Chase – April to June, 2007

When the girlies finally decided to come in last night, Chase was pretty worn out.   I had only managed to get some of his meds in him.  I mashed them up and mixed them with some cottage cheese and the oatmeal stuff I made on Wednesday.  He wanted to stand to eat but couldn’t.  I got about half of it in him and he had a little drink of water.

I let the girlies in and took Chase to bed with me.  He curled up on a pillow next to me, and Dora, Tammy and Caroline claimed their usual spots — Caroline has been very sweet — she’s let Chase take her spot mostly.  I woke up several times to check on him.  Around 6 or so, he wasn’t in the bed.  I found him on the floor (he’s gotten off the bed every night) in the same place he always lands and as always, with Tammy curled up next to him.  Even though Tammy was never a mom, and even though she wasn’t too sure about Chase at the beginning, she’s really looked out for him and comforted him this last week and a half. 

We got up a little after 8, and R arrived shortly after.  Chase couldn’t stand at all.  He ate a bit of cottage cheese.  He had a little drink of water.  We took turns holding him while I called the vet and got dressed.  Our vet is really good — the whole office and all of the people who work there.  One of the techs really got attached to Dora a few years back when I first brought Dora in for her heart-worm treatment.  She was the one who answered the phone when I called and she knew why. 

Chase hated car rides.  I can understand it since each time with me it was not for a good reason.  It started raining as soon as we pulled into the parking lot.  I went in first, and another tech said hello and immediately called for the tech I had talk with on the phone.  She came out and told me to bring Chase in.  When he was inside, she asked me to weigh him.  Surprisingly, he had gained .2 lbs.  I wrapped him back up in the towel we had him in, and within seconds we were in an examination room.

It’s always difficult.  Even when he was sedated, his little legs kept cramping, albeit a little less strongly.

A different tech took him to put him in a box.  While we waited, we remember which room Stella died in and which one we last had a visit with Bennie in.  We saw one of the other vets in the waiting room, the one who had helped to carry big ol’ Buddy out to the car for one of his last rides.  We talked about Dora and Tammy and Gretchen and Carlito.  And Rene, the kitty who brought us to this great vet clinic.

The tech brought a blue box to us with a beautiful printed card on the top.   It was a little essay called The Rainbow Bridge.  It’s sentiments are much the same as R and I shared while Chase was drifting off after the first shot — he would join Stella, Lucy and Carlito in the backyard — we told him not to be scared of Stella — R reminded me that everyone was afraid of Stella — I told him to find Bud and Gretchen.  I told R at one point — all this talk is for us, not him.  Of course.

It was still raining, but R’s little car outran it and we came home to threatening skies, but no rain.  Junebug — one of the outside kittens was there on the deck.  She watched as we dug a hole near Carlito and put Chase there.  I had a pot with some little wildflowers growing in it, and we put that on top of him and filled it in.  There were several earthworms in the soil, and I told them to go to work.  Junebug stood on the deck and cried after we went back in the house.  The first week I had Chase, he would do his business and then go to the gate and look at the outside kittens.  It had been with them that I had found him.  I often took him with me when I fed them.   Although I want the outside kittens to be afraid of dogs in general — they seemed to know that Chase wasn’t a threat — quite the contrary — he was one of them.

I did the best I could.  The vet said we were doing the right thing.  It’s not Chase’s fault he couldn’t get here sooner.  He got here as soon as he could.  There was a little window in time when he felt strong enough to chase Tammy and steal her toys.  Last Friday, before his condition worsened, I had gotten down in the floor and played with all three pups.  The girlies were sweet and Chase clearly enjoyed it.  At least he got to be a silly puppy, even if it was only for a short time.

R and I looked out the back window several times to check on Chase.  Silly, I know.  It’s not like he’s going anywhere.  Nevertheless, I will keep thinking I see him in the crate or on the bed and look out back to check on him. 

Bye Sweet Chase

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Some Sweet, but Not So Great Pics

I finally remembered to take my camera to work today and downloaded the pics I have of Chase.  They aren’t very good, and I wish I had taken more of him during the brief window when he was happy and somewhat active, but I didn’t.

He had gained a little weight when I took this one.

He’s such a sweet boy.

Those girlies are so big!  He even scrambled of my bed and stammered into the kitchen this morning to get his meds in vienna sausages.

 He hasn’t barked when he’s heard my truck pull into the driveway the last two evenings.  He had every evening before.  It reminded me of how I felt when my old girl Gretchen would get stuck somewhere and I came home just hoping that she would be alive and not hurt.  I know he’s never in danger of hurting himself, just in danger of dying or starving.

He also reminds me of another girl — Stella.  I swa Stella’s birth and knew her for 16 years.  When she was a year old, someone shot her in the eye with a pellet gun.  She lived with that pellet in her eye for 15 years.  Then it literally exploded.  It caused a tumor that broke into the roof of her mouth and she couldn’t eat.  We took her in to the vet.  She wasn’t ready to go.

That’s how I see Chase.  Despite all that is against him — he can’t walk, he can barely eat, he’s losing weight rapidly — he still fights.  As I watch him tonight, drugged as he is, I think he will wake up when the girlies come back in.  Or not.  He’s very tired and very small.  His body can’t take all of the meds and the devil that attacks him (distemper).

It’s frustrating.  I tried my best.  I took him to every vet I could.  I tried.

One more pic

One little pup.

I love him.

I Don’t Know

Chase is pretty screwed up now.  His meds take a toll on him, especially the Metho stuff.  He’s limp and can’t hold his head up even though he tries.  Even so, the muscle spams are still there, just more of a twitch than a spasm.  I’ve got him in my lap on top of one of those squishy pillows.  Despite his good appetite, I think he has lost almost all of the weight he had gained in the first couple of weeks he was here.  Having muscle contractions every couple of seconds can do that, I guess.   I get very pessimistic when he’s at this point in his medication cycle.  It’s what made me almost take him in several times Sunday evening.  We’ll see how he makes it through the night. 

Classes have been surreal the last three days.  I haven’t gotten that much sleep, but I haven’t been sleepy during the day.  I don’t have a class first hour, so combined with how early I’ve gotten to work, I’ve been able to put together materials for other teachers before my first class.  That happens to be a low level listening/speaking class which I taught last at least a couple of years ago.  I have all of the materials together and we are cruising along.  they had their first quiz today.  Two didn’t pass and the one that thinks she needs to move up to the next level didn’t do as well as a couple of others, so I think she will be staying in that level.  They are very quiet — four Asians and a Latina — so my goal for them is to make the class a safe place to talk without worrying about making mistakes.  This week, I’ll stick with mostly listening and then move to speaking next week.

My second class is upper level grammar.  It’s been a bit unstable to say the least.  The first day I had 7 students, and the second day I had 13, the third day I had 8 and an unannounced (surprise!) visitor.  It has been a different mix every day.  That makes my overarching all-encompassing activity for tomorrow pretty iffy.  We’ll see what mix I get and how it goes.

(I just realized that I missed the John Edwards meeting I had signed up for earlier that happened tonight.  Had I remembered, I wouldn’t have gone — given the situation.  It looks like he shot back at the useless person who says she thinks it’s a shame that he’s not dead.)

My last class is a mid-level writing class.  I don’t like the book, but will use it, of course.  We’re working on classification, and they seem enthusiastic.  They get the opportunity to choose writing or conversation, so those who stay in my class will do so because they want to.

There’s been a story in the news today about a pup that was covered in spray paint and then rescued.  So many people have asked to adopt the pup that the shelter is going to have a lottery.  Gee, I wish I had gone to the teevee and radio stations with Chase’s story.  Who dumped this less than two month old pup and expected him to survive?   Maybe he will make it.  I don’t know.

Not Good

I took Chase to the neurologist today.  I wasn’t impressed and he didn’t do much of anything to validate the charges.  Going to the vet clearly stresses the little guy.  He seemed to deteriorate before my eyes.  The diagnosis was distemper.  Even if Chase survives, he will always be the way he is now.   The vet prescribed a steroid — because there is an outside chance it is lead poisoning — and said since it was cheap he would be optimistic.  I cringed at that but let it go.  Turns out the three week supply cost $6, so, ok.

While it had started to rain and wasn’t so very hot when Chase and I had gotten to the office, when we left, the sun was bright and hot.  We had been put in a special room and had gotten special treatment, because, you know, Chase might be contagious.  I asked if we needed to leave out from a secret exit, but no. 

I put Chase in the kitty carrier, and got the a/c going.  He howled and cried until I put my fingers through the grate while driving.  It was awful.

Back home he slept for a while.  When he woke up, I let him mix with Dora and Tammy.  They were very sweet.  Just a bit ago I took him out front and let him sit in the grass for a while.  I remember the only two times he ran with glee was to chase after Tammy.

The meds are kicking in now and he is quiet.  I want to give him every chance to live, but I don’t want him to suffer.  He’s rallied so far.

He is strong and determined.  I am too.  I’m not giving up until he does.

Long live Chase! 

Chase’s Weekend

Well he made it through.  There were several times yesterday evening and last night that I thought I should take him in to the emergency vet, but each time, he perked up and I postponed.  Around 11:00 p.m., he became very active.  He yelped and squeaked from his crate.  He woke me up around 2:00 a.m. by being very rowdy.  I finally got him to settle down by letting him up in the bed with me.

He took his meds at 6 and was still very hungry.  He had a good breakfast.  He’s still got the spasms — they’re about the same as Saturday.  I asked if I could go home at lunch time to check on him and my boss said yes.  (Thank goodness.)

There’s still hope!  He’s clearly a very tough little guy.  Long live Chase!

Chase Baby Update

I kept up the Kaopectate and ground beef-rice-cottage cheese regime through Friday night.  By Saturday morning, R was here and we started working on the yard.  After several attemps out back, R gave up (quite understandably) and joined me and the pups, including Chase, out front.  We had agreed that if he wasn’t better, we would call our main vet — Beechnut Animal Clinic.

Chase stayed on the porch and curled up next to Tammy mostly.  Dora didn’t growl at him or anything.  By about 9:30, we decided that Chase needed to see the vet.  R called while I showered and got dressed.  He told them what we thought — Chase was in some sort of gastro-intestinal trouble.  While I was in the shower, I thought he might be having a reaction to one of the meds he was or had been on.  R got Chase an 11:00 appointment.

I got in R’s car — he had it gassed up and ready to go — and without my glasses — found them later in a strange place — but that’s a story that will never be told, unless Stumpy or Dora learn how to type . . .(most likely of the house-types) — got on the road, and got Chase there early.  He’s a cute boy, and so the people in the waiting area went “ohhhh” and Patricia said hi and then asked the obvious — so this is a new one?  I weighed him and he’s gained a few fractions of a pound.

While we were waiting for our turn, a woman came in with a pretty border collie mix girl.  We struck up a conversation.  She had gotten the pretty girl through her sister, who had gotten her from a breeder, but couldn’t keep her and so the sister got her, and she was there to get the pretty girl’s shots, since her past was questionable.  We were sitting on different benches, across from each other, and ahe asked about Chase.  I told her he just came up the driveway and that now I had the means to take care of types like that, whereas I didn’t so much before — but I always had, but that’s another story.   The woman said that God had given me that power and then she came over and put her hand on Chase and said a prayer.  Out Loud.  I said nothing.  Who am I to tell this woman, whom I had just met, that her gesture was useless?   Chase will live or die based upon his responsiveness to the medications I am now giving him and the extent that whatever is wrong with him is treated by that.   My ability to finance this is due to my education, which I paid for, and my ability to keep my job (which is just by a thread . . .different story)

The vet who came in was new to me.  Later I learned that his name is Doug Humpheys.  He is careful and diligent.  He took the first issue — maybe Chase was constipated and checked the hell out of the little guy.  He squeezed and probed the little guy every which way and then said, “Lay him on his side.”  By then Chase was having spasms through his entire little body.  His back toes were arching out like a kitty’s toes, and his spasms, through his whole body were coming about ever 5-8 seconds. 

Dr. Humphreys took Chase to see another vet there.  Maybe Dr. Matt — I don’t know — then brought Chase back to me.  The vet assistant said that the vet was doing some research and that it would take a few minutes.  I told her that Chase and I were ok — we just want what’s right for him.  She came in later and reassured us.  I’m a pro at waiting for “what is wrong” so again it was ok.

Dr.  Humphreys came back in.  In a nutshell, it looks like Chase has distemper.  That was my worst nightmare.  His prognosis is guarded.  I’ve got all of his meds and enough vienna 🙂 sausages to medicate him through Monday.

If he can make it, he will stay with me.  He will be my new Grethen.  I still can’t write about her or Buddy.  Another day.

 Chase is ok.  for now.

And if Jason checks in for whatever reason, I can’t be bothered to counter all his right-wing shit.  Real life is happening here.  And I don’t want that denial shit associated with me.  It is too high a pile of shit to deal with.  BBC is the same as U.S. media — right — we fought that war of independence for nothing .. . … some people never get a clue.

I’m keeping Chase.  Forever.

*** And BTW heard about a HPD vet — what was it 24 years — being arrested for abusing a female in custody.    Seems I have a link from Jason about “Policing Our Own” but no matter.  I have a little pup to worry over.  Rorshach just wants to be Overlord  .. . .  or over load . .. . what ever.

Gitmo to Close?

On the way home I heard a little blurb that the White House might be moving toward closing Gitmo.  Here’s the article from USA Today.  It seems that now, after the press heard about and reported it, that the White House has said the meeting won’t happen.  As the article states, it doesn’t matter how many people tell Bush to close it, he won’t.  Or perhaps Cheney won’t let him.  I don’t know anymore.

Earlier tonight I had all these links lined up, but that’s when I thought that it might actually happen.  Or had hoped as much.  Now that hope is dashed.

Only a few of my students bring up Iraq.  None of them bring up Gitmo.  I know it’s for complex reasons, all of which I understand. 

Chase

I’m worried about the little guy.  He seems to have some sort of gastronomic problem.  He had been making such good progress.  *sigh*  He has these occasional abdominal cramps — like he’s clenching — and he whimpers.  Last night, I gave him some milk, thinking he was constipated, and he had a couple of explosive bouts of diareha.  He slept peacfully last night.  I know this because I had him up in the bed with me.  This morning he was ok.  By the time I got home from work, it was the same as last night.  I gave him some Kaopectate around 8:00.  It’s now a little after 9 and he is sleeping peacefully. 

My Pup First Aid book says that after I give him the Kaopectate every 4 to 6 hours, I should feed him steamed ground beef, rice and cottage cheese in the morning.  Luckily, I have all three things on hand and ready to go now. 

I want him to be ok.  He’s made such good progress in the last 2 1/2 weeks.   He’s awake and wimpering again.  Poor little guy.

Movie Viewing

My Netflix came — it’s Who Killed the Electric Car?  I haven’t finnished watching it yet (it’s finals week).  The blurb on the Netflix jacket says, in part:

How could such an efficient, green-friendly vehicle fail to tranform our garages and skies?  Through interviews with government officials, former GM employees and concerned celebs (such as EV1 driver Mel Gibson), Chris Paine (former EV1 owner) seeks to answer the question.

What got me was that GM only leased the cars — they weren’t sold.  It made me wonder if any other cars were ever marketed in that way.  I doubt it, but I have to research it.  Because they were leased, it made it possible for GM to demand to get them all back.  Numerous people fought back — tried to buy the EV1s they were leasing — but in the end, all of them were towed to a lot and later destroyed.

This interests me in particular because I’m planning on buying a new vehicle within the next couple of years.  My little Chevy S10 is very old and not worth much to anyone but me.  I don’t drive any distance — work is 10 minutes away and anywhere I may need to go regularly is within a 15 minute drive.  I don’t care about driving fast or hauling anything more than the occasional supplies from Home Depot.  I’m the perfect customer for an electric car, but since they are no longer available, I’m looking at hybrids, minis, and anything that will run on anything — like cars in Brazil.

I know a couple of people with hybrids, and they are happy with them.  They both say that their hybrid cars have changed the way they drive.  The car makes them pay attention to the fuel it uses and helps them determine how to drive most efficiently.  Saturn has the Aura Green hybrid — it gets 28/35 mph.  That seems really low to me.

A few weeks ago, GM President Bob Lutz was on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me (I can’t find the link just now — I can’t remember the date and that’s how the show’s site is set up)  and he spoke about a proto-type that could get 100 mpg.  Maybe that’s the car I want — if it’s 100 mpg on vegetable oil or sugar cane or corn syrup or something other than petroleum.  I’ve lived most of my life in the shadow of the petroleum industry.  I’d love to finally be able to say that I use absolutely no petroleum products. 

Another Chris Baker Thingy — just to follow up

I wrote about Baker recently here.  While he still hasn’t officially given me permission to post what he has said, he has felt confident enough to advise me on the content of my posts.  What a sport he is 🙂

Here goes (scroll down and read it backwards) (also, I cleaned it up abit today):

Chris, sweetie, I know how you form your opinions.  But thanks for the reply.  You have given me quite a bit to work with.

If you’d like a link to the post, I’ll surely give it to you.  Otherwise, check ya later.

Michelle

—–Original Message—–
From: “Baker, Chris” Sent: Jun 18, 2007 5:03 PM

I’m not belligerently stupid. If I may make a suggestion; you might want
to try for more substantive content.
You might ask me how my opinion is formed on a certain topic that we may
disagree on.

Original Message—–
From: Michilines Sent: Monday, June 18, 2007 4:43 PM
To: Baker, Chris
Here’s the first one:  Have you always been so belligerently stupid?
Here’s the second:   Would it be ok if I copy this exchange and post it
on my blog?

Have you firgured out an answer to either yet?

Original Message—–
From: “Baker, Chris”
Sent: Jun 18, 2007 12:52 PM
To: Michilines

Where did you ask a question?

Original Message—–
From: Michilines Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 9:50 PM
To: Baker, Chris

The post would be about how you answered the question I asked you.

Original Message—–
From: “Baker, Chris”
Sent: Jun 15, 2007 5:01 PM
To: Michilines

You have not explained what a post would be about.
Do you have an actual question that you would like for me to answer?

Original Message—–
From: Michilines Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 4:46 PM
To: Baker, Chris

Well, duh.  That’s what the post would be about.

 Original Message—–
From: “Baker, Chris” Sent: Jun 15, 2007 4:07 PM
To: Michilines

Of what?

Original Message—–
From: Michilines Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 4:01 PM
To: Baker, Chris
It’s illustrative.  So, is that a yes?

Original Message—–
From: “Baker, Chris” Sent: Jun 15, 2007 3:55 PM
To: Michilines

Original Message—–
From: Michilines Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 3:49 PM
To: Baker, Chris

Would it be ok if I copy this exchange and post it on my blog?

Original Message—–
From: “Baker, Chris” Sent: Jun 15, 2007 3:42 PM
To: Michilines

Last word!

Original Message
From: Michilines Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 3:41 PM
To: Baker, Chris
I’ll take that as a yes answer to my question.

Thanks for confirming that.

Original Message—–
From: “Baker, Chris” >
Sent: Jun 15, 2007 3:38 PM
To: Michilines

Have you always been so sensitive?

Original Message—–
From: Michilines Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 2:58 PM
To: Baker, Chris

Wow.  Have you always been so belligerently stupid?

Original Message
From: “Baker, Chris” Sent: Jun 15, 2007 2:48 PM
To: Michilines

It’s not supposed to be funny it’s just true.

Original Message
From: Michilines Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 2:46 PM
To: Baker, Chris

That’s not funny.  It’s just stupid.  Like I said — failed
comic.

Original Message
From: “Baker, Chris”
Sent: Jun 15, 2007 2:34 PM

He is a girl, and I am a manly comic.

Original Message
Below is the result of your feedback form:   It was submitted by:   on Friday, June 15, 2007 at 15:32:04

Message: That’s mature and classy — calling someone a *girl*.  Oh, I forgot, you were just trying to be entertaining.  No wonder you are a failed comic.

Using  Google blog search today, I found that I had missed some of his high(?)lights . . . as in how he has called the people who evacuated during Katrina ‘debris’ and how he claimed that Yao Ming was a Chinese ‘slave’ among other points.

My point?  He can’t carry on an honest argument, lies and is disingenuous about a number of topics.  Why is he occupying 4 hours of the time that the go to news station in the city occupies?  I’ve found other places to get that info specifically because it’s not available without the blather on KTRH.