Oh Rats!

It's pretty hard to believe that I've been officially unemployed for exactly a week, and I've not updated the blog at all. I've been bored out of my mind, yet for some odd reason, I haven't made time for this, and believe me, I've had the time. Anyway, a lot and absolutely nothing has happened in the past week.

I remembered that I'm not good at sitting and relaxing. I seem to always convince myself that this time will be different, that I'll be able to relax and take some time for myself, and 10 minutes in to the first day, I'm already going nuts and looking for things to do. I think this is a negative quality. How I fix it, I know not. I do know, however, that I'm having more and more good days all the time. While I still can't say that I have more good days than bad, this is a huge change for the better and it gives me hope that things might become doable again. Also, perhaps as even better news, my vitamin D level came back as a whopping 24. While this may not mean anything to a single person reading this, I think it's also good news. See, over Thanksgiving, a shirttail relative, who just happens to be an orthopedic surgeon, asked if I've ever had my vitamin D level checked. She said that the main symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are muscle and joint pain. Hmmm...sounds kinda familiar... She said that the FDA completely underestimates that amount of vitamin D that people need every day. 1,000 international units, she said, is the amount that everyone needs, not the 400 that the FDA suggests. Interesting, isn't it. She also said that if my level was low, I could start taking 1,000 IU of vitamin D and could feel better by Christmas! I'm trying not to get my hopes up, it's easy to do when you're in pain, because the let-downs are easier if you're not too hopeful. While that sounds really pessimistic, it's the only way to get through things like this. Again, the fact that I'm having more and more good days, leads me to believe that something is working. Whether it's simply rest or it really is this vitamin D thing, I'm feeling better, so that's really neat! Oh, and I have an appointment with a physiatrist (read that word again carefully) tomorrow. Apparently physiatrists specialize in pain management. After all this time, it's definitely good to know that such specialists exist. How did I miss that one? Seems like I've seen about every other specialist... Curious.

Let's see...I've also recently learned that the cute little puppy with the curly tail and crooked ears is a force to be reckoned with. While this seems minor, considering we've had her for a couple of months, she destroyed my glasses a couple of nights ago. Not cool! She must have stolen the off of the coffee table or something. And, of course, instead of playing with them inside and just bending them up a bit, she decided that it would be best to take them outside, onto the concrete, where she could really have fun with them. Damn doggie door! To say the least, they're a little scratched up! Oops! Good thing I was planning on getting my eyes checked and probably getting new glasses in a couple of weeks anyway!

Here's the doozy though! Let's just set the mood first. This morning, like any other morning, Kona is out in the front playing. Keith and I are both inside cleaning (I know, it's hardly believable, but he really was cleaning!). I look outside and see Kona frolicking about with something plastic in her mouth. My brain is processing...still processing...OH $HIT!!! That's one of those containers that the pest guy put out to kill the mice when Lynn was here! We run outside and take it from her. There's no sign of poison anywhere, not even in her mouth, but we need to make her vomit anyway. Enter hydrogen peroxide...she drinks a little bit and pukes. No rat poison. We force her to drink some more...she pukes again. Still no rat poison, and her tummy is obviously empty now. This is a good sign, however, you can never be too careful regarding things like this. I call one of the vets from the clinic I worked at, which is not open on Sundays of course. She says to take her to the emergency clinic. Yes, they have those for pets too. The vet there is super nice and doesn't charge us for an office visit since I work in the veterinary field! (Well, I did just a week ago and I might go back...) Anyway, we're taking her back in later tonight to get a PT drawn to make sure that her blood is still clotting like it should. Since we're pretty sure that she didn't actually eat any poison and she confirmed that by not throwing any up, as long as her blood work is okay, we don't have to treat her. If it's abnormal, then we put her on vitamin K for up to 6 weeks, depending on the treatment for the kind of poison that it would have been in the box. It was a crazy day! Stoopid dog!

And so, the moral of the story today is...take your vitamins, people. They fix everything!