Planning ahead... Yeah, right!

Okay, here's the deal. First, I don't believe in using exclamation marks in my writing. My mentor in Media Studies at the University of Houston-Clear Lake was adamant about that. DON'T tell people how they should think or when they should feel an emotion. If your writing isn't good enough to bring it out, don't try to fix it with punctuation.

Point well taken -- and yet you see I have one in the title. Well, someone once said after you know the rules, you are allowed to break the rules. Count this as one known and broken.

Next, the actual subject matter -- planning ahead. My husband often asks what I have planned for the day, week, and so on. I usually laugh because no matter what I have planned, that will be the last thing that will happen. I am on my computer almost 24 hours a day, no exaggeration. Because if anyone wants to know anything, research anything, anything anything, I open another tab and start getting the info they need. I have six tabs open right now.

But the real reason for this particular post is that I was trying to decide what I wanted to write about (and I've missed a couple of days already, so I didn't want to miss another one). So I thought maybe I would just do something quick and easy.

Sunday was about heaven; Monday was about hell. I wanted to do a new, uplifting column today. Yeah, right!

Today is Wednesday, and here is my week thus far. Sunday after church we ate out, as usual. Then we went by Target for prescriptions and new puppy gear (you can guess what is coming next). After going home for a quick change of clothes, we went to pick up the new puppy, an 8-week-old female Chorkie who was destined for a shelter if someone didn't take her -- quickly. She was cute as can be (aren't all puppies), very calm and affectionate. A lap dog. Just what I needed to go along with our 3-year-old Shih tzu, who is totally lovable, but not at all a lap dog.

So we name puppy "Macy" and bring her home where things go very well. I don't know if you are aware of the primary characteristic of a Yorkie, but they were bred to go down into mines and catch rats, so by nature, they are very independent, fearless and think they are much bigger than they are. Macy was perfectly calm and silent until our son's beautiful year-old pit bull came into the house. Rather than putting him IN his place, she quickly put him OUT of his place, which is usually between my legs on the chaise. He quickly went to the other side of the room and wouldn't come back. Macy had arrived.

Monday -- Halloween, and we were going across town to our daughter's where 20 adults, 8 or 9 kids, and several dogs were getting together for pizza and trick-or-treating. Our daughter decorates for Halloween like other people decorate for Christmas. She starts two months in advance just to get it scary to the max so our grandkids will have great memories, and she will be the coolest aunt.

We took Molly and Macy (the new pup) so she could see her brother, Coal, whom our youngest daughter had adopted. Macy seemed fine. Just her very quiet self, but her tummy was a bit upset and she didn't want to eat. She had eaten just a bit in the morning, after eating everything in sight the day before. I started getting concerned.

Tuesday, Macy still wouldn't eat, was lethargic and her little mid section was sunken in. Call the vet. Worried about Parvo. After checking all 3 lbs. of her out, and digging into her little buns, making her terribly unhappy, his first inclination -- especially after she started scarfing down the food they offered her -- was she had an infection, but not Parvo. Then, after the digging on her, she passed some rather bloody watery stuff that he was able to get a good sample to test. He asked if he could test her for Parvo. I thought that was the whole point of being there. He returned with the slide and said, much to his own surprise, she tested "high positive" for Parvo.

After giving her IV fluids for nausea, and an injection, he sent me home with two antibiotics, an anti-diarrheal and something for nausea and vomiting. She gets the two antibiotics every 12 hours. She hates it. And she gets the medicine for diarrhea once a day for 3 days. Yesterday went okay. Today, I'm wearing more of it than she swallowed, I think.

As you probably have conjectured at this point, when I awoke Sunday morning, the last thing I had planned for the week was sitting in one spot nursing a sick puppy and trying to keep her alive until the virus was gone. Yet... here I sit. If I get up, she will also get up and either follow me, or go somewhere else. There are certain things I would just as soon NOT have on every floor, so I need to be where I can quickly take her outside.

At any rate, no matter my plans for the day or week, I'm going to do my best to love this little girl and try to help her through this crisis. After all, plans are just plans. And anyone who has kids knows how quickly plans can change. No problem. Just go with the flow and stay calm. I'm supposed to call the vet and check in, so that's my next plan (AND to give her the next doses of antibiotics. Yea!)

And tomorrow? Well, tomorrow will take care of itself if and when it comes. As my hubby often says, "No worries, Mate."