Winston's woes

We have an english bulldog named Winston. A week ago, he got sick and we didn't know why or what happened. We called the vet and got the emergency service. Winston couldn't hold down water and refused to eat. Winston never refuses to eat anything. The final straw came when Winston couldn't move on his own. Alan made the phone call and within a few minutes we were on our way to the vet's office with the children and Winston in tow. The vet on call wasn't our regular vet but the regular vet trusts her so we did too. She was good with Winston. He was given an i.v for dehydration, food, and she started him on antibiotics. 4 days later he was doing much better and was given a ticket to come home. The vet felt that he'd been slowly improving and she was feeding him soft foods by then, so it was alright to bring him home that Friday. We were all very happy to have him home. Saturday morning Alan fed him soft food and he was his old chow hound self. He was spirited and happy and acting like our Winston again. Sunday was a different story. He started to slowly drop back down to sick again and by Tuesday morning Alan called the vet again. This time it was our regular vet. Winston had to be returned to vet care and have an iv for food, antibiotics, and dehydration, he'd begun to refuse to eat or drink again and was in pain. He couldn't seem to get comfortable no matter how he sat or laid. Early that afternoon Alan called to check on him and the news wasn't good. Winston had most likely ingested something but we had no idea what because it wasn't showing up on x-rays. If it caused thining of the intestinal tract and had caused perforations, the toxins that would release into his tissues would kill him and there was no way to save him from that. The vet wanted to do surgery. When I got off work we went up to see Winston and be there for him. We were reminded of how sick he really was and was told there had been no real change. We asked if we could see Winston before they took him to surgery and he said sure. When Winston came out, as soon as he saw Alan and I he was happy and spirited and wiggling around like there was nothing in the world wrong with him. He even ate a few treats the vet offered him. This puzzled the vet but we still did the surgery to be on the safe side. He found 2 pieces of hard rubber in his intestines. One was from a toy Winston loved to chew on, the other we have no idea where it came from. The vet said if Winston had stayed the way he was another day, he'd wouldn't have survived. The blockage had killed the intestine around it and had started to thin out. The vet said it was going to be a long night because Winston had to be watched carefully due to the amount of damage that he fixed and the 3 incisions that were needed. One in his belly, 2 in the intestine. He removed 14 inches of intestine to save our dog. We were so scared driving home. We knew he might not wake up. Wednesday morning Alan called the vet and we were told he was very sore but he was doing ok so far. He'd been sedated again to keep him from moving around and pulling the stitches. The vet said he now has a 50-60% chance at survival where he had none before the surgery. We have both learned a very valuable lesson in all of this. Winston is very much like a child in that if it will fit, it is going to go into his mouth. We threw away every toy the dogs had that were rubber and my husband and I will do alot of research and hard thinking before we buy another toy for our four legged babies.