gazerwolf

Our youngest dog  Max had to be put down last night.

She contracted parvo.

She spent Saturday vomiting and such. Early Sunday morning I took her to the emergency vet, because whe wasn't getting any better.

They gave her everything...plasma, vitamins, dextrose, tons of tests.

Around 11:30 last night they called me and told me that she wasn't responding to treatment, they had gotten her blood sugar back into normal range but she was no longer breathing right and they didn't expect her to make it, and she was in a lot of pain.

We went to get her this morning and brought her home to bury her.

The boys, of course were hit hard but asked that we find another dog quickly...so this afternoon we visited the humane society to see if they even had a dog small enough for us.

The answer was yes.

They had a female Jack Russel mix stray that they were calling "littlefoot" She is much calmer than Max was, but seems to have taken to us quickly.

Beast (our oldest dog, a chihuahua) spent her first few hours barking at her occasionally, while she basically tried to follow him around wagging her tail.

Right now she is sleeping next to me here on the couch.

We have had a rollercoaster day, and I expect that I'll be dealing with occasional sadness fits from the boys (and myself I suppose) for a while yet. Littlefoot (name may change, but I doubt it) will certainly lessen those but...

I hate cars.

A side effect of being run off the road showed up last week.

Our power steering pump went out...first sign was a puff of smoke when turning sharply.

Way I figure it, is that the high pressure line got bent when we hit the curb and eventually leaked.

So when it quit working entirely the other day I went and got the parts (pump, both hoses.)

Today I put them on.

As usual when working on a car nothing would go right for a while.

First up...the fitting for the high pressure line won't come off the old pump. So I figure...well I'm replacing the pump and the lines too...I'll cut it.

That worked...got the pump out...just for fun (HA!) I tried to take it off after I got the pump out...still no go...matter of fact it is still attached.

So I trace both lines to the other end so  I can unhook them there.

Way under the van of course...hard to reach and no wrench moving room...I try anyway...can't get enough leverage. Besides, I don't have a wrench big enough so I'm using a little adjustable wrench....so it slides a bit if I put too much pressure on it.

I go in and tell Tracy I am going to walk to the nearest place that sells tools and get a bigger wrench.

I do.

Can't turn the wrench from underneath.

So I go in the house and complain to Tracy...she suggests I look in the book I bought to see if it says anything...

It didn't in the pump section, but it did mention something in the suspension section about removing the air breather stuff.

So out I go to do that...hoping that it will get me a better angle on those fittings.

Ok, gotta half crawl in the engine, but I can reach them, and I have a small amount of wrench room.

Not enough.

So I go in and complain again.

Tracy suggests that I google for a method of getting fittings loose.

I find someone suggesting cutting the lines and then using a ratchet wrench to get them.

After kicking myself for not thinking of that (considering I had already cut the other end of one line)

So I get out my reciprocating saw crawl under the car and make quick work of one line...the other I can't reach with the saw...so I get that one with a small hand saw (dull of course...so it takes forever)

Then I jerk the lines out.

Then I get a ratchet on one of the lines from the top...and can't turn it...these things have been soaking in penetrating oil for over an hour at this point and I still can't turn them.

So I dig out the old hollow broom handle that I tried with the wrench before....push up on it and it moves easily....so I pull it out reach down and use my fingers to take the fitting out...

The second one comes out just as easily.

I had a little trouble getting the new fitting from the high pressure line threaded into the new pump, but eventually I got that in.

Of course it got colder, and started snowing while I was working.

My hands hurt and I'm still cold.

I hate cars.

Ok, I'm highly allergic to something.

Wish I knew what.

I started itching yesterday afternoon.

Got worse in the evening...my hands started itching like crazy.

They got red and swollen...added itchy red blotches around my waist and on my wrists...behind my ears and in elbow bends.

Went to the doctor this morning...got a steroid shot and a prescription for prednisone...

Got home and took my first dose and laid down to sleep for a while (of course I didn't rest well last night due to itching) I didn't rest well this afternoon either...still very itchy...hands aren't AS swollen....I've added blotches on my belly and chest...and my knees.

Had the worst migraine I've had in several years last night...maybe worst ever actually...

My head started hurting around 6 last night...low level to begin with...I took some naproxen...didn't help any...eating didn't help either.

I stayed up a little later than usual to watch TV with starsongky . I crawled off to bed around 11 with a mid-level pain.

I musta went to sleep because I had a weird asssed dream...don't remember any details...except it was weird.

The pain woke me up around 1 am...WOKE ME UP....that has never happened to me before...always before if I managed to get to sleep I would sleep through the rest of the headache.


I put an ice pack on my neck...the cold blood moving up into my head felt good....it also managed to dull the pain...I dozed off finally....got up at 6 when the alarm went off...getting the boys ready for school now....I'm sp groggy I can barely think.

I've been on a cleaning and organizing Jag. starsongky can tell you that when I get this organized it's a "bad sign" it means I'm probably coming down with something.

I'm not talking straightening, or regular cleaning. I'm talking the grab crap and throw it out, scrub everything within reach, move furniture, repack boxes, reorganize storage type of cleaning...I woke up at 4:30 am and started right in.

Hopefully this is one of those rare occasions when I start that type of cleaning because I'm fed up with something not being organized right...but considering that I'm now feeling apathetic, I suspect not. Apathy is my main migraine sign...(at least the one I can notice...the other is slightly slurred speech but I don't notice that...people around me do...it comes from my concentration being interrupted by the migraine pain)

OK...that's probably more than anyone wanted to know...

Off to take an aleve and try to finish up cleaning before the impulse fades away, and/or the apathy gets worse.
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Is it just me...whenever I feel like crap I wind up programing or cleaning....sigh