Saturday, July 28, 2007
Wow, just wow
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Home again
Rocky is home now!!!!! He's bouncing of the walls. He's still considered sick and once and a while you can even tell. But for the most part he's just happy to be home. He was in isolation the entire time he was in the vet's office so I doubt he got much attention other than to change meds and feed him. His tail is wagging so hard that even his little penis is wagging. He's still contagious so when he has to go potty, we have to walk him, pick up his pooh and then I put it in the driveway and bleach it. Jasmine's face just lit up when she saw him this morning. He licked her like crazy. I had to seperate them or I think he would've drown her!
We went to the Venetian Festival this evening. It's held in St. Joe Michigan every year. It's always been free and every year they have a huge fireworks display on the lake. They literally shoot the fireworks off the pier. It's really beautiful. I especially like it if we get there before sunset. I love watching the sunset over the lake. It seems endless. Jasmine loved the fireworks. We had a pretty good time, despite the fact that when we went to get up and leave, we realized that Jasmine had been piling sand on our blanket. When we left we ended up being forced to go to Benton Harbor. They wouldn't allow us to turn the other way. Thankfully we didn't get into downtown and were able to make a U-turn and come back towards home. It took us 45 minutes to get through downtown due to traffic. I had to take two Ultram's tonight just to make it through the evening. It takes a lot more to walk two miles than it used to.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Onward
Finally, some good news. Rocky will be coming home tomorrow. He must have really made some strides over night because yesterday, our vet sounded doubtful that he would be home before next weekend. He will be on a mild diet of a/d science diet food for a while till his stomach settles down but sounds like he'll be ok.
I've been having a lot of back pain today. I severely want to take an Ultram but don't like the way they make me feel. I don't want to become dependent on a drug till whatever this is goes away. My best friend is in constant pain every day from RSD, I think I can deal with a little back pain. I hate being in pain. I hate having other people do things for me. I just want my doctor to call me with an appointment time. If I don't hear anything on Monday, I'll be calling them because I know how they can get about scheduling with other doctors. I just want to know what's going on and figure out where to go from there. I can deal with whatever it is, I can't deal with the not knowing. I tried a heating pad today and it did nothing for me. On a brighter note, I haven't lost any weight in the three weeks that I've been practically starving myself and working out so I said screw it and ate a pound of chocolate yesterday. =) Maybe that's not a great thing but it sure felt like a great thing. I want to buy some stuff to make my awesome chocolate chip cookies this week. I haven't had ANY since the last time I was at the doctor because I was so upset with my weight.
Woe is me
For the past year I have been having urinary tract... issues. It's difficult for me to start peeing and it takes what seems like an eternity and then it's hard for me to keep going. I went to the doctor for it less than a year ago because I was having constant cramps. Nothing was found on ultrasound and the next step was exploratory surgery... IF I continued to have pain. I decided it didn't hurt that bad. As time went on, things kept getting worse, to the point that it would take from 30 seconds to 3 minutes for me to start going. If something isn't REALLY bothering me, I will put off going to the doctor and being used as a pin cushion. Stubbornness runs in my family. ; ) I finally went to the doctor for this three weeks ago. I was given antibiotics and sent home. I finished the medicine and noticed little if any difference. Within the last week, I have started having pain in the lower part of my abdomen on the right side. Pain that was so severe last night that it dropped me to my knees and left me laying on the floor of the hallway. When I went to pee last night I had shooting pain from that spot through my back. I decided that enough was enough and I needed to make another appointment. They got me in today by 3. One of the last things I wanted to happen with my doctor, happened. He saw me naked from the waist down. Now I know, he's a doctor, he's professional. But I've been seeing him since I was a kid and feel more like he's a favorite uncle than my doctor. So dropping trowel in front of him was not my idea of a great day. He felt my ovaries and said it's possible that I have a cyst but didn't feel any masses that would immediately indicate cancer. At this point, he's contacting my OB-GYN (who is just one floor below him) and they will decide together what steps are needed from here. For now I'm on a narcotic called Ultram. Today was the first time I have EVER taken a prescription pain killer. All I can think at this point is what's next? I'm not that worried about cancer or surgery at this point. I just want the pain gone so I can move on. I would like to be pain free for the first week of August as we are having a party and going to both Indianapolis and Chicago that week. I would prefer not to be stoned out of my mind while doing those things. (the Ultram makes me feel... odd) For now, I'm just waiting for a call back about another appointment. And probably another pelvic ultrasound.
Rocky is STILL in the hospital. He's been there since last Saturday. He hasn't improved very much. He will be there till at the earliest, middle to end of next week. The vet sounds like he'll probably be there longer. The idea of the vet bill makes my stomach turn. My husband and I discussed it and decided that if we could go back to the first day, we wouldn't have done anything differently. But it's just so hard to stomach the bill. AND we figured out that just two nights in the ER cost more than an entire week at our regular vet, where he is receiving 24 hour care. With the money we have spent on this dog in a week, we could have literally went to Disney world and stayed IN the park for a week. LITERALLY.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Rocky
We spent Saturday night in the ER vet... AGAIN. Somehow, our pit bull puppy, Rocky got parvo. Yes, he's not up to date on his shots. They were being taken in at the very end of this month to update everything. He's never been anywhere except to my moms house and we've never brought strange dogs into the yard. Our vet seems to think he got it from the raccoons that frequent our backyard at night. At first we thought he had a broken rib and possibly had some internal bleeding. We came home and he was missing so Shawn went to find him. He was curled up in a ball in the corner of the yard. Shawn carried him into the house and asked me to take a look at him. He never even wagged his tail at me. It appeared that at least one of his ribs was broken and "floating" in his chest cavity. He was also extremely cold to the touch. So I said screw it... we're already in debt, let's just take him to the vet now instead of waiting till morning. When we got him there, they accused us of having harmed him. (in an indirect way... this could have come from someone kicking him) They did this with Rodeo as well. After we got there, he started coughing. They decided to do some xrays. The xrays didn't show any broken ribs but she said the rib cage was still developing and the parts we were concerned about were cartilage and wouldn't show up on an xray. The xray did show he had fluid in his lungs and an enlarged heart. The enlarged heart is from a previously unknown heart murmur. The fluid was from pnuemonia. The pnuemonia was caused by him inhaling his slobber instead of swallowing it. Oh yes, our dog is a genius. After that we did a test to check to make sure that it wasn't blood in his lungs and tested the amount of time it took to clotte. (checking for rat poisoning) It was negative. Afterwards she asked if I wanted to do a parvo test just to be sure there wasn't anything else wrong. I said fine, do it. Even though I had previously declined with Rodeo. I was totally expecting the test to be negative. It was a very light positive. Immediately after the test he had bloody diarrhea and vomited quite a bit. At this point of time they told me he could still go home and have care there. We intially said we'd take him home but changed our minds afew minutes later. It turned out to be the right choice as he is still in the vet today (our regular vet) and will continue at the vet probably through the weekend. He's a very sick dog. I am shocked that he's so bad because we found it as early as it could possibly be detected. He's also on a clinical trial of Tamiflu (used for humans normally). The other puppies are on Tamiflu as well to prevent any possibly parvo from them. I got their shots done on Sunday morning. They've shown no signs of illness thus far. We really hope it'll be staying that way as our vet bill is ridiculous now.
My senegal parrot also died suddenly the day after we had Rodeo at the vet. We have no idea what happened. I kept her warm most of the night trying to help her make it till morning when I could get her to the vet. She died at 8am. It's been a shitty month.
Friday, July 13, 2007
To Protect and Serve
I visit this site frequently. It became obvious to me very quickly that we are losing far too many of our men and women and felt I needed to say something about it.
Honoring Officers Killed in the Year 2007
If we keep going at the rate we've been for these past seven months, then by the end of this current year, 200 police officers will have been killed in the line of duty all across the united states. 200 men and women will have died protecting YOU and YOUR families safety. Please take a moment to think of these men and women throughout your day. Somewhere there's a home that daddy isn't coming back to, how do you explain that to 3 year old twins. Or to the 3 year old little girl who no longer has her daddy. They will never remember what it sounded like when their parents said their names, how they laughed or what joy they brought into their lives. Remember those fallen officers for THEM. For those children who have lost more than any should. Rememeber.
And it all goes down hill
I spent last evening at the emergency vet clinic. Our puppy, Rodeo was severely lethargic and bleeding from his mouth when I came home. Not wanting to lose another baby, we chose to take our chance on it being nothing and take him to the vet. (which is a TON more expensive than your regular vet) I was shaking and crying most of the way there. They are a little over 30 minutes from my house. I felt like he was getting worse every minute. When we got there they took his temp and it was a very high 105. (norm is 102.3) He was hooked up to fluids. (250 cc) Given a penicillin shot and given pain medicine. He has an abscess at the back of his mouth (where he has yet to even have teeth) from something poking him, possibly a stick. (it was a nasty puncture) We brought him home with instructions to take him to our regular vet in the morning. He slept with me in the bed all night. He never moved except to occasionally lift his head. Keep in mind this is an Australian Shepherd. A very high energy breed. So for him to be lethargic at all is disturbing. In the morning Shawn gave him his med's and took him to the vet. They just gave us more med's for when these run out and he needs to be brought back after they're gone to be sure the problem has been taken care of. You can see the swelling in his face it's so bad. He's only eaten a small amount of canned dog food in 48 hours. He's hungry but it's just too painful for him to chew. It was weird, he was fine when we left and then when we got back it was REALLY bad. My poor boy.
This morning I received a phone call from a friend whose dog has been severely ill for over a week and she was calling to tell me they had to have the dog put down. Aysia was a good dog and there are many stories that could be told about various things they destroyed. One night they came home and thought their house had been robbed and were preparing to call the police when they caught Aysia from the corner of their eye looking guilty. I'm sure at the time they were super pissed but now it's things to look back on. She got the absolute best care and they did everything they possibly could to save her life. I hope she and August are off somewhere playing in a meadow field, chasing butterflies together. Our dogs leave permanent paw marks on our hearts. Each one different but each just as loved.