Oh no! *cries*

So I called the vet this morning to check on Scooter and things are not looking good. He's gone from being "sedated" to being in "a drug-induced coma," and it's changed from him being there "a few days" to him being there "about a week." Also, things have gone from "he'll probably pull of out this" to "there's a good chance he won't make it." I am extremely sad right now... I really miss my boy and I'm so worried about him.

We went and saw him this morning before going in to work and he didn't look too bad. He's not extremely skinny or anything so that made me feel a little better. His tongue was hanging out and he was drooling, but other than that he just looked like he was sleeping heavily.

So, for all of those who have asked and that I haven't been able to give a really straight answer to - here's what's going on:  He's not so much having an allergic reaction to the medication I gave him... it's more like it has poisoned him. Pretty much I (unknowingly) poisoned him. The vet said that some dogs have a gene that makes Ivermectin (his prescription) toxic to them... so much so that only 50 milligrams could kill a dog who has the gene (which is present in some breeds of shepherd). Well Scooter's a mutt, but he definitely has the markings of a shepherd. And I gave him his prescribed dosage - 350 milligrams. I had no way of knowing, but I still feel absolutely horrible. All we can do now is hope that he can hold on long enough for it to work it's way out of his system. *sobs*

Scooter's in the hospital. :(

It all started yesterday, I guess, when he had a check-up appointment to get his booster shots. All of the usual checked out fine - no intestinal parasites, temp was good, growing like he should, etc. Well, about a week ago he started getting this bald spot on his forehead... the fur had just been getting thinner and thinner until it went bald... Anyway, it didn't look serious or anything and I knew he had an appointment coming up so I just decided to wait and let the vet look at it when I took him in for his check-up.

In order to figure out what was going on they had to scrape up the skin on his forehead until it bled a little... they needed enough to look at under a microscope. As it turns out he had some kind of skin mites (which was nothing major at all - the vet said most puppies have them, but not all have problems because of them) and they gave him a prescription to clear them up.

So yesterday evening I gave him his medication about an hour before I went to bed. He seemed fine. But this morning when I woke up the bathroom was COVERED in vomit... I'm talking walls, corners - you name it. (It seriously took about two hours to clean it all up.) But that's not the worst part. The worst part was looking at our little Scooter and realizing that he could not walk - let alone even stand up. He was whimpering and pitifully attempting to push himself over to me with his back legs. His body was jerking and he was drooling. I felt heartbroken.

Immediately I called the vet and told her what was happening. She said that he probably was just stressed out because of the appointment yesterday and that the medication may have upset his stomach. She told me not to give him anymore and try to feed him around noon. Well, I ended up taking him outside so that I could clean the bathroom (but not before he bit me and drew blood). I wasn't mad... in fact I didn't really care. I was just worried about him.

So noon rolled around and I offered him food and water. He didn't even seem to notice my presence at that point. I call the vet back and they said I should probably bring him in. So me and Nick put him in a box (he was still covered in vomit - I didn't dare try washing him after he bit me), and he kept trying to get out. We finally got him to the vet and I asked someone to help me get him out of the car. As soon as the lady picked him up she went straight for the door. When she got inside she said, "I think we have an emergency."

That is the point at which I lost it. I was just standing in the vet office crying my eyes out. A nice lady in a pink jacket comes over and asks what happened to which I responded between sobs, "I don't know," and then she hugged me and told me everything will be ok. She said that I'd brought him to the best place and that made me feel a little better.

Also, the staff was really nice... they said they'd let us know something as soon as they could so I got Nick and Shadow out of the car and we came back in to wait. They offered us all a drink which I thought was a really considerate thing to do seeing as how we were all worried. They were just trying to make us a little more comfortable, I guess. I appreciated that. For anyone who is curious I took him to the Animal Medical Center on Quintard.

When we finally got to talk to someone they told us that they have Scooter sedated (with morphine and something else), and that he has an IV and a catheter and that they'll need to do some bloodwork later. They said that he was having seizures, (I suppose he had been all morning... I feel like a complete jackass for not taking him in earlier), and that it was likely a reaction to his prescription despite the low dosage he was on.

*sigh* They will have to keep him until the seizures subside which could last for a few days, even. I was really glad to hear that the seizures wouldn't cause any permanent damage (I was afraid of that... I know nothing about them). So yeah, if nothing else goes wrong we should have our little Scoot-Scoot back in a few days. I will be so glad.

Tuberculosis is pretty...

So this weekend we went to see "Bodies... The Exhibition" in Atlanta and it was pretty neat. Basically, it was a lot of chopped up and taken apart bodies, but it was very tastefully presented (and interesting). I found out that people meat looks just like any other meat - therefore edible, which made me hungry. Not that I eat a lot of meat, but I do occasionally eat pork and that's what it reminded me of.

... Anyway, I also held a REAL human brain and a liver. Oh, and one more thing... tuberculosis is pretty... assuming you want your organs to look like a crystallized rock. Otherwise, I'd try my best to steer clear of that. I would've posted pics, but they wouldn't let us take them, (probably so we'd buy the expensive-ass book they had for sale), but if you're interested in the exhibit check look it up. I think it's going to be in Atlanta until September and then it's going far away. Well, that's it! LOVE to all!

Your face is scaring me. :O

Lots to say, but I'll try to keep it short. Today was good. Me, Nick, Shadow, Colin, and Nancy went to Atlanta... we went to the Coke Museum (and of course sampled lots of Coke products), then wandered around Underground Atlanta for a while. I know it's stupid of me to even say this... but I (for whatever reason) did not realize that it was somewhat underground - literally. That was pretty neat.

On the way there we saw a man sitting on the sidewalk talking to his soda can. For real - having a conversation with hands gesturing and all. It was weird. I'm kind of scared of big cities... lots of people all over the place and sirens constantly going off and crazies like that all about and such are just not what I'm used to. But it's really fun to visit places away from home to explore and see what's out there.

One of the more impressive things I've ever seen happened on our way to the Olive Garden... Colin, having drank wayyy too much Coke-product (on an empty stomach, no less), threw up A LOT while driving 70 down the interstate. He didn't swerve or anything... and it being only liquid sprayed EVERYWHERE. It was SO gross and SO funny. Luckily it didn't smell too rough seeing as how it was just Coke-ish stuff from maybe a half hour earlier. Very interesting, though.

So after he got cleaned up (and stopped to buy new pants), we went ahead to Olive Garden as planned. It was my first time there and I enjoyed it. It's good stuff. (Also, in the car on the way home Shadow looked at me and smiled so I smiled back. Then he said, "Your face is scaring me"... hence the name of this blog. And now some pictures.

Seen on a wall when we were lost in Atlanta.

Nick and Shadow posing at the Coke place.

A sign in Heflin we saw on the way home... 😂

Unrelated - the outline of a dead rat that was at work the other day. 😧

Me

Nick's right...

that no matter how much I sleep I am always still tired. It's pathetic... I've slept most of my weekend away and I feel like crap right now. I think my problem is that I need more regular sleep - not sporadic naps during the day with a greatly varying bedtime during the week. I think my body is confused right now... it simply doesn't know when the hell to be tired so it just goes with "all the time." I'm having a bedtime this week and I'm going to see how that goes. Hopefully, that will help.

I remember in the fifth grade I would wake up at 5 am every morning - just so I could hot-roll my hair before school. (Wow, I have changed.) And I could get up then without a problem. Didn't get tired during the day, either. It was great. Never thought I'd miss the fifth grade - especially since my teacher then was a bitch. Oh well.

I feel pretty rough right now, both physically and emotionally. I've been fighting a migraine all day and I think it's finally winning. I would just take some medication, but it has so much caffeine that I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Speaking of caffeine:  That's something that I've gotta lay off of. I used to never ever drink anything that contained it and now I HAVE to have coffee everyday just to keep from falling asleep. It rules me at this point... I have to have it or I get sleepy and a headache. I hate feeling like I depend on something to get through daily life. That's what you call an addiction.

I think another thing that has been dragging me down is food. I've become much less particular about what I shove down my throat on a daily basis and that can't be good. Oh shit! I'm becoming American! Just wait - I'll be fat before you know it. I know a few of you out there would like to see that. Well, I was kidding. I have no intention of keeping this shit up. I can't because I pretty much don't like anyone or anything - myself included. (More like, myself especially). But anyway. Things have got to change.

One more thing. I need to start dancing again. That used to be my thing I did to pass time. I used to do it all the time... alone, or with Shadow. I didn't care. I need to stop being so damn shy about it, but I am. I guess I'm not really living... you know how they say "Dance like nobody's watching"... well, I find that hard - especially when people do indeed look at you. But it's a good way to stay in shape... just get the hell up and move. That's all you gotta do.

Now I do more of the "sitting on my ass" kind of passing time... i.e. myspace. Which is yet more of sitting on my ass just like I do for 40 hours a week at work. NOT GOOD. I may have to start putting restrictions on myself. Not a bad idea, really. My only hang up with that is that I like to write and here (aside from email) is the only time I do that. But I don't post blogs very often anymore so I think limiting myself wouldn't hinder that much.

Well, anyway, I guess that's it. I just wanted to clear my head some... and writing is how I do it. I apologize to anyone who just read all of this pointless blubber. But thank you if you did.

Love,

Blu

(^_^)

Jumping right in... not this past weekend, but the one before it we got a bearded dragon and a guinea pig. The bearded dragon came from one of my dad's friends who could no longer take care of it.  Dad's a carpenter and offered to build him a nice cage if I took him in. And the guinea pig... well, I just wanted it. BAD. 😁

The bearded dragon is not even a foot long so it's not full-grown yet, though it's not still a baby. It hasn't been handled much so it hisses and flares up when you get too close to it. It will tolerate being hand fed vegetables so we could probably get it used to us touching it if we wanted to, but mostly I prefer to just look at it. It's very pretty, I think. 😊 It's got a yellow tint on it's face and I've never seen another like that. Shadow calls it Neo and that's ok with me.

The guinea pig, however, is my baby and I named him Niq (pronounced "neek"). I chose that because shortly after I got him home I noticed something weird about his foot. At first I thought he had a broken toe because it was just hanging there, but upon closer inspection he has an extra toe - which makes him uNIQue. (Yes, I'm a dork; I don't care - I thought it was cute.) 😂 Anyway, I love my little creature... when I hold him he makes little noises, and he licks me, and he's just so sweet! 😍 He's still a baby for sure. He's not much bigger than the ones from the fresh litter we saw at GJ's.

Ok, well in case you haven't been keeping up here's all the pets we have now:

4 hermit crabs (1 died)
1 scorpion
1 cobalt tarantula
1 parakeet (Lily)
1 puppy (Scooter)
1 guinea pig (Niq)
1 bearded dragon (Neo)
2 veiled chameleons (Tiny Alice & Little Clyde)
2 sugar gliders (Yorda & Ico)
2 gerbils (Toad & Testiclees)
2 hedgehogs (PigPig & Octavious... but we're only babysitting Octavious)

So yeah... we have a house full. I might get Shadow a guinea pig (I read they do better in pairs), but that won't be a big deal since it can just live with mine. And we'll probably stop buying creatures after that. I dunno... a short-tailed opossum is on our wish list, but we're not in a hurry to get one. *shrugs*

Anyhoo... when I get back home this afternoon I'll add some pics of our newest additions to this blog. Then I'll put up a bulletin so that those of you who care won't have to keep checking back. Ok, laters!