Emergency Exhaustion

Let's wrap up the Beverly Lewis books. So Jake is back in Pennsylvania. Eventually, its revealed to Lydian that she can't continue to see Jake because he is her nephew. She promises to keep this a secret but ends up telling Jake who goes to the doctor. Its all revealed to Jake's family and Jake is kicked out of the house. Jonas follows. Leah and Jonas' courtship is going well. Leah saves the life of Jonas' father after he passes out driving the buggy-he's drunk. This event reconciles the two families. Its also revealed that the good doctor is Leah's father! (I knew it!) Jonas and Leah marry. Sadie marries the Ohio widower, Eli. Lydian becomes Mennonite and dates Carl, the son of the people that took in Mary Ruth. Leah ends up having twins. All is well! The End!

So Wednesday was not a particularly busy day at work. In fact, we were ready to roll out when the phone rang just before closing. A non-client with a puppy that was bit the day before and now his face was swollen. So they got there just after 5:30 and it was clear that the puppy had an infection brewing-fever, swelling, swollen lymph nodes. We did an estimate which the guy threw a fit about because he just spent $1000 on the dog. He complained because we were charging tech emergency time but I told him he was getting a discount because I didn't charge him my $60 fee. But eventually his girlfriend got the better of him and we got him treated.

Wednesday after work Joe and I went to see the Muppet movie. I met him there. It was good. Joe got really nostalgic about it. When we got home, I made desserts for Thanksgiving. The next morning, I got up early to fetch the vet truck and proceded with my day. Thanksgiving dinner was going well. I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then started watching Miracle on 34th Street. Just as we were getting ready to eat, the phone rang. It was an emergency. An Amish buggy horse with a laceration on a hind leg. Out Joe and I went. We got there and it was just before dusk. There was a wedding going on and a large amount of people standing around. I sedated the horse and gave it pain medication. I managed to clean, numb (mostly), clip and trim small skin tags off with minimal effort. Then the horse started kicking me. It didn't matter that I went back and gave it more sedative (including two different types trying to get some addititve effects), twitched it and lifted a front foot. The horse was still kicking at me! It was clear that suturing wasn't going to happen so I went to bandaging it. Of course, more the horse kicked, the more the wound bled. I had to get sutures into it. I managed to get sutures in this wound and then took off the bandage off the lower wound across the cannon bone. This one started spraying me with blood and I needed to put some sutures into it as well. I got a couple in. Then I put on the ugliest bandage ever. Amish buggy horses are always jerks. Joe and I left the clinic a mess scattering supplies and blood about. TH went out and rechecked the horse today. I don't know what exactly he did but I don't think it was a lot.
Joe and I got home and ate. Then I saw a cat with a swollen paw at HP.

Friday ended up being very slow as well...until we closed. Meg and I stayed late to see a cat that has licked her incision open. Didn't charge the emergency fee because we're nice and were ready to go by 6. Of course, I had a call about a dog that was hit with a golf ball and was limping. At first, they didn't want to be seen but then they did. Then no more than 100 feet from clinic, I got another call. My worse fears come true--a large animal call competing for my time. I called TH and BJR hoping that one of them could take the SA call because I couldn't pass on the large animal call-a colic. TH suggested I push off the small animal emergency so I called them back. I went to see the horse but unfortunately Greason sounds a lot like Greystone when you're stressed and trying to rush around! When I got there, the horse was no longer colicky and had good gut sounds. He had passed manure and was super alert. I topped off his banamine dose and offered a rectal and oil. The owner declined. This morning, TH went and saw the horse again. I don't think he did much more than I had done. In the middle of the colic, I got another call. A small animal euthansia. I knew it needed to be seen over the limping dog so following the colic, I went to HP for that. I called in April for help. April came with me down to Newville and we saw the limping dog that ended up having a broken foot. At 11 pm, I was ready to go home.

This morning, I had drop the truck off and do a couple of random things at the clinic. Then I met the dead dog people to give them the dog. Then down to Newville to have the ponies trimmed. The farrier never showed up. Joe and I ran errands to avoid our landlord. We bought new silverware and then went to ultrasound some sheep with TS. It didn't go well. Then finally, after a nap, Joe and I cleaned up the yard and put up the Christmas lights. We had Chinese for dinner and I have the typical Chinese food gut.