Bad news

This week was a fairly good week.  I freaked out (as anyone would) about the NCLEX.  I took the NCLEX. I passed the NCLEX.  Yay. 

However the tail end of my week has sucked horribly.

Little Opie had to have surgery on his ears.  He had blood blisters (aural hematoma in medical terms) in the floppy part of his ears.  He got them from shaking his soft goose (that I bought for him) too hard.  It caused capillaries to bust in his ears and they were unable to clot off...so it bled between the skin and the cartilage. He had several large bloodfilled nodules on both ears.  Poor puppy.  He had his surgery on Thursday.  The vet mentioned that they'd be placing buttons on his ears to keep the stitches from pulling through.  I automatically assumed that there is some veterinary instrument called a button.  Wrong.  They literally meant buttons.  Like the buttons on a blouse or pillow. He has about 11 buttons in his right ear and 10 in his left.  AND he has a lampshade (That he has to keep on for 2 weeks).  I seriously wanted to laugh and cry when I saw him.  He is pitiful. 

Opie is sad dog # 1

My dog Max is sad dog # 2.

My mom was outside telling my aunt goodbye and both Max and Molly ( our blonde lab mixes) were outside with her.  Max was down the hill by the creek....maybe 100 yards from my mom.  All of a sudden Mom saw him limping up the hill with his left front paw help up ( Max has arthritis in his back right knee...so he was really limping).  My dad carried Max inside and laid him on the floor so I could do my RN assessment ( or my interpretation of a dog assessment...really, I had no idea what I was looking for).  

We saw one drop of blood above his paw.  Nothing else was wrong.   He looked fine...maybe he just stepped on a rock wrong.   So....I left to go to dinner with my friend, and my mom and dad went outside to work in the yard.  I got a phone call from my parents about an hour later saying that they came back inside and saw that Max's leg was very swollen and that blood was oozing from 2 spots about an inch apart from each other. 

It could only be 1 thing.

A copperhead snake bite.

I met my parents in Charlotte at an afterhours Animal Emergency Hospital. 

We were right...it was a definite copperhead snake bite.  Max was put on a morphine drip and they monitored him for 4 hours.  There is really nothing they can really do but medicate.  Antivenom is $5000 a vial.  Luckily, copperhead bites aren't usually fatal.  They just HURT LIKE HELL.  The Vet said that people describe the pain as a gunshot wound that got lit on fire. 

Max is going to be ok.  They let us take him home.  However, he's going to be in some bad pain over the next week or two.  They said that after the swelling goes down ( after 5-7 days) the skin will slough off  (which is from the dead cells from the venom).  His regular vet can treat the wound once it begins sloughing. 

Too bad I'm afraid to go near the woods or anywhere else in the yard now.

He's a trooper though because during his time in the Animal ER...and last night.  Whenever we'd talk to him he'd wag his tail.  :)  Too cute.

Last night was also hard for another reason.

My 77 year old Pappy has had prostate cancer for about 2 years.  A year ago, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.  He's gone through radiation for the prostate cancer and began chemo after the diagnosis of the lung cancer.  The chemo has weaked his bones...and last week we found out that he has a small tiny fracture in the head of his femur.  He's been using a cane since my graduation... and has had SEVERAL tests and the doctors just said it was arthritis....UNTIL they looked further and saw the fracture.

A few days ago my Pappy had a PET scan to check the growth on his lungs.  The spot has grown.  His oncologist is stopping the chemo.  They didn't give us a prognosis ( which...who can really say how long someone will live).  I. HATE. Cancer.

AND he is getting hip surgery this coming Friday ( which his cancer Dr said to go ahead and have).  My grandpa wants this surgery so bad.  He just wants to be able to enjoy however long he has left without being debilitated. 

He's been married to my grandmother for 53 years. I cannot imagine the thoughts that are running through both of my grandparents minds.  I can hardly believe the news myself. 

Pappy and Mammaw.

P.S I did spell check on here and it messed up the coloring of the background...thats why this post looks funny.