Excuses, excuses

I've been much busier the past few months than I ever thought I would be.  Work keeps me on my toes constantly, spring volleyball started and ended, summer volleyball is in full swing, I'm having my wisdom teeth removed in a week and a half, and worst of all, poor Chloe has to have surgery on her right front paw this coming Monday!

I've accomplished very little around the house.  I did clean out the office a tiny bit finally and am looking forward to the community garage sale next Saturday.  Aside from selling some house stuff, there will be clothes and even some great MAC make-up!  I hope I'm able to make a good chunk of change next weekend.

For some reason, I decided to start gardening...sort of.  It's more like plant-watering.  I went down to Baltimore for a friend's wedding a few weeks ago and picked up some gerbera daisies, which I successfully kept alive and even transplanted into a larger pot.  Since I was relatively successful with that, I decided to buy some more planters and plant some seeds.  I also got a few more daisies while up in Alliance for the Memorial Day weekend, and even a green pepper plant!  The birds seem to enjoy my plants too, so I'm on the hunt for some bird spikes or other bird repellent to keep them away.

Skip the next part if you're easily grossed out.  I don't go into full detail or even post pictures, but I don't want to gross anyone out!

The story on Chloe's paw is a bit of a bummer.  I don't know what exactly happened, but my best guess (as well as the best guess for Chloe's vet and the two vets in my family) is that she stepped on something and got a puncture wound on the front paw.  Then, she probably stepped in something else and the wound became infected.  I noticed it last Saturday and called my aunt, a vet out in Pittsburgh, and sent her some pictures to find out what I could do for Chloe, since my vet out here was already closed for the day.  I was told to soak her paw in warm water and Epsom salt, which I've been doing religiously every few hours for a week now.  I noticed on Sunday night that Chloe wasn't walking on the paw, so I decided to take her to the vet here on Monday.  The vet sedated Chloe and tried to drain the abscess, but not a lot came out, which made the vet think that there may be a foreign body stuck in the paw that had walled itself off and her body was working to fix the problem itself by creating the abscess (perfectly normal).  The vet also put her on Prednisone, painkillers, and Clavamox (antibiotic) and told me to call back if the paw wasn't looking better in 48 hours.

The good news was, the paw DID look better, but my gut was telling me that it wasn't quite right.  I called yesterday to find out when I should bring the pup in for a follow-up and described how the paw looked, like whatever was stuck in there was trying really hard to work its way out but to no avail.  I was told to bring her back in, so I left work early and got to the vet for another visit right on time.  On Monday, the vet had said that if the paw wasn't looking better, I would need to see one of the other vets at the office to discuss potential surgery to remove the abscess.  The vet I'd seen had actually spoken with the other vet about Chloe's paw throughout the week, and both agreed that she would more than likely need to have surgery.  So after a quick look and see that the paw was still swollen and red and the head of the abscess was getting bigger, it was decided that surgery was definitely the way to go.  Chloe is going in Monday morning, costing me a few hundred dollars, and having her paw all fixed up.

Chloe also has a spiffy little e-collar to keep her from licking the paw, which is absolutely hilarious for me.  Her ears don't stick up quite the way they normally do, and she just looks plain miserable!  A friend of mine even said I could serve martinis in it!  For some reason my computer is having issues with uploading those photos, so hopefully I can get some pictures up later to make you laugh.