Friday, January 14, 2011

The end of a long week

Jamie got home last night about 7 p.m. He was sleepy from the anesthesia but he was hungry, too, which is good.

He's on several different meds. At this point, we're just treating the symptoms until biopsy results come back (hopefully by middle of next week) and the vet(s) can formulate a plan for treating/managing whatever is going on in his gut. I'm not setting myself up for tragedy but I'm not expecting miracles either. It is what it is.

I finally sat down and made a list of what meds he takes and when he should take them. One of them (to calm the stomach) needs to be given 30 minutes before another one (which coats the stomach, helping it heal but preventing much absorption of any other meds given at the same time), which needs to be given three times a day, one hour before or two hours after eating. Plus two different antibiotics, which thankfully can be given together. It practically required an algebraic equation to get it all calculated and you know how good I am at math. There's a reason I write for a living!

Everyone had a good night's sleep and the Farmer has been pressed into the 2 p.m. medication distribution today, with careful instructions. Jamie could probably tell him which bottle to open and where to get the squishy treats to hide the pill in.

Jamie is now a top contender in the Tervuren With Horrible Haircut contest. He has shaved "anklets" on all four legs from IVs and blood draws, a bare tummy from the ultrasound and I'd whacked off his britches (an excellent idea in spite of the aesthetics and it made life much easier for both of us). He's got more bald spots than a Rogaine convention.

When I picked him up last night, the vet techs had thoughtfully wrapped his tail to keep it clean during the scope and for any post-procedure "leakage." It was bright pink vet wrap. Trust me when I say it's a startling look.

Phoenix has gotten away with some very outrageous behavior this week, mostly because I haven't had the energy or discipline to enforce the usual rules. Malinois are sure rules can change at any moment and should be tested frequently. He has helped me fix every single dog meal with his paws on the counter and at this rate, it's only a matter of time before the whole dog is up there. If you give him an inch he takes a mile.

When Jamie and I got home last night, I noticed there were socks scattered over the entire house. They were dirty socks out of the laundry hamper in the bathroom, which is usually open in spite of the obvious risk. When I asked Jeff about it, he rolled his eyes and said, "Your dog has been hauling socks since you left."

Cute huh? At our house, we talk about hauling cattle, hauling hay, hauling manure and hauling grain. Guess Phoenix was just being a farm dog. I've noticed he does this when he's anxious or bored. He just carries them around from place to place, never chews them, just re-purposes and re-distributes them. When he's getting a lot of attention and regular training and when life is not a stressball, the dirty socks generally stay where they belong.

We are all looking forward to a quiet weekend and THANK YOU EVERYONE for your continued e-mails, comments and phone calls. It means a lot to me and it would to Jamie, too, if he could read. Which I'm not entirely sure he can't.

6 comments:

  1. Paws still crossed with all of you in our thoughts -

    As I know from the tales Khyra's Tervuren pals Eva and Brice share with her, life with Belgians is 'fun' - but then again, life with Siberians is never boring either!

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  2. Yeah! Glad he's home... now I really hope you took a picture of the new and improved vet wrapped and trimmed Terv!

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  3. I'm glad to hear he's home. Since I have an "accountant" type brain - I had a spreadsheet for all the meds Jazz had to take after two knee surgeries. Jazz is a furniture mover when left to his own devices. He takes dog beds, sofa cushions, blankets and puts them neatly in the middle of the back yard. Sometimes he sleeps on them. Used to be OK - now if I don't notice right away - Coach goes out there and eats them. Oh well - it's always something. Take care of yourself and the Belgians.

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  4. SO glad everyone is home where they belong, even without all the answers in hand yet. With a chart and a plan, you can handle anything, come what may. Hugs to your slightly less furry furball...

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  5. I'm so glad he's home! That sounds horrible about the way they described his stomach lining. Please tell Jamie I'm thinking of him and hopes he gets well soon.

    As for the medicine, want to help me out at work some day? Lol. Sometimes we'll get orders that say things like, "The patient is 112 kg. (They don't even convert it to pounds for us). They need 20 ml of Potassium every hour, piggy backed with 8.5 mg of Zofran" and we have to convert everything to one order, and then mix the ingredients in IV bags and figure out the drip rate to give them the correct dosing per hour. Drives me craazyyyy.

    Hope you guys have a nice weekend together! Give Jamie a big hug for me please. Even though we haven't met and I'm just his creepy online stalker.

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  6. Poor Jamie has a modified poodle cut! We've got our paws crossed that the test results come back as something manageable.

    Maybe if you teach Phoenix to sort whites and colors, he'll start to do the laundry for you. When he's bored, Brice takes the dishes out of the sink, "washes" them and stacks them neatly on his dog bed.

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