What! A! Weekend!

Wow...
Thursday was our anniversary and hubster and I had planned a pretty packed few days.
The itinerary went a little like this:

Thursday - drive with pupster to nh where hubster had an engagement that would last a couple hours and then we would spend the night at a lovely (and pet friendly - woohoo) bed and breakfast - http://strathaveninn.com/ (highly recommend)

Friday - drive home, paint some pottery (the gift I asked for this year), and go see recycled percussion (my gift to hubster)

Saturday - hubster would work and pupster and I would go for a nice walk before hubster and I would go to another of his shows

Sunday - hubster was going to an acapella concert with friends while I was staying home

---what happened??---

Thursday - pupster was clearly in pain so I brought him to the vet - they changed his food and diagnosed him with pancreatitis. We still took him to nh (hubster had to go and he was stable so...)

Friday - as planned except we skipped pottery (I wanted a walk after a two hour drive and hubster wanted a nap)

Saturday - well it started as planned hubs off to work, pup and I off to walk... And all hell broke lose! He started gagging and we jumped in the car to the vet, on the drive there my little friend stopped breathing. A minute (or ten million hours) later he started again. We made it to the vet and he had another episode. He had emergency surgery and ought to be well! The rest of the night was spent with me staring at his chest for a heartbeat and breath...

Sunday - more of the same.

Today, I called and had to cancel all my appointments for the next week (while he's on these meds he can't be left alone)

I'm grateful that I can stay with him BUT I am wary that no therapy or gym time is going to leave me crazy...
Thinking this might be a good week to look into future ideas - self improvement.. Yoga teacher training maybe???

+++what is your wish for your future?+++

PS those pics are from
(tree) an hour before everything happened
(me) five minutes post surgery
(blurry) in car after release
(quilt) this morning
It was indeed a crazy 24 hours

Wordless Wednesday

Typical text to the hubster explaining a walk with the pupster

On dogs and such

We are considering getting pupster a pup of his own. The rescue league let me know to expect ~$300 a year in costs... I choked (back the laughter). Pupster costs monthly:
$45 (insurance)
$25 (average of vet bills)
$60 (dry food)
$33 (wet food)
$20 (treats)
$70 (grooming he's a poodle)
$10 (average of toys and clothes)

Ummm that's $263 A MONTH -

however when you add in what a simple pat on his head does to my mood, or the fact that his calming breath can stave off a panic attack, that his high 5 can count as my greeting and will often get me to places I wouldn't go I am pretty sure that he is saving me money. Sure I go to therapy multiple times a week but I'd probably be in patient or worse if I didn't have a great friend who doesn't judge and who kisses my tears away....

+++are you a pet person? Do you see their value in therapy?+++

This one time...

Yeah so the other night hubster and I were watching tv and pupster kept looking at me. And then looking to his right and then staring me down. I was laughing at him asking if Timmy had fallen into the well... Finally I decided to wrestle with him thinking that's what he wanted and as I pushed him playfully I felt it a peanut sized lump at the base of his jaw... To say I freaked isn't quite descriptive enough.

But, ironically as soon as I knew what was going on and in charge (as much in charge as you can be when you call the emergency vet and they say wait until morning because they won't be able do anything at midnight - and call his breeder who tells me to relax get some rest and deal with it in the morning) pupster relaxed he put his head on my lap and fell asleep.

I called his vet at 7:31 the next morning (they open at 7:30) and had a 10:00 appointment (with his favorite vet at the practice) after a biopsy to rule out cancer and rule in what it was (a highly swollen lymph node) pupster was diagnosed with his second major battle with Lyme disease... He has a lowered immune system because of having gotten it so young the first time (4 months) and so is more susceptible... I left the vet with a new round of meds and positively jovial... Perspective huh? Anyone else finding out their dog has Lyme would probably be sad but me? I heard its not cancer!

+++do you have a pet? Do you have it insured?+++

(ps pupster is insured but not against Lyme)