I'm not sure how many folk are reading this blog who are or aren't on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, then you probably already know about my poor Bridget's bad adventure in the last 12 hours (has it only been 12 hours???). It feels like days!!
Yesterday was a normal day for us. We stopped at the Vet's clinic, on the way to the TUTS office, to pick up a stock of her new favourite bedtime treats... the medical dental soft chews, which are great for keeping the teeth clean and free of tartar. I have tried her on various chew treats like this in the past and she wouldn't have anything to do with them. But the other week, we had "Davie Day" on Davie Street... sort of like a street fair where all the businesses on the street had booths or tables out. The clinic had a table out with goody bags for dogs and cats... with lots of free samples, pet tooth brushes, plastic lids for pet food cans, pens, etc. One of the goodies in the bag was a bag of these dental soft chews... lo and behold, Bridget LOVES them, so this is a new bedtime treat. We had used the last one Wed night so we had to stop at the clinic to get more so we did this on the way to the TUTS office for the afternoon. Bridget was fine, in good humour, and fully recovered from her sore paw of the previous week when she had a "grass on" (burr) in the flesh between her toes and pad of her right foot, which had caused an infection.... which she needed to be put on antibiotics. So this trip to the clinic was purely to pick up treats and say hi to the staff and show that Bridget was back to her normal diva self.
The afternoon was spent at the TUTS office where we are undergoing major clean up/new carpeting and soon new paint, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary for Bridget other than the totally different look to the office... looking bare and like we are in the middle of a move!! First the chaos.. then the bareness:
Here is my desk at the TUTS office, in the middle of chaos as we were cleaning up after the closing of the 2010 Summer season. Instead of a "Spring Cleaning", this was more like a "end of season/Fall cleaning". Time to get rid of stuff that just accumulates and one always thinks they will get around to cleaning it out and never do. Notice behind the desk is my blue desk chair, and behind that is a pink'ish chair... that's Bridget's chair, although you can't see her and her pink basket on it in this picture taken by my iPhone.
Here is my desk yesterday (Sept 23). When Bridget and I got to the office, imagine my surprise!! Jill has been working extremely hard getting rid of all the excess "junk" and had the help of Robin and Bill to get rid of the shelving on the wall behind my desk. Hahaha... it now looks like a bad "interrogation desk" from a B rated movie!! :D
Here is a picture of Bridget... as you would have found her all summer! With all the comings and goings in the office... crew, Front of House staff, volunteers, staff, designers, us regular office staff, Live Nation staff, etc ... there was always people in and out of the office with phones ringing (both land lines and cell phones), printers, faxes... a buzz of activity when producing two full length Broadway musicals, and Live Nation producing concerts. Does all this activity both Bridget? Not in the least!! She is perfectly content to have her own chair and office bed... and she just sleeps through all the activity. She knows she's not allowed to go out the door by herself, so may as well just sleep :)
Hey! What happened to the office?? Even Bridget's pink chair has disappeared!! Is she freaking out about how the office has disappeared, even the shelves with all the office supplies? Nooooo... just give me my office bed and I'll sleep anywhere :) This picture was taken yesterday (Sept 23)... and she had a perfectly normal afternoon sleeping in her pink bed, while Jill and I worked in our very bare office.Bridget and I left the office about 6pm and got home between 6-6:30pm. Again, nothing out of the usual... it was raining so she did a quick pee on the grass before we went to the car and drove home. When we got home, Bridget was acting totally normally and she went right for her pillow on the couch, while I went to the kitchen and put together her supper. When I came to the living room, I told her... "Up you get, it's supper time!" and she sort of just looked at me, but made no attempt to get up (again, not unusual... she is not one of those dogs who lives to eat... she loves her food, but it's not something she is obsessed with). So I put it down then I went to get her to move and go eat. Now, she did seem to struggle a bit to get up, which was unusual, but I wasn't too concerned... I figured she was just sunk in between the pillow and the arm of the couch but all of a sudden she started screaming... as if she was in severe pain! Yes, it freaked me out and I dashed to her side to see if maybe her foot was caught, or a toenail caught... but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But she screamed and panicked. I picked her up and cuddled her and soothed her, but the screaming didn't stop. It seemed like forever but it probably wasn't that long... then the screaming turned to cries and whimpering. So I put her down on the ground ... maybe she had a cramp and just needed to walk it out. But she was walking very strange... she would not put weight on her right paw (which, coincidently, was the same paw she had the burr in the other week, which got infected). But it wasn't that she was just favouring the paw, it was like she was hunched over with her right shoulder... and still crying.
So I picked her up, grabbed my cell phone and purse, went across the hall and told Toby something is wrong with Bridget and I'm taking her to the Emergency Clinic (of course our own clinic had closed the hour before all this happened). Toby came with me to hold Bridget in the car... as well, if we had to carry her anywhere, it would have been difficult for me with my own arthritis/goofy back.
Long story shorter... the Emergency vet gave Bridget a pain med injection to relieve any pain, while she did her exam of her. All Bridget's vitals were normal.. nothing out of the ordinary. The physical exam was normal... nothing to indicate what was causing the pain. So I had them take xrays to rule out a fracture, arthritis, bone infection, etc. Xrays were perfectly clear... no sign of anything.
Here we are at the Animal Hospital... and that injected pain medication really worked... she can't get much more relaxed than this ;) She was shivering, even though she was much more comfortable... but as the Doctor said, she was definitely showing signs of distress/pain... so it was good to see the med working. But, in case she was cold, we put one of those reuseable, canvas shopping bags that Toby happened to have in her shoulder bag, over Bridget like a blanket. She LIKES to be under blankets, coats, etc. :)So, the Doctor, having ruled out all these potential problems, was leaning towards it being a sprain or strained wrist, which of course nothing would show up on any xrays or tests. I don't know... she allows me to touch her paw, to feel the wrist and doesn't wince or cry... yet she won't put any weight on the paw. The doctor gave her another pain med that will last for about 24 hours, then gave me meds to give her every 12 hours for three days... as well as the 24 hour pain med that I will give her tonight. This is to give her relief while the paw recovers if it is a strain.
But even with the pain meds, at 4:30am she woke up screaming... and all I could do was soothe her and talk to her calmly. Again, the screaming only lasted about a minute, but it felt like forever. I can not handle seeing her in pain or afraid. I couldn't give her more pain meds because she had only had them 6 1/2 hours before... so it was way too early to give her more. She did calm down and I got her settled again on the bed. She has been sleeping ever since (3 hours now) and seems comfortable. Me, not so comfortable... and couldn't sleep.
I am waiting for our own clinic to open. Dr. Joan is in Ontario and won't be back until Tuesday, but there will be a vet covering for her. I'm not sure what she can do, but with a second pair of Doctor's eyes, maybe they can figure out what is going on. I, of course, with lack of sleep, have an imagination that is going wild. I'm wondering if it could be a seizure, or stroke or something that is in the brain and not really related to the foot. I'm not doctor and hopefully this is just a very tired imagination running amok.
I just want my little darlin to be better and back to normal!! Especially since I have no idea what has caused this!
Cheryl
