Happy Wednesday and 1st Day of Spring. I hope the sun is shining were you are. As I began to write this blog post last week we were experiencing a bomb cyclone. That was a first for me. I have seen a lot of blizzards though. Our last big one was on March 17th 16 years ago. Thankfully we made it through this one without any problems and it has melted quickly. Others in the state were not so lucky. Hopefully we have had enough moisture for awhile now.
Hello February. I learned how to draw and paint the flamingos in Irina Skillshare Class. I did mine on my Ipad Pro using procreate though.
Feb did not start out very well.
Monday morning Feb 18th
I heard Lily coughing before Rich left for work. I went down to check on her and
found her shaking, short of breath and her gums were pale. Scared the crap out
of me. I called Rich but he would not come back so I gave her some Gabapentin
and texted the vet. It was only around 6:30 am though. The vet didn’t get right
back to me and she was not getting much better so Emilia and I took her to
Alameda East ER. They took her right back when we got there but did not keep
her long and said she was stable. We had to wait awhile after that to see the
vet. She was doing better when the vet finally walked in but was very nervous
to be there which I understood after all she had been through there. It was the
last place I wanted to be too. After
telling the vet the situation and taking a look she said she thought the tumor
was pressing on her trachea now and that was what was causing the cough. She
had nothing to compare it to though. I asked her about trying an antibiotic and
she agreed. She was pretty much doom and gloom and had her dead in a few days
so that did not make me feel any better about things. We got the Doxcycyline
and paid $140.00 and left there. My vet finally texted back while we were there
and asked if we needed anything. I got her to come look at her later that
afternoon because she was the only one that would know if it really changed.
When she got here Lily was still coughing but she was able to take a look. She
said it looked gray which might mean infection, so it was good we got the antibiotic.
She said she probably would have put her on a different one but it was okay to
start with this one and we could add another one in if this one did not work.
She also said I could try a natural cough med I heard about in a Facebook group
but would need to look at the ingredients first. I sent her the link after she
left but did not hear back. I texted her about it again the next morning and
she said it was okay to try so I ordered it. I got it later that night but did
not give it to her until the next day. Wednesday. It seemed to make her
agitated and restless and didn’t really help. I increased the CBD/THC that
night and it seemed to help. She slept well and did not cough much until after noon
the next day it started again shortly after that. I texted the vet to ask about
trying the other antibiotic but did not hear back. Thursday night was bad she
woke coughing every couple of hours. She coughed so hard she fell over that
morning. Finally got a text back from the vet Friday morning and said she would
call it in to Safeway. I called a few hours later and was told they did not
have it and could not get it until Monday she asked if there was another
pharmacy she could call it into I told her Clearsprings which is where I get
her Peroxicam. I didn’t hear anything back until the next morning again. She
said they were supposed to call me but never heard from them. I called the next
morning Saturday and they said they didn’t have anything from her. I texted her
again but no response. I tried calling a little while later and no answer.
Finally heard from her saying she got it done. I still don’t know who’s fault
this one was but I called them and they said they could have it ready by 3 so
Emilia and Rich went to get it. I noticed that there was not a lot in the
bottle and didn’t know how it was going to last that long but decided to worry
about that later. I was going to start
it Saturday night but was confused by the directions on how much to give her so
texted the vet again. She texted back awhile later and told me what the right
dose was, so I waited to start it until Sunday Morning. I gave it until
Wednesday and emailed the vet again because I was not sure how well it was
working and the cough was keeping us both from sleeping at night. I asked if we
had any other options. 24 hours went by before she responded and she said we
could try steroids but that we had to take her off of the Peroxicam for 4-5
days before we could start it and her cough could get worse during that time. I
did not like the sound of that. I was worried that being off the Peroxicam for
that long would just make things worse and asked if there was something else we
could give her during that time but she said no which was really upsetting. I
could not believe that she would leave her with nothing during that time and
take the chance things/the cough could get worse. Thursday morning, I decided
to start looking for other vets again. I heard back from one that told me we
did not have to wait that long to start the steroids if we were willing to take
the chance it could cause more problems with her liver and kidneys. My vet
never told me why we would have to wait so long. This vet also said that
she was worried it could be her heart or lungs filling up with fluid while she
was sleeping which freaked me out more. I don’t remember anyone saying anything
about her heart or lungs as a cause for the cough before. This vet was very
nice though and took the time to listen to my story and answer all my questions,
but I decided that it was not worth her coming to see her for $250.00 when she
told me she had limited working hours. That is no better than I have now. I
wrote emails and left messages for 3 other vets but never heard back from any
of them. Almost another 24 hours went by before I heard back from my vet after
my last email again. This time she offered me a cough suppressant from Chewy’s
online that has the same ingredients as Children’s Mucinex which I have given
her before. I didn’t understand how that was going to be of help especially
since I would have to order it?? She
then offered for us to try the narcotic cough syrup I had asked for the week
before in a text and never got an answer for but said I would need a written
prescription for it. She didn’t say how long that would take to get though and
now it was Friday. I had a feeling that I was going to have to wait all weekend
to hear from her again and had no idea how long it was going to take to get the
prescription and fill it. I hoped it did not have to be compounded because I had nothing but problems with the compound pharmacy lately. They did not
give me enough amoxicillin/ I called to tell them about it Friday because they
were not answering their phones on Thursday and they said they would get me some
more and have it delivered that afternoon but no on showed up so I called to
see what was going and they told me it would take days to get it ready when
they promised me they would get it done that day. I asked to speak to a manager
and told her what happened, and she agreed to bring to me after she got off
work which was really nice but I don’t really want to deal with them again
right now if I don’t have to. I finally heard back from my vet late Saturday
morning and said she would drop off the prescription She also recommended trying an acupuncturist and gave me a number to call but I doubt Lily would sit
still for that. She said she would ask around for someone that is more knowable
with Chinese Herbs. She texted me around 4:30 to say she was coming by to drop
it off and I told her that was fine I was home. About 15 mins later I got
another text that she put it in the mailbox and ran. I don’t understand why she
didn’t ring the doorbell. I needed to ask her if it was okay to give her before
bed with the cbd/thc. I texted and asked. It took hours for a response and she
said it was okay and that was it. That did not sound right to me though. I think she just said yes to get rid of me. I was not happy with how she handled things at
all and I am still not happy with her response time. She has not checked on her since either which is really upsetting. I need someone that
is more dependable and will continue to follow up on her. I don't understand why that is so hard to find. It feels like what I go through with my own health. Why does this keep happening? I ended up changing her Peroxicam to the
evening Thursday night and I think it may be helping some. I also upped her
CBD/THC and started a new bottle of the daytime CBD too I am thinking the other
one was expired. She started sleeping better too. I started looking for new vets soon after that. As you have read this has been a nightmare. There is a lot more to tell but I have already written a novel so I will tell you more about that in my March recap. I just don't understand why this has to be so hard.
More things continued to go wrong after that though. My printer broke, My Silhouette was not working right. I got an extended warranty but they wouldn't honor it because it was not a year old so I had to deal with Silhouette direct and that was a nightmare because of all the hoops they made me go through to get help. Thankfully I was just putting the blade in wrong and didn't have to get another one after all
After that my vacuum broke. Then I had a psycho buyer who was threatening me because she wanted her money back for express shipping when a package arrived a day late 3 months ago. I told her before she purchased it shipping was not guaranteed and was not refundable to which she agreed and purchased anyways. I was about to lose my mind thankfully things started to turn around a bit.
Things in our Etsy shop slowed down a little. We still kept busy, I didn't really make anything new though. I got this great photo from a return buyer of her dog wearing our hat and bowtie set though. Didn't they look great on him?
I made the digital piece on the left in procreate with my Ipad pro using floral brushes from ipadlettering in honor of Valentines day. On the right are the surprise gifts I received from Emilia and Rich even though I told them I didn't want anything. They were still appreciated though.
I continued to participate in Stefan Kuntz weekly challenges that I started last month. These are the 4 pieces I made for February.
I also learned how to make this piece from a tutorial I saw from Jamie Kim @inksnthings on Instragram. I did mine digitally on my Ipad pro in Procreate using the watercolor canvas from @simplyallison and brushes from @tinycactusdesigns.
Finally I made these Paleo apple bars awhile ago but never got around to sharing them. They are really yummy. You can get the recipe here.
That's all for now. I will be back next month with more to share and hopefully things will have gotten better by then.
