Doggie Update

Last night I had to pick Mojo up from our vet, and transport him over to an Emergency facility in Dartmouth. Sort of stupid that the clinics don't do overnighters anymore, so everyone has to use the Emerg. It's a nice facility though so I was glad to see that. Just a pain in the ass, and disruptive to a recouperating animal.

He had his IV line still in, so I had to make sure he didn't get all tangled up trying to walk to the car. Interesting. Then getting him the car was a whole other challenge. He's still so tired and weak, and his back end is just so tough for him to deal with. He's being a super-trouper though. Poor guy.

Leaving him at Emerg was hard. I actually cried when I drove away. There was some other people leaving their dog overnight too, and we all had our sad faces on.

I had to go back and pick him up by 7:30 this morning (the facility is strictly Emerg and off-hours...so they close at 8am when all the other clinics are reopening). This was fine, but of course I ended up back at our vet by about 7:45 and they weren't there yet. I see a flaw in the system...they knew I had to pick him up by 7:30 and bring him back, so you would think they might plan for that. Anyway, it worked out fine because I let him out of the car in the parking lot to lay down and he seemed to enjoy the breeze. He's been pretty cooped up the last few days.

He stays at the vet for the rest of today, and when he finishes up his bag of fluids the vet will reassess and give me a call. If he has perked up and maybe tried to eat then I can bring him home tonight. If not, it might be another overnighter at Emerg for him. Cross your fingers and toes for us!

I did find a mild bit of humor in the situation though. This morning I had him laying in the parking lot and then realized it was the handicap spot...haha. He was all sick and sad with his little IV bag, so I thought it was sort of funny and snapped his photo. I don't think he was amused....but I needed the giggle. :)

Sick as a Dog

I have now learned where that phrase comes from. Because our doggie is very sick and it's sad and scary.

Poor Mojo stopped eating and drinking the other day. Which as you all know is highly unusual for the biggest pig of them all. He'll eat ANYTHING. Well, except maybe mushrooms.

He seemed a little off on Saturday evening, but was still the life of the party and got himself tons of treats from all the guests. But Sunday we noticed he wasn't drinking his water, and then when dinner time came and went and he hadn't cleaned out his dish we knew something was up. We chalked it up to the heat and humidity and figured he'd probably eat in the middle of the night when he cooled off and got hungry. I got him to eat a ton of ice cubes from my hand too...so we were sure he was just overheated.

Monday morning we had to get up early because DBF was heading off to sea. I had heard Mojo roaming around in the middle of the night, heard him slurp from the toilet (which is odd because I've never seen him do that), but in the morning he seemed OK...just upset that daddy was leaving. So I paid attention to him all day and he still wasn't eating...not even interested in any treats and still not really slurping much from his water dish. Monday night I tried the ice again but no go. I took him for a walk to see if I could get him worked up enough to drink something...but he was very lethargic and barely made it around the block. Not good.

So I decided to give him some time on Tuesday and then I was taking him to the vet. Sure thing on Tuesday he wasn't any better and I could tell he was getting weak because of not eating....so

off to the vet we went. He was soooooo good. It's very cute, but sad at the same time because it's so not like him. He walks slow like a very old man and just lays down every chance he gets. His tail is still wagging and his tongue hung out for the car ride, but he can barely work his hind end enough to get into the car.

Anyway, vet checked him out and then recommended xrays and bloodwork. Xrays didn't show much...a light discrepancy on his liver, but nothing conclusive. The bloodwork showed all kinds of things...elevated white count, high sodium and nitrates....which could be because he's dehydrated....but also a calcium count that is off the chart... which is an indicator of lymphoma. Definitely nothing conclusive, but freaking scary. Hopefully it's actually just some sort of bacteria infection...but the only way to really tell is to let him take some antibiotics and see if he perks up, and then an ultrasound if necessary.

She gave him some subcutaneous fluids (under his skin) to get him a bit hydrated overnight, and we started him on amoxicillin just in case. I took him back today for actual IV treatment in the hopes of getting him properly hydrated. Cross you fingers that it works. After the treatment the vet will redo the bloodwork to see if his counts have lowered at all. If they have, then it's probably good news and we'll see if the antibiotics work....otherwise we'll do the ultrasound to see what else could be going on.

Ugh.

And to top this all off, DBF left on Monday for a month at sea and can't come home. How shitty is that? I'm gonna look after his best friend like he's my best friend.

Poor puppy.

Reminiscing

On Wednesday evening, one of DBF's buddies from back in Winnipeg dropped by with his family for a visit. The boys haven't seen each other in years so it was a good old time looking at photos, drinking, chatting and just plain old having fun.

He came with his wife, their two kids and a niece. We started the visit by plunking the kids in front of a DVD (haha...but they were happy with this as they had been driving squished in the SUV all day). Us adults just got to relax with some snacks and a drink. Nice.

Of course the boys got a few beers in them and got on a roll with the stories about the old times. Then they got out the photo albums and we all got to see them with their glorious late teens/early 20s hair and bicycle shorts. Oh my, how styles have changed! LOL.

We did some BBQ. Some more chatting. More movies for the kids. More drinks of course.

Around midnight we finally put the kids to bed....and just as they did that DBF took the chance to demonstrate our stereo's capabilities. So freaking loud...I had to leave the room. haha. Then off with that, down with the kids, and a bit more relaxation time for the adults. His wife decided to go to bed shortly after that, and although I was finding it really entertaining listening to the boys, I decided to head off to bed around 1am (as they were starting in on talking about war and cars and boy stuff!).

I read my book for a while because they still had the stereo on. When I heard the stereo go off, I decided to go to sleep...but just as I was dozing off, they turned it on again. This happened a couple of times....on, off, doze, on, off, doze. Then DBF had his guitar out....so no more dozing for a bit.

I must have finally dozed off around 3:15, but then DBF came to bed at 3:30...and tossed and turned, tossed and turned....got up, tripped over dog...laid down, tossed and turned some more. Then I guess we both fell asleep.

Until 5:30 when the alarm started going off. And he didn't hear it, so I kept snoozing it. Until 6:45.

Moral of the story. We really need to plan more than 12 hours for these good old buddy visits. I'm getting too old for the all nighters. haha.

Calling all Haligonians!

So it's that time that I need to start finding some local professional services....

Can any of you recommend (in the Clayton Park area preferably, but if you have someone you love then I'm willing to go pretty much anywhere...) the following:

1) Doctor - I'd like a woman, but if you have a male doctor that you love and trust (and that is accepting new clients) then let's hear it.

2) Dentist - finally got the forms for DBFs dental plan, so it's time to clean these not so pearly whites.

3) Chiropractor - I thought I'd finally gotten away from needing one, but apparently not.

BB10

I finally got caught up on the episodes of Big Brother 10 I DVR'd this past week.

Can't say that I'm in love with anyone just yet. It was pretty funny to see that Brian guy get backdoored right away though. That's what happens when you think you are king of the castle far too soon. Cocky gets bit in the ass. Too bad though because he likely could have kept things interesting.

Not sure what the big deal is about Memphis. So far I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe he's the dark horse that could win this thing. Not that you can ever tell this early on.

I like Ollie, but it's too bad he likes April. Bitchy blonde bimbo. Blech.

And I could do without Renny. She's wierd and annoying. Unfortunately they'll probably end up keeping her around for a while because she's no threat to anyone.

Jesse could prove to be better at this than we thought. Well, if he can quit looking at himself in the mirror. Love yourself much?

That's all I've got so far. At least now I have something to keep me entertained while DBF is gone for the WHOLE MONTH of August.