Monday, September 28, 2015

What if the Old Lady never swallowed the fly to begin with?

My life has felt kind of like the old song "There was an Old Lady who swallowed a fly" this last week or so...

About a week and a half ago I got sick with a cold.  Last Saturday night, I went to bed kind of early since I felt awful and I had to work the next morning.  Apparently some time after I fell asleep Andrew came in and crawled in bed with me.  At 2:30 Matt woke me up saying "Steph, I need your help," as he was taking Andrew back to his bed.  I was understandably confused and when he came back into our room, he said "Lucie got sprayed by a skunk." She had gone outside for a break when he got home from work, and that's when my week of awesomeness began.

I googled what to do, and we went to work on our poor frightened and smelly pup.  We did the best we could with what we had on hand, (by the way, tomato products... no help at all) and after some serious scrubbing, blotting, rinsing, bathing, and toweling, we put her to bed in the garage, and tried to get some sleep ourselves.

The next day I brought home some enzyme stuff that is supposed to help, and I thought it did.  I couldn't smell the skunk smell on her anymore after using that and another bath.  But then later on she was smelly again. And she was really subdued and upset, and I just knew she didn't feel well.  2 days after she was sprayed I noticed a sore on her throat that looked like a puncture mark and small bumps all over her muzzle.  I thought that maybe she had got too close to the tree with the yellow jacket nest under it, so I gave her a dose of Benadryl and cleaned up her owie the best I could.  The next day I knew there was something wrong with her, so I called the vet.  When I took her in, the vet started examining her and making notes to the vet tech.  He made reference to several spots of "Moist Dermatitis." I was thinking "Dermatitis means inflammation of the skin, he's using fancy terms to tell the tech that I'm being Panicky Over-Reactor Mom."  As if he sensed what I was thinking he looked up at me and said, "Moist Dermatitis just means Staph Infection."  Oh, is that all?  Just a measly little STAPH INFECTION?!?!?! I went from thinking I had over-reacted to feeling like the worst dog Momma in the world.  The infection was a result of the skunk spray, and then her skin being further irritated by all the scrubbing and cleansing.  They took her to the back room and shaved and cleaned several spots.  When they brought her back, she and I were alone in the exam room for a few moments while they got her medicines.  I about had a melt-down in there.  I felt like I had done this to her, and I felt like a real big jerk! We also realized that the reason she was still so smelly was from her infection, not the skunk spray.  (The doctor told me that I did a really good job of cleaning her because he couldn't smell any trace of skunk on her)

We started her medicines (one oral, one topical) and of course the antibiotics made her sick to her stomach.  So I called back and talked to the vet again, and we decided to take extra precautions to help her not get sick from these meds.  So now twice a day I am giving her some cottage cheese, plain yogurt, or scrambled eggs before her regular meal to ensure that her tummy is properly coated and she hasn't had any further sickness.

As I was scrambling an egg for my dog the other night, (a night when I didn't even cook dinner for my family, every but Lucie got leftovers, Lucie got scrambled eggs) The Old Lady who swallowed a fly song popped into my head.  "I'm scrambling the eggs, to coat the tummy, to keep her from puking, when taking the medicine, to treat the infection, all because of that damn skunk!!"  And of course I had to start thinking about that song a little more in depth, and wondering why the Old Lady ever thought it was a good idea to swallow that fly in the first place.

Of course Lucie is on the opposite end of this scale now... getting sprayed by a skunk, and all the scrubbing was pretty awful, but she got a nice comfy new bed, and she gets yummy extra meals twice a day, and tons of attention and sympathy and treats.  I think that she is going to be a little sad when this course of antibiotics ends.