we slept in a bit, but vaulted out of bed when Sammy vomited up a huge bolus of water around 9am. calls to the vet ensued, which turned into TheWife taking her back into the vet.
while she was getting ready to go, i worked on making coffee — our stocks had gotten low enough that instead of making a pot in the drip maker, i did a cup for each of us in the aeropress. (thankfully, later in the day, the USPS delivered the blue bottle subscription, which i doubled up on last week. we should be good going forward.)
aside from the constant low-level background hum of “when is the vet gonna call?”, it was a slow lazy day. it drizzled on and off and was somewhat chilly, so working outside did not appeal, and i couldn’t seem to put together the focus to do anything requiring sustained attention.
i did manage to check off my “read N things out of the pinboard backlog” task. soon that backlog is going to be in double digits, instead of the current triple. the main challenge at this point is that the majority of the stuff left in there is either videos to watch/listen to, or extremely long-form reading. i wonder if i’ll get it down to zero before the stay-at-home order is lifted?
somebody from the vet clinic called around 2pm — a tech, not the actual vet. (the actual vet was in an emergency wound repair surgery.) she didn’t have too much news: they had started a barium study, done a little bit of blood work, and discovered Sammy’s pancreatic enzymes were elevated. we authorized more blood work, and then continued to wait.
the vet called around 5pm to let us know she hadn’t improved much. the barium dose hadn’t moved beyond her stomach, and they were not sure why — possibly the pancreatitis has inflamed things to the point where there’s effectively a blockage, or possibly some sort of foreign body obstruction they can’t see on the x-ray. they don’t have an ultrasound, so they’re limited in what imaging they can do. the clinic was closing down at 8pm, so he recommended transfering her to a 24hr animal hospital down in albany for continued fluid support, pain meds, and observation.
TheWife ate a quick early dinner, and after we got the “she’s ready to roll” call, she headed over to the local vet clinic to collect Sammy and drive her down to River’s Edge Pet Medical Center.
(aside: when I hear “River’s Edge”, I think of River’s Edge, which is really not the most appropriate association for a pet hospital… but I digress.)
once there, their inspection showed a pretty distended stomach, a high degree of dehydration, and a general-and-yet-uninformative diagnosis of “something ain’t right”. the plan is overnight hydration and support and a re-eval in the morning. this place does have an ultrasound but the person who can operate it won’t be available until monday. depending on how things go, they may wait until monday and do the ultrasound, or they may do exploratory surgery tomorrow. we’re just going to have to wait and see.
speaking of “wait and see”, after breaking 250,000 confirmed cases yesterday, the US busted clean through the 300,000 mark today. and we have a long way to go.
stay healthy, friends. stay safe. <3
lunch: sandwiches, tortilla chips
dinner: leftover pizza