Peteyfoozer’s Journey (because journaling’s not enough)

[peteyfoozer]

Surgery is not until late this afternoon. He has a second, LARGER stone in the other kidney they don’t want to address at the same time.
Fen isn’t handling things well so I have had to leave him in the car last night, today, tonight and until we go home. I go out to walk him in the snowstorm so he can pee. He’s on a hunger strike but I got him to eat some link sausage and a biscuit from hospital cafeteria. I will sleep in Randy’s room tonight in chair (reclines) as we can’t afford a room again. The sh*t insurance is likely not going to cover this surgery either
But God will surely provide. Been snowing since I left the ranch yesterday but just slushy now. Road is probably not iced over anymore but I am not comfortable driving anywhere so I am planting myself in his room until he can drive us home
Boone has been home alone, locked outside since 2 pm yesterday. He probably thinks I abandoned him. Boss’ daughter in law fed him @ 11 this morning. (He usually eats when Fen gets me up around 5:30-6:00). I feel so bad for him!
Thanks for well wishes. TheMan is watching TV, I might try to sleep a little. I left my meds at home and not doing real good.

 

[SageHill]

Well, as Randy was packing to drive down to Calif by himself, he suddenly doubled over in pain and then started vomiting. Over the next 10 to 15 minutes he was not getting any better. We began to fear he may have ruptured his appendix. One of the bosses sons call the ambulance and Burns two hours away and they were gonna arrange to LifeFlight him if he needed surgery. Because I am so uncomfortable driving and Randy was in so much pain, and we were afraid time was of the essence, he agreed to Drive Randy as far as he could meet the ambulance and I would follow at a pace I could deal with. So glad because they canceled lifeflight because of bad weather and he wound up driving him all the way into ER in Idaho. The whole trip should’ve been 3 1/half hours to the hospital. I left at the same time but got there a half hour later and that’s with him having had to pull over several times on the side of the road so that Randy could throw up. I think he must have been speeding
God‘s grace it was not his appendix but it is a 5 mm kidney stone and he did have to stay in the hospital tonight. They wound up transferring him to different hospitals so they can do surgery in the morning. It’s been a really rough day. My pain levels were already high. My anxiety levels are now higher than my pain levels Fen’s Anxiety almost as bad as mine right now and I decided to let him sleep in the car tonight. I wasn’t able to get a motel room until 130 this morning. It’s 230 right now I’m not gonna get much sleep. I don’t know what time his surgery is going to be , I only know what room is in. I just hope I’m able to drive to the hospital from here in the morning.
I can’t help but think of how bad it would’ve been if this had happened to him tomorrow when he was driving to California by himself with no phone service it could’ve been really really really bad. Thank you, Lord.

OMG Praying for everything to work out well and for both of you.

 

[peteyfoozer]

OMG Praying for everything to work out well and for both of you.

Thank you

 

[murphysranch]

Me too. It all sounds way too much to bear...

 

[peteyfoozer]

Me too. It all sounds way too much to bear...

Just almost. Wish I had brought my wheelchair because I am really struggling trying to get from his room to the car to walk, water and feed Fen. It’s much, much further than I can walk without causing extreme pain and I am having to do it multiple times a day. If I ever have to take him to ER again, the wheelchair is definitely coming with me. I would have been much better off bringing Boone instead of Fen. Don’t know what I was thinking Boone would have been fine staying in the hospital room with us. Fen can’t sit still or be quiet. After this trip, I think his future as a Service Dog is pretty much done. Last trip in he did good but this trip has been a nightmare with him. He will be happier just being Randy’s dog and staying home.

 

[SageHill]

Last trip in he did good but this trip has been a nightmare with him. He will be happier just being Randy’s dog and staying home.

Of course. He's made Randy "his person" - and his person was in trouble which of course stressed him out to the n'th degree. Fen's not always good at handling stress, he's high energy and stress adds into that energy (though not in a good way). You're just conditioned/used to using Fen as your service dog - which is why he was with you. Heck and with what was going on he was probably in a "TAKE ME WITH" mode.
You are handling and coping with a lot and you are getting things done. Ya' know with what you do get done I go "if she can do all that then why the heck am I not getting those kind of things done??" -- yeah seriously you are out doing me many times (like making dinner, bread, etc) -- I can't imagine the pain and stress that you've got, at this point I'm blest not to have to go through what you are. With all you've got going on ------ you're an inspiration.

 

[peteyfoozer]

@SageHill thank you for that. And thank you for helping me see it thru Fen’s eyes better. I had 7 years with my other English Shepherd being 100% dependable for me, in Service work, stock work, anything I wanted him to do but he and Fen had very different temperaments, and he was totally bonded to me. He didn’t have Fen’s endless energy or independence. I fail Fen too often by forgetting and expecting him to be more consistent and less sensitive to stress than he is. So Fen and I both thank you…
Of course, this trip has been Fenny’s nightmare too. 3 days without playing, or Randy, or even me is torture for him. Bless you

 

[Mini Horses]

Have you asked the hospital to borrow a wheelchair? That would help and might be possible. You may have to talk with one of the patient advocates to get it done. Worth a try.

So stressful for all 3 of you.

How's DH doing?

 

[peteyfoozer]

Have you asked the hospital to borrow a wheelchair? That would help and might be possible. You may have to talk with one of the patient advocates to get it done. Worth a try.

So stressful for all 3 of you.

How's DH doing?

I would need someone to push me in a wheelchair. Mine is electric so I can control it with just a finger or two. It’s cold here so Fen is safe enough and I try to time the trips for 45 min after taking my Pain meds. I don’t think it’s too risky taking it every 3 hr instead of every 4 for a couple days and just do the regular 4 hr through the night since it only winds up being 2 more pills in 24 hr and it allows me to care for Fen.

I saved all the chicken and croutons from my Caesar Salad they let me order, for Fen. Of course he insisted I had to put each bite in my mouth before giving it to him to prove I wasn’t actually trying to trick him into eating dog food, before he agreed to eat it. (Still a no-go on his kibble the boss’ son picked up for me before heading back to Oregon.)
After his pooh/pee/sniffari in the drizzly slushy rain, I brought him up to the 5th floor to Randy’s room so Fen would know where he was. Fenny was really over stimmed by seeing Randy and it was hard to keep Fenny from “berserking” plus I had to keep putting my hand in his mouth when he wanted to loudly voice all his grievances of the past 2 days which muffled the sound enough so I didn’t have to remove him before he was able to settle. After several unsatisfactory attempts to do the “happy hiney dance” which is Fen’s go-to when he is joyful (he looked like a teeter-totter, everytime I would get his butt to go down, his head would come up, then his head would go down but his butt would come up…Fen is nothing if not a clown) he let me know he was ready to check out Randy’s quarters. Once he was satisfied
1. it was safe
2. Randy has not been hugging other dogs,
then he was ready to go back for the night. He was much more relaxed and his eyes were much brighter after his visit. I will get him out again early in the morning and see how he’s doing, emotionally.
He was definitely in a good mood when he jumped back in the ‘burb and gave me kisses before he headed for the driver’s seat where he’s been sleeping since yesterday.

Randy is doing well. He’s only had really severe pain once since surgery. The hospital lost all power around 5 pm. After they finally got it back on the 5th floor, his tv no longer had sound and they can’t figure out how to fix it, so I had to narrate the closed captioning through 2 movies for him (he is a severe dyslexic) until it finally put him to sleep…which I am TRYING not to take personally, as I did a bang up job doing all the voices for the damsels, the sheriff, the villains, the galloping horses, the pistols and rifles versus shotguns and fist fights…I’m definitely not paid enough for this job …

 

[peteyfoozer]

…except I am “sleeping “ in a recliner that doesn’t recline cuz there’s no room to unfold the cot so he can still roll his sorely abused and tender bod to the commode. I could believe this was accurate as I am curled up like a Husky sans the tail over my nose in this ice box of a hospital under not 1, but 2 tissue paper thick fabric they are trying to pass off as blankets here. I thought maybe I was in the morgue but I don’t think dead is supposed to hurt this much, so there’s that…looking through the floor length OhHellItCan’tBeDoublePane window 2 inches behind me, I don’t see any snow…can’t wait to go follow Fen while he dawdles in 2 hr in the wind, wearing my icy wet underwear I so brilliantly washed in the shower last night…guess the clean Tshirt I stole from Randy to use for jammies last night is my traveling clothes…that and goin’ native….