried for her.

Monument Animal Clinic
Dirk Gouws (BVSc)

Phone:  011 660 2813

Email:  dirkvet@monumentvet.co.za

The vet could not find any evidence yesterday of her having been spayed, so if she comes right from this illness, we would still need to have the spaying done sometime and her extra tooth extracted. He said that a baby tooth refusing to fall out can trap food particles and cause problems for the adult teeth, so it would need to be removed. We would need help to have that done also.

Please help.  Any donations would be such a blessing and lift such a load.  If money is deposited into the Vet's account, he could keep it under our name for the future needs for our dogs. 

Trixie our other little and much older black furred dog might need treatment for arthritis someday soon.  We had her at the vet recently for a very sore shoulder.  That cost us around R500  and Sweetpea's bill yesterday was R750.  Going back today with Sweetpea will mean more and we have no idea how much.  She will need to have x-rays and maybe an intravenous drip for dehydration and she might need an operation if she has an obstruction.

Please help us to save her.

Thank you.

Panayiota

I am very excited to share my very first YouTube video and I will let you know if any more are posted. 

Please excuse my struggle with speech on the video as my lack of confidence messes with my ability to think and speak and remember what I want to say.  I have to write everything I want to say down, but still feel so self-conscious I struggle to speak freely and sometimes make mistakes.  I mentioned that I was in Israel for 2 months, when in fact I was only there for two weeks. It was too late to fix the error when I listened to my video after.  I had to restart each video I did over and over due to this problem with speech, and in the end, I just had to submit the best I could do.  

I have done a few videos, but this is the only one on YouTube so far.  They are all being used on our Logotherapy courses.  To see more about our new and wonderful online Logotherapy courses, please go to www.vfisa.co.za/courses 

It would be great to have you join our Logotherapy family at the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy South Africa.

My YouTube vidoe:  To Reach the Unreachable Stars
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR0us5l2xBj1mP8gTjJNJyD2C2MxgrQhPfQrO7tlTFci1wvQFeUQdB5y90w&v=VuVDpye5BLs&feature=youtu.be

I hope you will support and subscribe to my video, because for me it is such an incredible achievement for my life.  I never knew I could do anything like this prior to beginning my study of Logotherapy in my 50's.  I am so grateful to Logotherapy and all my trainers and Logo-family for helping me to get this far and for my healing thus far.  I look forward to my future to see if there's more of me to be discovered and shared with the world.  I know that there is a lot more healing to be achieved and I'm not ready to give up on myself, or my incredible journey.

Onward and upward I go!

I really hope I will be able to finish writing my book this year to get it published.

Happy 2021 to you all and may this year be a really good one!

Thank you for all your support over the years.

~ Panayiota