DOG TIRED

Yesterday was not nearly as boring as I would have liked. They removed John's catheter and IV, which was certainly a step in the right direction, but then it took all day for his own plumbing to kick back into action. I guess we should have remembered that from his previous surgeries. Meanwhile, he couldn't eat, he couldn't get comfortable, he still had his headache and needed pain meds every four hours, which of course, can stop you up further, he started throwing up again when they got him out of bed to go to the bathroom -- and all for nothing! All in all, he was about as miserable as I'd seen him since this whole thing started. Fortunately, that all changed shortly after I left for the day, and he called to report that he "felt like a new man!" Wish I could say the same.

Our son went back to Houston for the weekend, but left his puppy dog Guinness here with me for moral support. It was pretty late last night by the time I finally got her walked, emails read, and all the clean laundry cleared off my bed, so that I could finally crawl in. I'd only been asleep an hour or two when I was jolted wide awake by some noise Guinness was making in the living room. I listened for a while, and decided she must have spotted some animal through the glass door, so rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. But then I heard her again, only this time it sounded more like gagging or choking. "Ugh, she probably barfed something up. Better go check." Got up, looked around the kitchen and living room, didn't see anything, went back to bed. Just about to drift off when I hear it again, only louder, with a lot of slurpy tongue noises afterwards. I get back up, turn on all the lights, go searching everywhere, and finally I find two gi-NOR-mous piles of ick back in the corner of our dining nook, with dark, comb-like things poking out all over. Finally I realize that she must have been eating fronds off of my Norfolk Pine all day -- something I have never known her to do -- and that is what set her off.  She seemed really perky after that, wanted to go out to the bathroom and chase every critter she heard, came back in and ate all the food left in her bowl, then curled up on the sofa and went right to sleep.

I, on the other hand, lay awake most of the night with my gut in a turmoil, wondering whether Norfolks are poisonous to dogs, and what I might find when I awoke next morning. Gawd, I am sooooo tired.