Best Laid Plans

Friday my husband looked tired after a week of wrestling with his evaluation evidence report on top of teaching regular school amid changing schedules for student stress relief programs that ironically caused more stress for the teachers. I was worried. His neck looked stiff when he turned his head. The stress is not healthy. A couple of years ago this caused him to faint a number of times and the determined cause was stress and subsequent shallow breathing.

I spent the previous day recovering from four days of teaching and shoulders sore from swimming. I read a disturbing but compelling book, The Days of Abandonment, a novel by Elena Ferrante. I spent the afternoon on the couch lying down with my dog snuggled lengthwise beside me.  

Friday I had the day off and knew a storm was coming. We've had a week of torrential rain and a serious amount of flooding in our back room caused by a gutter blocked by leaves rerouting water in through the wall air conditioner. I had been sopping up puddles using every towel in the house and catching the waterfall using buckets that I emptied every half hour. 

I was tempted to clean out the gutter myself before the onslaught of the next storm but I was afraid of doing it myself. "That's dumb, Emily, that's how people get hurt." I have heard stories from friends who got hurt when they were home alone doing a move like that. The ladder was heavy and both of my shoulders have been sore and recovering from tweaks from heavy lifting (school bags) recently. I would have to wait until Bill gets home.

So I decided instead of risking the ladder on the roof I'd run chores. First off I drove downtown and parked at the library returning my library book. I brought Romeo for his walk; we walked along the river's berm. I spotted the homeless tents along the river and was heartbroken. The community garden had become a camping spot as well. 

I continued on and picked up my asthma medicine at CVS. It was cool and cloudy so I felt okay leaving Romeo in the car for a few minutes. Then I thought I'd buy dog food and pick up milk across the street so we wouldn't have a weekend of chores. 

I went up to Tractor Supply and bought the gigantic bag of food and asked if they could help me load it into the trunk. They said yes. When I returned I noticed that Romeo had eaten my plastic container of raisins I carry in my bag for emergencies. OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I should've put my bag in the trunk where I usually keep it. I am not used to driving doing chores with my dog. At home my bag is always up out of dog reach. Maybe I should never carry raisins again!

I drove across the street and I ran in to grab a gallon of milk, a bag of apples, and bananas and called my vet and left a message. After arriving home I phoned again and they said they were overbooked. They suggested a few places. I started hyperventilating because I was reading about toxic reactions and kidney failure in dogs that eat raisins. I called another local vet clinic and the receptionist said "you're okay, breathe, you have time." She suggested an urgent care vet facility. I was trembling from head to toe. I called. I made an appointment. I looked up directions. I put out towels and buckets in case the rain returns. And we left. During the drive Romeo was chill and content although maybe picking up on my anxiety.

The rain became torrential and I got all turned around in Mall Land. I phoned the clinic and they gave me directions. Go straight and turn at the hot tub place. Typical Rhode Island, navigating by landmark. Did they really think I knew where the hot tub place was? The rain was torrential. Anxiety was obscuring my ability to focus. My whole body shook and I got turned around again and phoned again. I made a few traffic violations, being in the wrong lane and entering a mall exit. But I made it on time, 1:29 for the 1:30 appointment. I was still shaking like a leaf.

The vet gave Romeo something so he'd vomit and explained the uncertainty of raisin toxicity. In some dogs there's no reaction and in others it's toxic. We would have to wait and see. Ideally he should be on a 48-hour watch at a 24-hour hospital but that would cost about $2,000, the vet explained. I panicked even more when they showed me the bill for what they planned for today. I must've blanched. I asked if I could continue this process with my own vet tomorrow. Just the vomit medicine procedure today, and the subsequent blood tests at my vet, please? They agreed. 

I scheduled a follow-up blood test for this morning with my vet's clinic. Meanwhile Romeo was doing fine. We fed him pressure-cooked boneless chicken breast and white rice to counter the potential nausea from the vomit inducing medicine. He loved his dinner.

Today Romeo is still doing great. We had a blood test this morning at my vet's. It revealed that he is in good shape and everything is normal. So far. We have another final blood test Monday at the 72 hour mark. I hope he continues to thrive without symptoms. I am hopeful too, the vet said.