Wednesday, March 30, 2016

a field of chocolate chips


Last night I played tennis and had a decent match, but I easily pulled ahead.  We had played games prior to this and were pretty evenly matched so she was definitely just having an off day.  After we played I came home and ate a late dinner and read for as long as my eyes would stay open.  

When I woke up this morning I noticed Rose was panting even though she was laying on the cool wood floor versus her giant fluffy pillows.  Usually she only overheats on the pillows.  On Monday both girls had their teeth cleaned, and poor Rosie pie had to have four extractions.  Robert and I decided to put them both on soft food because we couldn't really figure out a way to just give Ella hard food for the seven days Rose needs the soft food.  By Tuesday night Ella was starting to act like herself again but Rose was most certainly not.  

When I woke up this morning and noticed her panting I quickly hurried to the bathroom.  My rule is I pee first and then take them out.  They are always perfectly fine with this and sometimes when I whistle for them they stagger towards the door like zombie dogs and shoot me stink eye lasers for interrupting their beauty sleep.

This morning was different.  It became apparent very quickly that Rose needed to the use the bathroom ASAP.  And she was so sick she didn't quite make it.  

I had tennis very early so Robert agreed to watch them while I played and then afterwards I would watch them until I went to work for my late shift.  We were hoping she would be back to her dandy lover pie self by then.  

During tennis I checked my phone about 10 times and also noticed that my muscles were incredibly sore and all of my motions felt like sand in water.  The combination of being incredibly fatigued, having 1/2 a protein bar for breakfast and being so worried about Rose made for some very hard tennis. An hour into it I really really just wanted to quit, but I stuck with it, and seeing no text from Robert felt mildly better about the Rose situation.

But when I walked out to the parking lot Robert and Rose were waiting for me.  Robert said she was still having issues so he had called the vet, who told him that her problems were not normal after having dental surgery.  So off we went to the vet, and even though Robert had some very important all-day training that he needed to get to, he decided to stick with us because poor Rosie had frantic eyes and a sore bottom and she certainly looked pretty sick.

The vet thought she had some anxiety and pain, gave us new meds and sent us on our way.  Robert rescheduled his training and took Rose with him to work and I went home to change so I could go to work too.  

After I checked on Ella and changed for work I hurriedly started making a pb, banana and chocolate chip sandwich.  Because I was running late and had shaky hands I accidentally dropped about a million chocolate chips on the floor. Ella immediately came over and as I ran to cut her off she gave me a very serious look and halted.  She didn't even seem to notice she was standing in the middle of half a bag of spilled chocolate chips.  And the serious expression on her face seemed so familiar.  It felt like deja vu.

Only just in time did I register what her expression meant.  

I mean, seriously, even though I was tired, my dog was just standing there in a field of chocolate chips and doing nothing. Duh!

After talking to Robert he went to pick up more meds and it was decided that our dogs' tummies are so sensitive they cannot tolerate the wet food version of the dry food they eat.  So after cleaning up Ella I called work to let them know I was going to be late and then sat on the couch and loved on Ella and listened to her tummy make terrible sounds while we waited for Robert to bring the medicine and take over.  I was so incredibly tired I was struggling to stay awake even though Ella's stomach sounded like it was going to bomb the living room at any time.   

Apparently tennis was harder than I realized last night or maybe I stayed up reading later than I thought or perhaps I was having sympathy fatigue for my family, but this morning was a total nightmare.  I am thankful, however, that the tummy issues were just a combination of anxiety and food intolerance and nothing more.  I am also incredibly thankful that Robert was right there, helping out and doing more than his fair share the whole morning.  Even though we grumbled with each other we still made a great team. And because Robert is going out of town to spend the evening with family his mom has kindly agreed to take care of the girls so I can work my evening shift.  Whew. Now I just have to stay awake.  Anyone need help writing their resume or finding that amazing book with the blue cover that you cannot remember the name of?  

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