This is how my last week and a half went.

[Spexxvet]

This is how my last week and a half went.

On Thursday, March 31st, I had a tooth pulled.

My 14 year old Wheaten Terrier, Darla had been throwing up intermittently for about a week, we figured it was due to her getting at the food that the cats were leaving uneaten. Starting Friday morning, she was puking directly after eating anything. We kept her away from cat food over the weekend, and changed he diet, to no avail. Back story: we’d had her to the vet for the intermittent vomiting during the first week of March, did antibiotics and Pepcid, and she seemed improved.

Monday, around lunch, I started to feel very sick. I took my temperature, and it was normal for me – 97.2. We had an appointment for Darla Monday evening. The Vet told us that there was definitely something bad going on, after all she’s well beyond the life expectancy of a Wheaten. They X-Rayed her, took blood, and gave her a shot of anti-nausea medication that would last about 24 hours. She said if the vomiting came back that there was definitely something very bad going on, and we (the family) should consider next options. Of course there are lots of test that can be run, but knowing what’s wrong doesn’t mean it can be fixed, or that we would choose to.

Tuesday morning, I woke with a fever and a rather large, firm lump on the inside of my right ass cheek (insert gerbil joke here). Please understand, I get stupid when I have a fever. My wife, friends, and coworkers have all have fevers in the last 2 weeks, I figured it was my turn, and the lump was my hemorrhoids acting up due to stress. Darla ate a tablespoon of pureed rice and boiled chicken breast without throwing up, and a half hour later, another, and kept improving. I, meanwhile, kept deteriorating.

Wednesday, the two of us declined. Darla was disinterested in food, and when she did eat it was less than a tablespoon of food, and then she seemed to be in discomfort. In the evening she started vomiting again.

Thursday morning the lump was substantially bigger. I got an appointment with the nurse practitioner at my primary care physician’s office. She was excellent, and diagnosed a peri-rectal abscess/cyst, and sent me off to the surgeon. The abscess was causing the fever! Darla still wasn’t interested in food, so we tried some treats, just to see if we could get her to eat anything at all. She had a nibble of treat and threw up. In the afternoon I saw the surgeon, and set things up for Friday surgery. I went home, the family had dinner, and cried and agonized for 2 hours before my 2 daughters, my wife and I took Darla to be euthanized. She had gone from 33 lbs in July to 22 lbs. We cried more, gave her hugs and love, and held her while she died. It may have been worse than my Dad’s death because I caused it. I paid for it. We cried some more. I’m crying now.

Friday, I woke in a huge amount of pain – head and ass. I couldn’t sit and was not thinking right. I was really out of it. When they did the pre-op testing, my temp was 101.6. They rolled me into the OR at about 1:30pm. Later, the doctor would tell me that when he stuck the scalpel in the first time, pus shot over his shoulder. I wasn’t under general anesthesia, just “twilight”, but when I was aware again I felt normal. My temp was 98.8 and I could sit and think. I was home by 4:00. I’ve spent the weekend taking baths (haven’t done that in years) and sitting without pain. It’s great. It’d be better with my girl.