But really, we have been nearly drowning over here in real-life drama.
T was trying to get his last-minute papers done this last week and the computer died. Thankfully, we just bought a netbook for him to use but he was writing it on the lappy since the documents he needed were all on there. It was doing so well, too! Then, nothing. Couldn't even get the thing to turn on in safe-mode.
OSU was able to get his paper off the hard drive, but he wasn't done so he turned it in three days late. Not exactly something he wanted...and that's not even the worst of it!
Saturday morning I woke up because I heard a rustling sound. I sat up in bed, confused and still mulling over the last remnants of my dreams, when I saw Lucy trying to get behind the open door in our room. I watched, concerned and lost in a haze of sleep, and then she started heaving. I leaped out of bed, heroically scooped her up and plopped her in the bathroom, where she continued to heave and vomited green foamy bile. I stood there over her, watching, helpless. When she was finished, she gave me this look that said something along the lines of "I hurt!" so I watched her for a little while longer and then she had the WEIRDEST excrement...it was semi-normal-shaped and reddish and goopy. I cleaned it up, went to make coffee to shake the exhaustion of the week when I noticed she was trying to poo again, this time by the front door. I walked over to see her and saw drips of blood where she had been attempting to poo. She looked up at me again with that "I hurt!" look and the first thing I did was swear. Then I cleaned it up. Then I frantically started searching for emergency veterinary clinics here in Columbus. On my first search, I found 4 clinics and I called them in order of location. The first one was double-booked and only open from 9am to noon (it was about 9:20 or so by this time). The second one I called wasn't open weekends at all. The third one was booked as well (also open 9-12). The receptionist was a little nicer on this call and I asked her if I needed to bring her in at all. She asked me if her vaccinations were up-to-date. I said no...I missed two booster shots. She tells me it might be an upset tummy or parvo. I thank her and immediately Wiki-search Parvo.
Canine Parvovirus.
I read through it and started to feel my anxiety rising. My stomach started churning and a knob began rising in the back of my throat. I called the fourth place and they not only were open later (8pm) but also had available appointments. I booked her for 10:30 and then I went into the bedroom and woke T, saying "Sorry to wake you, honey, but Lucy has to go to the vet." He'd only been asleep for 3 hours so he was groggy and confused. I explained what happened to him a couple times until he understood the full spectrum of what I was saying. We were clothed and ready to go and got here there at about 10:20. I filled out paperwork while Lucy was exploring the lobby of the vet clinic. The receptionist was very kind and got us all registered right away. We were escorted into a room by a nice technician who Lucy took a liking to immediately. She had asked me to bring her a stool sample...I had already cleaned up everything off of the floor. Right before we left, I saw she had a piece stuck in her fur (gross, I know) and I decided to leave it there as my sample. The nurse chuckled and said it would do. They tested her for three different things. I don't even remember what the other two were because the Parvo test came back positive. Thankfully she was at the very beginning of the infection so they were able to admit her and get her started on IV fluids and medication right from the start. She did very well for the first three days of hospitalization, then she took a downturn. Her white blood cell count on Saturday was 13. On Tuesday it was 3. Tuesday we had to leave for a wedding we were both involved in so it simply could not be helped that we weren't able to be there during her tough times. We were sitting in the Atlanta airport, stressing about it. Knowing there wasn't a single thing we could do to help her. We prayed there, we sent out mass texts to have others pray, and we waited.
Wednesday she was not really any better. She wasn't worse, but she wasn't better. The wedding festivities ran all the way until Thursday night and although I was very tempted to come home (and do what? They wouldn't let me near her due to her incredible contagiousness.), I just couldn't imagine ditching my close friends to sit at home. Thursday morning we got good news...she ate a tiny bit of catfood. We were thrilled!! It made the rest of they day VERY enjoyable and I drank Tequila Sunrise after Tequila Sunrise in celebration. We went to the wedding, we danced the night away at the reception and we didn't worry too much about anything for the first time in a week.
Mmmm...looks so good! I think I had four of these...I apparently can hold my tequila!!
Flights coming home were a DISASTER. We tried to get on a 1:30pm flight to MSP to spend the night with Trygve's parents but we missed the plane (it was full anyway). So we sat in the Denver airport and tried to get on every flight to MSP from there. Apparently they had been having massive technical failures with planes belonging to United Airlines so passengers kept getting bumped to later and later flights. That of course meant we were unable to get on any flights to MSP on Friday night. The next available option was Saturday morning at 6:25am. Meaning we weren't going anywhere.
Meaning we were staying the night at the airport.
Let me just say that between the bright lights and the guy on the riding vacuum cleaner, we didn't get much sleep. We got two of the last four seats on the 6:25am flight to MSP and hopped over to our gate to get to Columbus. I saw the screen, it said 6 seats were open in first class and 9 seats were open in coach. We were the only two listed for standby so we were DEFINITELY getting on. I felt so relieved! I hadn't showered, washed my face or brushed my teeth or changed my clothes since Friday morning. We were upgraded to first class (what a great way to end such a crazy flight schedule home!) and then we ended up sitting on the tarmac for just over an hour. When we left the gate, we were 25th in line to take off...at least we were waiting in style! I had forgotten what it was like to enjoy the perks of first class.
We landed about an hour later than we expected, got our luggage, got in our car, dropped off the luggage, and picked up Lucy. We were sent home with three medications for her and instructions to call the vet immediately if she vomits or has diarrhea.
The problem with dogs eating catfood is that the catfood is very high in fat and oil so it kind of...well, seeps out. And so for the last few hours I've been cleaning Lucy's bottom with soap and water and tying a makeshift diaper on her bottom.
OTHERWISE, she's doing pretty well. She ate a few bites of kibble and ate an entire bowl of chicken and rice. Inhaled, more like it! She's uncomfortable at the moment due to the seepage and the diaper and probably because her system is processing things for the first time in a week. I gave Lucy her meds for the evening and she is all set for sleepytime! I just hope we can get a normal-ish poo out of her before the weekend is over and I have to go back to work.
Still praying...
Oh, and we found shit-tons of mold in our apartment. It was in my clothing, in my dresser, under pillows, everywhere. And that's just the master bedroom. We found it in the bathroom as well. We will search the second bedroom in a few days here and we definitely need more bleach.
Too tired...recapping these things is stressing me out. I need a mudslide. TTYL.
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