Health issues and doggy goodness.
First of all the big news, that most of you are likely to already know: Garry and I bought a puppy. We had been toying with the idea for a while and had originally aimed to get a puppy around Christmas to take advantage of my Winter holidays. The entire thing started with an episode of Bones of all things, where one of the suspects to be interviewed has a snow white Pomeranian in her bag. For a moment I thought it was a cross between a fox and a cat and I must admit I immediately fell in love. I am usually not a great fan of toy breeds, as most people seem to use them as fashion accessories rather than dogs and I must admit I like a dog who can keep up with me and can come along on a long walk - something a toy dog often can't - however this beauty seemed to sweep away all my previous sensible concerns (the fact that it came in a bag helped, as it made me realise that I could always carry the dog on long walks if it is tired).
Anyway, so the love affair started and got fueled by lots of google searches for adorable Pomeranians. We tried to get in contact with some of the Kennel Club registered Pomeranian breeders, but most just ignored us and the one who didn't came off as very rude and couldn't spell or punctuate to save her life. Overall I felt fairly unimpressed and reading ads for Pomeranians made me feel even more so, as a lot of breeders seemed to be much more concerned about how many champions the dog had in the blood line and how perfect it fits into breed standards rather than good socialization or friendly companionship. To alleviate grumpiness I had a look on preloved, which is a homepage that specializes more in adult dogs of all kinds who are in need of a new owner than in pure-bread puppies. Most ads raised my hair with horrific spelling and grammar and a conspicuous lack of reasoning as to why the owner wanted to re-own what can only be described as the most stunning, tournament worthy well behaved dog ever. However, after about 20 pages of an English teacher's nightmare, I spotted an advert from a lady in Thame which was not only well spelled, but also searched for a new owner of an adorable Pomeranian-Spitz Mittel mix, as her land lady didn't allow for her to have an extra dog.
I called her up on a Saturday and spent the rest of the day hovering over the phone in case she called back - which she did the next day. I later found out that little Loki was her favourite and the REALLY wanted to keep him and had secretly hoped that may be no one would want to buy him and thus she could keep him after all explaining to her land lady that he just seems unsellable - so she was about as nervous about calling me as I was about her calling back. Anyway, she sounded really nice on the phone and in the end we agreed to go see the puppy on the same day.
When we arrived at the farm where she lived we got overrun by three adorable dogs who all were eager to investigate the newcomer. One fairly large specimen turned out to be Loki's brother, who somehow grew to double normal Pom size despite being a Chihuahua Pomeranian mix O.O He won several awards for being stunning and I am not surprised having seen him. Although he is a little bit of an attention seeker XD His mom is a cream coloured Pomeranian pure bread lady who is gorgeous as well as very friendly. Finally there was of course the star of the show - little Loki. He's a big ball of fluff with the most adorable little face. He was very happy to be petted and played with, although he was easily distracted by his bigger brother and sticks. He weighs next to nothing, which shows just how much of the dog is fluffy fur. I promptly forgot all the intelligent questions I was going to ask and cuddled the puppy instead. Thankfully Alice - the owner - was lovely and gave us lots of information anyway. About an hour later I signed the check for him. We took him on a walk on his leash, which he did rather well at, although when we got about half way into the field he got very unhappy and we decided to take mum along to make him feel a bit saver. After that he was brilliant though. Alice will be looking after him until we move into our new house, which does allow pets, but we can visit him and have already taken generous advantage of that offer (I am hoping she isn't sick of us yet).
Next Tuesday Alice and I will be heading to the vet for the first time for Loki's first round of jabs. Turns out that Garry and my favourite tea room in the place where the vet is allows dogs, so we shall be having a cup of tea afterwards and hopefully Loki won't remember his first vet visit as too much of a nightmare!
As most of you know my health is not great. Between my migraines, my constantly unhappy stomach, my crashing blood pressure and sugar and my depressions I am glad when I get through a week without having at least one day during which I am stuck on the sofa. To add to the frustration, all I can do with most of these issues is treat the symptoms and hope for the best, as the doctors don't really know what the cause is. Actually every blood test reveals my blood sugar values to be fine, despite the fact that I show every symptom of crashing blood sugar - and the same is true with my blood pressure. Anyway, about a month ago my doctor ordered a blood test to do a full panel in an attempt to see if she can't find something wrong that would explain my pile of health issues. Shortly afterwards I got the order to do another blood test and the nurse gave me the cryptic message that my first test might have just been a botched sample and there was likely to be no reason to worry O.O
About a week after that I saw my GP, who told me that my inflammation values were too high and that she wanted to do a colonoscopy and stomach scan to figure out what's happening. YES! Something is actually wrong! Something I might be able to get tablets for which might make it permanently go away! Happiness! I was not looking forward to being inappropriately prodded by tubes, but the prospect of finally finding out what the hell is wrong with me was a very nice one. Yesterday we had the appointment and it turned out that all I got to do was talk to a rather smug doctor, who told me that he will do the examination at some point in the next six weeks, but that he is fairly certain that I have "Irritable bowl syndrome" - essentially a funky doctor word for "dodgy stomach by nature that we can do fuck all about". I don't think he got why I was so distraught by that prospect of yet another ill defined illness that I am likely to spent the rest of my life medicating the symptoms off. Honestly, I would rather be told that I need surgery to remove the problem then this. By the end of the appointment he looked at me as if I was slightly mad and didn't know what real illness was. I was almost crying when we got out. Ah well. May be the examination will actually reveal something that isn't "dodgy stomach syndrome", but I am not very hopeful. God damn it, I wish I could swap my body out for one that is actually working as intended.
Finally, I should report that Garry and I have indeed found a house in Bicester that gives us that extra room we've been wanting, is within our budget and allows pets. It is rather nice, although one could always do with extra space as is the way. The bedroom is a little small, but everything else is an improvement. We even have a window in the bathroom! We've past the background check, which is good news, but the contract that they've sent us is very much unacceptable to put it politely. Tomorrow morning we shall be meeting with the estate agent's to re-nagotiate our contract. Hopefully it will go well. Wish us luck! On the 15th we are moving in. I am really looking forward to it!
After all the grumpy news, have an adorable puppy picture of Loki:
Anyway, so the love affair started and got fueled by lots of google searches for adorable Pomeranians. We tried to get in contact with some of the Kennel Club registered Pomeranian breeders, but most just ignored us and the one who didn't came off as very rude and couldn't spell or punctuate to save her life. Overall I felt fairly unimpressed and reading ads for Pomeranians made me feel even more so, as a lot of breeders seemed to be much more concerned about how many champions the dog had in the blood line and how perfect it fits into breed standards rather than good socialization or friendly companionship. To alleviate grumpiness I had a look on preloved, which is a homepage that specializes more in adult dogs of all kinds who are in need of a new owner than in pure-bread puppies. Most ads raised my hair with horrific spelling and grammar and a conspicuous lack of reasoning as to why the owner wanted to re-own what can only be described as the most stunning, tournament worthy well behaved dog ever. However, after about 20 pages of an English teacher's nightmare, I spotted an advert from a lady in Thame which was not only well spelled, but also searched for a new owner of an adorable Pomeranian-Spitz Mittel mix, as her land lady didn't allow for her to have an extra dog.
I called her up on a Saturday and spent the rest of the day hovering over the phone in case she called back - which she did the next day. I later found out that little Loki was her favourite and the REALLY wanted to keep him and had secretly hoped that may be no one would want to buy him and thus she could keep him after all explaining to her land lady that he just seems unsellable - so she was about as nervous about calling me as I was about her calling back. Anyway, she sounded really nice on the phone and in the end we agreed to go see the puppy on the same day.
When we arrived at the farm where she lived we got overrun by three adorable dogs who all were eager to investigate the newcomer. One fairly large specimen turned out to be Loki's brother, who somehow grew to double normal Pom size despite being a Chihuahua Pomeranian mix O.O He won several awards for being stunning and I am not surprised having seen him. Although he is a little bit of an attention seeker XD His mom is a cream coloured Pomeranian pure bread lady who is gorgeous as well as very friendly. Finally there was of course the star of the show - little Loki. He's a big ball of fluff with the most adorable little face. He was very happy to be petted and played with, although he was easily distracted by his bigger brother and sticks. He weighs next to nothing, which shows just how much of the dog is fluffy fur. I promptly forgot all the intelligent questions I was going to ask and cuddled the puppy instead. Thankfully Alice - the owner - was lovely and gave us lots of information anyway. About an hour later I signed the check for him. We took him on a walk on his leash, which he did rather well at, although when we got about half way into the field he got very unhappy and we decided to take mum along to make him feel a bit saver. After that he was brilliant though. Alice will be looking after him until we move into our new house, which does allow pets, but we can visit him and have already taken generous advantage of that offer (I am hoping she isn't sick of us yet).
Next Tuesday Alice and I will be heading to the vet for the first time for Loki's first round of jabs. Turns out that Garry and my favourite tea room in the place where the vet is allows dogs, so we shall be having a cup of tea afterwards and hopefully Loki won't remember his first vet visit as too much of a nightmare!
As most of you know my health is not great. Between my migraines, my constantly unhappy stomach, my crashing blood pressure and sugar and my depressions I am glad when I get through a week without having at least one day during which I am stuck on the sofa. To add to the frustration, all I can do with most of these issues is treat the symptoms and hope for the best, as the doctors don't really know what the cause is. Actually every blood test reveals my blood sugar values to be fine, despite the fact that I show every symptom of crashing blood sugar - and the same is true with my blood pressure. Anyway, about a month ago my doctor ordered a blood test to do a full panel in an attempt to see if she can't find something wrong that would explain my pile of health issues. Shortly afterwards I got the order to do another blood test and the nurse gave me the cryptic message that my first test might have just been a botched sample and there was likely to be no reason to worry O.O
About a week after that I saw my GP, who told me that my inflammation values were too high and that she wanted to do a colonoscopy and stomach scan to figure out what's happening. YES! Something is actually wrong! Something I might be able to get tablets for which might make it permanently go away! Happiness! I was not looking forward to being inappropriately prodded by tubes, but the prospect of finally finding out what the hell is wrong with me was a very nice one. Yesterday we had the appointment and it turned out that all I got to do was talk to a rather smug doctor, who told me that he will do the examination at some point in the next six weeks, but that he is fairly certain that I have "Irritable bowl syndrome" - essentially a funky doctor word for "dodgy stomach by nature that we can do fuck all about". I don't think he got why I was so distraught by that prospect of yet another ill defined illness that I am likely to spent the rest of my life medicating the symptoms off. Honestly, I would rather be told that I need surgery to remove the problem then this. By the end of the appointment he looked at me as if I was slightly mad and didn't know what real illness was. I was almost crying when we got out. Ah well. May be the examination will actually reveal something that isn't "dodgy stomach syndrome", but I am not very hopeful. God damn it, I wish I could swap my body out for one that is actually working as intended.
Finally, I should report that Garry and I have indeed found a house in Bicester that gives us that extra room we've been wanting, is within our budget and allows pets. It is rather nice, although one could always do with extra space as is the way. The bedroom is a little small, but everything else is an improvement. We even have a window in the bathroom! We've past the background check, which is good news, but the contract that they've sent us is very much unacceptable to put it politely. Tomorrow morning we shall be meeting with the estate agent's to re-nagotiate our contract. Hopefully it will go well. Wish us luck! On the 15th we are moving in. I am really looking forward to it!
After all the grumpy news, have an adorable puppy picture of Loki: