(no subject)
The last few weeks have been rough, I won't lie... And last night was more than I could take.
I worked at the bookstore until 5:30, so Kevin picked me up on his way home from work. I was already exhausted from not sleeping much, but when we got home, Annabelle's crate was full of vomit. As we let her out, she continued to vomit all over the kitchen. Then worse... It was bad. We rushed her to a nearby vet that closed at 7 (it was after 6 already). I'd never been there before, and I can't say I'm crazy about it either. My vet is someone I can trust. She's the reason Annabelle is alive today, and she never doubts my dedication to my dog. She also knows my financial situation and is upfront with me and explains how we can break things down so we don't do everything at once. She will allow me to rule things out, and works hard to make it as affordable as she can. But she's also in Costa Mesa and we couldn't get there in time.
This vet instantly said Annabelle would need to stay the night, hook her to an IV and the estimate was about half a month's rent. We just don't have that. It's not that we don't think she's worth it, we don't have it. I explained that to her, but instead of understanding, she acted like I was willingly not getting my dog treatment and wrote me off then and there, not helping me find alternatives we could work with. She then rushed us out, refused to answer my questions (she'd flip it around to being my fault for not spending the money we don't have).
We paid for the blood work, a fecal test, two injections and medicine. The bill was every dime I'd saved up over the last few months. We brought her home and I cried, feeling absolutely horrible for not being able to hospitalize her and assuming she was going to die because I didn't thanks to the vet.
We cleaned up, which meant scrubbing the house from top to bottom. We didn't even get dinner. I barely ate a thing yesterday and into today. I had no appetite. I asked if I could drop her off for observation since I worked today, so I had to drive my car with a spare tire on it. I've not been driving off, sticking to the busses or carpooling., I'm fine doing that. Which is good since I'll obviously be doing it for longer now.
I called on my first break and this vet was so much nicer. When he asked how I was, I said "Worried," and he told me not to be, that everything would be fine. He added "and if it's not fine, we will make it fine." I liked him. He said that she didn't have pancreatitis, what the vet from the night before thought. She had high liver enzymes, but he said in 90% of cases, that's from eating something she shouldn't have and that the medicine will clear it up (along with some liver enzymes I picked up today). She goes back in a few weeks for follow- up blood work just to check the enzymes again, but he insisted that it wasn't likely considering the nature of her illness and how it came on.
The only nice thing about it all ( besides the 2nd doctor) is that a girl I work with was picking up her dog from the vet at the same time. She got her dog and waited to meet Annabelle. It was sweet. Plus, I'm always amazed when I make friends... Even if dog people are easier for me to socialize with than others. And she's certainly a dog person like me (her vet bill cost her a trip home to Thailand she was looking forward to).
So all in all, a stressful few days. I'm feeling down because of it all. It's like we can never get ahead... Something always happens. We had just decided to do something nice for ourselves and get a membership to the YMCA, and then this... So no Y membership for now. And honestly, I'm just exhausted.
I may have another regular article writing job. I just submitted my first article tonight. I really hope they like it and hire me on... I could use the extra income now that a few other projects have ended, and it looks like a fun site to write for.
Okay, bed time... I hope you're all well.