6/10/25

 I woke up with a sore throat and plugged ears. At least I didn’t feel so tired like yesterday. I had a light day which helped.

After dinner we got a surprise visit from Avery. Yay! She visited for a bit and then left. I went down stairs to switch over the laundry. I heard what I thought was Moe bounding down the stairs. What a goof. I ran around the corner to startle him. 

To my horror, it was Jiminy. My sweet little miracle dog. He immediately started screaming and went into a seizure. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. If he were a normal dog, he would have been bounced around, but his poor little head just has no protection.

We signed up for this. We vowed to give him as normal of a life as possible. Obviously we try to minimize accidents as much as possible but they are going to happen. We adjust. We never leave the basement door open again. We separate the dogs when fed. We don’t give treats to the other dogs around Moe.

I scooped him up. I was so pissed at myself. I left the door open when I went down stairs. He has NEVER tried to do the stairs to the basement. It has never been an issue in 3 years. My guess is his depth perception had him make a wrong step.

I rushed up the stairs, yelled for Ethan but he didn’t answer, so I ran out of the house. Paul had boxed my van in. He was mowing, so I had him move his car and call the vet to let them know I was on the way.

He seized pretty much the entire ride to the vet. His savior, Dr. Jackie, just happened to be at work. She saw Jiminy and of course stayed late to help. 

People think that vets are in it for the money. I assure you that I have worked with many vets that forego seeing their loved ones and eating meals to take care of their patients.

Jiminy got a catheter and some hypertonic saline. He got some anti nausea because with head trauma it can cause nausea and he started licking his lips.

He got an anti seizure medication and his seizures subsided. He perked right up. There was no visible swelling to his head, which was not the case the last time.

Last time he had an immediate goose egg. This time there was no visible swelling.  Phew. We did all the things but still wanted to take him to emergency for observation. 

I told the boys that he was going to be ok. Ethan wanted to go with me. We went to the emergency hospital in Rochester. Jiminy in Ethan’s arms. Jiminy content and settled with his buddy. It was a comfort to Ethan to hold him in the car.

We arrived and the place was hopping. One of the girls recognized me (and I was haggard looking). She said “why do I know you?”

I told her that I used to work with her several months ago. She paused and then said…”did you put the covers on the nipples in the painting?”

There was a painting in the treatment area that had a naked woman with her breasts hanging out. I always found it odd to have that kind of a painting in a vet office. One night we were all chatting about the painting and I climbed up and put 2 pieces of tape over the nipples in an “X” formation.

“Yes, I covered the nipples.” I said.

It was hilarious that was what she remembered about our 12 hour shifts together. Yes! I covered those nipples. We chatted for a minute.

We waited and waited as Jiminy was not critical at this point. 

There was a dog that was hit by a vehicle. We could hear the owner in the next room sobbing his eyes out. I don’t miss working at emergency. I am glad I can say I have done it, but I don’t miss it at all.

One hour became two, became three. I decided we needed to get Ethan home to take his meds. We got the ball rolling to take Jiminy home and get Ethan home.

I explained that Ethan was late on his meds. I also figured that if Jiminy had not had a seizure since treatment was initiated, he likely would be out of the woods especially with his seizure medication.

We finally got home around 12:30 am. Poor Ethan had not eaten dinner either. He took his meds right away…5 hours late.

Jiminy was feeling better and earned a night in mom’s bed.