in for a penny, in for a pound...

This summer has been full of challenges. Everyone expects things to slow down during the hot months, but for me, that never happened longer than a couple weeks at a time, and let me tell you, I'm really missing the down time.

Right after my last post, Stella took sick. She woke us up one morning about two weeks ago, at 8:30 vomiting non-stop. By the time we got her into the local vet clinic, she was vomiting blood. The vet working that day did a quick x-ray to make sure she didn't swallow anything, and then told us to take her to the animal hospital in Manhattan. So we had to walk all the way home from the vet, call a car service, and take her into town, all the while, she's barfing up bloody foam. Sometimes it is hard not having a car...



It turned out to be pancreatitis, which is very dangerous for dogs, and hard to predict. They still don't know what caused it in Stella. She doesn't eat table scraps or have a high fat diet, and she's not overweight. She was just a normal, happy dog. But Yorkies supposedly have a higher incidence of the disease than other dogs, so they weren't too surprised. You treat it by stopping all food and water, and "letting the pancreas rest", while giving fluids intravenously and hoping for the best. If caught too late, or if the case is severe, the dog can die, or develop diabetes. Thankfully, it was a Saturday when Stella got sick, so we were able to act right away. Anyway, she was in the hospital for four nail-biting days, and now we're left to wonder what we did that caused the flare-up and whether we're going to inadvertently cause it again. There's no guarantee that it won't come back, and there's not much you can do to manage it, except give the dog a very restricted, low fat diet.



When she was in the ICU we could only see her for 20 minutes at a time, twice a day. I was thinking the whole time, 'I never got to knit her a sweater.' More than anything, I wish I had made her a blankie that she could have taken into the hospital with her, or a sweater, so I would have at least felt like a better doggie mommy. The third day, we went to see her on my lunch break, and they disconnected her from the monitors for the first time.



That night she was able to keep down the food they gave her so they let her come home the next day. She seems thankfully almost back to normal, and her fur is starting to grow back where they shaved her paws for the monitors and her stomach for the ultrasound. She still needs one follow-up ultrasound before she's officially cleared, but she seems to be very happy to be home, and is adapting to the low fat diet ok.

So the dog and work, work and the dog, has really been my focus for the past few weeks, but I've managed to finish my downtown cap sleeved cardigan sweater. I just don't know what color buttons to choose... What do you think?



Dark gray?



Or white?

This sweater also has been fraught with problems, just like my whole freaking summer. In fact, this is my anxiety sweater. Just like good thoughts are knit into a prayer shawl for someone in need, every anxious thought or hateful feeling is wrapped up in this wretched thing. I'm so glad to be done with it. You'll have to stay tuned for the FO post though. It's still blocking.



Also, I'm going to try to make more of an effort with this here blog. Let's see if I post every day this week. And if I make it to the gym. I haven't done that in a while either.