Thursday, July 24, 2008
Second Wind
The first time Travis showed signs of jaundice in early July, the vets shook their heads and looked at me like it was the kiss of death. He had to be put on fluids immediately. So when I clearly saw the jaundice on Sunday and Monday, I figured I'd better prepare for the worse. Well, yesterday and today he does not appear to be jaundice. His skin is much more normal looking, the whites of his eyes are white, and is pee is a fairly normal pale yellow. I am not sure why. I didn't do anything different. He is still drinking and peeing large quantities. He has had a couple of accidents. But I am starting to wonder if this is going to be something to manage for a period of time (I'm not even going to guess what amount of time that might be). We just need to take it day by day. I need to get back into a routine, start going to the gym again, take care of myself, and start planning out the week for the dogs. Normally, I try to plan out a training schedule. Now that I am training a green dog again, its important that we get to a variety of places each week, so Reagan isn't doing the same thing everyday. Lately, I have just wasted time planning for something bad to happen.
I probably should work Travis a little. When I try to just give him the freedom to do what he wants, he mostly just stands in front of me waiting to respond to my next request. So maybe I should ask him to do something so he continues to feel useful.
I did start him back on more antibiotics and drugs yesterday and this time we are doing some Prednisone.
Lastly, the difficulty in caring for Travis is that Stephen and I both work full-time and our jobs are about 20 miles in opposite directions of the house. It does not make sense to come home from work for lunch, but Travis just can't go 10 hours anymore. He does have access to pee pads, but we would prefer that he not have to use them. Next week, we are going to try some daycare at his grandparents' house. My parents just happen to live on the way to work for Stephen and they have been kind enough to come a couple of times a week to let Travis out during the day. I'm thinking that if he could stay with them during the day 2 days a week and I work at home 1 or 2 days a week, that just leaves a day or 2 for Stephen to cover by coming home for lunch. So I am excited about the new schedule.