My poor doggy

Well, we just got back from the vet, and the news isn't great. My poor doggy has to have gastric surgery tomorrow morning. There is a giant blockage in her tummy - it is about 2 inches thick, and 4-5 inches long (perhaps bigger). On the xray, the vet noticed her stomach had not yet emptied, so he decided to give her barium and do a 2nd xray. It became quite obvious that about 1/2 of her stomach is totally blocked and it is preventing things from digesting and passing through to her intestines.

So, tomorrow morning, we will get up and go take her for surgery. While the doctor is fairly sure this is something she ate, he said that he cannot rule out cancer until he goes in there and looks around. Wish us luck! I hope the surgery isn't too awful and that the blockage is nothing more than things Nugget should not have eaten.

24 weeks 2 days

Today I am 24 weeks 2 days pregnant! We had another appointment today, and we finally managed to record the heartbeat again. He was playing keep away with the doppler, and even kicked it a few times before running away. He kicked so hard the probe actually moved! There are actually 2 recordings - the first one is the actual heartbeat, and the second one is the baby moving around and kicking the doppler. Hope you enjoy!





I did get in "trouble" today, however, for not gaining weight. Or, perhaps more accurately, for losing another 1/2 lb. I'm still pretty surprised I haven't been putting on weight considering how big I'm getting, and I'm not really sure what else I can do! I eat . . . and eat . . . and eat, and the weight doesn't seem to go up yet. I think this baby has Elliot's metabolism! I also had gained so much weight before getting pregnant that I wonder if this is just my body stabilizing . . . kind of like an advance on a paycheck or something.

Other than that, I'm still worried about Nugget. She hasn't passed the blockage yet and still isn't eating. We go back tomorrow for another xray, and I'm hoping they will say she is okay.

Still worried about my dog

I know this blog is supposed to be all about the pregnancy . . . but right now I'm concerned about my other "baby." I mentioned yesterday that my dog, Nugget, was not feeling well, so I took her to the vet. After explaining to him that she hadn't been eating all day and was completely lethargic . . . Nugget promptly bounced into his office, ran up to greet everyone, wagged her tail, and went scavenging for new discoveries all over his office. They had a jar of doggie treats, and they started tossing a few to her . . . and lo and behold, Nugget scarfed ALL of the treats down immediately. Naturally, I felt like an idiot, but was still convinced she was sick. They took her temperature, and it was really high (102.5), so at least that gave me some "proof" that I wasn't completely insane. After checking her over, the vet determined that she has a skin infection (she ALWAYS has a skin infection) and that the medicines she takes to try and help keep her skin in order might be causing a mild gastro infection. He took some skin scrapings to verify the skin infection, and then we talked about a new treatment plan. We are going to switch her from daily prednisone pills to a steroid injection of dexamethasone every 2 weeks. The side effects should be far less than the daily pills, and will hopefully bring her the same benefit. He gave me a 20 day course of antibiotics for her to see if we can get her skin to heal up, and he sent me on my way!

I was filled with newfound relief that Nugget would quickly be back to her old self. Since her appetite had returned, I thought I would give her a treat. We dropped by my parents' house, and there they have a bag of dog food for Demeter, my brother's dog . . . Nugget tends to think of this stuff as "McDonald's" - you know, kind of like the junk food mom never lets you eat. I put out 1/4 c for her, fully expecting her to scarf it down . . . and nothing. She didn't even want to sniff it. She sat around and wallowed for about 1 hr before we left, although on the way out the door, she did eat 1 or 2 bites of food.

We got back home here, and again, no eating. I made her a big thing of white rice, thinking maybe I could coax her into eating that, but again, we barely got her to eat a tablespoon. Before bed, she did finish off the little bit of food that was in her bowl . . . maybe 1/4 cup?

This morning, we woke at the usual time, and she seemed much peppier. She followed me to the bathroom, and watched me while I got dressed, and when I suggested we go for a walk, most of her usual gusto returned and she bounced after me for our walk. When we came downstairs, I did a quick search for any vomit patches . . . and I found one. Except, it wasn't normal vomit . . . it was a GIANT hairball, about 4 inches long. Naturally, you must be wondering why I was so convinced this was vomit (well, perhaps after you get over your disgust as I describe a giant puke hairball). It was in her normal puke spot, and it was mixed with the rice we fed her last night for dinner. Clearly, this came out of my dog, undigested. What concerned me the most was that it appeared to mostly be MY hair, not her fur. In recent months, she has developed a nasty habit of licking the carpet in the living room. Back and forth, all day. I thought it was gross, but haven't really bothered to stop her. Of course, now I'm wondering if she managed to ingest enough of my stray hairs from licking the carpet that she now has a giant human hair blockage in her belly. Of course, seeing the hairball also gave me some relief. I mean, she threw it up, right? That must mean the blockage is gone and she should be feeling better.

After cleaning up the nasty hairball mess, we head outside for our walk. She has the normal spunk in her step, she keeps trying to eat everything disgusting, so I figure we are all good. She even "did her business" so I took that as another good sign that everything was working properly. We came back inside, and I scooped her food into her bowl - and much to my surprise, she looks at it and walks away. Still not eating! Have I mentioned that my dog NEVER doesn't eat? She can have severe pancreatitis and spend 24 hours vomiting . . . and all she wants is to keep eating. In ten years, I have only once ever seen her lose her appetite . . that was following the great Father's Day debacle of 2005, when she developed a severe case of gastroenteritis (thanks, in part, to 6 different family members deciding to feed the dog lox under the table all day!)

I called the vet again, and I think we need to figure out how to get back there for ANOTHER visit - and I need to bring the hairball. I'm a little afraid of the hairball . . . I think it might be alive, and it could possibly out-muscle me on the way to the vet. It is days like this I wish I took the dog to a more conveniently located vet. Wish us luck! I'm a little afraid we are dealing with a stomach or intestinal blockage that will require surgery.

Whirlwind week

The past week has been quite crazy. The baby is kicking and moving around, and my belly grows larger by the minute. I discovered this the hard way . . . apparently, it IS possible to catch your belly and bruise it when trying to stand after sitting at a dining room table. Who knew? I need to practice backing away from the table BEFORE standing now.

I'm officially 24 weeks pregnant today! I can't believe how fast time is flying. We have an appointment on Wednesday to see the midwife again, and my gestational diabetes test is coming up soon. Elliot has been crazy all week responding to the hurricane and tropical storm Hanna, and we are still fighting with the contractors over getting the house finished. Once again, we have another leak in the house! I'm not convinced we'll be able to move before this baby arrives, but supposedly, they will have everything but the vanities and tile backsplash done this week - I'll believe it when I see it!

Elliot and I are actually making progress on getting things in order - I actually would not be humiliated today if someone came into my house, which may be true for the first time in quite a few months. We have appointments set up with our organizers for the next few weeks to help us with packing and moving . . . assuming we are ever able to move.

This weekend we celebrated my niece Paige's 2nd birthday. Here is the Dora cake I made for her:



Elliot was a big help - he did the baking, and I did the decorating. We make quite a team!

Today, however, I am worried about my dog, Nugget. She is lethargic and not eating . . . and she ALWAYS eats. We'll be heading to the vet this afternoon, but I hope she is okay.

Hypnosis Dropout

Yes, it is true. . . I am officially a hypnosis dropout. I am a bit torn right now - I keep vacillating between thinking I'm a quitter and the certainty that I did the right thing. I think I made the right decision. I just felt that this "doctor" was a total quack, and the process wasn't working for me. I tried very hard to be open-minded, but her techniques just weren't working for me. She spent a lot of time having me repeat phrases that basically boiled down to "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me." In case you haven't noticed - I don't have a self-confidence problem. Even more than that - I honestly don't care if someone doesn't like me. I generally see that as their personality failure.

She spent the first 35 minutes of the session today lecturing me about the conscious mind v. the subconscious mind, and she must have thrown about 50 bad analogies at me. I spent the whole time thinking "let's get on with it." I understood her point - fears are rooted in the subconscious. We build perceptions (sometimes false) based on our experiences, and then we develop subconscious behaviors/emotional reactions in response to the perceptions we create. I think that point did not warrant 35 minutes of lecture, but then again, perhaps her other patients are a bit dim-witted. My response was . . . fine - how do you change the emotional reactions? What steps would we be taking to accomplish that goal. She then started to give me another analogy, and then told me it was like making a pee-pee or a poo-poo on the potty - you just have to let it go. Yup, she said that to me. Did she think I am two years old?

So, after asking her to speak to me like an adult and to drop the potty training analogies, I stayed on for ANOTHER 20 minutes trying to do the session. We got nowhere. She did not try to talk to me about my responses to a needle situation, or how to let it go, or give me coping techniques, or anything like that. She suggested that I repeat phrases like "it is okay to be afraid" and she suggested I hit my emotions out in a pillow to release my spirit. I know it is okay to be afraid - however, I can't seem to figure out how to get beyond the fear and passively let a medical professional stick an IV in my arm when I need it. Hitting a pillow isn't going to change that. I have an irrational fear, I know the root cause, and none of that seems to change the panicky feeling I get when in a needle situation, and no one has yet told me what I can do to stop or control that response, or to create a new response.

I finally had enough of the crap, and when she told me I needed to be willing to make a poo-poo on the potty, I thanked her for her time and left. Besides . . . I had some errands to run so I can make and decorate a cake for my niece's birthday this weekend!

I have no idea what is next for me. I am certain I will probably slug any phlebotomist that tries to put an IV in me when I go into labor. The odds of me slugging him/her will go down if we can use a topical anesthetic to numb it first. It will completely disappear if they dose me with laughing gas. So . . . I'm going to request the laughing gas - I think it is safer for all involved.

Feel free to suggest other options . . . because I'm thinking that my next best bet is to explore other options beyond IV antibiotics.