Sunday ; While he still has not used the litter box for a few days Sully actually seemed to be doing a teensy bit better today. His march towards death seems to have slowed. Or maybe stopped ? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part ? Today he was a teensy bit active, walking around the house a bit. His abscessed tooth infection seems to be defeated by the strong antibiotic. No more swelling, no more fever, no more pain, very little drainage out of the horrible looking wound on his cheek. Perhaps his constipation and lethargy are more a function of the very strong antibiotic than impending death ?
Today was partially sunny, very warm, and a bit humid again. After Joanne's four days of advance voting station work, it was nice to have her around today to help with the medical care of Sully ; force feeding food, force feeding water, administering antibiotic, administering blood pressure medication, washing the wound on his cheek, and applying a hot compress to the cheek to keep the abscess wound draining, most of those repeated every four hours. Today Sully actually ate a little bit on his own. He was "healthy" enough to respond when his favourite treats were offered to him.
We began the arduous task of washing the road grime off the trailer after the long drive from Yuma to Keremeos. Lots of bugs on the front of the trailer ! And the sunny, hot weather of the last two weeks has baked them on nicely ! This afternoon we scrubbed the front of the trailer. The front is the most difficult part of washing the trailer, so ... that's now done !
Joanne made scallop chowder tonight with scallops we bought in Bahia Kino, Mexico. Pretty good chowder ! Pretty good way to use up some of the scallops ... which neither of us particularly like. We watched the three hours of the season finale of Survivor. Nice new TV !
Monday ; WELL ! ! ! WHAT THE **** ! ! !
I have just received an e-mail ( late in the evening ) advising me that the truck camper that
I recently purchased in Phoenix ... to be delivered to our RV park in Yuma ... has just been significantly damaged in a traffic accident ! I don't know whether to accept that at face value, or ... has the seller simply received a better offer than mine. I've requested photos of the damaged camper. Let's see what happens. In any case ... no truck camper for us at this time !
Sully has improved a bit. Looks like he's not going to die this week ! We took him to the veterinarian for a follow up check today. The abscess wound on his cheek is finished draining, the dead tissue has sloughed off, the raw flesh underneath looks clean and healthy. It will take a long time for that open wound to close and heal. Sully is more alert and active today. He's eating and drinking on his own. Not much, but ... on his own ! He's urinating. BUT ... he's VERY constipated ! The veterinarian conducted a ... < ahem > ... DRE ( digital rectal exam ) which stimulated Sully to expel a rock hard little turd right there on the examining table ... again ! HA HA HA ! Sully shows his contempt for the vet ... again. We left the vet's office with a laxative and a subcutaneous rehydration syringe kit. < sigh >
This morning I went to see my doctor to review the results of my recent blood tests and chest x-rays. < sigh > Nothing conclusive there ! He ordered more blood tests to determine if I am suffering from Valley Fever / coccidiodomycosis or a more "garden variety" bronchial infection. While we wait another couple of weeks for those results, he gave me a steroidal bronchial inhaler to use. Wish me luck !
Tuesday ; B.C. Election Day ! Fourteen hours of work ! Long, tough day ! Had an angry voter throw his Where To Vote card in my face when I pissed him off. Yeah ... **** you too, pal !
Wednesday ; WOO-HOO ! ! ! Sully is a lot better ! ! ! He ain't gonna die today ! Must be a C & W song in there somewhere ! HA HA HA !
The antibiotic did its job. The abscess is gone. The big, ugly hole in his cheek is closing and healing.
The force fed "recovery" food did its job. Sully has gained a pound in the last week.
The force fed water did its job. But more obviously, and importantly, the subcutaneous injection of fluids did the most good. He's plumped up like a Foster Farms chicken. His kidneys have resumed working. He's peeing ! Although he really hates when I stick a big needle into the scruff of his neck and inject a huge amount ( 50 ml. / 1.75 oz. ) of saline fluid into him twice a day.
The laxative did its job ! WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO ! ! ! His intestines have resumed working. Sully passed a rock hard turd followed by diarrhea. And then began to look and behave "normal".
Close call, Sully. Very close call. Glad to have you back !
< sigh > This morning I worked on cancelling the truck camper deal. I have had no response from the seller to my request to see pictures of the camper after the alleged traffic accident. So ... I can only conclude that there was no traffic accident. He simply got a better offer from someone nearby him. Fair enough ! But ... I lack respect for his lying. It's been my experience in life ... and especially around here at Riverside RV Park Resort ... that lack of ethics and lack of truth go hand in hand.
I was able to stop payment on the cheque that I sent the seller. And I contacted the summer manager of Kofa Ko-op and requested that he return the bank draft that I sent there as full payment upon delivery. My bank won't return those funds to my account until the bank draft is returned to them.
Thursday ; Today was cool and cloudy with a few drops of rain. The forecast is for more of the same for the next week and a half.
Sully seems quite healthy today. He's active, eating on his own, and drinking on his own. He's urinating a lot and defecating a little. He asked to go outside this afternoon, so ... I went outside with him for a few minutes. We have discontinued force feeding him, force watering him, and administering antibiotics. We have reduced his subcutaneous fluid injections by half. His cheek is healing nicely. Don't know yet what we're going to do about the underlying tooth problem.
We went into Keremeos and I bought some pressure treated plywood for the shed base. Joanne did some fresh produce shopping. I need to get started on the shed building project soon. Joanne is working on painstakingly de-weeding our yard. I replaced a burnt out fog light bulb on the truck. I made and mounted some revised price signage for lot 89, our RV lot. We are reducing our price ... for the long weekend only. Wish us luck !
Friday ; Mostly cloudy, mild, intermittent rain.
Joanne went to Penticton this morning by herself to run errands. She didn't return home until supper time. I spent the day working on the shed base floor. My work was interrupted by rain. By the end of the day I had managed to get the pressure treated plywood cut and screwed down onto the frame base which I built last fall just before we left for the winter. The wood cutting was mostly done by my next door neighbour, I was the "assistant". He has the tools and the skills. I have neither.
Ready to start work on building the shed !
Saturday ; Thirty dollars ? ! ? Bank of America charged me thirty dollars to stop payment on a cheque ? ! ? I have had no further response from the truck camper seller. Obviously, there was no "traffic accident" involving the camper. He simply sold it for more money to someone local. Too bad he lacks the integrity to admit that. But ... integrity is in short supply these days, isn't it ? !
I started working on building a shed today. It's a kit, so it's more assembling than building. Once again, rain interrupted my work frequently. I didn't accomplish much more than opening the shed kit's four very large boxes and removing all the components, looking for the floor pieces, which were in three of the four boxes !
To everyone who expressed concern for Sully this week, thank you for your concern. Sully is doing great ! All systems are working fine. He's eating, he's drinking, he's urinating, he's defecating, he has regained some weight, his cheek is healing well, his tooth seems to be causing no pain. We'll figure out next week whether he's going to have surgery to remove the tooth or go on "pulsed" antibiotics for the rest of his life ... antibiotics for perhaps a week per month.
DSK
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