Sunny and hot ! Early summer ?
This morning Joanne packed a picnic lunch and we set off to visit the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls ... SORCO ... in Gallagher Lake. We drove "the big loop" ; Riverside RV Park Resort to Keremeos to Kaleden to Okanagan Falls to Gallagher Lake to Oliver to Osoyoos to Keremeos to Riverside RV Park Resort.
At Olalla we stopped to have a discussion with a contractor that we are hiring to do some landscaping excavation work on our yard. We had our picnic lunch at an abandoned B.C. Provincial Park Campground near Gallagher Lake before visiting the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls. SORCO had an "open house" today to show off their facilities and work. Not exactly what I had expected / envisioned, but very interesting.
"The big loop" is sure a beautiful drive in the spring !
This morning when we awoke Sully had a puffy cheek. The tooth that has been giving him some problem for a few weeks now must have abscessed. Poor Sully. I made an appointment to see a veterinarian in Penticton on Wednesday morning. I mixed an appropriate strength mixture of antibiotic and administered a dose to him.
We headed off for a day of errands in Penticton. Priority was going to the bank and arranging for payment for the truck camper. Got served by a young man who ... < ahem > ... lacked experience. The branch manager had to intervene. I hate having my time wasted ! And I hate ineptitude !
When we returned home late in the afternoon ... UH-OH ! ! ! Sully's face was extremely swollen on one side. And he obviously had a fever and sore face / head. OH ... poor baby Sully ! I phoned the vet and wrangled an "emergency squeeze in" appointment for tomorrow morning. < sigh > Which means I will miss the chest x-ray and blood test appointment I have for tomorrow morning. We applied a hot compress to the side of his face and that seemed to ease his discomfort and reduce the swelling a bit.
Joanne went off to a meeting of election officials in town. I prepared supper. After she returned home and we finished supper, I put a hot compress on Sully's cheek again. He seemed to like it. The swelling came down a bit. His face and ears weren't as hot, so the fever reduced. As I type this late in the evening he is lying on the couch snoozing on a quilt. I will have to decide early in the morning which appointment to cancel, his or mine. If he seems okay first thing in the morning, maybe I'll cancel his emergency appointment and wait for the original Wednesday morning appointment.
Tuesday ; Joanne's 12th anniversary as cancer survivor
Sunny and hot ! Way too hot to do the job that I did this afternoon. Should have managed my time smarter !
I got up early this morning. Had to make a decision whether to cancel Sully's emergency veterinarian appointment and go to previously scheduled "regular" veterinarian appointment tomorrow, or cancel and reschedule my chest x-ray and blood test appointments. The swelling on the side of Sully's face was down a bit. And the fever was down. Decided to make Sully wait another day, and go to my appointments.
While I was in town at South Similkameen Health Centre, Joanne continued the application of a hot compress to Sully's cheek every hour or so, and ... the abscess ruptured. That's a good thing, actually. Now pus and blood are oozing slowly out of a raw, ulcerated looking wound on his cheek. My expectation is that tomorrow morning the veterinarian will simply cut the cheek open slightly and insert a wick to drain the abscess, and put Sully on a strong antibiotic regimen for a week or so. At that time the problem tooth will have to be dealt with. And Sully is too old to tolerate general anaesthetic. Don't know what will happen, but there is a definite possibility that Sully is in the last week or two of life. I really have my mind and heart set on him living another year and a half, but ... ! ! !
This afternoon I relocated a neighbour's satellite dish. In direct sunlight during the hottest part of the afternoon. DUH ! This evening when I opened the lid of the barbecue ... hey ... a wasp inside. HEY ... A WASP NEST INSIDE ! ! ! How the hell did it build a nest that quickly. Didn't we just use the barbecue a couple of days ago ? We used the barbecue to cook part of supper, dodging an angry wasp every time we went outside to the barbecue. After the barbecue cooled down, the wasp seemed to have left, and I removed the charred nest.
Late in the evening as Joanne wrote an e-mail to her sister, I put Sully on the bed, in between our pillows where he likes to be. And I put my forehead against his. And I cried.
Wednesday ; Sunny and very warm again. Today was a day with its fair share of ups and downs.
Sully and I both slept very little last night. I tossed and turned for many hours. And every time
I looked at Sully, he was awake and looking back at me. Joanne and I were up very early this morning for her first of four days of election advance polling station work. I drove her into Keremeos for her 7 AM start time !
I returned home to shower, then took Sully to Penticton to see a veterinarian that we've never seen before. He and I got off to a rough start, but things improved between us as the examination and consultation progressed. He examined Sully. He drew blood for tests. Sully dropped a turd on his examining table. You go, boy ! HA HA HA ! I left with a new and more appropriate antibiotic, and a near liquid canned food that I can syringe feed to Sully. He has eaten very little over the last couple of weeks and I was absolutely stunned to discover that he's lost 2½ pounds.
I expected the veterinarian to lance the abscess, insert a drain wick, and let it drain for a week or so before addressing the underlying tooth problem. Not so ! His opinion is that there's no sense in draining the abscess and leaving the tooth. Until the tooth is gone, the abscess and infection will persist. So ... Sully is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. I'm sceptical of his ability to survive anaesthesia. His dental surgery may turn out to be just extremely expensive euthanasia. But ... the only other alternative to surgery to remove the tooth is ... euthanasia !
I returned home and syringe fed Sully some of the near liquid food. He seemed really happy to be able to get some food inside him. And following the veterinarian’s advice, I applied firmer pressure than I previously had been when applying a hot compress and ... BOOM ! The abscess ruptured ! And spewed and spewed and spewed pus and blood. Which is a good thing ! And it seemed to give relief to Sully. He is no longer grotesquely bloated on one side of his face. But the ruptured abscess sure is an ugly looking raw wound on his face.
Late this afternoon I went over to a neighbour’s to relocate her Wi-Fi transceiver / antenna.
I expected the job to take about an hour. And after about an hour I was finished relocating the
Wi-Fi transceiver / antenna., and installing a new, longer Ethernet cable. And she was unable to connect to the Internet ! I buggered around for about another two hours trying to identify what I did that prevents connection to the Internet. And I failed ! < sigh > So much for being a helpful neighbour. If I knew what I did wrong, obviously I would correct it. But I have no idea what‘s wrong. I had to abandon the problem to go pick up Joanne in town at the end of her very long day at 8:30 PM.
< sigh > I returned home with a very tired Joanne. I cooked a very late supper. I suppose that tomorrow I’ll have to advise the neighbour to contact her Internet service provider to send a service technician out to resolve whatever the problem is ... < sigh >.
Thursday ; Sunny and hot ! Another day of ups and downs.
We left home this morning at 7 AM, Sully with us. I dropped off Joanne at Victory Hall in Keremeos to begin her second of four 13½ hour days as an election official. I continued on to Penticton with Sully, arriving about half an hour before Sully was due at the veterinarian's for his dental surgery. I used the time well, getting half an hour of online work done at Safeway, using their free Wi-Fi. When I arrived at the vet's office, he wanted to talk to me.
The results of Sully's blood tests indicated that he is not currently healthy enough to tolerate surgery. Today's surgery was postponed for a week. His white cell count was high because of the infection in the abscess. His red cell count was low because of age and illness. His kidneys are weak because of age and illness. He has not been eating and drinking. I have a week to get him healthy ; strong antibiotic to defeat the infection, liquefied food to force feed him by syringe, water to be forced by syringe. He needs nourishment. He needs hydration. He needs his kidneys to be stronger to be able to survive general anaesthesia.
I left the veterinarian feeling optimistic. By tonight, however, that had changed to pessimism. Perhaps this is the veterinarian’s way of steering me to conclude that Sully’s time is almost over ? Today I force fed him, force watered him, forced antibiotics into him, and applied hot compresses under pressure to drain the abscess in his cheek ... four times ! It’s so very hard to intentionally hurt an animal that I love so much !
I picked up Joanne at 8:30 and filled her in on our drive back home to Riverside RV Park Resort.
I made a very late supper again. She thinks Sully’s time is almost over and we should just concentrate on making his remaining short time as filled with “quality of life” as possible.
Friday ; Another sunny, hot day.
I don't know whether Sully is coming or going ! On the one hand, there is some improvement. The dead tissue of the abscess on his cheek has completely ruptured open, as the veterinarian advised me it would do. No more pus and blood are draining out. The "pocket" beneath seems to contain no more infection. His cheeks / face are "symmetrical" again. He is alert and slightly active. He dislikes being force fed food and water, and resists, a healthy sign. On the other hand ... he is neither urinating nor defecating despite being force fed food and water. I fear his kidneys and intestines are shutting down.
Well ... congratulations, Daniel ... and welcome to the twenty-first century. Today I finished preparing our income tax returns ... on the computer, using tax preparation software. First time ! Then ... HA ! ... I filed the returns electronically ! The entire process was much less painful than preparing our tax returns with paper and pencil.
Our neighbour had a service technician over today to diagnose and repair whatever problem prevented connection to the Internet after I relocated her Wi-Fi transceiver / antenna and installed a new, longer Ethernet cable two days ago. HMPH ! ! ! Defective fifty buck cable !
Saturday ; Mostly sunny, very warm, a bit humid.
Sully is not doing well. What I mean is ... he's dying. My mind and my heart are at odds. I continue to force feed and force water him. He is not urinating nor defecating. He's very lethargic, not getting out of bed today until 5:30 PM. However ... at the moment ... 7:30 PM ... he's sprawled across the sofa grooming himself, looking comfortable. Joanne wants us to simply focus on providing him physical comfort and love as he slowly dies. I battle tears as I type that, not the first time today I've had that battle.
Today was Joanne's last of four very long days of work at the upcoming B.C. election's advance voting station. I mounted our new TV on the living room wall of the park model. That's the TV we bought in Yuma, Arizona late on the evening of American Thanksgiving last November. I spent much of the afternoon lying on our bed, giving comfort and love to Sully as I studied my election official manuals in preparation for my work on election day next Tuesday.
DSK
Hang in there Sully!
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