Bubbles is Here

 On May 26 I had to take Bubbles in for a surgical removal of a lump/wart that had grown pretty big on her back. That same morning I awoke to a bloody faced dog. Yes, you heard that right. Bubbles had scratched her head so invaisively the night before while we were sleeping that she had a pretty bad spot on her head that needed attending to.

So. When I left her there at 8AM for surgery later that day, I was told by the tech that her head would be looked at as well.

I got a call from the vet an hour or so after noon and she said all went well with the surgery. Only one stitch and it would need to come out in two weeks. Addressing her head injury she prescribed an antibiotic and the cone of shame for at least 2 weeks or until her head heals. 

Bubbles is a real trooper when it comes to the cone, but those meds! 

On May 26, four years earlier, around the same time I picked Bubbles up from her surgery, I was walking into the same vet hospital with a dog whom I had spent the better part of eighteen years loving, to say goodbye. I was so broken.

But walking out of that hospital the same time, four years later, with Bubbles... I was reminded of God's love and how He gives us good gifts. 

Life goes on.

Gracie will be in my heart forever. And Bubbles is here now. For a while, hopefully a long while. 

No Tears

 Have you ever buried your feelings so deep that you find yourself just going through the motions without showing emotion?  Well, if you have, then you know what I'm talking about.  Life, people, friends, family and goals just aren't measuring up to your expectations and things seem a little hopeless. But. No tears.

Our household has been lacking sleep lately due to a certain 15-year old cockapoo ....  yea, Gracie!  Up and down and in and out of the house all day and all night long.  Diarrhea  and vomiting.  Cleaning floors at 3AM.  Torn between feeling sorry for my girl Gracie and feeling sorry for myself. At this stage of her life,  I begin to think the worst.  Still.  No tears.

An emergency vet visit left my girl afraid, shaking and vomiting, waiting for almost an hour on the cold hospital floor for the vet to come back.  I watched her from the stool I sat on from above, cold, uncomfortable, emotionless and bitter to the fact that she was so sick.   My poor girl. But I stayed strong, cause there were still no tears.

But I knew of the possibilities and I trembled inside to think that this might be it for my Gracie.  And so I prayed.

Get down on the floor with her.

And so I did.

I kept praying.  Between being cold, sick and anxious, she was shaking badly.

Cover her with your coat.

 And so I did.  And I kissed her head and massaged her ears.

In that moment, as I let go of my strong matter-of-fact realistic, bitter demeanor and allowed myself to feel the hurt,  tears began streaming down my face.

"It's okay, girl.  Mommy's here..."

I felt better.  I'd released days of worry and exhaustion and confusion and now I was okay.  And so was Gracie.  Her blood test and x-ray showed nothing serious.  Probably a gastrointestinal flare-up from stress of the holidays.


Dear Diary,

Mom The NAG snagged this picture of me while I was resting and she shared it on Instagram and one of her friends offered condolences.  BOL!!!!!   I tell ya, I can still jump onto the highest chair in the living room and I can still poop and play and run and bark at the mailman.  #NotDeadYet

Gracie

 

I Do Not Trust!

Dear Diary,

Today I went back to the doctor (whom I do not trust) and some girl (whom I do not trust) took me back into a room away from Mom (whom I do not trust) and had another girl (whom I do not trust) hold me while I had my snout tied shut and my belly was snippety-snipped.  I was then returned to my Mom with a thumbs up from the girl (whom I still do not trust).  Mom and I left, and the girl cleaned up my nervousness from the floor.  Gracie.

Out of Surgery

Am I crazy?  I look at Gracie's new toy lying on the floor where she left it the other night when she was sick (trying to get me understand by prancing around with it in her mouth) 

and I'm letting it lay there because....????

Her place on the sofa is just as she left it;

...her pillows still remembering her soft warm face resting on them.

I stopped by on my way to work this morning to spend some time with her before her surgery today.

She was ecstatic to see me!  She cried and whimpered... then started looking for her Daddy.

 I think she believed she was going home.

So I explained to her that she needed to stay and that she was going to have surgery so that she would be all better.

As we went our separate ways, I could hear her nails slide across the floor as the worker pulled her in the opposite direction of where she 

wanted to go> HOME WiTH ME 

AFTERNOON UPDATE:

Gracie is out of surgery & doing well.  There were 15 smaller stones and 2 larger ones, obviously the culprits in the blockage.  Antibiotics were given to her intravenously since she was not cooperating otherwise.  That's my Gracie.  

I Don't Feel Well

Dear Diary,  

It wasn't the urgency in my eyes or the pacing back and forth by the door the minute I came back in from outside that made Mom decide I needed to see the doc.

It was more the squatting and peeing every five seconds that got her all worried.  Sometimes I'd squat for minutes without moving.  Like here (see me squatting below.) 

 I had to listen real close for familiar words.

Doctor.  Vet.  Buick. Go. 

I was a little embarrassed about going to the vet's looking like the scruff-muffin that I was.  I'd been spending a lot of time outside in the grass. After I pee, I dig a little and try to cover it up.  Mom say's I'm a mess. 

 She keeps bringing the b word up. But all I can think of is the P word. I don't feel well.  I just want to pee.  

I was excited to go to the animal hospital.

Mom said I was so good and that she wishes she would have taken a picture of me while they were examining me because It was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

 She's the sick pup... not me.  What kind of a sick-o would try to get a 'cute' picture of their fur baby while it's feeling like crap....

The nice lady doctor took me outside to pee.  While I was peeing someone put something underneath me so that my pee wouldn't hit the ground.  She said she was collecting my pee.  Geesh.  And I thought MOM was weird!!

I was a good girl.  I didn't bite or snap or even resist when the doc massaged my belly.   

Plus - good news.  I'm still only 25 lb. Ha!  Mom keeps telling me I'm getting to be a heavy weight.  I guess I showed her.  Haven't gained an ounce in the last year.  

Can't say that about HER!

I got a toy for being good.  It looks like a pillow, but it squeaks like a mouse. 

Then I had to watch the house.  What's it take for a girl to get a sick day around here?

Mom says I have a U.T.I. (whatever that is) and she wraps a pill in turkey tricks me into taking a pill every 12 hours. 

Uh oh.  Gotta go...    Gracie.