Interjection
Such as #@*(&!!! Um, so to start with, Abby's going to be OK. And so am I, eventually. But suckitude for us both for now.
Friday night, as Sean was off getting me a pizza, I stepped into the bathroom to put cold water on my face because I kept getting flushed and overheated, and the virus/rash was driving me crazy. As I stepped out of the bathroom, I saw that Mingus had stolen the half a candy bar that I'd left unattended, and Abby had walked near him, and he decided that he needed to show her that he's the dominant dog. By biting her head. Now, this has happened before, and he gets yelled at and made to sit and give up whatever food he's decided to have issues over, and the kitty is unhurt, and we all go on with our lives. Friday night I yelled at him, made him sit, picked up the candy bar, and looked in at Abby who had run behind the couch and coffee table. She was hissing and screaming and her tail was the size of a raccoon. (note, not its tail, but the whole animal) She hissed at me and was obviously in distress, so I put Mingus outside, and came back to find her gone. I looked around until I found her in the study, hissing and bleeding from her nose.
I'm sure I said something edifying like "Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no," and picked her up, with her hissing and growling at me, and took her into the kitchen where I could get a better look. I called the vet, who was of course closed. I left an emergency message with the answering service for the on-call vet to call me back. Abby's eye started swelling. I got an ice cube and a rag and tried to apply it to her eye. She wasn't having any. She was snorting up blood all over and hissing and growling and I tried not to panic. Mingus was whining from outside. I called Sean, who was in the pizza restaurant. He came racing home, and we just put her in her crate and took off to the only open 24-hour emergency vet clinic that's anywhere nearby. It's on Lake City Way. 25 minutes at least from our house. But we got there, with me driving my car (his was almost out of gas) and trying not to cry but to concentrate on driving quickly but safely and not scream at other drivers. The vet techs took her, and came out a little while later saying it looked worse than it was, it might be awhile to wait, and they gave us a room to wait in. That was at approximately 8:30. Maybe.
We didn't leave until 11:30 or so. I kept overheating and chilling by turns. Both Sean and I were upset. I called a few people, because Sean ended up going to get something to eat from nearby (a Wendy's, I think) and then I couldn't stand to be alone in the room when I was still adrenaline reacting. I then realized that we'd put Mingus back inside the house, but I had no memory whatsoever of what I'd done with the candybar. We called around to our local friends who live nearby, until we found someone at home who could go over and check on him, and maybe let him outside. They did, said the candy bar was long gone, but he seemed to be ok, and they were going to race him around the back yard a bit and give him fresh water. Then we sat some more.
corihope ended up coming out and bringing emergency chocolate, and keeping us distracted for awhile until the vet finally came in and told us what was up. They took an x-ray, and it looks like there may be a small fracture of her something-or-other arch, I can't think of it right now. But there were no punctures and the eye itself didn't seem to be damaged. They sent us home with steriod eye drops and oral painkiller, and told us to have our vet keep an eye on things.
Abby's been spending the last couple days pretty much sleeping in a previously-mostly ignored cat bed in the back bedroom, occasionally with an E collar on. When she does meow, it sounds muffled and weird. I think her nose is still pretty swollen. Her eye looks much better, but it's still very red and puffy and mucousy. We're going back into the vet today, so I'm going to have them see if they can clean it out a little for her, so it doesn't itch. She growls a lot. She refuses to go into the front part of the house. She won't even come into the front bedroom when the gate is up to keep Mingus out of it. She goes into the little room for the litterbox and the food and water, and that's it.
I've spent the last two days watching her and trying to stay sane with the virus/rash. I can barely think, I'm so itchy. And I have to stay cold to freezing for it to feel halfway calm, but then I'm shivering and tense and uncomfortable that way. And the ice packs only do so much good. Plus they don't stay cold long enough. I'm calling my dermatologist again tomorrow. (They're closed today, dangit) and seeing if maybe there isn't a way to put me in a coma for a couple weeks until this is over. Just kidding. Sort of.
Mingus is worried, but ok. I had to show him Abby yesterday, because he kept sniffing over the gate and looking worried. Abby was not best pleased to be shown to Mingus, but I think it put Mingus' mind at ease a little. He's been depressed and bored and acting out lately. It might be partly because of Reggie's death. But we're going to look back into obedience school for him, and maybe start trying Flyball or something, which is sort of a sport for dogs. I think he needs something to do, besides his walks and weekly dog parks. He needs a job or a hobby or something. Barking at people walking by can't be it. Also, we need to work about this food issue thing he's got going. He shouldn't be stealing food in the first place. And he can't be so possessive of it, either. So we're going to work on that. Maybe in a year Abby will trust him enough to go into the living room when he's in it. But I doubt it.
In the meantime, it feels like I'm living from crisis to crisis, with just enough time in between to start to think I'm done with the crisis mode. Ok, so I'd like to just state for the record that I've had my fill of crises for the year and then some, and if we could please have some peace and quiet and boringness, if it's all the same. Kthx.