Whew, what a crazy couple of weeks it's been! We still don't have any information on Jim's issues. He was finally referred to a gastro-something or another...he sees that doctor this week. So fingers crossed that they find something!
Portia is almost healed! We had to take her to the vet every 24-48 hours to have her bandages changed for over a week. This picture was from the 21st I think. The University of Michigan colors were an accident. LOL!
This next picture was from the 24th. It was hard for the vet to get the bandages just right because of the location of the problem. And by this time they were really annoying Portia so she would rub up against walls, furniture, bed, anything to try and push them off. Well, when she would rub up against stuff the bandages would move back and the top of the tube would come out of the bandaging. So we had to try and bandage it up some more and get it to work until we could take her in the next time. It was a pain for all of us! By the time of this picture we found another problem...the bandages were rubbing her "armpits" raw! They were bleeding and very painful for her. She didn't want to get up, move, walk, anything because it would rub those sores open. When I took her to the vet on Monday, the 26th they almost took the tube out because of the sores on her arms, but there was still some pus that needed drained out so we put a bunch of gauze under her arms and tried to bandage it farther back so it didn't rub so much.
FINALLY on Wednesday the 28th they took the tube out and left it open so the holes could heal. It looked like she had been shot! Today, both holes have scabbed over completely and the top hole (the smaller of the two) is almost gone. So yay! She is back to her normal self and we are relieved.
Apparently I am a glutton for punishment...On the night of my last post (Wed 10/21) as I was taking Portia to the vet, one of the vet techs called and said they had one of their other customers call that was looking for someone to foster a white boxer and they immediately thought of me. Well, me who can't say no, immediately said yes. And then I realized I should probably ask Jim first. LoL! So, we decided if he was well-behaved, had been around other dogs, and it wouldn't hinder Portia's recovery that we would do it temporarily. So, Wednesday night Marvin came to stay with us. He is a 2-year old, 80 pound, white boxer. He is VERY well behaved and he listens better than Bentley! He and Bentley had some dominance issues the first night, but quickly became the best of friends. We got so lucky that they all get along really well. Marvin doesn't mess with Portia (which I was really worried about when she was all bandaged up)...it's like he knew she was hurt and he just left her alone and played with Bentley. Now that she's better they will play too. He is completely house broken (yay!). We weren't sure if he had ever been crated/kenneled and the first night when we put him in the kennel when we went to bed he barked for about 5-10 minutes and then we didn't hear another peep out of him for the night. Since then he's gotten a little better. If he knows we're asleep or gone then he doesn't bark. But if we put him in the kennel and he can hear us walking around then he barks. We had a couple people look at him that were interested in adopting him and we finally found his forever family last week! It's a coworker of Jim's and I think the adoption will be finalized on Tuesday. I love to help out and was glad we were able to have Marvin for awhile but I'll be relieved when it's just us four again! Two sixty pound dogs is crazy...but throw in an 80 pound dog and it's a freaking circus!!!! Here are some pics of Marvin (by the way...I hate that name and have been trying to change his name to Emmett. He comes to pretty much anything so it's worked ok so far). I have a feeling that Bentley will be going through a little bout of depression when Marvin leaves. Marvin keeps right up with Bentley and they just can't get enough of tug-of-war!
I think that's pretty much it. Today it was over seventy degrees! We don't get many seventy degree in November so we put our Christmas lights up on the house. We won't turn them on until after Thanksgiving, but it makes it so nice to be able to hang them up in nice weather! It was...interesting...to say the least...Our house has that humongous peak over the garage with a steep incline that it was ummm yeah...Jim did great and we got them put up. They aren't PERFECT, but I think they are just fine! They sag just a little on the peak part but if you're looking from the sidewalk, road, or even from midway up the driveway you really can't tell. In fact you really can only see it from right close, so no worries. I can't wait to see them at night. I might have to sneak out and turn them on for a minute just to see how they turned out. :) Now I hope we have a nice 70 degree day in January when we go to take them down too! Is that too much to ask for??? hahahaha!
Lights on before all the branches were spread.
