It's been a crap day

It's been a crap day, but I suppose that was to be expected.  The house feels weird without Lowrider in it.  She was kind of noisy - we think she was a Bassett mix and they are pretty vocal.  Not to mention that she barely had legs and would noisily shuffle everywhere she went.  😂

We went through a lot together.  She was a heartworm case that had lived at the shelter for over a year.  We had to go through heartworm treatment and her spay before we could even begin looking for a home for her.  After that there was a pretty big issue of house training.  She was no spring chicken and very set in her ways... and also STUBBORN as hell.

It took FOREVER to get her to learn the routine of going out and coming in.  Every single time - several times a day for MONTHS on end - I'd have to get a leash and pull her to where ever she needed to be.  It took even longer to fully house-train her.  After fostering her for nearly 2 years, I caved.  No one ever showed much interest in her and she was such a challenge that it would have taken someone very determined and patient to get her settled in at a new place.

She was such a funny girl.  She was a foster failure and according to her - my dog long before I officially adopted her.  When we would have adoption days at PetSmart she wouldn't walk with anyone else.  If any other volunteer attempted to walk her she would sit and not budge.  If I left her there to be walked by another volunteer she would stubbornly wait at the door for me to return.  Kind of hard to adopt out a dog who believes she is already owned and won't give anyone else the time of day.  😂

I'm gonna miss her noisy shuffling and as goofy as it sounds I will miss nearly falling over her every day.  She kept me on my toes and I guess I liked that.

Missing you already, Short Legs.  I wish the end could have gone a little better and I'm sorry that I let you hurt, but I'm glad you're not in pain anymore.  ❤❤❤

We just got home from the vet. Lowrider has passed away.

We just got home from the vet.  Lowrider has passed away.

When I was getting ready for bed I was making sure all the dogs were in, but she wasn't which was very unlike her.  I went outside looking for her and I found her hiding.  Her stomach looked huge.  I immediately thought "Oh fuck, bloat."

I called AMC and was told that our choices, (if it actually was bloat), were euthanasia or a $1500 - $3000 surgery.  Since I have so little money I decided to consult our regular vet.  He talked me down and told me that her breed didn't get bloat and that she probably ate something she shouldn't have and that if that was the case she'd be ok until the morning.  I didn't think I was being overly dramatic or paranoid, but knowing how crazy I get about my animals I second-guessed myself and I'm sure I wanted to believe him.  I really wanted him to meet me but he wasn't into that.  He told me I could give her an enema - which we did, but it didn't help.  By the time I realized that she was not going to be ok it was basically too late.  We rushed her to AMC and they helped her go peacefully.

I have regrets.  I am sad.  And I will miss my noisy, short-legged girl and her "Sandy Shuffle."  Rest in Peace, sweet old girl.  ❤

I really haven't had the time or energy to complain about my health lately...

I really haven't had the time or energy to complain about my health lately, but it hasn't been great.  I left history class with a migraine coming on.  Barely made it through without barfing.  Cried all the way home because my head hurt so bad.  Excedrin Migraine and a nap to the rescue.  I don't feel great now, but I'm functional.  About to get ready to head to work.

I think today was the last straw.  I've been debating on not taking Methotrexate for a while because the side effects seem to be getting worse and worse - not better.  For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about it's a low-grade chemo drug that I take for my autoimmune arthritis.  Yeah - I can walk, but everything else sucks right now.  The headaches, the nausea, the painful sores on my skin and in my mouth that take forever to heal.  My lungs taste horrible.  I feel like I have a sick smoker's breath and I don't even smoke.  I wouldn't be surprised if my hair started falling out soon.  I'm on folic acid to combat the side effects, but it's just not enough.  And all that has nothing on the fatigue that keeps me down for a few days after taking it.  I'm kind of feeling like I'd rather take a ton of NSAID's and antacids than deal with all this.  If nothing else I think my body needs a break.  So I'm officially skipping my meds today.  I might regret it or I might not.  But I can't keep on like this right now.  🙁

Brownian Motion is when the cells vibrate.

Had to get the Facebook app to share this. Boo. Maybe it's better than the last time I had it. We'll see.

Anyway. Brownian Motion is when the cells vibrate. You see it better after the video gets dark. Very interesting!

Edited to add:  I totally forgot that Facebook wrecks the quality. This isn't really worth watching on here. 🙁

Biology lab was really neat today.

Biology lab was really neat today. Pics through microscope below! 🙂 

I have a really cool video of Brownian Motion that I will try to post later. 😃

Cheek Cell

Onion Skin with Blue Dye

Bacteria

Human Blood Cells

Plant Leaf

Potato with Iodine

It turns out Storm's home fell through...

It turns out Storm's home fell through so he's just a foster now.  That's not the end of the world - he's a great-looking guy and a good boy, but he is getting really bored here.  🙁

I came home this evening from class to hear SO MUCH NOISE in the dog's room.  Went to see what was up and mister was throwing the water bowls around (giant horse bowls from Pickette's, like, 12" in diameter) and playing with them (stepping in them, dragging them across the room, flipping them over, pushing them, barking and growling at them, etc.) - water be damned.  😂  Thankfully there isn't too much that can be hurt by dogs or water in that room, but I feel really bad for him.  None of my dogs will play and every toy I get for him he destroys.  He needs an outlet for his energy, seriously.  He is a great guy and he is bored.  He is not bad for entertaining himself, so please understand that.

I need help finding him a home.  A good one.  Even though things are getting a little hairy with his energy levels I don't want to send him back to the shelter.  Applications for him will be taken by Cheaha Regional Humane Society, Inc.  If you know anyone awesome who would take great care of him send them there for the app.  It's not up to me.

Also, I hate to ask for things, but I'm gonna:  If anyone is up for buying him toys or bones or anything like that I'm sure he'd appreciate it.  He goes through everything I buy him at lightening speed.  I cannot keep up financially with his toy needs.  😂

Thanks in advance!  ❤

This weekend has been a mixed bag.

This weekend has been a mixed bag.  I spent too much time being so stressed out over everything that I needed to do that I didn't do anything, which sucked.  That's a very negative loop to be stuck in.  🙁  Making things worse - I took my Methotrexate on Thursday which makes me really tired and brain-foggy so basically nothing got done on Thursday or Friday.  I did very little homework on Saturday, but made a lot of progress on my Trig today (Sunday), even though I had to stop for a nap.  I didn't touch Biology at all, but I did work on History since I have a test coming up Tuesday.

Highlight of the weekend was seeing some friends that don't live close to me anymore.  Low point of the weekend was that one of our parakeets died today despite all of my efforts to nurse her and make her better.  Rest in Peace, Sky.  ❤

I promised Booka a bath since he's chewed up a raw spot above his tail despite his Prednisone.  So I'm about to get off here, wash a dog, then wash myself, and call it a night.  I've got an ass-ton of notifications piled up again, but I can't check them all tonight.  Maybe tomorrow.  I hope the weekend went a little easier on y'all.