Brush Em Finished and Doggy Drama

Yes, it’s finally finished. I should have had it done more than a week ago, but I had a lousy week and didn’t put in a single stitch. Fortunately, we had our monthly stitching night on Friday, sponsored by my LNS (Strawberry Sampler), so I had an excuse to get out of the house for a while and do some stitching. Unfortunately, I ran out without the backstitching color, so I ran out about 20 stitches shy of completion. I sewed on all of the tooth charms, though, so it was all ready for me to put those last stitches in the next day.

My framing order was also finished by Friday and one of the girls from the shop brought both pieces with her so I wouldn’t have to go to the shop to pick them up. Wasn’t that nice? I’ll take pics once I hang them up. I think I actually have spots for both of them. However, this post is about a happy dance, so here is Hinzeit’s Brush Em:

I talked to another shop gal Friday night about doing a frame for it, so I’ll take it in at the end of the month and we’ll go over what I want. It should be ready to go by the beginning of November, no problem. Even if the framer is still backed up from the May framing sale. Someone told me that they had over 300 pieces come in as a result of that sale. I do not envy the framer! She does really lovely work, though.

So, what’s up with the doggy drama, you may ask? Well, at least those of you who didn’t see my Facebook status updates a couple of days ago. Our poor miss Abby started throwing up Wednesday night. I didn’t worry too much at first because Lily had a similar stomach upset a couple of months ago and all we had to do was withhold food and water overnight and then she was fine. No such luck with Abby, though. We withheld food and water overnight with her, but the next day, she was still throwing up. After she threw up her dinner an hour or so after eating it, I finally called the vet and talked to the vet on call. She had us keep the food up and try giving her some Pepto Bismol. Unfortunately, all I had were the chewable tablets. We cut them up and tried to feed them to her in cheese (after she refused to take them plain). She ate them, but then threw them up about an hour later. I tried again and the same thing happened. So, we gave up and I called the vet first thing the next morning to try to get an appointment. There was only one doctor in that day (the one who was on call the night before, fortunately), so we had to drop her off in the morning. A couple of hours later, the vet called me to talk to me and see what was going on. We went over what had transpired since I had last talked to her and she decided to do some x-rays. An hour or so later, she called again and said that the x-rays showed significant inflammation in her intestines. She wanted to do a couple of more things, including a barium swallow to make sure there was no blockage anywhere. Poor girl, I had to do one of those a couple of years ago and it was NOT FUN. The vet was wonderful about keeping me up to date and running any procedures she wanted to do past me first. After she told me that she wanted to do the barium swallow, she asked if I wanted an estimate. I said no. I mean, I’m not going to skimp on the dog’s healthcare, so it doesn’t really matter what it costs, honestly. It’s hard to fathom that people would choose to withhold proper diagnosis and treatment of a pet because it’s expensive.

Anyway, Terry stopped by to visit with Abby at the vet and get an update on his way home from work. The vet actually took him back to see her and showed him the x-rays, talking about what she had found and what they were going to do moving forward. She was hooked up to an IV and had a catheter in, but Terry said she was calm. They actually kept her overnight, which was hard for us. I think that it was even harder on Lily. She’s not used to not having her sister around. When I loaded Abby into the crate Friday morning to go to the vet, Lily hopped in with her. They always travel together in the same crate, so Lily did not understand at all when I dragged her out of the crate and closed the door. Once Abby was gone, she went around the house looking for her and whining a little bit. She settled down, but Terry reported that she was quite upset when he had to leave her alone while he took me to the stitching get-together. She was so excited when we brought Abby home Saturday morning, she was jumping all over her and getting in her face. I actually had to keep her away from Abby until she calmed down because Abby was still a bit sluggish and a little off. By Sunday morning, though, she was all bright-eyed and bouncy. It was such a relief to have her home and feeling better.

We have all sorts of meds to give her for a few days while her intestines heal, which has been difficult for me to keep straight. She has one that coats in the insides of her intestines and we have to give it to her an hour before she eats or gets any other medication. I’m having a hard time keeping on top of everything, but it’s only for a couple of more days.

So, that’s our latest doggy drama. We still have no idea what caused the inflammation. I guess we’ll have chalk it up to some sort of bacteria. All that really matters is that she’s feeling better! And I have to admit that, while the bill put me off a bit, I am continually amazed at how much cheaper veterinary care is compared to human health care. Abby’s barium swallow only cost $330, whereas I don’t even remember how much mine cost, but it was probably easily 10 times as much.

I am very grateful for a clinic full of competent vets and caring technicians, all of whom care for my beloved girls as if they were their own.