Speed Dial

I can't believe that once again I have been so delinquent in posting. My readers have probably given up and quit checking......those few that I have :). Well, I have lots of reasons for not posting although you would think I would have more time to write since we are officially moved in. However, there have been several....um....complications. Namely, our computer that is still in the garage is not working. It comes on, but never loads....I would think it was BSOD (blue screen of death) except it is black NOT blue. Of course, I can't completely blame the lack of computer, where all my pictures are stored, because that happened only recently AFTER company had left. Speaking of company, we had a wonderful time although very busy. Will post some pictures of their visit later......back to the excuses. I have been having some trouble with my ears and they are very plugged affecting my hearing as well as giving me a headache in my efforts to hear. I did something very illicit one day after company had left on Tuesday and the work week had come to an end-I took a nap! and it lasted three hours. I NEVER do that, but I have to say it has its lovely advantages :) I felt much better and was much less grumpy. Just ask my kids and my hubby! So, on top of company, hearing loss, computer troubles and normal life, we have had numerous problems with our animals. It all started with our three pygmy goats, which are for sale in case you are interested, when one of them was bleating and bleating late one evening after they had gone to bed. Farmer Girl comforted him, hand fed him some grain and encouraged him to drink some water. He looked so poorly and sounded so horrible, I fully expected to find him dead in the pen in the morning. Surprisingly, he was better and cooperated fully with some much needed nail trimming. We also de-wormed them and all of them appear to be much better.
Soon after that, our lovely (doesn't he match my floor well?) Griffin, who loves socks, swallowed an entire knee sock! In one of his early morning chases through the house, he had grabbed one that Farmer Girl had left in the laundry room. I was able to retrieve it BARELY by sticking my hand into his mouth grabbing the last little bit with my pinkie and pulling the soaking wet sock out. GROSS. As I hurried to the laundry room to get rid of it, he streaked by me and grabbed the OTHER one on the floor. I yelled to The Scribbler to get her dog and the sock in his mouth. I wasn't doing it again. She ran after him-it's always a chase to corner him and usually takes two people. Once she reached him, she searched the interior of his mouth and asked, "Are you sure he got a sock because there is nothing there." We immediately Googled "What to do if your dog swallows a knee sock?" I knew we had two hours for it to reach his intestine due to research the previous week on "What to do when your dog eats chocolate?" :) Everything indicated we should take him to the vet and quickly. A quick call to the vet confirmed my suspicions so we jumped in the car, The Scribbler and I- with dog and without cellphone. No one knew we had left although my BIL figured it out when he read the question on the computer screen! :) Once we arrived, they whisked him away to an exam room while we waited in the waiting room. They administered something to make him throw up and soon we had another lovely sock to add to our growing collection. Farmer Girl said she would never wear those socks again. I think she all ready has! We are hoping she NEVER leaves her socks out again and, having to pay for this escapade her- self, she has learned her lesson.

The saga continues......when we moved into the house and then company arrived, our dear Charlemagne, ran and hid. He stayed hidden the entire time company was here. He either slept hidden in the covers of my mom's guest bed or in Farmer Girl's bed OR inside the couch. About five days after they left, I found some blood in the hallway. After this discovery, Charlemagne proceeded to spit up a number of times on both beds. So, once again, we hurried to the vet's office at their urging. I think I will put their number on SPEED DIAL. :) We left him there for an exam as they were too busy to see us and we had an afternoon obligation. Later that afternoon, she called and said his exam was benign (meaning they couldn't find anything) and perhaps he had had difficulty with a hairball and had caused some capillaries in the throat to burst. She asked us to watch him and return if he worsened. We brought him home, he continued to hide and we continued to find spots of blood under the bed, under the couch and in the hallway. It didn't really look like spit up since it was simply "drops" of blood. On Thursday evening, we noticed continued weight loss and crusty blood on his nose. On closer examination, Farmer Girl discovered an odd ridge under his mouth and jaw. It was rigid like a tendon or something. I called...... you guessed it...the vet and we took him the following morning. It wasn't until later in the day, when she called to say she had no idea what the ridge was and needed to sedate him to do a closer exam and possibly do an x-ray. She called again to explain two problems to me. One, the mysterious ridge was a needle! but she would be able to remove it simply she thought. The bigger problem was the hole in the soft palate created by the needle. This needle explained all the symptoms-the bleeding, the hiding, the lack of eating etc. This would not be such an easy fix, but would require surgery and stitches. Surgery lasted about 30 minutes. Once she debrided it, the hole was much larger than anticipated. She had to pull a flap from further down his throat to cover the hole between his mouth and nasal passage. She is very worried about dehiscence-where the the stitches pull and come out leaving behind dead tissue, making the hole bigger. I am not sure what the solution would be if that were to occur. In the meantime, we brought him home with a "cone of shame"on. He seems happy, purring all the time (you would be too if you had a needle stuck in your mouth, up through your tongue and into the roof of your mouth that had been removed). He is on pain medication and pureed food and we are keeping him quiet in Farmer Girl's room. It is post op day 3 and he seems to be recovering although very slender and not eating very well. We are praying he continues to improve as we love him and his eccentric ways and would miss him much.

Oh, I almost forgot, in the midst of all that, Griffin paid another visit to the vet too. We don't know how it happened, but his back left paw nail was bent backwards and bloody after being in the yard one afternoon. After a quick visit to our vet where she trimmed it to the quick and bandaged it up, he too wore the cone of shame for two days. He limped around, looking miserable for two days, but seems to be recovered and back to himself. Bob just asks us to stay away from the vet for at least a week! He is beginning to think he is working to pay vet bills! We are also beginning to think Murphy has moved in to our spare room and now everything is going wrong. (did I mention the car repairs?)
Anyway, this was a lengthy post and I have many more to share on another day. God bless, Ellie~
Please continue to pray for our Charlemagne. He spit up a bit of blood tinged saliva and isn't well at all.........