Postcards, Libby, and Eye Candy

I have two postcards to share in this post. I was doing the happy dance at the post office yet again, thanks to my bloggy friends Cinderita and Hey Monkey Butt.

The first postcard I got was from my friend Cinderita. She went out and found postcards that seemed to match the people she was sending them to, which is a great personal touch. You can tell she's put a lot of thought and care into each one she sent out. On the back she wrote about the Postcard Campaign is creating memories and ways to connect. I guess I am, Rita, I guess I am! Thank you Rita for the lovely postcard!

The other postcard is from Hey Monkey Butt, who resides in the southern part of the USA, in Georgia. Georgia is a beautiful state, I can say that from experience. And if you like Paula Deen, I believe she lives there, so you could, like, stalk her or something.

If your curious about the postcards, just head on over to the Campaign page to find out more. Basically it's a little thing I started last summer - a campaign of mailbox happiness. Too often we find that all we get in the mail is junk mail and bills. These postcards help bring a smile to your face and brighten up your day. If you'd like to join, please send me an email with your real name and address and your blog address and the name you go by on your blog. If you hurry you can be added to the list for July!

Now, a Libby update! As you know, she had surgery (yet again) on that poor left knee - third time's a charm, right? Anyway, Dr.'s J and R did the surgery where they put the pin in her leg to straighten it out - they had already cut a groove for the knee cap to sit, but since this leg hasn't been healing right and previous attempts have been botched, they wanted to do the pin surgery since the right leg is looking freaking awesome.

 Libby after getting home. Took her out on the front long and she rolled for 20 minutes!

I went to visit the little jail-bird the day she had surgery, which was a Monday (about a week and a half ago). I couldn't get over the hill Tuesday or Wednesday, but went to pick her up on Thursday after work. She was so happy to be free!  The doctors had decided to do an injectable antibiotic and pain meds, which are a lot easier. I switched to a liquid antibiotic to make things easier on me, and the pain meds could go under her tongue.

A week and a half in and she's doing great. I talked to Dr. R today since he was my vet over here in Sticksville today (and Dr. J thought he was allowed vacation so took off for two weeks), and he said the stitches can come out on Saturday, have it re-wrapped for another two weeks. Libby will head to Redding with me on my delivery route and I will give her back to my mother. Miss Harriet will be happy. She's probably tired of hissing. Although, I think Libby has finally learned that hissing does not translate to "Let's play!".

 Seriously, how does one so no to this face?! You cannot resist!

I wore the poor thing out today - took her to work with me at the Stickville clinic. Tied her to the desk where she could always see the action. Everyone thought she was adorable. She didn't get any real nap time today, because even in the afternoon when I was alone at the clinic while the vet was off on ranch calls, I let her off leash and she would just follow me around like, well . . . a puppy on a leash. LOL So she had a big day. As did I. I was working my butt off all freaking day. And sweating. Sorry, wait. I'm a lady, I was "glistening". What the hell, I was sweating. Our little clinic only has a swamp cooler in the lobby, and the cool air maybe gets to the reception desk but no further. So the rest of the clinic where I do all my work, is warm and muggy. And I have a fan back there but it doesn't do much.

My only consolation prize was that a young vet was interviewing for a job with our clinic and was with Dr. R today. Eye candy. He was a very nice guy, and couldn't really get him and Dr. R to shut up. Seriously, they were worse than two women gossiping! He earned brownie points in the late morning however, because I was trying to clean up the mess that Dr. R had left, and the mess was just killing me. I'm talking disaster area people. Anyway, Dr. Eye Candy actually offered to help! It is a rare day indeed when a veterinarian actually offers to help the tech clean. Considering he has no idea where anything is or where anything goes, it was nice of him to offer. I let him put away all the bandage materials for me, though. And he threw away some trash. Seriously, any vet that's willing to offer to help deserves a job in my book! Not to mention he was happy to step in and take my place assisting Dr. R if I needed to go up front or grab the phone. Again. Brownie points. Sorry folks, I didn't get a picture. I was too busy! If he gets hired, I'll take one for ya.

And now, stick a fork me - I'm done. It's time for bed. And Advil . . . 

It's a hodge-podge post

So apparently I pulled yet another disappearing act on you guys. Sorry about that. This past week  we were on deadline to get ads and stories done for the publication, plus I still have the third job at the vet's office. Yikes.

I will tell you guys that another reason I've been avoiding the internet a lot is I have had a lot on my mind. Lots to think over. So much so that I swear my brain is over heating and there's been steam coming out of my ears. Anyway, I can't/won't go into details yet, but my mind has been occupied.

Let's see, what's new?

Dr. J decided I needed to add "babysitter" to my list of things to do at the Sticksville clinic this summer on Wednesday's. A client of ours mentioned that her 13 year old daughter wants to be a vet and asked if she could volunteer. She looks all of 8 years old, I swear. Dr. J is great with her, though, letting her dissect naughty bits and explaining stuff to her. I'm rather impressed that she didn't get the least bit squeamish during our spays and neuters on her first day. She's a good kid, though.

Miss Libby is back in town. She's having surgery (again!) to re-do the original knee (again!!!). Dr.'s J and R both wanted to do the pin surgery on the first knee as even the second time around it didn't do what they wanted. But her right knee that has the pin in it is doing fabulous. Anyway, a few weeks ago, Libby decided to start digging at the left knee and created sores on her leg and of course, got it infected. She's been wearing the cone of shame for a month now. Dr. J got her on some antibiotics a little over a week ago, and it looks better. Libby is currently stashed at the main clinic in town and will have surgery on Monday morning, and hopefully this will be her last knee surgery. This makes 4 knee surgeries since last Thanksgiving. Poor little dog.

Dr. R showed up this morning to drop something off, and I believe it was the first time I'd seen that man in shorts. He got some skinny-ass legs! lol And he was gimpy. I looked him up and down and asked, "What the hell did you do to yourself now?!" He got a sheepish grin, shrugged, and said, "I think I pulled my hamstring or something. . . . yeah . . . I know." I told him that we couldn't leave him alone for a second because every time we turn around he seems to be hurting himself. For a recap: In January (I think) he had hernia surgery; in March (I think), he hit a deer and since he didn't have a gun and couldn't use the euthanasia solution on a wild animal, he cut its throat - only, all he had was a scalpel. The deer moved its head at the wrong time and Dr. R cut his extensor/flexor tendon on his left hand. In April he wrecked his vet truck by hitting a telephone pole. I later found out it was the one in his driveway. And now he goes and pulls a muscle. Men. Sheesh.

OH! Here's something good - I went on my first trail ride in 12 years last week. K's brother got a horse and he wanted to take him out. I got one of our older horses and went with him. Poor Cloud doesn't get off the ranch often, nor does she care much for being separated from her girlfriends, but she did good. And so did I for a girl who hasn't ridden in 12 years. It felt good to be in a saddle again. My only issue on the ride was that K's brother decided to do some hill work. Unfortunately, the hill was rather steep. Now, going up isn't a problem. It's going down where my fear of heights kicks me near an anxiety attack. And it was at that point that Cloud decided to get overly antsy and I will spare you guys the images that ran through my head. None of them ended well.  In the end, yes, my ass was a bit sore, but nothing that Advil couldn't take care of. And we all made it back to the ranch successfully.

I am making good headway through the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. OMG some of the stuff in these books sends me into fits of laughter. And no matter how many times I read over it, it's still freaking hilarious. I swear, I am so thankful I'm not a member of that family. Holy crap on a cracker they are freaking insane. But hilarious and I totally love them. I am just loving these books and can't get enough of them. I'm addicted. Is there such a thing as novel-aholics anonymous? Because I'm thinking I may need to join.

Oh, I did get to see my Dad for Father's Day, just a day early. 

Suckiness Be Gone!

Things have improved vastly since my last post. I have tried all kinds of things that people have suggested. And each one has worked at least once. The peanut butter worked only once. She's refused it ever since. Obviously not a fan. Cheese has worked a couple times. Leftover hamburger worked once. And her Pupperoni treats have worked today. 

I no longer feel like the worst person in the world. Those eyes still haunt me. And when I said they were worse than Puss N Boots, I sincerely meant it. Puss N Boots has got nuthin' on Libby. He could take lessons.

I have stopped the stool softener (which was too large to hide in anything), as she's been doing that at least once a day. Since it's a huge pain in my ass to give it to her, I won't, unless she stops pooping. Everything else I can hide; her liquid antibiotic is pretty easy. All in all, a much happier J.Day, and a much happier Libby.

She's back to her usual self, full of piss and vinegar. She wants to play and run around. Since her leg is bandaged with a splint, she can't use that leg too much anyway, so I've become a bit lax in the being let loose on the floor. I kind of block off my tiny living room so she can't run around too much. I took a quick video of her to share:


 

Today, I took her to work at the Sticksville clinic as Dr. J wanted to make sure her splint was holding up. I had about an hour to myself while the vet and our current two-week visiting vet student went out on a ranch call. I let her out to wander a bit. Mostly she just followed me around, wanting to play. So, here's an even quicker video of this morning:

 


Yes, that was her growling in the beginning. lol

So, all in all, things are better for both myself and Libby. Which is good, because I was thisclose to calling Dr. J on Monday and telling him I was taking the dog back over the hill to the clinic so they could be the bad guys. Luckily, that didn't have to happen.

And as you can see, Libby is full of energy and makes me giggle. And that's how it should be.

THIS SUCKS

Libby at lunch today. The vets actually put a pin in this leg to keep it straight, which is unfortunately another issue with her back legs. She's bandaged for a month. Kinda looks like a candy cane . . .
 

I gave Libby her meds this evening. By myself.

It turned into a 15 minute torture fest.

I have a total of 3 pills to give her - Tramadol for pain, Previcox for pain and inflammation, and stool softener because Tramadol will plug you up like there's no tomorrow. Dr. J has personal experience. With the stories to prove it.

I'll spare you.

You're welcome.

She also gets Cephalexin in liquid form - her antibiotic. This is the easiest thing to give her.

The Previcox is the second easiest, as it's beef flavored or something.

The stool softener is on the line.

Tramadol sucks majorly. It's truly bitter. And you try shoving a quarter of a tablet down a Yorkie's throat and see how easy it is for you. Alone.

You could shove that shit to her tail and she'll still spit it back up. Whole.

We used to put it in a hot dog and she'd eat it. Shake her head a lot, but she'd eat it. Then she started spitting it out. So my mom crushed and tried putting in a hot dog. Stopped working. My grandmother suggested butter. That worked for about two days.

Now the second you touch her face in the manner that you do when giving meds, she starts thrashing her head around and then progresses to something akin to an alligator's death roll.

Since this torture-fest, I've been getting the saddest little puppy dog eyes ever. Like, it beats Puss N Boots on Shrek.

Yep. I'm talking serious business.

I feel like I've severely hurt her feelings.

I feel lower than pond scum.

And I have a full 7 to 10 days of this.

I just finished day one.

This is going to be a long-ass week.

My blogging mojo is on vacay

My apologies for not having really been around much this past week. It's been a combination of a few things. Partly because I just haven't been inspired write even though I have several things I do want to write about. Partly because I have a family member in the hospital and it's a scary situation. And partly because I've brought my parent's dog, Libby, home with after delivering papers. She's having her right knee fixed this time 'round.

I've been trying to keep up with blogs, but sometimes y'all write so dang much I can hardly keep up! So if I haven't been commenting as usual, I apologize. 

I just dropped Libby off at the vet's office today, her surgery is Friday morning. I've had her at my place since Monday - much to my cat's dismay. My cat just really doesn't like dogs. Or other cats. She's a loner, really. Anyway, I have new pics of Libby:

 After we got home. Tuckered little traveling puppy.

Sharing a big bowl of homemade popcorn.

I took Libby to work Wednesday afternoon. I felt bad leaving her alone all day. Yes, sucker is written all over my forehead.

But you have to admit. She's one damned cute dog. Melt your heart kinda cute. It's disgusting, really.

A couple weeks ago, my parents had our dog, Katie, put down. She was 17 years old. It broke our hearts, but we know she's no longer in any pain, and that she's chasing tennis balls in doggy heaven. I plan on doing a nice post about her as part of the A-Z Challenge coming up in April.

 

Hopefully my blogging mojo will come back in full force. I'm hoping by next week, because I have lots of writing to do. I have stuff to continue to write for my grandparent's publication, and I have blogs I need to write - normal and get a head start on the A-Z Challenge.

Feaky noises, Libby, and horrible winter storms - Oh My!

I'm house-sitting for the H's tonight (my grandparents neighbors), and I'm completely freaking out. I've been out here two or three previous times, with no real mishaps, no horrific scary noises. However. Tonight is different. The minute I get out of my car, I hear these horrible screeching/squealing sounds. At first I was like, "OMG, who's there?!" Because the sounds almost resembled a squeaky belt on a car combined with squeaking wheels or something. Yeah, I realize my description suck, but you're just going to have to deal with it. Then I start thinking that perhaps it's just a screech owl. Another thought was something is dying. My scariest thought was that I was going to die some horrible Jurassic Park death from horrible monster-beast that was going to come crashing through the guest house. For a little while, this horrible sound was right by the side door into the guest house, which my bed sits right next to. It has stopped since I began writing.

But I'm still creeped out.

Now, I have a Libby update! I've been meaning to update y'all sooner, but I've been busy and had other posts that suddenly took precedent. If you're new here and have no idea who Libby is, please click here.

On, January 6th, Dr. J went back to re-fix Libby's knee. He put in a stronger suture around the knee-cap, which she broke the original, and also the suture to help realign her poor little leg. She stayed at the clinic for about a week or 10 days, with a cone on her head to keep her from getting at her stitches. It took a few days before she started setting her leg down, but she eventually did. I finally took her home to my house and begged Dr. J to let me take her on the road with me to visit her real parents while I delivered the publication. He agreed, so Libby got to go home for one night. Last Wednesday, Dr. R removed the stitches and had me put the dog back on the Tramadol (a bitter pain medicine) since she's still not using the leg. That worked for about two days. Saturday morning I took her to Town for Dr. R to watch her walk and get his opinion since Dr. J was out of town.

Dr. R and I had a nice discussion - he thinks we should just do surgery on the other leg. She's not really using either hind leg at this point, one because there's no support, and the other because it's possibly still painful. Oddly enough, if it was painful, she wouldn't let me stretch her leg out and rub the muscles. I did make a point of reminding him that after the first knee surgery, that Libby was in fact using that leg. I spoke to Dr. J today at work and told him the conversation I had with Dr. R, and he told me he's had similar thoughts. He also is worried that Libby is now just plain used to walking on her front legs (she's become an acrobat), and trying to fix that could become the next problem.

In the meantime, I had Libby until this past weekend, where I went back to Redding again, this time for a dentist appointment. I got Dr. R's permission to let Libby go home, and he thought we should try the Metacam instead of the Tramadol because that is so hard to get down her. Metacam is an anti-inflammatory/pain med and it's given via a syringe orally like a many antibiotics - which is much easier to get down her.

So, for now, our traveling acrobat, Libby, is at her real home with her real parents and my cat and I are happy to be back to normal. Until Sunday. My parents and Libby will invade to celebrate my birthday early, since I have to work on my birthday. They will also visit with Dr. J and maybe Dr. R to see what the options are at this point and to see what they would like to do.

So, here's a bit of what Libby and I did for a week together:

 Libby's first time at Lake Almanor

 Libby and I watching Princess Diaries. Don't remember which one . . . 

 Libby helping me at work.

We also had some very nice weather recently. The word "nice" is dripping with sarcasm. We finally got some good old fashioned winter storms. A week ago today (Wednesday), we had massive wind storms blowing snow off the mountain. It was not easy to feed that morning. I don't usually feed on Wednesdays because I have to be at work at the Sticksville clinic at 8am. However, K had to be on the road that day, so I covered for her. Needless to say, the wind nearly blew me and Papa D over a few times. I had to pull off whole bales at a time off the truck so the wind wouldn't blow all the hay away from the hungry cows.

 I know it may not look blustery, but believe me - it sucked. I had to take my work clothes with me and my hair dryer because I wound up being a sweatball under my hat. Miserable.

My pass was okay on Saturday morning - I headed out for work early because I figured it would be icy or still covered with a layer of snow or something. I was right. It tried snowing off and on all day in Town. It would cover the ground and melt away an hour or so later. And repeat all day. Until it was time to go home. Naturally.

As I started climbing the mountain more snow kept piling on road. I took a quick picture before it got really ugly.

 You can see by this picture that the road is completely covered and I was not so fortunate as to be able to follow in anyone's tracks. Well, not on my side of the road. About a mile ahead of this, visibility reached about 20 feet, and there had to be at least two to three inches of snow on the road. I only knew where the cliff was (directly to my right at all times), and where the mountain was (directly to my left at all times). What did not help matters once I started the real climb was that I had 200lbs of cattle mineral in my trunk for my grandparents. My car is front wheel drive only. Yeah. I'm really wishing now that I could have afforded the All Wheel Drive version of my car. Smalls got me home safe, although I was white-knuckling it the entire way.

The next day, Sunday, I caught a break in the storms and drove to Redding for my dentist appointment and to take Libby home. My pass was still splotchy, but way better than Saturday. The next two passes were clear, although it did start snowing over my third pass, Big Valley Summit. The snow got heavier and heavier as I made my way to Burney. My parents had texted me saying that Hatchet (my fourth and final pass) was clear. I got about half-way up the mountain and I thought, "um. this isn't clear".  Evidently, the CalTrans picture they were looking at was at least two hours old. As I reached the summit a snow plow pulled out and I gladly followed him a little more than half-way down the mountain.

 By the time I got to Redding, it was pouring down rain. But Monday was all sunny again.

Go figure.

Yet another phone convo, Libby update, and Postcard update!

Alrighty, so y'all remember the post I did the other day about the wonderful little phone conversation?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should check it out.

Would you believe that same gal called with the same question on the very next day?

Yep, I'm completely serious. And you could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard her name and her question. I politely replied, "Yes, you called yesterday afternoon about this and I told you I don't have any equine charts in your files." She said, "Hmm. That's so strange."

She had no freaking recollection that she had called me 18 hours earlier. Yeah.

NOW. I have a Libby update. 

I handed Libby off to my dad just before NYE, so that my parents could enjoy some quality Libby time. Dr. J had wanted to recheck her in 10 days, and technically it was supposed to be tomorrow (Friday), but Dad was in town on business, so I made an appointment for him today (Thursday). During dinner, Dad informed that Dr. J wanted to do surgery tomorrow morning. So Libby is now at the vet's spending the night, and supposedly, Dr. J will go in tomorrow to try to fix poor Libby's knee. He's going to try to realign her leg, as it's twisting for two reasons - 1. she was born that way, and 2. because of her little floating knee caps. If this surgery goes as planned, then in about two months she can have her right knee done.

It'll a long tough road for the Rat (aka Libby), but she's been such a trooper. Being shuttled between two houses and a vet clinic. But it will also be a long tough road for the humans involved because we're going to have to give her medicine again. That's gonna be a real bitch.

Ooooh. My poor cat. Her home is about to be invaded again. Poor little kitty.

NOW. I have a Postcard Campaign update!

In December I had let y'all know that it was Alex's turn to send out postcards for January. Unfortunately, she's unable to do that at the moment.  So now you should expect your postcards from:

The Cat and the Coffee Cup!

 

My Christmas

I do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I've been mostly out of commission for the better part of a week. Oddly I had full access to a computer to read blogs, but I was a wee bit busy, and I just needed a break. Christmas at my house went well. We all made out with some pretty good loot. We all spoiled Granny. It was our first Christmas without Granddad, which I know was hard for all of us. I made out with a couple of gift cards (whoohoo! shopping spree!), some new measuring cups/spoons, new pajama bottoms, a nice hat rack and a utility shelf for my laundry/mud room (trust me, I needed both! lol), a new coat, Part 2 of Deathly Hallows (I totally see a HP marathon in my future . . . Frisky, Jewels, Hazel - you up for it?? lol), a couple of necklaces, a nice hamper, and the big Santa gift was a 32" flat screen TV. I. Was. Floored.

Here's the funny bit. Christmas Eve, my dad at some point asked, "Do you know what Santa's bringing you?" I was completely sarcastic and goofy and said, "A flat screen TV?" I'm not sure how he kept his cool, considering it was hiding in the garage at that very moment. It's rare that Santa can shock me much anymore, but he did this year. I was so shocked, I actually started crying and repeating, "That's not what's in the box, right?" However, I cannot lift my TV as it's a 27" TV with a really big butt behind it. So my new TV is sitting in it's box.

I took Libby home for Christmas, and everyone adhered to the strict instructions of keeping her quiet. I was continuing her antibiotics and pain meds while at my parents house. K had suggested that I give her the pills in butter, because she's now anti-hot dog, which is how we were giving her the pills before. As gross as it sounds, it actually worked. For two whole days. By Monday night, she puked everything up, and that was it. She was supposed to be on the meds for 10 days, and it was like 9 days at that time, so I just said I was done with it. The last two times we gave her the pills, I wound up with dog slime all over my clothes. This dog is the absolute worst at taking any kind of medication. My cat is better. And her teeth and claws are ten times sharper. But, she is doing better. She uses the leg once in a while, but I've discovered it depends on the surface. Like she doesn't like my backyard, but she'll use it on concrete, the carpet, and gravel/rock. Weird. I brought her back with me so Dr. J could take a look at her, and hopefully decide to go back in to put that anti-rotational stitch back in next week. No such luck. He wanted to give her another 10 days and check on it again. So, tomorrow I'm meeting Dad and doing the Libby hand-off so she can be home for a week. He'll be back up here on business at the right time, which turned out perfect. Poor little dog. I did get the evil eye a few times, as one of my parents would have the dog in their laps and she wouldn't sit still and kept trying to get to me. Yeah. I think the dog is starting to get a little too attached to me. Mom keeps saying I'm getting attached . . . .

 I'm not seeing that at all. Nope. Not me.

Oh, I did try my very first peppermint latte on Christmas Eve, thanks to one of the techs. Here was the result of my taste test:

Definitely not a coffee drinker. At. All.

The day after Christmas I got to have lunch with two friends. After lunch one friend had to get back to watch her daughter while other family members ran errands. So my BFF and I hung out the rest of the afternoon. It was awesome. It had been right around six months since we'd seen each other. I'm so happy for her - she finally got a job after months of searching. She finally gets good benefits, retirement, her own office, the whole nine yards. We talked and talked and then talked some more. Oh and we hugged.

Libby Update

Alright folks, here's the 4-1-1 on my mom's little Yorkie, Libby. (if you need reminders of Libby and her situation please go here and here.)

Dr. J called me about 8am today to let me know what was going on. He's kept her at the clinic since Monday when Mom stopped in to have him look at it. He told me that she's using her leg a little, but that he really wanted to keep her until the infection goes away and the inflammation goes down so that he can figure out what's going on and what to do about her knee. He asked how Mom would handle that. I just sighed and told him she missed her dog, but that I would talk to her. He then asked me when I was going home for Christmas to which I replied, on Saturday after work (we work until noon on Christmas Eve). He told me I could take Libby home on Saturday but that he really wanted me to bring her back. I had really been hoping he'd bring Libby over with him today (Wednesday) so that she could stay at my place until I went home this weekend. No such luck.

I got off the phone with Dr. J and called Mom. Considering she had sent me a text at like 6:30 a.m. saying "You bring my puppy home NOW", she didn't like what Dr. J told me. She understood his reasons, but she misses her dog. I knew me relaying the information would probably bring her to tears, and I hate seeing or hearing my Mom cry. Because it makes me cry. I can't handle it. But even though she misses her dog, she understood why Dr. J wanted to keep her and that in the end, it would be best if she stayed up here.

During the day at the Sticksville clinic, Dr. J told me again how upset he is that Libby's recovery hasn't gone as planned. He feels horrible that this is going on, and wants to make it right. One of the tech's called during the day and relayed an update to Dr. J and it was: Libby was using her leg a little bit, she pooped this morning (which is a good thing because all the medicines she's on can make her constipated), they gave her some fluids, but she's not really eating much. I told them that she'd been eating pretty well at home, so it might be that she's just upset about being in a strange place.

Before Dr. J left for the main clinic around 5 p.m., I asked him how much it was going to cost keeping Libby at the clinic all this time. He shrugged and said, "Nothin'. Maybe just enough to cover cost, but, don't worry about it."

He called me during dinner, after having just checked up on her. He told me that she's using the leg a little still, but that he figured out it was the anti-rotational stitch he put in that she broke. Here's what went down: A few days to a week after her knee surgery, she jumped off a chair before anyone could get to her. It was then that things started to slowly unravel. He and I have been able to piece this together - when she jumped off the chair, she must have broken the stitch. The suture then must have started irritating her because that's about the time she started digging into her sutures, thereby getting it infected and inflamed. He was able to pull the stitch out, because the swelling had pushed the suture up to where it was visible in her open wound. That and it was loose, which it shouldn't have been. The reason for the anti-rotational stitch was two fold: first, to keep that knee cap in place; second, to prevent her lower leg from turning inward (in a sense, making her bow-legged).

He then gave me two options to relay to my parents. Option 1 is to go back in (once the swelling has gone down and the infection is gone) and put that anti-rotational stitch back in. I offered the idea of keeping her leg bandaged after that operation and keeping the Cone of Shame on her so it limits her mobility so she won't go jumping off furniture. When I asked how much that would cost, Dr. J told me he'd do it at cost, for about $100. (realize that "at cost" includes covering anesthetics, suture material, bandaging if needed, and medicine - and still that would be coming off cheap). Option 2 is to find a city vet who will charge an outrageous amount to do a procedure that I can't remember the name of, but basically they would put a pin in the leg to keep it straight and keep that knee cap in place. (Unfortunately, my vets don't do that procedure here). Dr. J said that if my parents chose this option he would write them a $300 check (refunding half of what the original surgery and medicine cost).

After dinner I called my parents and talked to them about these options. Of course, this brought Mom to tears again, which of course triggers a chain reaction. While my parents hate the fact that Libby is in a strange place, they know it's where she should be. They've chosen option 1. Mom is afraid that Libby will forget who she is. Well, we all know that's not possible. Dogs never forget their parents.

Tomorrow (Thursday) morning I'll call Dr. J and let him know, and I'm going to try to drive over the mountain tomorrow and visit Libby. I'll take her some treats, and maybe see about finding some of her food in a store and see if she'll eat that away from home.

We (my parents and myself) want to thank you again for all your love and support and good wishes towards Libby. We all want her home as soon as humanly possible, but realize that might take some time. Please keep our little dog in your thoughts and please continue to send some good mojo her way.

I will keep you guys updated as I know stuff.

Postcards and Thank You's

With everything else going on, I nearly forgot to send out a bloggy thank you to my friend Jewels for the postcard she sent this month. She hand-made hers, which I think rocks and makes them super-cool. I'm so not that talented!

If you're curious about the postcard campaign, there's a link at the top of the page. It's all about spreading some simple yet wonderful mailbox happiness. Seriously, who doesn't love getting something besides junk mail and bills? To sign up, shoot me an email with your information, and that's all you need to do. Each month I announce the next blogger on the list who gets to send out postcards for the next month. For those of us that receive the postcards, we write up a little thank you in a post, include a picture of the postcard if you wish, and also link to them and me. But . . . it's time to announce the next sender! For January, the next blogger to send out postcards is:

Alessandra over at The Life and Times of A. Nighbert

(I will send you the addresses on January 1st)

Also, for those participating in the Postcard campaign, you also found a little something extra in your mailboxes this month. I sent out Christmas cards to everyone on the list, and most of you guys have already sent me messages thanking me. I just wanted to send you guys a little extra thank you for joining me in the crazy idea I had this past summer. Without you, it doesn't exist. I am enjoying it immensely, and I hope all of you are, too.

And before I forget, my mother wanted me to tell all of you who have commented on the post about Libby's infection THANK YOU. Thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers, and good mojo. Please keep it coming in hopes that our little Yorkie can walk normal again.

I think Libby may need some Christmas Mojo

I had a crazy day on Saturday, yet I can hardly recall it. Saturday Mom showed up with Libby for Dr. D to take a look at her leg. She showed up just before lunch, because we were going to have lunch before the appointment at 1:15. Dr. D took a look at it after lunch and found it to be infected. He wrapped it up and refilled the pain meds, the anti-inflammatory meds, and put her on a stronger antibiotic. After work was our office Christmas dinner at the Italian restaurant in town, and Mom was my plus one. I invited her because she didn't get to come up for Libby's surgery after Thanksgiving, and I knew she could use a girl's weekend. The dinner was good and we had a good turnout.

Sunday, my grandparents had given me the day off, so I promptly slept until 10am. Mom and I baked cookies - oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, and frosted sugar cookies. YUM!!!! Mom and I also had a little flour fight and . . . 

And I totally won. ;o)

Today (Monday), I went to work over the hill to help with inventory. And let me just say, I'm sooooo over this whole counting thing. I was on my feet for 8 hours, probably walked 5 miles - I'm POOPED. Anyway, Mom brought Libby in for Dr. J to see her. He didn't like the way it was looking, and he does wonder if she's having a reaction to the suture. See, to help keep her knee cap in place, he ran a non-dissovable suture around the knee cap and secured it to a bit of knobby bone on the femur. He's only had one dog in his experience that had a reaction to that suture. However, Libby has not been a very good patient. She managed to dig at the surgery site and tear out a suture. We're hoping that's the infection - external rather than internal. But it ain't pretty folks.

Dr. J asked that Libby stay close for the week so he can monitor her leg. My mom was near tears leaving Libby. Later in the afternoon, Dr. J asked me to leave Libby at the clinic and if it looked like it was starting to heal he'd bus her over to Sticksville on Wednesday. We re-wrapped her leg, and hopefully it will start to show signs of healing.

So I'm asking if y'all can send some good Christmas mojo out for little Libby so that her knee heals up and they don't have to re-do anything.

 

The goings on

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm too pooped to blog. But I'm attempting it anyway. I've been wanting to blog since this past weekend, but I've been busy. Okay, Sunday I admit I was lazy. Very lazy. My grandmother gave me Sunday off, and since it's pretty rare for me to get a day off from all three jobs, I did absolutely NOTHING. Well, minus a bit of laundry and some minor cleaning and decorated my Christmas tree. Other than that, I'm not sure you could have paid me to do much else. The minor cleaning and the laundry were only done because my butt went numb from sitting on the couch. And I had nothing to wear.

Anyway, here's what's been goin' on:

On Saturday, I got to job 3 in Town and saw we were booked solid with appointments starting around 9am. I had an hour so I figured I would decorate the office Christmas tree. I had noticed that the weekday girls hadn't had time to decorate it. Since the vet was out on an early ranch call between 8 and 9, I figured that would be my only time to get it done. So, here's my office masterpiece:

 It's kind of a lopsided little tree. And little really is the wrong word to use, as I had to use a chair to put ornaments up top. But it does have character. And I kind of enjoyed decorating it. I've never worked at a job that had a tree to decorate, so this was a first.

During lunch, Mom relayed some not-so-great news. Our old dog, Katie (she's about 17) had to be taken to the vet for some routine blood work to monitor her kidney function because she's on a nice cocktail of drugs. She doesn't like being touched much anymore, so getting her into a vehicle to get to the vet's office is quite the ordeal. During the exam, the vet discovered Katie has a tumor on her spleen. He gave her two or three months left with us, meaning this will be her last Christmas with us.

After work, I raced over to the one store in town that was selling Christmas trees. I had thought of buying my tree when I was in Redding at the first of the month, but I had bundles of the publication in my car, plus my Christmas and regular shopping and I figured my car was full enough. They had like 5 trees left on Saturday evening, and none of them were short. I usually get a little 3 or 4 footer, but I wound up getting a 6 foot tree. Yeah, it's the biggest tree I've ever bought myself. And my decorations are small - both in number and in size!

The tree literally took up my entire car. Like, I had the top of the tree sitting between the front seats. And when I got home, I had to figure out how to get in my house. It wasn't going to fit through the back door. Or the front door. (Obviously I did not think this tree through) I figured the sliding glass door was my best bet, right into my living room. So I hauled that 6 foot tree to the front porch, barely made it up the steps with the tree. And it still took me awhile to get the tree through the sliding glass door. Then I had to figure out my stupid Christmas tree stand. It was rather annoying with all these little screws. And let's face it, trying to get a 6 foot tree straight when you're the only person isn't all that easy. I now know from experience. I also must have eaten several pine needles and the branches tried to be super nice by combing my hair for me. I came out of the tree looking like I had stuck my finger in a light socket and was spitting pine needles for the rest of the night.

As I said earlier, my grandmother was super nice and gave me Sunday off, meaning I didn't have to be up at the butt-crack of dawn to go feed cows in the freezing weather. I slept for 12 blissful hours - waking up at 1oam Sunday morning. I decorated my tree and here's how it turned out:

Yes, those are very tiny ornaments on that tree. I discovered that I'm going to need some bigger ornaments (tasteful) if I'm going to wind up with such trees anymore. There's big hole in the back that has absolutely no ornaments because I ran out! Oh well. It gives it character, right? (please say yes)

On Tuesday I went to Town to the main clinic for the annual "Girls Luncheon". The office manager ordered pizza, and all of us girls bring a gift for a gift exchange. There are nine gals working in for the clinic, and the gal who runs the clinic in Big Valley also came. It was a nice lunch and we all got nice presents. The gift exchange went like this: we all drew numbers, and the person who drew #1 went first to pick a present, the person who drew #2 could either pick a present from the pile or steal the present #1 picked out. And so forth. Only one person stole a present. And never fear, the person who had the present stolen got to pick another present from the pile. Then I had to drive back over the mountain to work at my clinic for the afternoon and start on inventory. UGH.

Today (Wednesday), I had Dr. J talk to Mom about Libby - in the last couple days, she's stopped using her leg they did surgery on to fix her luxating patella on her left leg (floating or moving knee caps). Mom was concerned as Libby wasn't acting quite normal. Since Dr. J will be out of town for the rest of the week to be with his mother during a medical procedure, he wanted Dr. R to take a look at her, since he assisted with the surgery, so he knows the case. Dr. J found out that the pain pill supply has run dry and that's when her attitude changed, so he's thinking that she's playing the wussie card. They have enough of the anti-inflammatory/pain pills til the weekend. Dr. R won't be at the Big Valley Clinic like usual tomorrow, even though I'm trying to get ahold of him to see if he can pop by between cattle work or at least maybe okay a refill of the pain meds through the weekend. Either way, Mom is bringing Libby up on Saturday, but Mom said that Libby is already acting better after taking the anti-inflammatory medication.

Tomorrow (Thursday) I will probably have to work extra hours to finish the inventory at my clinic. I want to have it done so I can put it on the office manager's desk on Saturday. Plus next Monday I'll be going to the main clinic to help them with their portion of inventory so they can hopefully get it done faster.

Somewhere in there I've wrapped presents, have to write stories for the publication, and make sure my house is "Mom-Approved" by Saturday. Along with my normal feeding and work schedule. There are seriously not enough hours in the day. Tonight (Wed.) I was going to do house cleaning stuff, but I'm seriously pooped and I just needed to sit down. And blog. 

 

Libby's Knee Surgery

Meet Libby: the picture of cuteness. Or as I call her affectionately, "rat". lol

On Tuesday, my parents little Yorkie, Libby, underwent her first knee surgery. My parents found out from Libby's vet, whom my parents have been going to with our pets for over 15 years, informed my parents after they purchased Libby that she would have trouble with her knees. Toy breeds tend to have a problem with their back legs - their knee caps move. It's called luxating patellas. The vet then informed my parents that it cost $1,500 per leg.

I'll wait until you're able to replace the jaw that just dropped onto the floor.

Yes, you read that right. In total, it was going to cost my parents $3000 to fix Libby's knees. When Dad first heard that, he said, "I can live with a bow-legged dog."

Libby didn't start having issues with her knees until about a month or so ago, when my mom signed her up for puppy training class at the Petsmart in Redding. They evidently have a concrete/tile floor and Libby couldn't catch her footing on the floor. Suddenly, Libby's knee caps start moving. Once Dad witnessed it, he couldn't stand it. Neither  Mom. Neither could I. In the beginning the knee cap would right itself and she could use her leg. But she stopped jumping on everything (and everyone). She stopped trying to stand up on her hind legs. It eventually got so bad (in only a month) that her left hind leg (the worst one) wasn't usable. And the right one is barely usable.

Mom asked me if I could ask Dr. J at my vet clinic what it would cost up here for such a surgery. Obviously I said yes. So the next time I saw him, and I told him the problem with poor Libby's knees, and asked him what he would quote my parents. I also asked him if the clinic had done many surgeries on luxating patellas. He quoted $500 per leg, and said that they do several, and in fact had already done a few this year.

Did you notice the price difference? Perhaps an employee discount was wedged in there, but either way, my clinic was one third the price of the vet in Redding. Now, I'm not necessarily dogging the Redding vet because I used to work for him; he was my first vet clinic job. However, the price difference is outrageous.

I schedule the surgery date and Dr. J promised he would do it - bum arm and all (he's still in a sling after his quading accident). Dad drove up on Monday, and Dr. J popped in on his day off to not only load a shipment of cattle mineral, but to also so take a quick peek at Libby. I met Dad at the clinic, and Dr. J watched Libby walk around (by this time it was more like waddling), and felt her back legs and confirmed, "she has medial luxating patellas." Meaning, her knee caps had moved to the inside of her leg. He explained the surgery and even drew a diagram for us - which Dad took home to show Mom. Basically, the knee cap is supposed to sit in a small groove on the end of the femur (thigh bone). Libby's femurs don't appear to have that little groove, so those knee caps have nothing to help hold them in place. So what Dr. J was going to do was cut a groove at the end of the femur for the knee cap, and then run a stitch around the knee cap and tie the stitch to a bit of knobby bone that is there naturally to hold the knee cap in place permanently. Once that's healed up in about two months, she can have the other knee done.

Now he did say that Libby hasn't been in any pain, that it's a mechanical problem that a lot of toy breeds have developed. That because her knee cap has moved, the support structure doesn't work, so her leg can't be used to stand on.

Dr. J did the surgery on Tuesday morning, and called me just before 10am to let me know everything went well and to, "let your pops know". Libby stayed a total of two nights at the vet's office, and Dad picked her up this morning to take her home. As I type this, she's sitting on Mom's lap at home, and according to Mom, Libby does not like taking her meds at all. (She was sent home with a pain med and an anti-inflammatory med).

The bonus to Dad driving 3 hours to get Libby's surgery done for less? I got to have dinner with him twice.