Well, here we are one year later and in looking back I have so many regrets.  I didn't do enough, I didn't save enough animals.  I wish I could do it all over with the knowledge I have now . . . I would have tried to do something to better organize all of the animal rescuers and rescue groups to be in better communication with one another.  So many of us were re-treading the steps of where other rescuers had already been, while animals were perishing, locked up inside of homes with no food or water.

One of the four dogs I brought back to California with me ended up dying after she tested negative for heartworms and didn't get treatment.  Only afterwards did I come to learn there are two different types of heartworm tests and the kind she had was the less efficient kind (I had her tested in a Louisiana's vet office who did the test in house).  It was only too late when I learned that there is a more thorough heartworm test that a veterinarian will send out to a lab. 

The other three dogs were treated for heartworm (and little Muffin had a seven hour microscopic surgery to remove twenty heartworms from her).  I spent money I didn't have to spend on medical bills.  I spent hours upon hours of crying myself to sleep at night, thinking about all of the faces of the animals I didn't stay to help.  Many rescuers spent weeks and months down in New Orleans, and I feel like I only spent five minutes there - that is how little of a difference I felt that I made. 

I returned home with a sense of hopelessness and such grief, that I didn't even want to talk about it to anyone.  When friends asked, I told them to just look at my website - because I didn't want to keep reliving the tales of horror that those helpless animals went through.  For months afterwards, I stopped caring about my own well being, stopped exercising and started to comfort myself with food.  It was the best I could do, however I am ashamed to admit this.  Little Muffin, the miracle dog that you all know from my website - has been a shining example of how not to give up and how her hope & will to live kept her alive.  

Not only did she survive for five weeks after the storm with no food or water (she was an emaciated 14 pounds when animal rescuers brought her in) - but her owner actually returned home to take her material belongings and left Muffin behind to starve to death.  Poor Muffin has such tremendous abandonment issues and you can't blame her.  She was loaded with heartworms and was too weak to undergo the shots so we had to just hang on and give her Heartgard for the first several months.  She also was totally blind (from long untreated glaucoma) and her eye pressure was so high that she had to have been in pain.  In February, she began to have aggressive attacks towards me (very out of character for her) and it became clear that she was in so much pain that she didn't want to be touched. 
Before: Muffin in October 2005

Muffin's ophthalmologist told me about the microscopic surgery that was being done at some surgical specialists and I immediately took Muffin for an appointment.  The surgery was so expensive, yet I had to find out if this was going to save Muffin's life - especially after how much she had survived through so far.  After a seven hour surgery, her cardiologist pulled out twenty worms - but couldn't get them all out without risking damage to the heart.   Since Muffin had gained enough weight, she was strong enough to then go through the shot treatment.  I am happy to say that Muffin has not had a single aggressive attack since her surgery and I do believe she is well on the road to mending.

Her last medical issue is her tremendous itchy skin.  We have tried everything and are now in the middle of a six month treatment plan called Isotherapy.   Her skin had been so itchy that she had itched her skin into open wounds that were all over her face and body.  I've known other people who have had much success with Isotherapy on their pets, so I'm just crossing my fingers to hope that it helps poor little Muffin.  Isotherapy is where the vet draws some of Muffin's blood and then has created a homeopathic remedy that is specific to her dna, to use against her own body - to help build up her immune system.  (similar to how the remedy for a rattlesnake bite is a tiny bit of venom)

I want to thank all of the people who supported me through all of my rescue efforts and the long road that followed - both for your encouragement and for your many donations to help me cover all of the medical bills and costs associated with my two trips to New Orleans last year.

I hope that none of us ever have to be in a position where our animals will have to suffer like the pets of New Orleans did.  May you all hug and kiss your much loved four-legged family members and never let them go.