Catch-up Post

Man, this blogging thing is tricky. When there’s not much going on, it follows that there’s nothing worth blogging about. But when everything is going on, there’s no time to write about it. Let’s catch up, using broad strokes:

Peanut’s Nose: She’s been getting persistent nosebleeds for years, and finally we sought medical attention for the problem. We took her to an ear/nose/throat guy and asked for option #2: The Nose. He attempted to cauterize the capillaries inside her nose. In order for this to work, a seven-year-old girl had to sit still and not squirm around while a complete stranger shoved things up her nostrils. This went about as well as you might expect. The procedure didn’t work at all, and she had to be taken back to the doctor for a second go-round. I explained to Peanut that she had a choice: She could take the cauterization, uncomfortable as it might be, like a big girl, or she could go back and have it done repeatedly until it finally worked.

Peanut agreed that one more time was the way to go, and she would be quiet and keep still throughout the procedure.

Would you like to place money on how long that promise lasted?

So the second attempt at sealing her schnozz went no better than the first, and she’s still having nosebleeds, and I think we’re going to have to take her into the hospital and have her put under for this to work. Our insurance company just LOVES us.

The Dog: Ten days ago, our border collie was a puppy. A 13-year-old puppy, but nonetheless: He leapt with excitement when it was time to go outside, he chased the tennis ball with brio, he was happy to roughhouse and wrestle in the living room, growling and pretending to bite my arm. And then, seemingly overnight, he went from puppy to senior citizen. He kept his head in a strange, cocked position — not the “I’m curious!” pose of a puppy but the “I’m disoriented!” pose of a dog now accidentally walking into things. He had to go out to the backyard every couple of hours; he was having accidents otherwise.

The vet did umpteen tests on him over several days, and the results are grim. He has vestibular disease, which is putting him off balance. He has dysfunctions of the liver and the kidney. And he has Cushing’s Disease, which is likely to be the thing that eventually kills him — it’s just a matter of how long that takes. The vet thinks with medication we have at least a year, maybe two: Evidently we caught this early. Still, it’s sad to see our dog get so old so quickly. You can tell he’s not entirely sure what’s happening to him.

The Bicycle: Sonny rode for a solid three or four seconds yesterday, by himself. It’s hard to know whether he’s really getting the hang of it, or whether that’s just wishful thinking on my part. But it certainly seems like he is. We’ll keep going until the snow comes, and maybe even beyond that, by gum.