When it rains at our house, it turns into a Tsunami!

UM, WOAH!!! I am drenched and I’m still processing all of the crap that has happened to me in the last 48 hours. However, in everything that has happened, I still am grateful. Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself (I do this often, in person!), so let me start at the beginning…

On Saturday, August 13th, Mr. Peachey and I went to the new IKEA to take a look around, plus it was his first time (at least in the USA). After we finished with the madness, we decided to head on over to American Furniture Warehouse for some new shelves to put in our master bedroom, because quite frankly, the ones that we have, I’ve had since I was 14. Thanks to the lovely IKEA traffic, we took one of the side roads to go from point A to point B and boy, oh boy, am I grateful we did!

I was pulling away from a stoplight and my check engine light came on. IT CAME ON!!!! My clutch (yes, I drive a manual) acted like I was in the wrong gear. Here is the conversation between  Mr. P and me at the exact time of the incident:

Mr. P:  “umm, you need to go. Light is green.”

Me: “I’m TRYING!! (Screaming at this point) Clutch is frozen. Check engine light came on.”

Mr. P says calmly as he puts the hazard lights on: “Ok, just pull over here to your right. Calm down. We’ll get there eventually.”

GAH! So, needless to say, my CAR…my only car, because we’re a single family car, was BROKEN!! We called our roadside emergency service immediately, got a tow-truck to come by and give us a lift.

Here’s the evidence:

Luckily, we were able to bum a ride from my Daddy (yes, I still call him Daddy) to give us a lift home. Continued to do the normal routine of let the dogs out and then play with the dogs.

You would think that was IT, right?! Bad enough, RIGHT?? Nope,  not in the Peachey household. When it rains, it pours!!

Mizar (the one with the hip surgery) wasn’t feeling well that same morning. The Peachey’s have been through enough with these dogs to know when something is serious. Now, if you’ve ever own a lab, you know they will eat ANYTHING, which means that as an owner you know that a little stomach upset isn’t that big of a deal, but when they have blood coming out of one end, that’s bad. He ended up having it come out of BOTH ends. BAD, BAD, BAD!!!

Now, you would think that was IT, right?! Bad enough, RIGHT?? Nope, not in the Peachey household. The thunderstorm warning is in full effect. It’s still pouring!!

At the exact same time, my other two dogs come inside and two yellow jackets follow them. And you betcha; attack my husband! The got him twice. Here I am, at this point, FREAKING OUT! My husband is allergic to mosquito bites. Like, the bites become the size of his fist, it swells, and he ends up crashing with flu-like symptoms. SEE????

WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS A YELLOW JACKET GOING TO DO TO HIM???! So, here I am, with a husband who could need to go to the hospital, a dog that definitely needs to go to the doggy hospital, and I DON’T HAVE A CAR!!!! Have I hit rock bottom yet? If not, can I get there quickly so I can get back up, PUHHHLEASE???

So, Mr. P immediately told me to get online and look up how to take care of a yellow jacket sting for a human, and for a dog. The dogs were moved into my master bathroom, where I was sitting on the floor doing what I was told. Mr. P immediately took charge and tried to have the two yellow jackets get out of my HOUSE! I have a puppy still puking, another one scratching himself, and the third one looking at me like we’ve lost it. Maybe we had!

As soon as Mr. P knew it was clear, we took Mizar back into kitchen. Then we investigated Cent, who unlikely was bitten. Using my knew found knowledge, I searched his entire body, with a credit card (you need something thin and flat in order to remove the stinger. If you pinch it, you will release the extra toxins). He was clear. Now it was onto Phoenix; searched his entire body and he was clear. Okay, now for the husband, who we know was stung. Did the same thing, and luckily, removed the little jerks stinger. I really hope that little yellow jacket is dead.

Now that was finally dealt with, we called the emergency vet to let them know we were on our way. Then we called for a ride, at MIDNIGHT!! GAH!!! Because, you remember, our car broke down. As we were waiting for my sister to save us, Mr. P iced his leg (another thing you should do). My sister arrived quickly, picked us up, and then dropped us off at the vet. 2 hours later after a few examinations, tests, and x-rays, it was concluded that Mizar had a bacterial infection in his entire GI track; starting in his stomach and ending in his colon. It could be caused by eating a bird, or just the birds poop. Regardless, we still don’t know the cause, but immediately he was put on IV fluids to keep the dehydration at bay, injectable antibiotics were inserted, and the blow-up E-collar was put on in order to prevent said IV to come out. After all of this DRAMA that happened in the last 8 hours, I took video of how happy my dog was, even after everything that was coming out of him, going in, and on. HIS TAIL IS STILL WAGGING!!

 

This is the reason why I love labs. No matter how awful your day is (or even his), they still love you, and are excited to see you.

Now, you would think that was IT, right?! Bad enough, RIGHT?? Nope, not in the Peachey household. We’re now in the midst of a TSUNAMI!

Yesterday, I was very grateful for a ride into work by one of my co-workers. She even helped us out by stopping off at the vet to pick-up Mizar, because he was ready to come home. When I got to work, Mr. P called to tell me Phoenix is now feeling ill. SAME SYMPTOMS!! GAH!!! Well, at least it was a Monday. So, again, arranged a ride for my husband and said dog to be picked-up and dropped off at our regular vet (Thanks Mom!). They checked him out, gave him an injectable antibiotic and was sent home. You could totally tell he wasn’t feeling well. Wanted to cuddle instead of play, didn’t want to eat, and only had a few sips of water. POOR GUY! So, we were instructed to keep a close eye on him and if he stopped drinking water, go to the emergency vet immediately.

In the middle of all of that, we were trying to find the diagnostic about my car. OH YA!! The CAR!!! They came to the conclusion that the oil levels were extremely low. Stupid new cars and there inability to keep going. So, lesson learned that my car needs it’s oil changed exactly every 3,000 miles and if I put it off by said 500 miles (like I did for this last one), it FREAKS OUT!

As of this morning, Phoenix was doing okay and was able to keep the oral medication down. I was able to drive myself into work with no problem. I literally just received a call from my husband to let me know that Phoenix is acting normal again and the oral antibiotic seemed to be working. Thank you sweet baby cheesus, the magic pill, is working WAHOO! It’s working so well that Mr. P had to stop Phoenix from running around in the back garden because he was feeling that great!

What does this all mean? Now what?

Well, we feel we’re on the road to recovery. Hopefully. Cross your fingers, wish me luck, and send me an umbrella. I’m soaked! I’m also very exhausted, and to be honest, my left hip flared last night. I knew it was going to happen, especially with all of the drama I experienced.

Oh my goodness, what a family I have created! But, I love them very much!!

Remember at the beginning of the post, I talked about how grateful I was? So, why am I grateful? Well, here is my long list:

1. My car could of broken down on I-25 while I was going 65 mph.
2. My dog, Mizar could of needed surgery.
3. I could live in an area with no family, no close friends, and really awful co-workers
4. My close friends, whom I have the privilege of working with, took me out to lunch because they realized how crap-tastic my weekend was.
5. Phoenix got sick on a weekday.
6. My car could of needed a MAJOR repair, or an unfixable repair.
7. That I would of been seen as an awful owner for capturing video and laughing my butt off seeing my dog dressed as a snowflake.
8. That my husband wasn’t allergic to yellow jackets.
9. I’m glad I wasn’t at NOLA when all of this happened!
10. That my husband and I found the humor in all of this. Yes, we weren’t screaming at each other, or yelling at each other. We were laughing, together.
11. That if I had to experience this at all in my life, I was glad it was with my best friend.
12. Knowing I’ve gone through worse.

WAIT, what??

Yes, we’ve gone through worse. For example, my dogs have eaten grapes and nearly poisoned themselves to death. Phoenix ended up getting a minor cut on his foot, received an antibiotic, but resulted in being allergic to said antibiotic, and ultimately resulted with a foot ulcer. He also ate candles on 12/23 and had to have emergency surgery on Christmas Eve. 3 months later, Mizar had his car accident, followed by a hip surgery. AND now, the bacterial infection. What’s sad, that’s just the dogs. Mr. P and I have also dealt with 3 basement floods, a bad roof, insurance fiascos (health, home, and car), hit and runs, and a theft. I’m sure I’m missing some, but those are some of the major ones. Yes, major ones.

It’s one of the many reasons why my kitchen has been delayed, why the house projects have been delayed, and well, our overall lack of energy (and money). All of this has happened in the 4 years we’ve married (in our mid-twenties!) and most of it happened in our second year of marriage. We call them the terrible twos. What are we to do?? What have we learned? We hold each others hand, hug each other, divide and concur each task, and then just laugh; LAUGH HARD! Because when it rains at our house, it turns into a Tsunami!

 

Forever Grateful,

If you’re a newbie here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS/Email Feed to be notified of a new post. Welcome!