For the love of Pete this month has been rough. And expensive. Very, very, VERY, expensive. I honestly thought the only people who ended up poor in August were those who had kids going back to school. Just because we HAVE to pay school taxes should not mean we should also share in the financial burden of back-t0-school shopping. Between the car, dog, wasps, taxes and regular monthly bills we’re tapped. Knock on us and you’ll find we’re hollow.
Sunday and Monday of this past week saw an increase in waspy activity. We had to time our entering and exiting of the house just right and slam the door and run to get away from them. Our little wasp trap was filling up quickly with the spiteful creatures and yet more were zooming around and looking at us menacingly when we would try to use the front door. So we made a decision and on Monday I phoned the exterminator number that had come in the circulars just that Friday. They told me they would come the next day at 9AM.
And so, after a week of vacation, which followed the week where I wasn’t at work all that much do to August kicking me in the head, I was late for work once more as I waited for the exterminator guy to show up. We had a choice – $75 for him to spray some stuff in the teeny hole and hope it did something – OR – $175 for fumigation which would travel through the wall and have a better chance of killing the queen. Because at this time of year we could have close to 1000 (!!!) wasps in our wall and by the end of September close to 2500. And then they would start eating the walls and would end up IN the house. Also, fumigation was guaranteed so that if we saw more in a couple of weeks they’d come back, do it again and it would be free.
FUMIGATION! we cried.
Close to $200 later (taxes, ugh!) we had a fumigated wasp nest. I of course took photos – all stealthily like through the window so he didn’t see me. heh.
And I freely admit that I was crushing on the exterminator guy. I was too chicken to try and snap a photo without the hat on though. More of a chance he would have noticed. That spray thingme in the second photo shot liquid stuff at the wasp hole for over 5 minutes. It was interesting to watch.
And so the week went on. It was my first week back to 5 days of work, sadly our Summer Fridays are done until next year. I like the 4-day work week, it’s nice to have 3 days to relax before having to get all stressed out again. It was a long week and it didn’t help that my hips and knees seem to have had a flare up and Wednesday was so painful that I couldn’t even speak, it was like all my energy was devoted to just trying to stand upright and walk around. I’ll be happy if this is diagnosed on the 18th of September and they can do something about it. Please let me have a diagnosis that is treatable!!
On Thursday my boss and I went to lunch with a grad student who is leaving us to go teach at the University of Ottawa. Our Big Boss has been her adviser throughout her Masters and now her PhD degrees. She’s a fantastic woman whom I will miss terribly now that she’s finished and starting her teaching career. She’s been such a bright spot in this job. This week she submitted her 7 copies of her thesis and will be back in the Fall for the defence. She gave my boss and I each a token of her appreciation and I swear I nearly burst into tears at the deli when I opened mine.
The sentiment is real. The mug itself is because of a joke we have going about the time she stole my own mug after I had gotten her coffee one day while waiting for Big Boss to return from a lunch meeting. A week later when I had to schedule her another time to meet with him I wrote “Where the heck is my mug, woman!!” to her as it had occurred to me I didn’t have it back on my desk. Now I am used to my Big Boss being negligent about returning mugs, but it is not something he should be teaching his Grad students no matter how much he advises them. Heh. (It was just washed and put on the shelf with his mugs. They are all the same, we got mugs made at work to give out to staff as appreciation gifts and to donors etc for Development gifts. They are nice, but too tiny for my liking and so I just use them for meeting guests.) Anyhow, this really meant a lot to me and makes me miss her even more (who’s going to bribe me with After Eight’s now?).
Also, while I was off last week I redid my hair. The fuchsia is back! It was also all over my bathroom, body and shower downstairs. *ahem* But it stayed in my hair this time! Woohoo! I learned that the success of hair dye is all in how much of everything else in the house gets covered in it.
I need to do something else with my hair though. I don’t know what. Since this photo was taken I have hacked at my bangs, but I’m itching for a bigger change. Oh, hair, why can’t I just have the power to think your changes into being? That would be an awesome superpower!
Well, my bone scan went off without a hitch. And in fact, since it was an hour earlier than I was told originally, I was all done by 10:55 in the morning! This of course put a damper on the lunch plans that I had tentatively made with a friend who works at the hospital. I was tired, Annie wasn’t doing well (yes, again! I’ll get to that) and I just wanted to get home. Since she didn’t have a lunch break until at least noon, I stopped by to say hi and then went on my merry way.
I did not glow, nor did I obtain any cool mutant super powers from the radioactive dye injection. I was sadly disappointed by that.
Meanwhile, when I managed to stumble down the stairs before 7AM yesterday morning I was informed by Shawn that there was something wrong with Annie – AGAIN! She wouldn’t eat her food and had thrown up a little. Sigh. So I was anxious to get home from the hospital to make sure she was ok. The trip home was like some reality show challenge. I phoned my Mum after the test to let her know I was walking down the hill toward the metro station. She offered to pick me up when I got to the South Shore to save me a ticket. We decided I would go to the Longueuil metro station and she’d pick me up there. Except when I got off the Green line to transfer to the Yellow line, which would take me where I needed to be, I hear the following message (but in French) “Yellow line down for an in determinant amount of time”. Lovely. So I dished out $0.50 for the pay-phone (YES! FIFTY cents! Money gougers!) in hopes that my mum hadn’t left the house yet. Luckily no one had left yet. So we decided I would take the Orange line, take the bus over the bridge and they’d pick me up there. So, technically this did NOT save me a bus ticket as I had to pay for the bus over the bridge. Ah, well. My dad was the one in the car to greet me (too hot for my Mum, and I agree!) and he kindly bought me lunch as well! Also he came in with me when we got to my house to make sure Annie was ok. I was concerned I would get home alone and Annie would be worse.
She was fine.
She also ate her dinner just fine. (which was actually her breakfast ). However then I thought, huh… what she DID do in the morning was fish out the anti-biotic and break it in half and spit it out. And she wouldn’t touch the food after that. She did the same thing this morning. She took a mouthful of food and then choked it back up and spit out the pieces of pill. Then she sniffed the rest of her food and walked away and lay down.
Smart dog.
Looks like we’re going to have to pill her manually now. I think she’s over-dosed on meds and I know she’s constipated (yes! I’m talking about dog constipation! I know you’re all thrilled!) and she’s having trouble pooping (more so than normal). I think her stomach hurts and she KNOWS it’s the pill.
Why do I think it’s this and not that she’s not feeling like eating? Because I put Jinx’s food in front of her when he was done with it and she vacuumed it up in one breath. Huh.
Also… just when I was starting to feel sort of bad about all the wasps we seem to have caught in our wasp trap (11 +!!!), they were out there in force this morning when Shawn was leaving for work! GAH! Of course the 3 I saw were scoping out the wasp trap, so perhaps they are goners now, too. (Ugh! Sorry, wasps!) but at the same time – WHY WON’T THEY JUST ALL DIE AND LEAVE US ALONE!?
We need to buy some caulking stuff for the wall so hopefully we’ll get some this weekend. Then, I think one more spray of the Raid and we’ll seal up the teeny hole they are coming in and out of. Will that work? Will it trap them in the wall? Wait… do we WANT them trapped in the wall? Will they burrow through into the house? Eeek! Anyone know?
This week off has been far from relaxing. Stupid heat. Stupid public transportation. I need at least another month off.
First, I don’t do well with weather. So for my anniversary vacation it rained so much we couldn’t do anything. Now with my week off in August, we have high heat and humidity warnings and I can’t do anything. Am I not allowed to ever have a relaxing break from work? Last night at 11pm it was 35C (96F) and that just isn’t fair. Shawn had been carrying Annie upstairs so we can lock her and Jinx (who climbs the stairs on his own) in the bedroom with us because it’s the only place with air conditioning and therefore – AIR. Today is supposed to be just as bad.
~
This was Annie’s breakfast garnish on Saturday morning:
Anit-biotic (1 pill), prednisone (2 pills) and her heartworm pill. Luckily when mixed in with her food she doesn’t even notice and ends up eating it all.
She’s down to 2 prednisone pills in the morning and the anti-biotic. Really within less than 24 hours of the increase of meds she started walking almost normally. As of today (Tuesday night) her paw isn’t even red anymore and she doesn’t want me touching it to put cream on it anymore. heh. Grumpy Belly.
~
Last night it was 105F when I went to bed. OH MY GOD! This has GOT TO STOP. Really.
Today I left with Shawn as I had a BodyTalk appointment in town and we locked the dogs in the bedroom and left the a/c on while I was gone since it was supposed to be just as warm today.
I was trying to be nice and not complain too much about the heat because I had a nice cool summer so far, but really, THIS IS ENOUGH!
~
When I got home after my appointment today (I think I lost about 10 pounds from sweat) I saw a message on the machine. I have my bone scan tomorrow and apparently it is a 8-BLOODY-15 in the morning. EIGHT!! I phoned them back and was like… “Um, my paper says 9:15. So, which one is right?” All the while hoping that my paper was right. It wasn’t. I have to be there for an 8:15 AM appointment now. Can you say UGH! with me? Everybody now! UGH!
I will be bringing at least 2 books with me.
~
I am currently in the bedroom with Annie (air conditioning!) and listening to the Dr. Horrible soundtrack. I love Dr. Horrible! Also cool? The Guild (starring Felicia Day) and this video they released!
First off, I forgot to mention in my Week of Suck post about how it all started on Sunday night with the discovery that water had backed up into our broken dishwasher. Water that had the lovely aroma of rotten eggs. Water that we had to remove with 3 SHAMWOW!s, almost an entire roll of paper towels and a turkey baster. Yes, you read that right. A turkey baster… the water was under the bottom ring thing and there was a LOT of it, but it was too awkward to get at any other way.
And, yes, the dishwasher that broke back in November is still there, in the counter. And my actual dishwasher is sitting in the kitchen being used as a table top. I don’t want to talk about it.
And now, back to today.
The good news is that Annie’s paw was a billion times better this morning after only one application of cream and an extra dose of her cortisone pills. She was semi-walking on it and she’s not holding it up close to her body. When I put the cream on this morning the skin was just lightly pink and not the blood red of last night. Huzzah!
Shawn went to work and I sat around watching Annie to make sure she didn’t have a bad reaction to her antibiotics, which she got this morning with two more cortisone pills and more cream. Shawn phoned at 1:00 when he was leaving work and said he’d stop and pick up lunch on the way home (yay! Because I was starving!) When Shawn pulled in the drive way Annie got up and did a little Daddy’s Home! dance and her paw is being used much more now. I actually think it’s doing better enough that she’s forgetting that it still hurts because she appears to startle herself if she puts too much pressure on it.
Then I see Shawn’s face… uh oh. “What’s wrong, love?” I ventured…
So, this morning, when Shawn left for work, he pulled right back into the driveway after pulling out. I was concerned but he was just checking the front left tire as the car was informing him the air pressure was low. No biggie, I mean we just got these tires about 3 weeks ago, maybe it just wasn’t full enough to start with right? So he just stopped at a gas station on the way in this morning and put air in the tire.
Except, when Shawn got back to the car when he was leaving work the car told him the air was low in the front left tire again. So he looked and… there was a screw in the tire. A screw had punctured our 3-week old tire. Lovely.
You’ll note that it’s Annie’s front, left paw that’s infected.
So our car is having sympathy pains for our dog??
We thought perhaps our plans of attempting to go to Costco would be foiled once more as we drove to Canadian Tire to see if they could fix our tire, or if I needed to put a new tire on credit. Thankfully it’s pay day today.
Turns out they could patch our tire (yay!) and in fact there was no one there waiting and when the mechanic dudes were done their breaks ours was the first car to be looked at. The damage? $28. That’s it. And 30 minutes later we were… on our way home and not to costco. Why? Because the zipper on my shorts broke of all bloody things. And there was no way I was going anywhere else with my pants all wide open!
Then we were off to see if the snobby folks at Costco would let us in. Our membership cards still had not arrived, but darn it all! It was a week since Shawn paid so we were hoping we’d at least be in the system by now. And we were! So we got this temporary pass – a printed piece of paper with a barcode on it. And we shopped! $132 later we’re good to go with toilet paper and kleenex for like 3 months! Shawn’s got enough ketchup to last at least 2 weeks for him.
Sadly they kept our ghetto temp pass when we paid. It would have been nice to have been able to fill up on gas since we NEED gas and it’s only $0.99 a litre as opposed to the $1.09 every where else. I mean, damn, we PAID the $60 membership fee already, we should be allowed to partake of what we PAID FOR. Bastards.
But I have about 3 pounds 2-bite cinnamon rolls with my name on it in the kitchen right now, so I am not complaining too much.
To summarize our week so far:
Sunday – rotten egg water backup in broken dishwasher
Monday – car wouldn’t shift out of park and had to be towed to dealership, who never called us
Tuesday – car would be ready for pick up, but 1 week for part to come in to fix shifter (covered by warranty!!)
Wednesday – Annie’s limping and holding front, left paw up close to body, reasons unknown
Thursday – Annie’s paw is worse and she falls over while eating, rush to vet $166 later learn it’s skin infection
Friday – Car having sympathy pains for Annie, screw punctures front, left tire. Trip to Canadian Tire $28 later patched tire with 100 day or 5000KM warranty
So, now I’m wondering what Saturday will bring. =/
Do you have any idea how heartbreaking it is to watch a dog who is the complete opposite of sure-footed on FOUR feet try to hop around on THREE feet? Well, let me tell you it is so completely heartbreaking that I want to hid up in my room until this all blows over. But I can’t do that because the second I am away from Annie I have this full-blown anxiety of how she might need me and she’s all alone attempting to hop around!
Last night Annie’s left paw/leg wasn’t any better so we tossed around the idea of whether or not to take her to the vet in the morning, or just phone the vet in the morning and make an appointment for Friday afternoon when Shawn got off work. When we got home last night we took her outside and put her on the patio table so I could examine her paw and leg. I couldn’t find anything wrong, she doesn’t pull away when you poke, pull, prod and so it was impossible for us to figure out exactly what part hurt so much that she was holding her entire leg close to her body. Shawn carried her out back before he came to bed and then carried her back into the house, so she didn’t have to climb down the three steps on our deck.
This morning she was limping but in good spirits. The only problem is that she gets so excited when we wake up and come down the stairs that she was falling all over the place trying to dance around in GOOD MORNING!!! excitement. So we had to firmly tell her to calm down because she would hurt herself more.
We still weren’t sure when to go to the vet. Until she fell over while eating her breakfast. Her back legs gave out (I am pretty sure she’s got arthritis in her hips because she occasionally has some trouble getting up when it’s damp and cold). My guess is that they were just tired from holding up her weight. Heh.
So we decided a trip to the vet it would be. They opened at 9AM and I phoned at 8:57 to see if we could be fit in. The wonderful tech guy who works during the week and remembers me (between Annie and Kewpie (from back in the day) I have had a lot of vet time. ) and he said to bring her in and the vet would try and see us between the two surgeries he had scheduled that morning. If he couldn’t see her then we could leave her there.
So off we went to make it to the vet for 10AM. And we got seen and my vet is just so fantastic. For regular check-ups he’ll sit on the floor with the dogs and cuddle them while examining them. Fantastic!
Turns out Annie’s left paw has a skin infection. Between the pads. I didn’t even notice it yesterday, but this morning her paw was hot to the touch, whereas the other 3 were cool and he said it was slightly swollen. The skin infection is likely from her already known allergies. So we walked away $166 poorer (thank god for credit!) and with a medication routine – Annie already takes 5mg of prednisone Mon-Wed-Fri for her asthma/allergies. So we’re upping that for 3 days to 10mg in the morning and night, decreasing to 10 mg a day for 1 week or so, plus antibiotics (1 with breakfast for 14 days) and some cortisone cream which also has anti-fungal properties (he’s concerned that a fungus might form. Ew.)
After Annie’s dinner (+10mg garnish) I applied the cream to her paw. IT IS SO RED! The poor thing. Even the fur around the infection is reddish (no blood though, I checked!). Now it’s noticeable, if we had waited until looking at her tonight before going to the vet I’d probably be in one hell of a panic.
Our vet hopes this will clear up with the 3-4 days of uber prednisone, and then the rest of the pillings will just prevent it from coming back. I certainly hope so as Annie is in obvious pain. Her panting has tinges of crying at times and it’s just killing me inside. I don’t know what else to do for her!
). However then I thought, huh… what she DID do in the morning was fish out the anti-biotic and break it in half and spit it out. And she wouldn’t touch the food after that. She did the same thing this morning. She took a mouthful of food and then choked it back up and spit out the pieces of pill. Then she sniffed the rest of her food and walked away and lay down.
