My poor poo....

I had Shelby and Dale out for a walk on Thursday. It was certainly warm by this summers standards, but not unbearable. After our walk, and a few swims for Shelby, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few dinner items.

Given the warmth, we made sure that all the windows were open in the van, and kept our in-store trip to 20 minutes. We didn't want Shelby to over heat.

On Friday morning we were on our way to the cottage, but Dale wasn't feeling well. We turned around in Bowmanville, and I dropped Dale at home before going to the dog park again. I already had Shelby in the car, so why not take her for a little jaunt?

We had been walking for about 5 minutes when I noticed her gait was off. It was really wide, and her back seemed to be sagging. I called her name, and she turned to me, but now she was staggering. By the time she reached me, she was losing her balance.

I was panic-stricken! I cannot remember the last time I had felt that cold fear. Shelby tried to get up off the ground but could not. I tried to carry her towards the main path to get help, but was not very successful. We sat in the middle of the path, her saliva thick and frothy, and her breathing rapid and labored. She was twitching, and had her head on my lap just looking at me with those big brown eyes. I was in tears.

Luckily a couple came along the main path. i called out for help and the fellow came over. I can understand the look in his eye as I sat there with my frothy dog, but regardless he offered to help me carry her to the car. What a kind person he was.

Instead I used his phone to call Dale, asking him to come help me and to bring a blanket to carry Shelby in. Poor Shelby! She was trying to bark at this stranger, but couldn't summon up a decent woof. She was trying to stand, but kept falling over.

While we sat in the shade I had all kinds of terrible thought...what was wrong? would she need to be put down? It was close to unbearable and made me cry even more, because all Shelby could do was look at me with utter confidence. I took pictures of her lying in the grass in case I was not going to have a chance to take her picture again.

When Dale arrived she sat right up. She barked her big bark, and walked over to him. She was able to walk to the car, and drank 1/2 of her jug of water. Then she lay down and slept on the ride home.

She was able to get from car to house, and to the coolness of the basement. She crawled under the coffee table and just lay there. With little prompting, she drank 2 more bowls of water, then settled to sleep. I, however, was retarded. I would not leave the basement, and if I had to pee, I made Dale sit and watch her. Her breathing slowed, and she was snoring....she seemed pretty comfy.

After about 2 1/2 hours she got up like nothing had happened. She wiggled and waggled, wanting to go outside. She ate a bowl of food and looked at me like "That's all?".

All in all, she is fine. To see her you would not know that she has been unwell. And just in case, I slept on the couch with her last night anyway...

A life lesson

When you are running your lawn mower, turn it OFF before sticking you hand underneath it. Enough said...

A full moon during the day?

Today was a frustrating work day. Everyone seemed to be short tempered, demanding, and generally unreasonable.

As a rule, I try to be as pleasant as possible to my patients. Who can stay mad when your nurse is pleasant, accommodating, and delightful to be around? Well, apparently that was not me today.

Pt A was a young woman with renal colic. And 8 weeks post-partum to boot. I totally get the fact that she was in pain, and went to great lengths to discuss this with her, sympathize and anesthetize against her discomfort. The unfortunate part of the experience was her half-wit boyfriend. He was rude, insulting, demanding, and unwilling to accept the fact that I am one person, dealing with 18 other injured individuals. At the end of our ugly interaction I had my finger in his face, telling him to get out of MY face, or I would have him removed from the department. Not a good start to the day. And all because I requested analgesic for his girlfriend and it didn't arrive as quickly as he would have liked. Buddy, roll a blunt and be done with it!

Pt B was an adult? woman who has had knee pain for 6 months. Oh My God! She had to wait 2 hours from the time of arrival until I put her in a room. When made aware that her xrays had arrived and the Dr would be seeing her, she commented that it would probably take until the end of the year! At this point I mentioned that on the brighter side of things, she had been able to walk into the department and voice her opinions, which was more then a number of our clients were able to do today. Then I put her in the chairs to free up her bed.

Pt C had an ulcer on her leg. After being seen by Plastics, she needed the wound swabbed, packed and dressed. Unfortunately, the room she was in did not allow for me to perform these procedures, so I told her she would have to wait until the appropriate room was vacated. Again with the attitude! In the general scheme of things does another 20 minutes really make that much of a difference?

And my favorite..the daughter of Pt D. The wife of a Cardiologist, she brought her mother in on his recommendation. After waiting 2 hours in the waiting room, this loving daughter had enough and was taking her mother home. How dare we keep her 89 yr old Mum in the waiting room for this length of time! When I pointed out that a 2 hr wait in the life of a 3 MONTH old ulcer was minimal and not unreasonable, she stormed out, Momma in tow.....I guess I should expect a call from the manager Monday.

Strange things are going on...

Lately I have been smelling flowers. Not in the literal sense, but in the "where did that smell come from" sense.

I have long thought that my house is haunted..both Dale and I have seen an older gentleman in a bowler hat around the house. He is usually seen out of the corner of you eye, peeking into the room we occupy. When you turn your head fully, he is gone.

Occasionally my drapes will move, as if someone has run their hands along them. But no one is there. And then there is the knocking. Someone knocks on my bedroom door. I call out to come in but no one answers. So when I get up and open the door, there is no one there, and no one even on that level of the house. 2 nights ago, the knocking was so loud it woke me from sleep. I looked out my window, thinking it might be Kelsey knocking as she was locked out of the house, but nope...no one there.

So anyway, for the last few days I have been smelling these flowers. I haven't yet identified the type, but the first time I smelled them was in the basement. No air fresheners had been used, no candles were burning, but there it was...a strong smell of flowers as soon as I walked in the room. It slowly faded, and I thought nothing of it. Again it occurred, this time in the bathroom I think. But no hair products had been used to account for the scent.

Yesterday, I was walking Shelby at the dog park. And there it was again, this smell of flowers. This was a little easier to explain, I figured, except for the fact that we were in a field that was flowerless. And I noticed the smell on my fingers as well, as if I had crushed some petals between my fingers.

On finishing our walk, we returned to the van, only to find the scent of flowers in my van as well.

I can't help thinking someone is trying to tell me something, and I have yet to figure it out. And at least it is a pleasant smell, almost comforting. Not cloying, just nice.

I guess I should says thanks at the thought that someone out there is thinking of me.