It’s been a yucky weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m working on finishing up the five reviews on eight books that I owe – had set aside this entire weekend to finish them – but I’ve ended up doing most of the remaining reading while sitting in the reception area of Animal Emergency Care.<\/p>\n
Rudy has had a few instances in the last month and a half of ill health: he’d stop eating for a day or two, and be terribly lethargic, then, just when we started to be worried, he’d bounce back and be his regular hungry active self again.\u00c2\u00a0 This past Friday morning Jim woke up to feed the cats and found several puddles of cat-puke on the carpet; he fed the cats breakfast as usual, and Rudy declined to eat.\u00c2\u00a0 Then he didn’t eat dinner Friday evening, either, and threw up some more.\u00c2\u00a0 Nor did he eat Saturday breakfast.\u00c2\u00a0 When I got home from work Saturday afternoon, he was vomiting clear puddles of puke, not a trace of food left in his body.<\/p>\n
So Jim and I debated, and finally decided that I’d take Rudy over to Animal Emergency Care.\u00c2\u00a0 Rudy and I waited, and waited, and waited, for three hours.\u00c2\u00a0 While Rudy slept listlessly in his carrier, I got to know some of the other people and animals waiting their turn.\u00c2\u00a0 The funky, personable husband and wife with the 18-year-old cat who was limping.\u00c2\u00a0 The mother and little boy with the cat who had peed all over the house.\u00c2\u00a0 The young couple\u00c2\u00a0 with the Pomeranian puppy who had chewed an electric cord and gotten a shock.\u00c2\u00a0 The man and his wife who rushed in and urgently asked for help for their dog.<\/p>\n
And I read my young adult novel in the waiting room, hating every sentence and every page.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
By 7:15, Jim came by to visit Rudy and me, and convinced me that Rudy wasn’t really sick enough to bother waiting anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 So we headed home, and fed the cats dinner.\u00c2\u00a0 Rudy didn’t eat.\u00c2\u00a0 Rudy was lethargic.\u00c2\u00a0 We decided to take him back to Animal Emergency Care at about 9:00 PM.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The funky couple was still in the waiting room, while their cat was being examined.\u00c2\u00a0 They filled us in on what had happened in our absence:\u00c2\u00a0 the urgent man and wife with the injured dog had left in tears, without their dog.\u00c2\u00a0 The Pomeranian had been admitted for observation, after it was discovered that his heartbeat was irregular.\u00c2\u00a0 And then the funky couple got the news about their beautiful, aging cat: he had bone cancer, and would need to be put to sleep.\u00c2\u00a0 They left in tears, hugging their cat, planning to put him to sleep on Monday.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
A new patient, a sweet 16-year-old dog,\u00c2\u00a0and her owners had arrived meanwhile,\u00c2\u00a0 and Jim and I had a lovely chat with them.\u00c2\u00a0 Two young women, one stunning, one funny, sat with the stunning girl’s lapdog.\u00c2\u00a0 The other groups both ordered pizzas and other junk food, while we waited.\u00c2\u00a0 And waited.<\/p>\n
Finally Rudy got his turn, and was examined and approved for blood tests and x-rays.\u00c2\u00a0 He was hustled out back, we went out and got V-8’s and donuts and chatted some more with the owners of the sweet elderly dog.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rudy’s blood tests came back: a bad systemic infection, with white blood counts off the chart.\u00c2\u00a0 He’d need to stay the night, and we were given a monetary quote for services to be rendered that made us both feel faint.\u00c2\u00a0 Through the wall we could hear the diagnosis for the sweet elderly dog:\u00c2\u00a0 pancreatitis.<\/p>\n
By morning, Rudy had had his x-ray, and it shows a mass in his belly.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether the mass is cancerous, or an abcess, we don’t yet know.\u00c2\u00a0 Either way, his chances aren’t good.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s still at the hospital tonight, and they don’t like him much because he’s cranky and attacking them (they wear gloves that look like chain saw gloves when handling him, and he has a collar around his neck to keep him from trying to remove the IV, and, I think, to protect the staff from his ire); we’ll be moving him tomorrow morning to the animal hospital down the street for a second opinion.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t hold out much hope that the second opinion will be positive.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s an unbelievably sad night.\u00c2\u00a0 Life without Rudy feels like a pretty crappy prospect.<\/p>\n
And I’m still reading that young adult novel.\u00c2\u00a0 And still hating it.\u00c2\u00a0 I think it’s fair to say that the circumstances of life are affecting my judgement.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve decided to retire from the book review business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s been a yucky weekend.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m working on finishing up the five reviews on eight books that I owe – had set aside this entire weekend to finish them – but I’ve ended up doing most of the remaining reading while sitting in the reception area of Animal Emergency Care. Rudy has had a few … Continue reading Sad reading<\/span>