I Just Want You...
What a fucking whirlwind week...
After the Assiniboine Credit Union tried to fuck us over with regard to financing Romeo's surgery, this was by Wednesday already so the clock was ticking, I called my bank (PC Financial) and had no problems whatsoever. We talked to our vet in Winnipeg, Dr. Sexsmith, first thing Thursday morning and booked a flight to Saskatoon. While going with West Jet would have been great, they don't do direct flights to Saskatoon and I wanted to get Romeo there as quickly as possible without having to switch flights so we had to go with fucking Air Canada.
We got to the airport late but the woman at the check-in desk said I still had time and, in fact, she told Andrew he had time to run upstairs to get a carry-on kennel so Romeo would be in the cabin with me. Did she call the gate to say I would be late? Nope. So, I go through security which took a long time as I had to finagle my poor crippled dog in and out of the kennel, ran to get a bottle of water, and headed to the gate. The woman said I was too late then lied and said she paged me multiple times (Andrew confirmed that he didn't hear my name downstairs either). I started crying and asked that they open the door because my dog needed emergency surgery. A guy came out of the gate and said nope, it was closed. I pleaded saying the plane was still in place they surely could do this for me. "No, you'll have to go downstairs and get on the next flight tonight." I'm sobbing, ya know. I said I got there as fast as I could but security was lengthy and the guy said, "Well, you went and got a bottle of water." I said, "Excuse me, but I'm dehydrated and so is my dog so, yes, I took 30 seconds to get a bottle of water and come here." The woman lied again and said I had checked in an hour ago! I said that wasn't even possible because I wasn't in the airport an hour ago. So I'm crying, carrying my backpack and Romeo, and I'm looking for my cellphone. The woman kept badgering me to "go downstairs to rebook" (she said it over and over again). I wasn't standing in front of her desk; I wasn't blocking anyone. I snapped (but didn't yell), "Just give me a goddamn second." The guy then got in my face and said (loudly), "Whoa, take it easy! We're trying to help you here." I said, "You're not, actually." "Oh, I'm not?" "No!" "Well, we'll see about that when I make sure they charge you for your next ticket." and stormed away from me!!! EXCUSE ME!?!?! So I'm bawling, calling Andrew, and I have poor Romeo. A couple of women passing by asked if there was anything they could which was very sweet of them.
I went back downstairs and Andrew and I talked to a supervisor who was just as rude as his staff. I told him exactly what I said to the woman and the dude. He said, "It was my understanding there was some swearing." I said, "Uh, yeah, I told you I had asked that they 'give me a goddamn second'. Excuse me for being human when I'm stressed to the max." Andrew said that they should probably just give us a refund and we'd see if West Jet could get us there any faster. The fucking guy SCOFFED AND LAUGHED! I am not shitting you! Andrew took a deep breath and said, "Look, I'm not looking for an argument here. I'm just trying to get her and our dog to Saskatoon as quickly as possible since you guys have been rude and mean." The supervisor said, "I'm not arguing with you." Really? Your whole fucking demeanour says otherwise. Unfortunately, West Jet couldn't get us there faster so Andrew went back to Air Canada and book my flight for just after 9:00 p.m. He said to the woman at check-in (the same one who told us we had time), "It's a good thing we didn't load our dog in cargo, hey?" She didn't say a word.
So after that gong show, Romeo and I arrived in Saskatoon at about 10:15 p.m. Once my great aunt arrived, we went to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine to check Romeo in. We had a helluva long wait because a ferret was rushed in so we didn't get out of there until 2:30 a.m. Romeo was such a good boy on the plane and being patient at the vet. They kept him overnight to put an IV line in and so the surgeon, Dr. Su, could check him first thing Friday morning.
Dr. Su called me first thing Friday morning to let me know that they'd be doing a myelogram (injection of dye into the spine and then x-rayed) and provided they found what they needed, they'd go straight into surgery as he would be under anaesthetic for the myelogram. I went to see Romeo beforehand and we just cuddled alone. He was a good boy, but scared (obviously). I stayed while they finished up the myelogram and Dr. Su showed me the x-rays. There were more calcium deposits than I had anticipated based on the plain x-ray taken in Winnipeg. Dr. Su showed me where the calcification was pushing on the left side of Romeo's spinal cord (which made sense as his left leg was the first to go). So that was going to be removed and the other ones weren't because there's no proven fact that removing them would prevent this from happening again. Once we were done going over everything, Dr. Su headed straight for surgery. My awesome friend, H-Bomb, picked me up and I stayed at their place with their cute bebeh.
She called me a few hours later to let me know they were done. She ended up taking out more calcium deposits than planned because she wasn't comfortable leaving them in and I guess there was more there than even showed up on the myelogram. She was very happy with how the surgery went.
Saturday morning, Dr. Su called to let me know Romeo was pretty dopey but he still had feeling in his legs. I went to see him before I left to fly back to Winnipeg. He was really dopey-sleepy (wouldn't you want to be after back surgery?), but we cuddled and he was interested in H-Bomb's baby. He fell asleep in my arms and then I had to hand him back, though he really didn't want to and gripped my bicep with his front legs. It was heartbreaking to leave him, but I know it's for his benefit.
I flew home via West Jet without any problems and the staff are awesome. Seriously. Friendly, nice people. Oh, and Saskatoon's airport is pretty nice, way better than Winnipeg's.
I just got off the phone with Dr. Su. She said Romeo's doing really well. He ate the canned food I left for him. While he's still not able to stand without assistance, he has more muscle tone in his legs today meaning they aren't floppy anymore. He needs his bladder expressed, but just to give him a head start and he finishes on his own. They'll be doing leg exercises with him 3 times a day and he starts physio/acupuncture rehab tomorrow. Dr. Su said she's very happy with his progress thus far. I told her we all miss him and Mia seems lost with him. She said he's being very good for them, but he really doesn't want to be there. *lol* As nice as a facility it is and as nice as the staff is, I can't blame him! She said when she puts him down and goes to get or do something else, he tries to head for his kennel. Awww, our poor baby. <3 They're going to call us everyday to let us know how he's doing.
This has all been taking a toll on my body. I've dropped 10+ lbs in a week; I'm looking gaunt. This is how I feel. My stomach just can't settle and food doesn't interest me.
After the Assiniboine Credit Union tried to fuck us over with regard to financing Romeo's surgery, this was by Wednesday already so the clock was ticking, I called my bank (PC Financial) and had no problems whatsoever. We talked to our vet in Winnipeg, Dr. Sexsmith, first thing Thursday morning and booked a flight to Saskatoon. While going with West Jet would have been great, they don't do direct flights to Saskatoon and I wanted to get Romeo there as quickly as possible without having to switch flights so we had to go with fucking Air Canada.
We got to the airport late but the woman at the check-in desk said I still had time and, in fact, she told Andrew he had time to run upstairs to get a carry-on kennel so Romeo would be in the cabin with me. Did she call the gate to say I would be late? Nope. So, I go through security which took a long time as I had to finagle my poor crippled dog in and out of the kennel, ran to get a bottle of water, and headed to the gate. The woman said I was too late then lied and said she paged me multiple times (Andrew confirmed that he didn't hear my name downstairs either). I started crying and asked that they open the door because my dog needed emergency surgery. A guy came out of the gate and said nope, it was closed. I pleaded saying the plane was still in place they surely could do this for me. "No, you'll have to go downstairs and get on the next flight tonight." I'm sobbing, ya know. I said I got there as fast as I could but security was lengthy and the guy said, "Well, you went and got a bottle of water." I said, "Excuse me, but I'm dehydrated and so is my dog so, yes, I took 30 seconds to get a bottle of water and come here." The woman lied again and said I had checked in an hour ago! I said that wasn't even possible because I wasn't in the airport an hour ago. So I'm crying, carrying my backpack and Romeo, and I'm looking for my cellphone. The woman kept badgering me to "go downstairs to rebook" (she said it over and over again). I wasn't standing in front of her desk; I wasn't blocking anyone. I snapped (but didn't yell), "Just give me a goddamn second." The guy then got in my face and said (loudly), "Whoa, take it easy! We're trying to help you here." I said, "You're not, actually." "Oh, I'm not?" "No!" "Well, we'll see about that when I make sure they charge you for your next ticket." and stormed away from me!!! EXCUSE ME!?!?! So I'm bawling, calling Andrew, and I have poor Romeo. A couple of women passing by asked if there was anything they could which was very sweet of them.
I went back downstairs and Andrew and I talked to a supervisor who was just as rude as his staff. I told him exactly what I said to the woman and the dude. He said, "It was my understanding there was some swearing." I said, "Uh, yeah, I told you I had asked that they 'give me a goddamn second'. Excuse me for being human when I'm stressed to the max." Andrew said that they should probably just give us a refund and we'd see if West Jet could get us there any faster. The fucking guy SCOFFED AND LAUGHED! I am not shitting you! Andrew took a deep breath and said, "Look, I'm not looking for an argument here. I'm just trying to get her and our dog to Saskatoon as quickly as possible since you guys have been rude and mean." The supervisor said, "I'm not arguing with you." Really? Your whole fucking demeanour says otherwise. Unfortunately, West Jet couldn't get us there faster so Andrew went back to Air Canada and book my flight for just after 9:00 p.m. He said to the woman at check-in (the same one who told us we had time), "It's a good thing we didn't load our dog in cargo, hey?" She didn't say a word.
So after that gong show, Romeo and I arrived in Saskatoon at about 10:15 p.m. Once my great aunt arrived, we went to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine to check Romeo in. We had a helluva long wait because a ferret was rushed in so we didn't get out of there until 2:30 a.m. Romeo was such a good boy on the plane and being patient at the vet. They kept him overnight to put an IV line in and so the surgeon, Dr. Su, could check him first thing Friday morning.
Dr. Su called me first thing Friday morning to let me know that they'd be doing a myelogram (injection of dye into the spine and then x-rayed) and provided they found what they needed, they'd go straight into surgery as he would be under anaesthetic for the myelogram. I went to see Romeo beforehand and we just cuddled alone. He was a good boy, but scared (obviously). I stayed while they finished up the myelogram and Dr. Su showed me the x-rays. There were more calcium deposits than I had anticipated based on the plain x-ray taken in Winnipeg. Dr. Su showed me where the calcification was pushing on the left side of Romeo's spinal cord (which made sense as his left leg was the first to go). So that was going to be removed and the other ones weren't because there's no proven fact that removing them would prevent this from happening again. Once we were done going over everything, Dr. Su headed straight for surgery. My awesome friend, H-Bomb, picked me up and I stayed at their place with their cute bebeh.
She called me a few hours later to let me know they were done. She ended up taking out more calcium deposits than planned because she wasn't comfortable leaving them in and I guess there was more there than even showed up on the myelogram. She was very happy with how the surgery went.
Saturday morning, Dr. Su called to let me know Romeo was pretty dopey but he still had feeling in his legs. I went to see him before I left to fly back to Winnipeg. He was really dopey-sleepy (wouldn't you want to be after back surgery?), but we cuddled and he was interested in H-Bomb's baby. He fell asleep in my arms and then I had to hand him back, though he really didn't want to and gripped my bicep with his front legs. It was heartbreaking to leave him, but I know it's for his benefit.
I flew home via West Jet without any problems and the staff are awesome. Seriously. Friendly, nice people. Oh, and Saskatoon's airport is pretty nice, way better than Winnipeg's.
I just got off the phone with Dr. Su. She said Romeo's doing really well. He ate the canned food I left for him. While he's still not able to stand without assistance, he has more muscle tone in his legs today meaning they aren't floppy anymore. He needs his bladder expressed, but just to give him a head start and he finishes on his own. They'll be doing leg exercises with him 3 times a day and he starts physio/acupuncture rehab tomorrow. Dr. Su said she's very happy with his progress thus far. I told her we all miss him and Mia seems lost with him. She said he's being very good for them, but he really doesn't want to be there. *lol* As nice as a facility it is and as nice as the staff is, I can't blame him! She said when she puts him down and goes to get or do something else, he tries to head for his kennel. Awww, our poor baby. <3 They're going to call us everyday to let us know how he's doing.
This has all been taking a toll on my body. I've dropped 10+ lbs in a week; I'm looking gaunt. This is how I feel. My stomach just can't settle and food doesn't interest me.
