Another Sunday

The basement is drying out.  Slowly in parts, but it has not flooded again, thank goodness.  We've even had sunny weather several days.  Which is unusual for the upper left hand corner of the map in December.

Unfortunately Sundays seem to have become synonymous for disaster in my small world.  Today I returned home after church to find Scooter, my 7-year old dachshund, in considerable distress.  He was crying and  quivering.  I took him outside to see if his bladder stones were back but urination was not the problem.  He could not shake his head without yelping in pain.  So I called my regular vet, who was booked for the day, and then bundled him into the car up to the Emergency vet on 15th NE and NE 148th.  2 hours later (several more urgent cases came in at the same time), it appears that Scooter may have a herniated disk in his neck.  When the vet palpated his back, he was fine but when she moved his head down and to each side, he cried out loudly.  So tomorrow after chemo, or Tuesday, he will be going to his regular vet to be sedated for xrays to hopefully conclusively determine whether there is disk herniation and the extent of it.   He's on three pain medications/muscle relaxants and complete bed rest for 4 weeks.  Which means he must stay confined in a kennel most of the time, and be carried outdoors to do his business.   No walks or tearing around the house with Truffle.  We're trying to get the inflamed area to quiet down and heal itself without surgery.  He is also banned from wearing a neck collar for the rest of his life, just like Max.

It's very difficult to confine him to the kennel which has been brought in from the garage, cleaned up and placed in the dining room, because he thinks he's being punished and so he whines.  Loudly and constantly.  Occasionally Truffle joins him in the pity party from outside his prison, while Max paces back and forth in concern.  I may have to resort to wearing earplugs in the house.  How festive.

Fingers and toes crossed that we can make it through this latest test of our holiday spirit.

Here are the dogs this summer in a happier time, courtesy of my son's camera which has a video component.  It is mainly Truffle, but Scooter is a constant presence and Max shows up at the end.