What Happened

The truth is, I don't know exactly what happened.  I have been home alone today replaying yesterday's events over and over again and I can't for the life of me figure out why my sweet Minnie isn't here with me today.  Today has been quiet.  This morning the sound of the sky crying with me is all I could hear. First, thank you for all the kind words today.  The calls, texts, comments, and emails have been so nice.  I know I haven't responded to anything but I have read them all more than once.  I just don't know what to say back.  I took the time to write that last post last night not for sympathy, but because after the hypothyroidism and surgery posts, I didn't want anyone to ask me how she was doing.  I thought it might be easier to write it once than to have to say it over and over again.

As for yesterday's events, they were pretty bad.  I left work at 2:30 to come check on Minnie.  She had thrown up but seemed to be moving around more.  She looked like she felt better after getting some of the medicine out of her belly.  After cleaning everything up, I went upstairs to change clothes.  When I came back down, she had been sick a couple more times.  And that's how the afternoon continued to go.  The last time she threw up was around 6:15 and by then she didn't have a lick of energy.  I assumed she was dehydrated and tried to get her to drink, but she wouldn't.  I also tried to give her her thyroid medicine wrapped in cheese and she wouldn't even lick it.

Doc got home around 7:30 or so.   Minnie and I were still cuddled up on the couch, where we spent most of the afternoon when she wasn't getting sick.  I ate dinner and we watched tv for a while.  I decided to try to take Minnie out since it had been a while.  When I set her in the grass, she immediately laid down.  We brought her back in and Doc tried to force her to drink water but she let it dribble out the sides of her mouth.

At 8:50, I called our vet at home.  He said he'd meet us at the clinic.  When we got there, he said she didn't look good at all.  Her stomach was very hard to the touch.  He thought maybe she was constipated or had air in her intestines.  X-rays were taken but he couldn't tell much from them.  That's when he decided he would have to do surgery and look inside.  Minnie needed to get fluids first though.  We left the clinic...I didn't say goodbye to Minnie because I was too busy making sure he had my cell number written down.  I didn't realize I wouldn't see her again.

He called at 10:30 and said it wasn't good.  Minnie had crashed on the table but he was able to bring her back.  Her liver was diseased and her intestines were deteriorating and falling apart when he touched them.  He said it was in her best interest not to wake up.  There was nothing else that could be done.

I cannot tell you how much I have cried.  I knew Minnie didn't feel well, and in my head I know she's not in pain now, but that doesn't mean I don't wish she was she was still here with me.  I have lost two other dogs in my life - the first one, Max, was a mean dog and I was really too young to hurt much.  I remember crying but it didn't last long.  The other family dog, Greta, died when I was in college.  She was old and we sorta knew it would be soon.  My mom called to tell me and I cried in my dorm room.

It feels different with Minnie.  She was mine.  My dog.  Of course, when Doc came along she became our dog, but she was always my baby.  When I moved out of my parents' house and into my own apartment, it was just me and Minnie.  I don't think I could've made it on my own without her with me.  She was always by my side and even though she drove me crazy sometimes with her barking, I always loved her to pieces.

She was so little when my parents brought her home from the flea market.

She could fit on a five dollar bill.

She could also fit in my pocket.

Her first collar was a kitten collar with a bell on it.

She loved those hogs!

She was 100% mama's girl.

I bought her a winter coat.  She hated it.

Some more recent pics:

I don't know how to end this post except to say that I miss my girl.

Update 9:45 pm

Minnie has gotten progressively worse. She is at the vet now. After two inconclusive xrays, the vet decided he needed to open her up to look inside. He is giving her fluids first to get her pressure up. He sent us home and said he'd give us a call when he could tell more, so right now we're just waiting.

Hypothyroidism

In my post about my day off last Friday, I said that I took Minnie to the vet for a checkup and the vet, in return, took all my money.  I didn't give you much details.  But now, let's back up a little (pun intended - just wait, you'll see). I didn't make an appointment for Minnie.  I just showed up and asked if someone could check her out and luckily, they said they could.  Once in our little room, the vet tech asked, "What seems to be the problem?"  "Well," I said, "we're having bathroom issues.  There seems to be a lot of licking going on, but not a lot of going, if you will."  There were lots of nods and mmhmms and oks from the vet tech as she wrote everything down.  "Anything else?"  "Yes," I said.  "She's also such a grandma."  Yep, those were the technical terms I used.  "A grandma?" asked the vet tech.  "Yes, she is soooo slooooow and just taking her outside takes forever.  It takes ten minutes just to get to the corner of our block!"

The vet tech finished with her notes and left to get the vet.  When he arrived, we went over the same questions ("A grandma?") while he poked and prodded her.  Eventually, he stood up and said he was going to get some supplies and would be right back.  A minute later he was back with an assistant so he could check out Minnie's condition.  I won't say exactly what he did, but I will say it involved a glove, some gooey stuff, and is what I imagine to be one of the worst job duties of a vet.  The vet confirmed that there was a lot of stuff in there, and that Minnie was a little backed up (there's the pun!).  He also mentioned that her back was still hurting her (an ongoing issue, she is a dachshund afterall) and that it probably hurt her to use the bathroom.

Long story short, Minnie spent the afternoon at the vet's office getting cleaned out.  She also got a shot of pain medicine in her back and they did blood work to send off to the lab.  When I picked her up, I was handed a bag full of pills to take home with us.  That's why I said she was now an official pill head.

The weekend was great.  We followed our pill schedule to a T, and one neighbor even commented that she seemed to be moving around much better.  Yay!

Fast forward to yesterday (Tuesday) when I received a follow-up call from the vet. 

Vet Tech: I've got good news and bad news. Me: Ok... Vet Tech:  The good news is Minnie has problems with her thyroid. Me:  Wait, that's good news? Vet Tech:  Yes! It explains so much.  And it's fixable. Me:  Ok...then what's the bad news? Vet Tech:  She also has problems with her liver enzymes.

So there's the short and sweet version of our exchange.  At the encouragement of the vet tech, I got online and researched Minnie's condition, hypothyroidism.  Here are some of the symptoms I found:

(I read a lot of different articles and don't remember where I read what, so I'm about to list some things without citing sources.  English teachers, look away!)

  • Sluggish-ness (check!)
  • Frequent napping (check!)
  • Lack of interest in play (check!)
  • Tiring out on long walks (see Grandma comments above)
  • Dry skin (yep)
  • Weight gain (Um, have you seen Maxi Minnie?)

It's like whoever came up with these symptoms really knew Minnie and was talking about her!  This weekend, I made the comment to Doc, "Remember when Minnie's tail used to have long hair on it?  Now it just kinda looks like a rat's tail or something."  And whaddaya know, one of the articles listed "rat's tail" as a symptom.  I kid you not - they used the same description I had just used.  Crazy!  I also read that hypothyroidism is an inherited disease.  I'm pretty sure my grandmother had thyroid issues, so maybe that's where Minnie gets it from... 

Anyway, like the vet tech said in her phone call, this is good news because all of these symptoms can be "fixed" with a thyroid supplement.  Minnie will take a pill twice a day probably for the rest of her life.  Every article I read said we should be able to see a dramatic difference in about two weeks.  She'll get her spunk back and could even lose weight!  It will probably take more like four weeks for her dandruff to clear up.

About those liver enzymes...I didn't do as much research on this.  All I know is that "normal" is a 70 and Minnie is at 296.  Yowzer.  At the vet yesterday, I picked up the thyroid supplement along with pills for her liver.  She'll take this medicine once a day for a month.  I'll take her back to the vet in two weeks so they can test to make sure her levels are getting better.

With the addition of the two new medicines, Minnie's section of the counter now looks like this:

As you can see, I had to label all the medicines with instructions.  Some of them have to be on an empty stomach - one an hour before she eats, one 15 minutes before she eats.  Some just get taken at night, others just in the morning, and some get taken twice a day.  The pill in the tupperware on the left smells horrible, but Minnie thinks it's the tastiest thing ever.  The orange one in the top right corner has to be given with a syringe.  We call it her kool-aid and she licks it out of the syringe just as fast as she can.  The pills we wrap up in cheese.  This morning she figured out how to spit the pill out and eat just the cheese. 

I started writing this post this morning and it was supposed to end here.  But, as it is, the story goes on...

Today (Wednesday), I had to run home for lunch to meet the carpet cleaner guy who was finally returning our rug (spots are still there, boo).  I opened the kennel and Minnie b a r e l y creeped out.  Right outside her kennel, she had an accident.  Times two.  Then she moved under the kitchen table and just stood there with her head down.  She wouldn't move at all, and wouldn't even look at me.  I didn't scold her for her accidents because I could tell she didn't feel good.  The carpet cleaner guy rang the doorbell and she didn't make a sound.  Not a peep.  And the whole time he was there unwrapping the rug and rolling it out, she never moved an inch.  This is all very unlike her, so I called the vet and told them what was going on.  The vet advised me to only give her the thyroid medicine tonight, nothing else, and that they'd call back in the morning to see how she was doing.  I discovered later that she had also had an accident in her kennel.  Poor thing.  I cleaned up her messes and threw her bed in the washing machine.  When I left to go back to work, I put her in our half bath with a bunch of towels to lay on.  Who knows what I'll come home to.  I plan on leaving early to check on her.

Phew! Long story.  So that's where we are now.  I'm assuming she's just way drugged up and hopefully it will wear off soon.  I guess only time will tell.  Poor, poor Minnie.

Productive Free Day

The week before Thanksgiving, I received an email at work announcing that, as a gift, all employees were receiving one free vacation day that could be used any time before January 14.  Some business hand out holiday bonuses; we get a free day off.  I'm not complaining, though.  It's better than nothing. I claimed this past Friday, January 14th, as my free day off and now, after enjoying my day off, I think I have finally figured out the secret to beating the winter blues:  shorter work weeks.  Thanks to the Christmas and New Years holidays, our trip to Indiana, the stomach bug that knocked me out for two and half days, and this free day off, I haven't worked a full forty hours in weeks!  (I'd add last Monday's snow day to the list except, unlike everyone else in the city, I had to go to work.  No snow day, only a delayed start.)  And thanks to Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I'll enjoy sleeping in again tomorrow (Monday) morning followed by another short week.  I think all this time off has really improved my mood towards the cold weather.  It really isn't as bad if I can stay snuggled up by a fire and just read all day.  Now I just have to start thinking about how I'm going to get more days off in the weeks following this one.  As long as it doesn't involve a stomach bug or someone getting hurt or sick, I'm up for anything.  Anyone got any creative ideas?

So anyway, I had a whole day off with nothing to do, but it turns out I was able to find LOTS to do!  As soon as I finally got up, the first thing I did was move almost every piece of furniture in our bedroom and living room.  I had already scheduled an appointment with Service Master so they could come clean our carpets and a rug later that day.

The floors in our room looked nice and bare by the time I finished moving everything out of the way.  Our two nightstands are full of books that we've read, and I had to drag those into the bathroom.  I wish I'd had Doc around to help cause books are heavy, y'all!

I couldn't get this chair into the bathroom so the carpet cleaner guy just had to work around it.

Downstairs in the living room, I shoved all of our couches and other furniture to the sides so he could have complete access to our rug.

Since this isn't my first go round with getting our carpets cleaned, and I know it's recommended that you don't walk on them for several hours while they dry, I thought ahead and brought down everything from upstairs that I thought I might possibly want to play with during the day.

Lap top, camera, kindle, clean laundry to fold, pictures to hang, a couple of sewing projects...I had no clue what I wanted to get into on my free day!

But before it was time for the carpet cleaning appointment, I had to get out and take my sweet baby girl Minnie to the vet.  Seeing as how it was her issues that were the cause of us needing the carpets cleaned anyway, I figured it might be time to get things checked out.  Poor thing was not very excited about being at the vet.

I left her there so they could run some tests and headed back home.  The carpet cleaner guy arrived and while he was upstairs shampooing away, I decided to tackle our hall closet.  I was sick and tired of it looking like this:

All of our coats have been hanging on dinky wire hangers that couldn't handle their weight.  They were constantly falling on the ground.  So I switched all of our coats over to wooden hangers and cleaned out and organized everything else.  I feel much better about the closet now.

By the time I finished organizing the closet, the carpet cleaner guy was finished with the carpets and was looking at the rug.  I joined him in the living room just as he started rolling it up.  "Woah, woah, woah," I said.  "What are you doing? Can't you clean it here?"  Apparently the answer to that question is no.  I listened as he talked about the different sprays and rinses and fumes and hanging to dry and deodorizing and yadda, yadda, yadda, and finally I said ok and that he could take the rug.  Totally didn't see that happening when I made the appointment.

So now we're rug-less for a few days.  I really hope it comes back soon.

After sending the carpet cleaner guy out the door with all my money, I realized I was pretty hungry.  After several texts and phone calls, I found myself sitting in a cafe with my friends Allison and Mary Elizabeth.  I just love an impromptu lunch, especially when I don't have to rush back to work!  It was a total fluke that we were all able to meet up but I'm so glad that it worked out.  Good food + good company = good day off.

Since I was out of the house, I stopped by a local hair salon to get my bushy eyebrows cleaned up a little.  I'm pleased to say they now each have their very own unique shape.  Matching eyebrows are so overrated (or at least that's what I'm telling myself).

Back at home, I surveyed the dining table full of toys and decided to tackle the sewing project.  It's one that I had put off for a long time because there was nothing fun about it.  This is how our pillow shams normally look on our bed:

When we picked out the bedding, I loved the ties on the side of the sham.  I thought it was a cute detail.  Now, though, I hate them.  Half of them have fallen out so I can't tie them and the shams are always gaping open, exposing the white pillow inside.  Last weekend I finally remembered to grab some velcro while I was at JoAnn's.  Since I had all the supplies I needed, there were no more excuses to continue putting it off.

Before going to the sewing machine, I cut off all the ties on the side.  Lots of sewing guesswork and a broken needle later, my shams were all velcro-ed up!

Perfect!  (Well, as perfect as they were gonna get with me doing the sewing.)

Doc and I both went to pick up our sweet puppy at the vet.  I thought the carpet cleaner guy ran off with all my money, but it turns out it was the vet that really cleaned me out.  My free day off was pretty expensive!  Minnie got sent home with a bag full of medicine.  She's an official pill head now.  But since she was such a good girl for the vet, I rewarded her with a new collar.

Out with the dingy green and in with the new purple polka dots!

She wouldn't sit still long enough for me to take a picture of it on her, so you'll just have to take my word when I say she's looking pretty cute.  The next time you see Minnie, be sure to compliment her on her new outfit!

We let my dad treat us to dinner since my mom was out of town.  Then, back at his house, we gave him a few minutes of help with a project he's been working on (pictures coming soon!).

We ended the day on the couch watching the most recent episode of Grey's Anatomy.  It was such a great day off...I seriously have to figure out how to get more free vacation days!