Doctor, Doctor Gimme The News.

Two whole weeks have passed since I’ve posted something on here because I have had a distinct lack of material. Of course, I could write endless posts on my mundane day-to-day, but can’t imagine that would do much for my readership.  “Today Tess sat up on her own for 3 straight minutes, I took a trip to Michael’s Crafts and I made a brisket in the crockpot.”  Zzzzz…

Sitting up all alone is by far the most 

exciting thing to happen to me in weeks.

I like to actually write stories with SOME substance, but even mundane stories can be entertaining when you inject some humor into them. I just haven’t been feeling it the last couple of weeks.  I’ve even complained to Andy, “I can’t think of anything good to write a blog post about.” 

OK, I'm partly lying about having nothing to write about.

These are from some of our fun outings with the munchkin...

Just never got around to writing about them!

Well, there is something to the expression “Be careful what you wish for,” because I was inundated with material today!

My day today was spent at both the pediatrician and veterinarian.  Let me tell you why:

A couple of weeks ago Twickers, my basset hound, looked like she was walking with a slight limp.  She is getting older and, as a basset hound, carries 55 pounds on 3 inch legs, so I just assumed she was getting a bit of arthritis.  I bought some glucosamine and chondroidin tablets and shrugged it off. 

That she can walk at all is a miracle, really.

Over the following couple of weeks, however, her condition has worsened.  She has been limping more and more, and what’s odd is it appears to be affecting all of her limbs at different times.  Sometimes she’s limping on her back right leg, other times it’s her front legs, then her left hind leg.  It definitely appears to be worse when she first wakes up or gets up from lying down for some time, while other times she’s almost galloping through the backyard.  We took her for a walk one day and it took us about an hour to walk 2 miles because she kept stopping and lying down in the middle of the street!

The start of our walk.

The end of our walk.

It took so long we ran into nap time 

so Tess put herself down for one in the baby carrier.

On our very slooooooowwwwww walk.

Twicky usually lags behind like this while Fenway pulls out in front.

We call it a "drag and pull" not a walk.

This past weekend things deteriorated with Twickers and fast.  She pretty much didn’t move all weekend other than to go out to pee and to eat.  She wouldn’t get up to go to bed at night, even when we enticed her with a dog treat.  Each night Andy had to pick her up and carry her to bed. I don’t think I saw her wag her tail for 3 days.

There was a lot of this going on.

Twice she didn’t finish her breakfast.  And for those of you who don’t know my dog, let me try to explain how concerning this was.  This is a dog, who given half the chance, would devour an entire 40-pound bag of dogfood.  Twickers inhales her food then sneaks in to push Fenway off his dish to finish his food on the regular.  She will eat anything that vaguely resembles food. Never have I once seen her not finish a meal.  In fact, never have I seen her not attempt to finish Fenway’s meal after her own is gone. Every night, no matter how much I might yell or take the food away, she will try to go after Fenway’s dinner. Now she was leaving behind her own food?  Yikes.

Lots of this.
Fenway is a good boy and likes to stick close by his sis.

Saturday night she busted out of the room where we keep her at night (one door doesn’t have a door knob because it’s under construction) and when Andy went to lock her back up, he discovered she had vomited, peed on the floor and was panting heavily.  I also found a swollen lymph node.

We were up half the night with her in a panic.  I emailed our vet and after doing some reading online I was convinced she had Lyme disease.  I was somewhat relieved since they could give her an antibiotic and sort it right out.

Our awesome new vet emailed me back right away and told me I should bring her in on Monday and we can see what’s up.  Sunday night she emailed me again and told me that at Twicker’s annual exam last month she tested negative for Lyme disease, in addition to a plethora of other tick-borne diseases. 

This is Twicky sticking by my side after my knee surgery.

I gotta stick by hers in her time of need!

My heart sank when I saw her email.  I spent the night in floods of tears thinking Twickers was dying.  This was a very sick dog and the other things the vet suggested might be going on were serious. We aren’t quite sure how old she is, she is a rescue, but we think she is around 9.  I thought I was going to bring her in to the vet today and be told she has 2 months to live.  I was heart broken.  We even let her sleep in our bed last night convinced there were only so many nights left for her. 

One of our naps together when Tess was brand new.

MEANWHILE…

During the weekend Tess also had developed a cough.  A dry cough.  It was sporadic and it appeared to be worse first thing in the morning. Andy said he thought she was coughing to get our attention. “Please,” I said. “She is not even 6 months old.  She is smart but give me a break.”

Look at how smart!
Reading a book - 

a book about a doggie too!

She also had a little rash that I thought might be heat rash.  Then I found she had scratched her ear and drew blood, I thought maybe she was pawing at her ear because it was infected.  Sunday night she didn’t feel warm but did feel sweaty, almost clammy. I took her temperature and she wasn’t feverish, but I’ve never dealt with a sick baby so didn’t know what I was dealing with.  I was simultaneously thinking my dog was dying so I was a little panic-stricken with everything.

In her diaper, trying to cure the heat rash.

The beauty of cloth diapers! They are so damn cute!

So, this morning I called the pediatrician and they got me in right away.  There was some pre-pubescent medical student shadowing our physician today so I first described her symptoms to him.  He seemed to be more enthralled with how much she smiles.  He was pretty nerdy and awkward, I think it was the first time a girl smiled at him.  I started to feel pretty stupid I was even there at this point.  Then the doc came in and confirmed the rash was heat rash, her ears and lungs were totally good and she was a 100% healthy baby. 

A healthy girl who probably just has spent 

too much time outside in hot, humid Atlanta.

“What about this cough?” I asked.

She tells me sometimes babies can do an “attention-getting cough.”

Um, what?  Are you serious?  My 6 month old is already manipulating me?! 

I’m in big, big trouble.

I left the pediatrician’s office with a clean bill of health, $25 poorer and more than slightly embarrassed. Oh well, a $25 co-pay for my piece of mind. Totally worth it. When I called Andy to report the news, he told me “I knew that appointment was for you and not her.” 

Yep. Pretty much.

OK, healthy baby? Check.  Now on to deal with sick dog.

This afternoon I packed up Twickers and Tess and headed to the vet’s office.  I’ve started to get used to going out with Tess.  I can’t walk by a single person without them gushing over her.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining that people think my baby is cute… it just means I can no longer be invisible. There is no more slipping through a crowd unnoticed.  It just makes going into public different, slows me down significantly.  Well, today was the first time I was out in public with my disgustingly cute baby AND my disgustingly cute dog.  Half the people at the vet office were cooing over Tess, the other half were putty in Twicker’s paws.  Meanwhile, I was standing there like, “Hello! Can someone check me in please?!”

With my cuties.

During the melee that was my cuteness-overload check-in process, I suddenly noticed Twickers didn’t appear to be limping.  And she was wagging her tail.  As the vet tech was walking us to our examining room she commented, “What a happy, energetic basset hound!”  And she was right! In fact, she looked downright sprightly!  What the hell is going on here?!

The vet came in and did a full-on physical examination on her, felt every vertebrae, checked for a torn ACL, worked every joint down to each and every last toe.  Not only didn’t Twickers yelp, she didn’t so much as flinch.  It got to the point where the vet tech was reporting to the vet if Twickers “squinted more” when she touched one body part over another.  It was ridiculous.  The sight of Twickers lying there being rubbed down, honestly, it looked like she was having an afternoon at the doggy spa!  The worst part was when the vet took her on a walk about.  This dog looked like she was prancing for the judges at the damn Crufts dog show.  Not the slightest limp.  Literally, 24 hours earlier this dog could not move and I was planning her funeral. Oh, and the swollen lymph node was actually just a fatty deposit I hadn't noticed before.

The vet was at a little bit of a loss. She thinks Twickers has a bit of arthritis, and the lack of eating was due to pain, the urinating in the house was due to her not getting up to pee for too long.  She gave me some prescriptions for pain meds and sent us on our way.

My diagnosis?  I have a kid who coughs for attention and a dog who limps for attention.  I think the only real mystery here is whether they are competing for my affection or are they in cahoots to drive me crazy?! 

I wonder if this is when they first conspired against me.

$125 later, I have a diagnosis of a dog and baby who have an insatiable desire for my attention.  Don’t get me wrong, I am so relieved that they both appear to be 100% healthy.  Tess is 6 months old but I am still not ready for her first illness.

And Twickers?  She looked like a 2-year old puppy at the vet today!  I honestly just think she is depressed.  Before Tess was born, she was the center of our world. Now? Not so much. She is just not the absolute center of attention in this house anymore.  

Family B.T.

(Before Tess)

Me & Twickers right after I told my mom I was pregnant with Tess.

Twicky helping me set up the nursery,

poor thing didn't know how her life was about to change.

Today she was miraculously cured by a night of sleeping in our bed and a trip in the car with mom, not to mention the insane amount of pets and cuddles she got from the staff at Village Vets.  I am going to keep an eye on her, of course, and continue with the meds.  But really, I think all she needed was a prescription for some serious TLC. I just only have so many arms with which to snuggle all my babies!  I am totally screwed once we get to baby #2…

These two...

I'm doomed.