Tested

It all started early this morning when we got Jack, the oldest psychotic dog, out of bed to go to the vet.

His body has been seizing up since last Thursday, at which time Adoring Husband took him to the vet in Howard and they couldn't find any reason for it, so they sent him home and advised that if it continued, to bring him back for an x-ray and a closer look.

This morning, his legs seized up and he collapsed on the floor unable to move. He cried out in pain and I had to massage his legs until he relaxed enough to walk again.

It didn't last long and he seized up again and was in obvious pain.

Adoring Husband could not cope seeing his favourite dog in pain and was pretty messy with emotion.

He didn't know how to physically handle Jack and he was struggling, so I phoned The Motivator and asked her to open the shop - this was supposed to be her first day off in more than 3 weeks - so that I could accompany Jack and AH to the vet.

We arrived at the Howard Vet clinic to discover that they were closed.

Adoring Husband phoned the Maryborough Vets and even though they were completely booked out, they said to bring him in and leave him at their clinic so that they could check him out between consults, then we could return later to pick him up.

He was with them for four hours and not once did he seize up! Not once did he have an episode! They performed all sorts of physical tests on him, followed by blood tests which all came back clear.

Nothing indicates that there are any problems with him, but she seems to think that these episodes are seizures.

Not grand mal seizures, but seizures on the lower end of the scale.

We didn't think they looked like seizures, but what would we know?

The vet suggested that we get video footage on our phone so that we could send it through to her on Monday and that way she could see what we were trying to describe.

In the meantime, the vet offered us two options.

Option One:  Experiment with Valium to see if that relaxed him and stopped his episodes.

Option Two:  Experiment with anti-seizure medication to see if that stops his episodes.

So, against my better judgement and not really knowing what to do next to get a quick result, we took option one.

I didn't give it to him right away though. We all left the house almost as soon as we got home to attend the community Christmas party.

Later, when Primrose and I were almost home, she suggested that I get my phone ready and allow her to video Jack as we opened the door - it was a good idea because the excitement of seeing us was enough to trigger another episode.

That's when I gave him his first dose of Valium.

He was 'drunk Jack' all afternoon, very slow on his feet, sometimes staggering just a little, but he didn't have an episode until 10.30pm tonight. He can only have the valium every 8 hours. He lasted 5.5 hours. Maybe once the valium settles into his system properly, the episodes will stop. Time will tell.

I will continue to research better methods and test those as we go ... like 'stress-less' essential oil ... of which I'll place a few drops onto his bed tonight.

So that was our quite stressful day dealing with a sick dog and getting no answers from the professionals.

In the middle of all that, I did get to work to relieve The Motivator of her duties and allow her to at least get SOME time off on her day off.

While Adoring Husband was performing SES duties at the community Christmas party, Primrose and I enjoyed lamb rack with pumpkin and spinach salad and pickled cucumber for dinner. Primrose prepared a delicious fruit salad for dessert.

Now, as it approaches 11.30pm, I am signing off so that I can give Jack some more drugs and get some sleep myself.

Nite all.  

Weeks End

It's the end of the week and time for The Motivator to have some time off.

I placed some of our postcards on the tables outside the supermarket today and it actually brought some curious people to the shop. They came through the door in a slow, but steady stream, which kept us well occupied until after lunch.

The remainder of the day was spent sorting through a very large box of snap jewellery items which arrived in the mail this morning.

More than a thousand snap buttons and more than one hundred bracelets, leather straps, pendants, keyrings, brooches, bookmarks, bag hooks, glasses hooks, snap button sunglasses, silver chains and the list goes on.

We don't have anywhere near enough display trays for the buttons, nor do we have enough room in the display cabinets to show off the jewellery!

We are, however, prepared for Christmas!

I am currently watching the oldie but goodie "Jaws" movie. I swear it is still one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. I've gasped and cringed and groaned so many times and it has reaffirmed my fear of swimming in our river - never again will I splash, wade or swim in our river. No sirrreeee!

Having filled my tummy with a plate full of chicken, coleslaw, garden salad and the deadly potato salad, my body is complaining painfully, so I will go sleep it off now. Potato is not my friend. I know that now. I've known it for a long time, yet I am still a glutton for punishment. Self inflicted.

But I LOVE potato!

Ugh.

Ok, gotta go. Gotta be up bright and early for work and I've gotta be on the ball!

Nite all.

  

All Wet

There is a bit of wet stuff falling out of the sky right now, and it has been that way since about lunch time.

We had a steady morning at the shop until the rains came.

I must say that it was really nice sitting in the empty shop with the rain pelting down outside and the music playing softly in the background while I researched various wholesalers.

I pottered around, cleaned some display cases, loaded a display tree with jewellery, added snap buttons to some pendants, did a little dusting, cleaned some of the silver jewellery and researched some wholesalers.

Primrose arrived at the shop on closing time and offered to buy us a coffee, which was a lovely gesture. We had closed all the blinds and brought the signs, flags and chairs inside but just as she left to get the coffees, and before we had a chance to close the door, a customer walked in!

The customer turned out to be the lady from Salvation Army where we bought our furniture for the shop! We showed her the newly covered chairs and she was impressed. She's going to find out if there are more chairs in their storage area and let us know if other chairs come in.

The rain eased long enough for Primrose and I to walk/ride home without getting too drenched.

Psychotic Dog (Jack) had to visit the vet this afternoon because he was having trouble with his hind legs and had a little screaming turn. The vet couldn't find anything wrong and suggested that it might be a slipped disc or arthritis, but issued AH with a bag full of syringes and painkillers. If Jack continues to show these symptoms, then the vet will take x-rays and he might require surgery.

I have seen no signs of these symptoms this afternoon or this evening, so I think it was a 'one off' and he probably got his claw caught in the threads of the blanket when he jumped off the chair or maybe he slept the wrong way (just like we do sometimes).

Of course the vet pumped him full of painkillers and of course he hasn't eaten anything tonight.

Meanwhile, it's now 10.30pm and I'm off to bed. I've had two very late nights in a row and I need to get some solid sleep and NOT sleep in tomorrow, like I did this morning!

Nite all.

Problematic

It seems we have an unhappy camper in town who is now posting negative comments about our business without naming our business. She believes that we are unfairly competing and taking business away from her.

In her words ... "taking my business away from me by offering the same service a short distance away"

Time to work on some damage control.

We definitely do not want to take any business away from her and in fact, we refer people to her and direct them to her shop regularly - but she doesn't know that.

The other side of the coin is that she has an established business that is quite a few years old and she also has established clientele, so if she is confident in the service that she is offering, she certainly shouldn't feel threatened by us.

Anyway, either The Motivator or I will go for a visit this week and chat with her about her concerns because we should all be supporting each other in this town, not attacking each other in this passively aggressive way.

*sigh*

We had a great day at the shop today for my first day back. We were visited by a lot of friendly customers and The Motivator was busy working on a deadline for her design business, so it was great to jump in  and enjoy the day.

I really like Annemarie, the therapist who now works on Wednesdays in our shop. I am going to have her do some Zen Shiatsu therapy on me next week ...

*A Japanese remedial healing system based on Chinese Medicine. Gentle stretches combined with firm finger pressure is applied to acupuncture points called ‘tsubos’, to alleviate tension and pain*

... I've never experienced that before, but she told me that of all the therapies that she offers, it's her favourite, so I figure she will enjoy performing it on me!

Unfortunately I missed the Burrum lady's Christmas luncheon at Woodgate today. I wasn't supposed to be back in town for it, so I didn't add my name to the list last month. From the photos on FB, it looks like it was a great day. Plenty of happy smiling faces.

Now it's approaching midnight, so I'd best get some sleep.

For anyone feeling concerned, Primrose is feeling a little better today.

Nite all.



 

Movie Date

Adoring Husband had a double date with his two wives today (private joke - though NOT as private as THAT! lol)

AH, Primrose and I all saw "Justice League" today.

I loved it.

Primrose loved it.

AH was disappointed and declared that it was a poor storyline.

My favourite superhero is Wonder Woman - hands down.

I have a new second favourite superhero - Aquaman! Check him out!

I've always had a soft spot for Batman and Ironman, but The Flash is also now on my list of faves. He's hilarious and a great character.

Adoring Husband finished putting up our Christmas lights today. We need to replace some that have decided to finish their working lives this year.

Every year we try to add something new to our collection, but we haven't found anything for this year yet.

Primrose is still recovering from her allergic reaction and while she has improved somewhat, she is still suffering from mild symptoms and is feeling quite exhausted from the ordeal.

I'm back to work tomorrow so I'd best get some sleep.

Nite all.

Drama Filled Day

So Primrose had an allergic reaction to something during the night.

We're not sure what it was that caused this allergic reaction, but she was struggling to breathe. There was serious wheezing and gasping for breath.

She kept herself busy during the day, hoping that eventually, the feeling would pass and she would be ok.

She chopped up all the fruit that we'd bought yesterday and put them into bags for smoothies.

She did her washing.

We moved her out of the back bedroom thinking that there was something in that room causing it.

While I rode to the shop to get some zucchini to add to lunch, she smashed last night's leftover baked veggies and chopped some meat to add to bubble and squeak patties, which I cooked when I returned home.

By 2.30pm, her condition had not improved and she felt the need to see a doctor, so we drove into The Bay to try the Emergency department of the hospital.

In her home town, the hospital will tend to chest pain or breathing difficulties straight away, because they are considered dangerous conditions that need attention immediately.

We walked in and Primrose walked up to the reception desk. The person there asked her to take a seat and someone would call her shortly.

Fifteen minutes later (a long time when you're struggling for breath) she was called to the desk where they asked some questions, checked her saturation levels and took her blood pressure. Then she was told to take a seat until her name was called.

90 minutes later, she was called in through 'THE' doors - the doors that everybody is praying they will get called through SOON.

30 minutes later, she was still sitting in the little room to which she had been directed, and nobody had seen her yet.

All the while, she was gasping for breath.

Eventually, Primrose stood up and told the nearest staff member that she was leaving, so suddenly a doctor appeared.

While all this was going on, there was another woman in the waiting area, who had been there for an hour before we arrived, with a broken leg! She needed x-rays and for a doctor to check her leg. She had been sitting in a great deal of pain for more than 3 hours. Finally she was called in for her x-ray, but was then sent back to the seating area to wait for a doctor to call her in. By the time she was called for the second time, she'd been there for 4 hours.

After 3 hours, we left the hospital, still with Primrose gasping for breath and with no satisfaction whatsoever.

The level of care in The Bay compared to her home town are poles apart and The Bay leaves a lot to be desired.

After dinner, we sent her to her room to rest and concentrate on her breathing. Hopefully, tomorrow, she will wake up feeling quite a bit better.

Prior to us leaving for the hospital, Adoring Husband had a struggle with a piece of apple lodged in a very uncomfortable position in his mouth and which he had great difficulty removing. I almost had to drag him into The Bay with us for a serious 'apple extraction'!!

Hopefully, it will be a peaceful night of sleep for us all.

Nite all.

Day Eighteen .. and the final day of the Selfie Road Trip

Today has been bitter sweet.

Sadly, we came to the end of our road trip.

Happily, we arrived home safe n sound to the smiling face of Adoring Husband and three excited psychotic dogs with madly wagging tails.

It took a good while to unload the car of all our dirty washing,  purchased items, suitcases,  electronic devices, SHOES, cold bag full of fresh food that we bought on the way home, pillows, CDs and other assorted paraphernalia.

THEN it took a good while to unpack our suitcases.

Primrose moved from the coldest room in the house (where the air conditioning unit seems to think we have a refrigerated cold room) to the bigger, better room where the bed should assist in healing her back.

Eighteen days of sitting in the driving position has not done her any favours.

Adoring Husband already had a lamb roast in the oven with a big tray of veggies, so all I had to worry about was making the gravy.

While we were unpacking and dinner was cooking in the oven, Adoring Husband dragged the Christmas tree and all the decorations out of the shed. He set up the tree so that we could decorate it, which we did between unpacking, washing clothes and eating dinner!

And now, as I look around the house, you would never know that we had left!

We are perfectly delighted with our fabulous road trip. We are relieved and happy to be home safe n sound. All is right with our world!

Nite all.