A rant on my other blog...

A rant about collection agencies who won't leave me alone even though I am not the person who owes them money. *sigh*

Diagnosis: He is a dork.

The vet diagnosed him as "Having a major case of being a dork." lol. The little snot would NOT trot on the lead, didn't want to longe, and kept trying to stick his nose in the assistant's pocket looking for mints. He acted just a tiny bit sore on the outside edge of that foot the first time she used the testers but after that he was absolutely sound. She didn't find any heat or swelling or tenderness after that first reaction and his flexion test seemed ok though it was hard to tell because he was moving in slow motion OR just moving sideways instead of going straight. Horses are like kids, they just have to act up when you want them to be good.

Anyway, once we got him to do a decent trot on the longe line (which he does FINE for me, but I can't do it because of the gall bladder, of course) she said he was moving sound and it looked like he probably just had stepped wrong and was ouchy last night. That was when she diagnosed him with a serious case of being a dork. A pretty dork, but a dork. lol. She gave me instructions on what to do if he gets ouchy again which she said was a distinct possibility because we had been messing with him and if it was a stone bruise it could abscess. I have a tube of bute paste just in case.

I told her I almost cancelled but i knew sure as shooting if I did he would be dead lame at midnight tonight ("Or on sunday at 2pm" she said, "They LOVE to drag me off the couch on sundays at 2pm!") and I would be stuck. Better safe than sorry.

So I can take a pain pill, and turn on the tv, and fall asleep to American Justice.... and not worry about the dork.

*yawn*

I pitched a tent out in the barn and stayed out there from about 10:30pm until about 3:30am last night. After him being so stumbly I wanted to keep an eye on him. At 3:30am he trotted past the barn door and woke me up. *rolls eyes* So I went back in the house at that point.

He is still acting sore footed but no where near like he was last night and he is certainly much more stable on his feet. Even when he has been laying down and stands up he is looking much more stable. I did way too much yesterday, though, and now I am really sore. I'll be calling the vet as soon as the office opens and see if she can come take a look at him.

edit to add: vet is coming for a well check between 11am and 1pm. Brego is just putzing around like normal. These animals are going to be the death of me. It is going to suck if she needs me to trot him for her. Hopefully I can just lunge him for her to see him move because no way can I run with him.

And Guess Who is Lame.....

... on his right front foot?


*head desk*



I gave him 3/4 gram of bute since we couldn't reach my vet, and it is the only pain meds I had on hand. He has a good appetite, is alert, but obviously limping. He was laying down when I went out to check on him and when he stood up he was all over the place. I kinda lost it and had Tsu run in the house to call the vet. He wasn't able to reach them and was going to try again in a little while but Brego seems a lot steadier on his feet now that he is up. So I'm going to be checking on him every couple of minutes through the night and see if I can get the vet out tomorrow, unless he starts to act like something other than a sore foot is bothering him tonight in which case we will find a vet if we can't reach mine.

My stomach hurts. I'm worried. I'm tired and sore. Hopefully it is just a hoof abscess or something simple. I sure hope the screwy feed schedule this past week didn't make him founder. He doesn't have the kind heat in his feet that Jamie had when he foundered, though. Gah, I'm going to make myself sick worrying now. I seriously think I might barf with worry. I KNEW something wasn't right but there was nothing obvious until after hours, of course!

The All You Can Eat Hay Buffet...

Did I spell that right? Buffet?


Meh, who cares.


The ponies got a nice grassy "stored inside a barn" round bale of hay yesterday. NOM NOM NOM.



It looks like she has burrowed her way into the side but she actually hasn't, lol. She is just standing behind it with her head buried in the pile of loose stuff next to the bale:



Mary, you got some breakfast on your face!



Sparrow is delighted:



Brego seems lethargic today. I mean he doesn;t seem like there is anything wrong, he just seems... not entirely his normal self. I just can't pinpoint why I feel that way.



He and Sparrow were playing and he seemed fine (and for those who worry that Sparrow feels left out of things with Brego and Mary being so bonded, as you can see, these two are buddies too):



Well, except when Sparrow kicks at Brego and Brego pins his ears and glares at him:



ITCHY!!!! The flies are horrible and I am out of fly spray. I've been using skin so soft on their faces until I can get to town and get some more fly spray. It helps but the flies are still bugging them on their bodies:



See, they still spend time together too:



I think Brego is filling out nicely. Even if he does seem to be putting most weight around his belly and not so much on his hips, lol.



I keep going outside to check on him. I think my worry from when I was in the hospital is just spilling over. I checked his feet to make sure they weren't hot and he wasn't favoring any of them. This hay is really grassy and not moldy or rich so I don;t think that is an issue. He is moving ok, just kind of slow and pokey. Which isn't really abnormal for him. He let me pick his feet without much trouble since I am not supposed to be picking up or pulling on anything yet I was glad he wasn't a putz about it but I didn't find any stones or anything. He isn't acting like he has a belly ache or anything. His skin under his feather is nice and dry and in good shape. No swelling in his legs. I don't have a thermometer but his pulse, respiration and capillary refill are normal. So why am I such a worry wart? gah.

I'm hoping they all lay down in the hay for their mid day siesta today so I can get a picture, lol.

Oh, I tried to give Brego an apple slice yesterday and he acted like I had tried to feed him a live cobra. He was actually running away from me as I tried to give him the apple slice. It was hysterical.

The Great Gall Bladder Adventure! Part 4

I wake up in the recovery room to a smiling nurse saying, "All done, honey. How you feeling?"

"Can I have coffee now?"

Laughter comes from somewhere. No head ache.

"I'm not sure, but it shouldn't be too long." I can hear the smile in her voice.

I drift in and out. Somehow I end up back in my room. Still coming out of it. Woozy. Nurse comes in.

"Can I get you something to drink, sweetie? Some water or juice?"

"Coffee, can I get some coffee?" I'm still terrified that my lack-of-coffee headache will return.

"Well, they have you on clear liquids, so let me clear it with the doctor first. If you can what do you want in it?" Everything.

5 minutes later I have a steaming cup of coffee in my hands and a smile on my face.

Step dad had gone home that morning and I vaguely remember them coming in to check on me but I was in so much pain that the details are fuzzy. I ask about the animals, I am worried. Their schedule has been totally screwed up and I just want them to be OK. The horses went from getting 8 hours a day out on grass to getting a half bale of hay, they went from three meals a day to getting pellets before Tsu left and after he got home. The dogs have been in their crates the better part of two days now. They were fine, of course, but still I worried.

Tiff was behaving herself, relieved to see me doing well. I still dozed a bit but for the most part felt good and alert. I don't recall any more anti nausea meds or pain meds being administered but because of the head ache and barfing of the night before i was paranoid. The thought of throwing up with the incisions from my surgery still fresh just made my skin crawl. Especially after hearing the obvious pain of my room mate. I felt bad when I had visitors because I just wanted her to be able to sleep. I learned that her husband was working out of state and she was trying to not call him home. Eventually her daughters showed up to visit and I felt bad for her because other members of her family were trying to stir up drama. Saying her youngest wasn't doing enough. But none of THEM had offered to lift a finger. It was obvious that her youngest daughter was having a very hard time holding it together and it was also obvious she was trying very hard. I wanted to track down her family and punch them for being obnoxious.

I spent the rest of the day until evening relaxing, eating the delicious hospital food (dead serious, our hospital has the BEST food!!) and praying for my roomie. Finally it was getting on toward late evening and our dogs had been locked in crates for 12 hours. The nurses said I was OKed to go home but we couldn't seem to get anyone in to remove my IV and give me the paperwork to escape their clutches. It seemed obvious that I was not going to start barfing any time soon and I was starting to worry about my dogs and horses.

In fact, I was getting so worked up over them being locked up that my blood pressure was going up. But the floor was short staffed and the nurse was trying to take care of two trauma patients and my sick roomie. Every time they tried to come in and get me on my way something else came up. Which was fine with me, honestly. But it didn;t stop me worrying about getting home.

Then they came in to my roomie and tried to get her to accept more meds. She explained, again, that the meds were making her worse. They left to get her meds anyway and she wished me well and I told her I sure hoped she was feeling better soon. They told me they would get me out of there as soon as they were done with her. I told them that was fine. I;d spent so much time worrying about her that I really wanted her to get some care even if it meant my dogs had to spend an extra hour in their crates.

They gave her the anti nausea meds and started to give her a pain med but she kept demanding to know what it was, turned out it was the same thing they had given her earlier that made her so sick. She refused it and they went and got a different pain med. Within seconds of injecting her she was rushing for the bathroom, again, barfing and then dry heaving as she sat collapsed on the bathroom floor. The poor dear had been so sweet to me even as she felt so horrible, and she was SOOO sick. I still wish I could have done anything at all to help her feel better. They got her back into bed and cleaned up, and gave her another injection of a different kind of anti nausea med, then it was time for me to get my IV out and home. Before I left I told her again I wished she would get to feeling better and that I hoped she got to keep the room to herself so she could rest. She called me sweetie and said she hoped I kept recovering really well.

I don't even know her name, but I still worry that she is doing ok. I'm such a goof.

Anyway, I got the chair ride down, got into the car, and away home we went. I still had my little poodle stuffy tucked under my arm. Pulling into the driveway I was all smiles as my ponies whinnied at us and Brego did his standard 'stand with his head way up high and bounce his nose his up in the air as if to say, "Yo! 'Sup?" while he chews even if his mouth is empty'.

And so the adventure kind of ends. Me home, Tsu my slave, pain meds for several days. Lots of sleep. Visitors bringing goodies. Me stumbling out from the very first morning to give Brego his pellets simply because I needed to see my horses. And now, just a few hours away from when the gall attack started last week, I'm feeling pretty close to normal. The incisions itch like a son of a gun, but they are small because it was laproscopic surgery. My insides still feel all bruised, but I haven't had pain meds in 2 days now. I am still absolutely exhausted all the time but aside from that I'm recovering as well as can be expected.

And now I get to start seeing what I can and can not eat and if the Dumping Syndrome will be an issue. Let's hope not.

I have a follow up to get checked and get my stitches out the 22nd. And now I think I need another nap. lol.

The Great Gall Bladder Adventure! Part 3

So then I acquire my room mate.

The first I hear of her is the nurses pulling the curtain between our beds to give her privacy followed by whimpering. As they moved her to her bed the whimpering turned to all out sobbing. They gave her some anti barf meds and pain meds and they seemed to make her 100 times worse as she started to retch and cry. By now I had a ripping "lack of coffee" headache, and my pain and nausea meds were wearing off. Once they had new roomie settled I buzzed a nurse and let her know that my gall bladder didn't feel too bad but my headache was bad that I was going to start hurling any second now. They got me meds and I drifted in and out of sleep to the fitful sounds of my room mate whimpering in pain.

Middle of the night I wake up vomiting. Head won't stop hurting. My roomie seems to have fallen asleep just in time for me to make a racket and wake her, the poor thing. I barf, several times. She whispers across to me, "They aren't in a big hurry are they?"

"Doesn't seem like it." I reply.

"What are you in for?" she asks, breathlessly, panting to catch her breath between words.

"Gall bladder."

"Ugh" she groans. "I had mine out two days ago and I am still getting sicker and sicker."

The nurse comes in and medicates me but even the morphine won't knock out the pain in my head. Several hours later I need to pee. My IV machine had a dead battery from the time I got there that morning. Every time it was unplugged it would scream. Here I am, needing to pee like crazy, my poor room mate is finally resting quietly again and I have to unplug the screech machine in order to drain my bladder. So I unplug it and go pee then call for help again to shut that damn thing up. By now I am more worried about my room mate than I am about myself as they keep trying to give her more meds and the meds keep making her more and more sick.

They never did fix my IV machine. It wasn't until the nurse in the OR saw the battery was dead that it got switched out. But to be fair to our nursing staff, they were swamped with emergency and high demand folks and were running them selves ragged.

Dawn comes and my entourage arrives. Tsu, his dad and a grinning satisfied Tiff with a vampire book tucked under her arm. I am still in so much pain that I just close my eyes and pray for sleep. I drift in and out of some form of wakefulness, mostly a highly medicated daze. The surgeon treating my room mate comes in at one point and she tells them her issues and he just says, "Hm, yes, hm. Uh huh. Hm." then leaves. The nurse comes in to give her more meds and she refuses them. At this point I don't blame her since what the doctor wanted to give her was a double dose of the same crap that made her so sick before.

Her doctor is one of the most highly recommended in the area. I have never ever heard a bad word about him. In fact at first i was a little disappointed that I wasn't having him as my doctor. By now I am thanking my lucky stars I ended up with someone else.

I doze back off, still in massive pain in my head.

Tsu's face hovers over mine, "They are coming to get you, can you walk to a different bed, this is an old one and they need to switch you to a new one."

I don't even remember what I said, just that soon I was laying on the new bed with my eyes clinched shut tight against the light. The rest is mostly a blur. I talk to the anesthesiologist and let him know about the nausea i get after surgery. he said with the gall bladder that usually happens anyway even if it doesn't normally so they will give me something for that before I wake up. I am left in a dark cubby hole for what feels like 2 hours, trembling in fear. Not of the surgery, but of the thought that I may wake up and still have this hideous head ache.

They finally move me into the OR and have me move to the operating table. They ask me how I am doing. I tell them I'd be doing better if they could put me on a coffee drip on the IV. They put a gas mask over my face and the last thing I hear is laughter and comments about the coffee drip IV.

Wow, this story is longer than I thought, lol! I'm feeling well enough to have moved back to the couch from the futon, but I need another rest. TO BE CONTINUED!!!!

The Great Gall Bladder Adventure! Part 2

OK, so, where were we? Oh yes, when last we saw our intrepid adventurers they were waving goodbye to Papa who was going into the OR to have his kidney stone removed, lol.

So, Mom went with Step-father while Tsu went in with me and they informed me that i was allowed nothing to eat or drink until after my consult with the doctor. Then if we were hacking this thing out no food or water, just ice chips, until after the surgery. I'd not eaten or had anything to drink since the day before anyway, was thirsty as heck, and was operating on a severe lack of coffee. Colour me crabby, friends.

But by now I was on morphine which was helping. I was also on anti-barf stuff which was helping even more. Before long the doctor came in and we chatted. He filled me in on my options and I discussed my concerns about the side effects. During this time my mom came back in and was there for the consult. He was pretty up front with me about the risk of "dumping syndrome". I also discussed it with nurses and they said most folks who have issues find it is related to just certain food items that they can avoid, but that yes, some folks just have this issue no matter what for the rest of their lives. That said, both of my nurses had their gall bladders removed and neither one of them has ever had any issues afterward, EVER. So with that in mind and everything else rattling around in my head I said, "Let's do this!!!"


*side note, I forgot earlier.... when I was still in the ER my ex inlaws came in because it turned out Papa needed some blood work done anyway. Tiff was with them and needed to get into the house for her stuff since she obviously wouldn't be coming home that night*

OK, so we let everyone know what was up. In laws came up to see how I was doing and Karen brought me a stuffed poodle to keep me company since she knows I do not sleep well without a dog around (hehehe! and I did sleep with it!). Eventually everyone headed home and left me to snooze. Step-dad had made it through his stone removal but they kept him and extra night. I told him he need to change the family name from "Cory" to "Quarry", since we are so good at producing rocks. *groan* I'd waited all day for the chance to use that line.

Anyway, that evening I am laying there resting and the phone rings. It is Papa, the ex father in law. It seems Tiff was getting some attitude. he said she was saying, "That is MY mom and if I want to be there while she has surgery I should be able to be there!!" *big grin* So I talked to her, calmed her down, and had her call Tsu to see about coming up with him the next day.

Shortly after that I gained a room mate.

But the story of my room mate will have to wait for the next installment of the adventure because I need to lay back down for a bit.

The Great Gall Bladder Adventure! Part 1

OK, here is the story!

let's go back to the middle of last week right after I made my last real post. I'd had a short gall bladder flare up the night before that was minor and only lasted about an hour. I blamed that on gas, I think. The within hours of making that post I was having a full fledged attack almost identical to the one I posted about last week after my brother's wedding rehearsal. Around 10pm I told Tsu, "I think this is my cue to go back to the doctor. 3 or 4 a year is one thing, 3 in one WEEK? WHOLE other ball of wax."

It was progressing like a usual attack for the first 4 to 6 hours then the pain changed to my entire abdomen and lower back. One of the signs my doctor said to watch out for was a change in the presentation of the pain. So every hour or so it would let up and then 20 minutes later it would be back full force. By mid-morning I woke Tsu up and said, "I hate to do this on your vacation and when you had plans to go fishing with your dad, but I think we need to go to the hospital."

Tiff was here so i had her call her Oomama and Papa (my ex's folks) and see if she could go over there. She was stumbling over her words trying to explain what was ging on so she handed me the phone and I told Papa that I was going to the ER for this gall bladder attack and could we drop her at their house. Of course they said yes. I love those guys. They are made of awesome.

So I packed up my books and my knitting (hehe) and we dropped Tiff off and Oomama and Papa's on the way. Once we got to the hospital I got all signed in. Talked to the nurse about the issue. She said that the side effects my family experiences are usually called "Dumping Syndrome". The name made me laugh, and laughing made me hurt. We got to the hospital at 10:30am. I finally got a PA in to see me at noon. I finally got pain meds around 2pm just before my ultrasound. They also did bloodwork at that point and saw that my liver enzymes were elevated and my gallstones had apparently been breeding since my last ultrasound because they were almost doubled in size AND number. So I got moved to a room at 3:30pm to await consultation with a doctor about surgery.

SO... as they are wheeling me up to my room I am out of it but I hear what sounds like my MOM talking. *makes weird face* OK, this is odd because no one but my ex inlaws knows what is going on at this point. No wait, my inlaws knew too because Tsu had to cancel fishing but no one knew I was being admitted yet at all. How would they know to come to the hospital? I look back and see my step-dad on a bed being wheeled out of a room as I am being wheeled into the one RIGHT NEXT DOOR! After some laughing and questions we find out that he spent the entire day BEFORE in the emergency room with a KIDNEY stone! They just hadn't had time to call around and fill everyone in on what was going on yet. He was going in to have the kidney stone removed when he saw Tsu walk by his door!



OK, I'm going to take a break from writing because I am tired and sitting here is making me sore, but I will be back later to write more.

guess what

guess what happened immediately after my last post?

i had two more gall bladder attacks in one week and got my gall bladder removed. i am too sore right now to move my laptop and typing all leaned over hurts but i will give the whole story when i feel better, lol