Myrtle at 10 wks on a hot summer day 2007

Well...... last time I left off with a strong reminder for everyone to start their Memorial weekend off right by keeping safety first in everything they do. Guess what..Myrtle, our 1 year old english bully dogge apparently doesn't read.

On Sunday my husband and I went with a friend and her autistic son fishing. Kordell was so excited about going fishing and just couldn't wait. We brought Myrtle, of course and they brought their big dog named Sasha along too. We walked half way around the lake it seemed (me, I took about a dozen rest stops to huff and puff) and finally found a likely spot.

I put Myrtle on her extra long lead (20 feet or so) and wrapped it around a small tree. As we began to set up our folding chairs Myrtle sniffed happily through the leaves and bushes like she was in puppy heaven. It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes and she came to me all tangled up in someones old fishing line. What a mess. As I began unwrapping her unhappy self, I noticed the line in her mouth and I got a sinking feeling about it. Sure enough, she swallowed the line and was trying to swallow more. I very gently tried to get it out of her mouth and looked deep in her throat but it dissapeared in her mighty bullydogge throat. I just knew she swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

My husband left with her immediately to take her to the emergency vet (on Sunday... on Memorial Weekend no less). He packed his chair, pole and the dog up and I stayed to fish with Kordell who had panicked, thinking he wasn't going to get to fish and with worry for Myrtle.

Rick couldn't have been gone more than 10 minutes when Sasha, the other dog came to me all wrapped in fishing line also. It was wrapped so tight around her upper snout that it cut into her gums. As I unwrapped it, I found a fish hook in her lower gum. Fortunately it hadn't gone through with the barb yet and I was able to pull it out without hurting her. We almost had to follow Rick to the emergency vet with another dog.

Needless to say, we did a thorough cleanup of the area and gathered a walmart bag full of old line, hooks, sinkers, etc.

I am thinking about calling the Parks Department and complaining about the unsafe and unpet friendly conditions of that lake and surrounding area.

On with Myrtle's saga. The emergency hospital found a hook in her stomach for sure. Great!!! It would cost $1400-2000 at least to do surgery and they wanted to do it NOW. Rick opted to go home and wait for our own vet on Tuesday.

Of course our vet wasn't open on Tuesday because they are moving their office and then they won't have their hospital ready for another 10 days. I went through a few vets and even a specialist who wanted $1600-2000 for a scope procedure that had 75% chance of success and then if that didn't work, surgery would be added onto that. Mind you, we are talking about a 3/4 inch fishing hook, size 8. Anyway, I finally found an Alaska experienced vet who said she was extremely fish hook savey with all the fishing and the animals she encountered up there.

There is a chance we won't have to operate because she gave our dog (who will obviously eat anything), some wet cotton swabs dabbed in baby food to eat. She said they may catch on the hook and wrap around it and carry it on through her system. If not, then surgery is the next option. Her charges for everything including surgery will be less than half of what any of the others mentioned. I will let you know how it turns out after tomorrow.

At least it's not Me this time in the emergency room, but it's no fun worrying over a dog that is just about like our only child now since ours are all grown up and out on their own. Gotta smile at her and groan though. What an expensive fishing trip that didn't yield anything. By the way, we were at a lake in town to save money, ha!

Ready for the "Rest of the Story?"

When it was time for my friend and I to go home from the lake on Sunday, we packed up the gear like we were pack mules (Rick...this was not a good time for you to abandon us..). anyway, we get to her car and the starter has been acting up so of course now is the time to show us whos boss. When she finally does get it started, she discovers that most of the fluid in her radiator has drained out so we are pouring what's left of our water bottles into the radiator to hopefully get us to her house. Oh, and of course Rick took our car which has all of my extra oxygen tanks and I'm on the last half of my 2/1 hour tank.

We finally get to her house and her daughter is waiting for us so her mom can take her to a special event. The car decides it's gone quite far enough, thank you and won't start again.
Poor friend Kimm, her daughter is throwing a teenager fit cause she now has no ride to her thing and is calling all her friends frantically to hitch a ride, her auatistic son is now in melt down stage from stress due to both dogs and the fish hooks, and worry about me and my oxygen and that the car is broken. He starts screaming and demanding she call a tow truck NOW, ( his behaviors are part of the asperger's syndrome type of autism) and won't settle down until he get's inside the house and hides. And then there's me stuck with no air and my husband at the vet emergency center.
Enters my hero once again, my daughter Amber, gracious as ever who loads up her baby and comes to rescue Mom. Ever had one of those days? Boy was I glad to get home to husband and dog once again.

Hope your weekend was eventful but safe. I'm waiting to hear about it for sure. As for me, tomorrows another day (at the vet)