Mar032009
An Agony of indecision …
Filed under Life etcetera, et al, Pets by The Soaplady at 4:03 pm on Mar 03 2009
That’s what I was in, most of last night …
Well all of last week actually, as the days dripped away, slowly and imperceptibly …
Should I do it …
Should I not …
For whose benefit would it be …?
As I thought of the hot searing cut of scalpel against warm skin …
Morning dawned here in a flurry of snow, and I gently woke Mindy-mu, and slipped her collar around her neck, and took her out for her morning ablutions …
Then it was (trustingly) into the car, and the long voyage to the V.E.T.s.
I’m sure she recognises the car journey to most of her favourite places … But she recognised this odd place as being where she had been taken, fairly ill, last week, but surely mummy wouldn’t do anything bad …?
Was this something to do with the huge lurid pink tablets that she’d found hidden in her liver-cake twice a day, and crunched up dutifully for the past six days …?
Then came Hector … What a lovely man … He recognised that mummy was in a bit of a state, and paused to spend some time with her, and reassure her …
A quick visit to the surgery for Mindy-mu’s pre-med, warning mummy that she may jump or howl because the injection was intramuscular … She did neither … :- )
Then back to the waiting area, and mummy observed Mindy-mu’s legs becoming very like jelly, so lifted her onto her knee, where over the next three minutes, the head got lower and lower, and the whole body relaxed … Then Hector took her into the Inner Sanctum and mummy was dispatched to wait three hours, and come back at noon …
Wandering aimlessly around shops … Two cigarettes in the car, wondering how my baby was … Tried to lose myself in weekly shopping, but only succeeded in running up the largest bill I have had for months … Never go shopping when you’re not concentrating …!
Back at noon, taking care to find a parking place within easy walking distance from the doors … Took me three drive-bys, but eventually got a spot …
Paid our bill - £151, without a murmur …
Hector told me that they’d found many cysts inside the relatively-bulky uterus, which was what had made her so ill last week …
If it had been left to go on longer, it would’ve been life-threatening, so the decision to spey had been a necessary one …
She’d had intravenous antibiotic cover, and a pain-killer which would last for 24 hours …
Two plaster dressings on her feet, where her dangerously-fragile dew-claws had been …
They tried to tell her mum about feeding, exercising and stitches out, but after a couple of repetitions, they wrote it all down for her instead … :- )
Then they brought Mindy-mu out … Under her own steam, but obviously still under the influence of the anaesthetic … She swayed, haltingly … She looked smaller, and bendier …
I’m not sure she recognised me … I had to pull slightly on the lead to get her to begin moving … We made our torturous way through the door, out into the cold air …
I had to help her into her car-crate, and drove very carefully home, watching she was OK … Her back legs collapsed, but she still watched the scenery all the way home, making not a sound …
Managed to jump-fall out of her crate, and had to be encouraged up her drive …
Once in the house, she just stood there, dazed, her head falling lower and lower …
Mummy showed her where her comfy house-crate was, and she’s been there ever since …
It’s three pm now, and I wish I had the technology to record the sounds which are coming out of the crate as a .WAV file for you all, but I don’t, so just serve to say that because she’s a Staffy, these unconscious noises, all made with the mouth closed, are like something out of the X Files …
I know she’s comfortable by looking at her, but there’s an alternating ‘whiney-howl’ and a ‘vibrating-rumble’ being emitted, on all frequencies, almost like the results of a very vivid dream … Like a kind of wild rhythmic yet obstructed snoring, low rumbling, and sometimes high and piercing … It really is loud, and looks to continue for some while yet …
No food today … only water when she wakes … Then light diet from tomorrow …
And me, well I’ve had my first day completely detached from work for a long time …
I had given myself the odd afternoon or day off before, but it was only today, when I’ve not been able to think of work because my mind was full of Mindy-mu, that I’ve realised what a joy non-work time can be …
I’m on the sofa next to her, with the central heating on early, and the pussycats close, promising ourselves an open fire tonight to cheer us … And I’ve two new books (pleasing feature of crazy shopping) to read - one Stephen King short stories, and one called The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry, which looks intriguing …
Have a good evening everybody … :- )
1 Flying Cat 2on 03 Mar 2009 at 4:40 pm
“Wild rhythmic yet obstructed snoring”…sounds vaguely familiar…
Soon a happy-bouncy Mindy will be leaping&bounding everywhere, wobbly backlegs but a distant memory. However, the route to the v.e.t. will be ingrained forever. If it wasn’t already!
2 claremont (Bruce Fletcher)on 03 Mar 2009 at 4:41 pm
When our cat, Surrey, went in for her “operation” she amazed us with her resilience. I collected her in her very large cat-carrier from the Kirkwall vet’s surgery and she slept all the way through the two hour ferry journey. When I arrived back home I carried the cat-carrier into the kitchen, opened the door and Surrey shot out and made a bee-line for her litter tray. A few minutes later she shot back into the kitchen and sprang up onto the kitchen table; it made Maureen wince so see her do it, having had a hysterectomy several years ago and remembering how long it took her to convalesce.
3 x333xxxon 03 Mar 2009 at 5:54 pm
We care truly, madly, deeply for our precious charges, and your state of concern is entirely natural and understandable. Sounds to me like she’s being well looked after by Nurse Soaplady. Just make sure the District Nurse is looking after you too!
As for decisions, decisions … I’m in that state currently myself!
4 Flying Cat 2on 03 Mar 2009 at 6:30 pm
Oh purrlease Mister Fourex don’t rush in where angels fear to tread - you never know when your bits may come in useful. Once they’re gone they’re gone. There’s no going back…
5 taddoeon 03 Mar 2009 at 7:22 pm
i’m so happy things went well for mindyand you). When oor wullie or any of 5 cat gang have to have an op i really worry,never worried about kids illnesses,but just thinking about an animal in pain—when i think about all animals in aussie after the bushfires!!! yes i’ve cried loads about the humans over there as well-especially going in to land at melbourne aiport two weeks,watching the fires rage from the sky–but animals and young children touch me most
6 thelandladyon 03 Mar 2009 at 8:14 pm
I agree with FC Mr Fourex, it seems a bit of a drastic step.. even though I’m sure it would leave you with a lovely Falsetto voice.. what’s that? You have that already? :lol
7 thelandladyon 03 Mar 2009 at 8:15 pm
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOUR SMILIES, SOAPLADY???( sorry, bit pre menstrual..)
8 brendaon 03 Mar 2009 at 8:58 pm
Mindy…have a good nights sleep..you deserve it. Enjoy the cosy fire..it will be comforting to you both. Will chat tomorr..sleep well, Brenda/Ireland
9 Soapladyon 03 Mar 2009 at 8:59 pm
I like to use proper smilies … :- )
I don;t like it when they change into little yellow balls - you can;t tell if your smiling, laughing or hysterical …!
Chalk it up to when I wrote my first C++ program, which is Hello World, which produces a proper smilie … Just a Smile … Nothing more …!!
10 Gale, NC, USAon 03 Mar 2009 at 10:37 pm
At least the worse part is over and Mindy should be back to her usual self within the next day or so. It amazes me how fast animals bounce back. I’m sure I will be reading about Mindy’s adventurous walks very soon.
11 mirlnlasson 04 Mar 2009 at 12:19 am
Hope Mindy has a quick recovery and I’m sure lots of love from you will make it happen faster!
12 Plaidon 04 Mar 2009 at 10:09 am
Tomorrow Mindy will be almost her old self, especially with all the TLC she is receiving. Makes one wonder if we humans worry about our recovery and thus ensure it takes longer?
13 Barneyon 04 Mar 2009 at 5:47 pm
All the best to Mindy aand to her tender-loving-caring Linda! Stumpy is going to be untouched unless it becomes absolutely necessary.
14 Flying Cat 2on 04 Mar 2009 at 6:19 pm
What’s wrong with yellow balls?
A large part of the world’s population must have ‘em…oh this is so un-PC, I feel dreadfully ashamed… 
Sorry Soaplady…no really… 
15 Barneyon 04 Mar 2009 at 9:58 pm
If it’s not PC, it must be mainframe, EffCee! Stumpy has a yellow ball, does she count?
16 Flying Cat 2on 05 Mar 2009 at 12:03 am
Well it would seem she can count to one
17 mjcon 05 Mar 2009 at 1:45 pm
Mindy: she’ll be alright. Dogs are tough. 48 hours max. and she’ll be ready for a run.
18 mjcon 05 Mar 2009 at 5:51 pm
Take a deep breath, Soaplady. Dog will get better whether you worry or not. By taking the dog to the vet for treatment, you have done your duty. The dog will be fine: just provide fresh water, and perhaps some (dry?) food # I am awfie puzzled about Soaplady calling herself Mindy’s “mummy”: therein lies the path to spending thousands of pounds on dog hip replacement, tummy tucks, tail docking, tweed jackets, not to mention contact lenses etc etc. Call me mean, but my dogs, genealogy in Debrett’s Book of Dogs notwithstanding, are d.u.g.s (as FC would write). I am not my dog’s father, I am not my daughter’s friend (I do try, perhaps too hard, to be a good father to my daughters), and, if truth be told, I don’t always do what the Pope suggests. However, as Soaplady would rightly say, different folks, different strokes.
19 mjcon 05 Mar 2009 at 5:51 pm
goofballs, FC and Barney?
20 Barneyon 05 Mar 2009 at 9:22 pm
Goofballs, Mjc? Are perhaps you referring to gaufballs? To be struck with iron or wooden tools, to fly high and far to the amazement of any empowered spectators spectating, to land and roll to a stop, quivering on the brink of a small, circular, vertically-sided recess in the surface of the green earth of the Lord? Or are you taking the Micky out of our combined Goofyness? The Goofy bit is EffCee’s bit, mine is the -ness.
And Linda has done it too! The degree of sophistication to which Les is taking the new new IB is stagmorphical and unbrabbable.
21 Harryd(Canada)on 06 Mar 2009 at 5:43 pm
Know where you are coming from Soaplady, ignore mjc on this one. Your dog is part of your family, obviously not the same as humans
but attached just the same. We had a dog for 10 years and had to let him go as she he had cancer. We cried on the way home and were upset for a while. Our new dog is now part of us, and we still talk about our first dog. Mindy will be fine.
22 Flying Cat 2on 06 Mar 2009 at 10:12 pm
Wow Barney! I’m struck dumb! Respec’.
23 Harryd(Canada)on 06 Mar 2009 at 11:24 pm
Barney Could it be a Goofy Gowfball in the wee cup on the green.
24 Barneyon 07 Mar 2009 at 3:24 pm
Thank you, Fan Club!
25 mjcon 07 Mar 2009 at 4:47 pm
Oh, Harryd, I like my d.u.g.s, and they are well taken care of, but they aren’t family.
26 Harryd(Canada)on 07 Mar 2009 at 7:42 pm
We all luv oor dugs mjc. I didnae say they were the same as human
family members. Just that you become attached to them a lot. All the best.
27 Soapladyon 08 Mar 2009 at 3:44 am
I don’t know, perhaps its a woman-thing …
I am perfectly aware that I am not really the mother of Mindy …
And she is in no way spoiled, or likely to be so, even if I had thousands of pounds …
But I *love* that dog (notice the emphasis), and it seemed reasonable to reflect that by calling myself ‘Mummy’ …
My pets *are* part of my family …
They are the only part of my family I see each day …
I would still probably refer to myself as ‘Mummy’, even if I was talking about Percy the muscovy drake …
I have responsibility for their lives … and when they hurt, *I* hurt …
28 mjcon 11 Mar 2009 at 1:50 pm
Eh Soaplady, you could never be a farmer (pounds sterling for pounds of flesh). Imagine eating that tasty young cockerel au vin, and feeling all ghoulish, squirming at the thought - nay, knowledge - that you are performing cannibalism (metaphorically, if not actually).
29 Barneyon 12 Mar 2009 at 9:06 pm
The opinons in this neck of the woods about hysterectomies and dog’s well-being are 50/50 on the hypothesis that a litter will reduce the risk of womb inflammation but 100% on the hypothesis that h. will affect a dog’s sprightlyness (it will become lazy) and it will also be prone to fatness. We like our Stumpy sprightly and slim.
30 Soapladyon 13 Mar 2009 at 8:30 pm
mjc, I was once confined to my bedroom, aged 12 years, by my parents, for refusing to eat rabbit stew …
and the only time I have *ever* eaten Bambi is when my then mother-in-law decided to lie to me and told me that it was beef, revealing her joke to me only after I’d finished …
No, I’m not a natural carnivore, and get a bit squeamish about eating *anything* if it has a face …
I will make *very* sure that Mindy stays lean now, after her op …! We shall take plenty of exercise … And I’m very strict about not feeding her scraps or extras *at all* …
Barney, really, she (I) had no choice because of the disease-processes already present …