Pills, ills and Red Bull.

What a day, what a day. Or what a night. Or what a yesterday. *whew* let me start at the beginning. Steven was having pains in his abdomen on Monday, and they were slowly getting worse. As some of you may (or may not) know, he has Crohns and he has had flare-ups these past few months...I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say that we knew a trip to the hospital would certainly involve being admitted, and it did. He was hoping for just a shot of some sort of painkiller but no chance of that. In he went, IV's inserted, painkillers administered and after a not so bad wait of 3 hours, I went home. (Sidebar: We have a whole new Emergency Room and Admitting area at our hospital, with a real triage area and the whole shebang, pretty impressive but the nurses are no friendlier than they ever were. And no speedier either) Anyhow, I went home and watched a bit of TV and went to bed at midnight or thereabouts. No sooner did I fall asleep when Gypsy woke me up with this gentle little coughing spell. It lasted a half hour or so and then we both fell asleep. For maybe an hour. Then she started again. And this repeated itself all night. Needless to say, for those of you who know both me and my relationship with Gypsy, I was a frantic wreck. I lay awake until about 6 AM when I got up, showered and waited until 9 AM to phone the vet. Luckily he was able to get me in right away, so off we went, poor Gyspy thinking she was going for a ride to the park. When we pulled into Dr. McIntyre's place, she started to tremble and tried to fit herself between my feet. Inside, she tried to climb into my arms (yes, all 51 pounds of her) and on the examination table she just quivered and stuck her head under my arm. When Dr. McIntyre gave her an...umm....anal exam, her little eyes nearly flew right out their sockets, such an invasion! Anyhow, turns out that she has pneumonia. Who knew that dogs could get pneumonia? Not I. She was prescribed antibiotic pills, a pill and a half, two times a day. He said she'll be fine in no time. Thank God for that. her health is really my foremost concern. Oh, not to belittle Stevens' health, his is too. But, you know, dogs and all...

Off we go home, me thinking that it would be no trouble at all to make her take a pill. This is a dog who is extraordinarily well behaved and ready to please. Amstaffs have an inbred desire, more so than other dogs (or so I've read) to please their owners. Although, this is also a dog, who in her 11 years, has probably not had more than a handful of people food (literally, I do not exaggerate) and that food is the odd carrot, orange and maybe a bit of pretzel now and then. Well, once when she was little she stole a pizza, but that's another story for another day.

So I give her a pill and she gives me a look. I tell her: "It's ok, good girl" and I put it in her mouth. One deft curl of the tongue deposits it on the floor. I try again with the same results. Hmm. I put it in the back of her throat and push it down and out it pops on the floor again. I do the same but this time I hold her head up and stroke her neck. I hear a little swallow noise and I let her go. Out pops the pill and she gives it a push with her nose as if to say: "Piss off with this thing will ya?" Ok, I'll try the old cheese trick, all dogs fall for that. She has never had cheese before (except the stuff on the pizza that time) and she looks very interested as I cut a little chunk and insert the pill. I'm not foolish though, I give her a plain piece first, calling it a "treat" and she gulps it down. I praise her and give her the second one and she mumbles it around in her mouth and down it goes. Other than the pill, which she deposits gently on the floor. By now the pill is getting soggy and is looking worse for the wear. I am at my wits end. Can I glue it to a dog biscuit with peanut butter somehow? Can I crush it and mix it in her water? Maybe a banana. I cut a banana into chunks, give her a plain piece just to see what she thinks. She seems to think the texture is rather revolting, she sort of curls her lip with disdain, but again I praise her and call it a "treat" and down it goes. I put the pill in another chunk and try again., and Whooo-hooo, down it goes, pill and all. I was SO pleased. Now I only have to do that 19 more times. Lets hope she doesn't get tired of bananas. And oh, dog antibiotics cost $104.00...just so you know.

So then it's off to see Steven who was pretty heavily sedated still. They did a catscan and it looks like a blockage and probably surgery, but we'l l know more tomorrow. He is on buscopan, morphine and antibiotics (which he gets through an IV, not a banana) and has one of those nasal tubes as they want nothing, not even stomach fluids to go through his intestine.

So meanwhile, I am exhausted...no sleep, stress and feeling just beat and I had a cup of coffee or 2 to try and wake up and then discovered a Red Bull in the fridge. I have never tasted one before and I sort of though it would look and taste kinda like tomato juice. I was surpised to see that it's carbonated and tastes like that pink pop, what the hell is it called? You know, that really sweet stuff. Anyhow, I drank it and now I feel rather energetic and if I am typing wildly...oh, well I guess you'll never know that, but if it seems like I am babbling and/or rambling, well, I guess that's why.

And that's all for now, I think I'll go and run around the block a few times now...(umm, yeah, that would be a joke.)