Thanks to all of you for the well wishes. The positive vibes seem to be doing well.
I got home late yesterday (about 9pm), minus most of my clothes. I had to leave the clothes at the laundromat in San Jose. My coworker is supposedly going to mail them to me. Hopefully 🙂 My wardrobe isn’t much, so most of it is still there.
Taitai has recovered from her sickness, but our little boy is still quite ill. He managed to get through the day yesterday without puking, but relapsed today by expressing his gratitude for my return via rocket vomit. Yes, I was showered not once, but twice. Serves me right I suppose, since the wife got slimed countless times on Monday.
We’ll likely be taking him back to the doctor again tomorrow.
The dog is also doing pretty well. She went to the doctor today. I was pretty nervous that this was going to turn out mighty serious because, let’s face it, when it comes to situations with people and pets being ill, I get really emotional. I’m already on edge with the son being sick, so the dog being ill is the icing on the cake.
At first, I was waiting in the room trying to console Trixie when the door opened and the nurse walked in. It happened to be a friend of mine from high school. I’ve been in touch with this friend so it’s not like she was long and lost, but I was surprised to find her working at my vet. We both did a double-take, then she started talking about when she started working there, etc. She took Trixie in the back and I could hear them wrestle her down and start to clip the nails… CLACK… CLACK… CL… CLACK. Yeah, her nails were that bad. The dog’s nails were like something you’d see on a bearded Hindu man in India because she won’t let us clip them. After they clipped the nails and examined her, the doc came back in with my high school friend and explained the situation.
Trixie is old. 13 to be exact… and actually quite healthy.
The problem she has acquired has to do with the right ear. It appears that some of the “sand” that helps the brain determine balance and eyesight is stuck in the wrong tube. It’s causing her head to tilt to the right and her eyes to twitch from side to side. She’s also walking quite drunkenly. Apparently this is common in Trixie’s breed at senior ages and it usually goes away by itself… then comes back, then goes away, etc. He said that she will likely always have the head tilt, but her eyesight and balance should return.
That was pretty unusual, but made sense. I also asked about her eyesight because we feared she had cataracts. Turns out though – no cataracts, she merely has a protein buildup that is causing her lenses to focus poorly. She is having blurry vision (and the sand-ear problem is screwing it up worse), but she’s not blind. Good news overall.
The doc prescribed some medicine for motion sickness and sent Trixie on her way.
Now if we can just figure out what’s wrong with the boy…
Thanks again for everyone’s support. Your emails and well wishes mean a lot.