Rudy and Denise: Platelets & Dog Bites

Friday, February 6, 2015

Platelets & Dog Bites

We were both really tired today. Yesterday, we left the house at around 8:15am and got home at 9:38pm. We love CTCA, but we sure don't like staying that long.

Rudy went back to CTCA today to check his blood levels. His platelets were at 36 - still very low, but better than yesterday. He'll go back on Monday to be sure they are trending upward. He looks better and feels better. I hope he'll reax over the weekend and give himself time to recover.

The big excitement today concerns me. Teddy, the dog who has been dealing with mange, has been on steroids. They have made him really hungry and I guess they have made him a bit more aggressive as well. There was a dog scuffle last week around dinnertime. We were able to break it up easily. We switched to feeding them separately at dinnertime til today. I decided to try feeding everyone together again. That didn't go so well. Teddy and Annie got into it and I broke the cardinal rule - I tried to break it up. I got bit on the inside of my knee. Boy, did it hurt!

I cleaned it real well. It's bandaged and elevated. I've taken acetaminophen. It's swollen and bruised and ugly, but it definitely doesn't need stitches. I'll watch it carefully for signs of infection. All the dogs are up on their shots, so no worries there. The pain has gone down, as long as I stay seated.

As for Teddy, no more steroids. He was at the end of the dose anyway. I'll be feeding him 3 times a day (away from all the others) til the steroids are well out of his system. He has never shown any signs of aggression til these medications.
Annie was very contrite and has been wanting to make sure I'm not mad at her. Teddy is a bit goofy. I don't think he even realizes he bit me.

Truthfully, if I had it to do over again, I'd probably still try to break up that fight quickly. When Rudy heard the commotion, he was on his way out. If he'd gotten bit, he'd probably be at CTCA now, trying to stop the bleeding and fight the infection.

Life Can Change on a Dime

In October, 2014 my husband, Rudy, went to the doctor for what he thought was a mild case of bronchitis and it turned out to be stage 4 lung cancer. He passed away peacefully at 9:15am on May 7th, 2015. We had been married 36-1/2 years. I lost the love of my life.

We had lots of support from family and friends while Rudy was ill and those people have continued to support me as I try to make sense of life without Rudy.

This blog was originally started as a way to keep our loved ones informed of Rudy's journey. It became my journal. I had a hard time talking about how I was feeling, but writing about my feelings helped so much - it was a conversation with myself. If my friends want to know how I was doing and they were tired of hearing me say, "I'm OK", they could look here. But more than that, I found that this journal was help for others on a similar journey.