Update: Dog, Re-entry, and No Mow May

I last left you on the edge of your seat about Hannah's upcoming MRI.  The procedure took place, the vets and vet techs all assured me that Hannah was the sweetest thing you could imagine, and here we are.  Hannah has several places of inflammation in her spinal discs - the diagnosis is discospondylitis. This inflammation is probably caused by an infection (a secondary infection - likely she got it from one of her previous reoccurring skin infections). A-ha! you think!  An infection! Easy to treat.  Ha ha!  The joke's on you.

For one, it's not clear what the infection is - fungal or bacterial?  For another, it's not in an area that's able to be biopsied and it's an area where there's not a lot of blood flow or vascular reach, so it's hard to get medicine to that area.  

The treatment plan we are currently going with is to assume it's a bacterial infection and give her massive amounts of antibiotics (750 mg twice a day).  Additionally, she's on restricted activity for a month or so while we see if these antibiotics are working. After that, we can start to slowly build up her activity level.  But even if she seems fine, we will still keep her on these medicines for six to nine months (!).  But if it doesn't work, we'll have a tough decision to make (switch to a different antibiotic? an anti-fungal?).

In the meantime, we're trying to get Hannah to take seven pills a day (four antibiotics, a probiotic, two different allergy pills). Since her diet is limited to her kibble, eggs, chicken, sweet potato, and pumpkin, we are struggling with getting her to take these pills.  There's no cheese, pill pouches, or peanut butter on the table, so things are tough.  We have a strategy to get her to take her pills (lots of disgusting chicken* and hard-boiled eggs), but now she's absolutely refusing to eat her kibble. Since we're been told repeatedly by vets that she can't lose weight, I'm absolutely flustered by this new development.

She's basically refusing to take kibble by hand, which means she is not training at all. Our sweet, obedient dog has taken to refusing to do any commands.  She's also refusing to eat kibble out of her bowl, so that's the conundrum. She wants the special treats (which we only give her to take her pills) and is otherwise on food strike.  I'm starting to have dreams about me trying to convince various creatures, not always Hannah, to eat food.  It's not only taking over my waking hours, but my sleeping. I honestly don't  know how folks with sick children do it because I'm losing my sanity over a sick dog.

Meanwhile, Dr. BB and I have been fully vaccinated for a couple of months and we're trying to dip our toes into the water of leaving the house.  We went to see his sister and her family a few weeks ago and just this past weekend we went to a birthday party for our twin niece and nephew (these babies turned 12! - reading that post is so crazy because they're all grown up now and giving me book recommendations) that was most of the folks in Dr. BB's family. Next weekend, I'll be traveling to see my family.  

I've had a haircut and eyebrow wax and am looking forward to a mani/pedi soon.  We had a couple friend (also vaccinated) over for a couple of hours one night.

So all that's going well. But I'm so anxious when I go to stores and people are wandering around without masks. I'm sill wearing my mask everywhere I go. I can't imagine feeling comfortable eating in a restaurant, which is a bit stressful even in non-pandemic times.  Since I'll be traveling next weekend further than a couple of hours away, I might have to deal with this sooner rather than later. I'm still sort of rushing through most indoor activities, but hopefully the stress will go away soon.

On the home front, a local community group sponsored No Mow May in our town, so we haven't mowed the back or side yard at all this year. Things are getting out of control out there. I often think about how crazy it would be if humans were completely eradicated.  Nature would take over manmade structures so quickly that it wouldn't be too long before all traces of humans were gone from the surface of the Earth (this thought made me order The World Without Us from the library - stay tuned for the inevitable book review). Anyway, things are going to get real around here with yardwork and the like.  

And that is the update.  More details to follow after I've officially stayed in a hotel.  

*Dr. BB and I have essentially become vegetarians. I mean, not really, since we eat chicken stock and I'll eat meet if I go to a restaurant, but we don't eat meat in the house. The smell of the chicken cooking in the InstantPot was revolting, but needs must.