The Best Decision I have Made...recently

It is a rough road when you realize that your parents lied when they said “You can be anything you want to be”. The dreams of you becoming a world famous doctor who cures AIDS in Africa get dashed when you realize there is NO WAY IN HELL you can afford the school tuition, and no one will give you money to go to school because you have a job. Nurse? Good dream, except that there are not any good night nursing programs around, so you would have to quit your job to work retail. Huh.

I know, I know. You’re thinking “wtf? Duh Housewife, it’s freaking REALITY.” Yeah, well I had dreamed of going to Africa to help out all the starving people. I wanted to be a nurse living in a hut in the middle of a lion pack saving people. I wanted to make a damn difference.

I guess I assumed that whatever person I ended up with would either go with me or merrily watch the children while I whisked off to an exotic destination to pick my way around elephant shit and dirty water. Sounds fun.

When I met hubs, the dream went away. Not that he would not let me go, he would. But, something primal kicked in. Now, I want to have kids and stay here. Be a mom. That phrase would have made me shudder three years ago. Get Married. I still don’t like that term, except the tax deal is ok I guess.

So, doctor aside, nurse is still an option except, frankly, from what I have heard it’s not worth it anymore. So what do I do that will make a difference? Paramedic. TCC has a night program. It is cheaper, I get to go into trauma situations (kind of like elephant shit and dirty water), and I might get to help a kid (heaven forbid I ever meet the person who hurt them).

Once I made the decision everything seemed to fall into place. No funny quirky ending today peeps, just, I dunno, maybe an admission that sometimes when a compromise is made everything works out for the best…or something like that.

Sick puppy eyes are the worst

So Doc Holiday (our corgi/Lab mix) fell ill this weekend (friday afternoon). He ran a fever of about 105 and would not move out of his crate. I had to carry him wherever we needed to go. Force feed him pedialyte and baby food. Ice baths every hour to help control the fever. Dosing him with aspirin. Clenching my hands and feeling helpless as I stand over his crate and will him to lift his head. He also had diarhea (no vomiting). I feared parvo even though he had been vaccinated. I took him to the vet Monday morning (thank goodness they took him, they were booked), and he had to stay there over night so that they could get him hydrated (I could not do enough with pedialyte and baby food in a syringe). They also had to ice the IV fluid to help with his fever, as their pain meds were not touching it.

After being up with this dog 24/7 over the weekend, then he spending the night in the hospital, I wanted answers. The blood tests and the fecal tests were negative for everything. The vet and I had a lengthy conversation, and after relaying my comings and goings over the past ten days, we narrowed it down to my trip to the pet store, I must have tracked something nasty in on my shoes...obviously they are not using disinfectant, or this is one hell of a superbug virus. I had never seen a dog so freaking sick. As of my umpteenth phone call to the vet 10 minutes ago, he was standing on his own and eating solid food...and he can go home tonight.

What can I do? I desperately asked. My dry sense of humor vet, whom I adore, says "Nothing to do, but I could sell you some pills to help you feel better about it"... Funny man.

He then said I could bleach my shoes when coming back from the pet store if I felt the need to. But Doc walks in and out of that place no problem...sigh...I think I finally got a glimpse of what it is like for parents to have sick babies this weekend. Hubs says that at least now I know I can pull 20 hour shifts nursing....yeah, he is funny too. At least the cat did not get sick, she claws and is a demon when she is even slightly annoyed, I can't imagine her sick.

Consider bleaching your shoes. Or, if you want to avoid the vet bill, maybe living in a bubble. I, for one, am getting pet insurance on the first and I am over scoffing at the premiums.