Tristen after surgery

I visited Tristen today. He seems alot better... he perks his ears up and is alert to sounds. But he still can't walk, is on IVs and has a cafeter. Maybe it's the pain meds that make him seem a bit better. He's still not eating or drinking but hopefully I can bring him home tomorrow. He might just be nervous being there all alone. I'll go visit tomorrow and if they say I can take him I'll learn all I have to do to take care of him.

Tristen's Ruptured Disc

What crazy past 24 hours... came home from work last night and poor Tristen couldn't walk. I was up with him all night because he was crying in pain every time he re-positioned himself. I had to carry him from one place to another and he couldn't even use the bathroom. Ends up that he has a ruptured disc and it was so severe it caused paralysis. This article gives a pretty good description of what happened to him.

First thing this morning I took him to the vet and spent $400 there for them to tell me he probably needs surgery and that I should take him up to Veterinary Specialty. Well, they did more than that - they emptied his bladder and gave him some pain meds, took x-rays and did blood work too. So up to Buffalo Grove we went. It was pouring rain and people were driving like idiots and he was in a lot of pain sitting uncomfortably in the front seat.

I felt better once we got there because I know how good they are. He needed an MRI ($1000 plus vet analysis of another $600 or so) and they pretty much knew from their experience that he'd need surgery. I waited up there until all day waiting for them to squeeze him in as an emergency MRI but it ends up that they had to put him under to do the MRI so that needed to be coordinated with the availability of the surgeon so if we decided to go ahead with surgery they could just continue on with that while he is still under the anesthesia. We did decide to go ahead with the surgery and the entire day cost me about $6000... so far. He has a hospital stay for a while before I can take him home and I'll get the final bill then.

No vacations for mama next year! But it's okay because he was fine one night and then the next night I had to decide if I wanted to let him die of pain or go in debt. It is a very shocking choice and of course I didn't really have to think too hard of which one to do. But I can't believe how expensive it all is - what do people do who can't afford it, don't have credit and can't borrow? Just watch their pets die? I can't imagine how dreadful that would be.

Anyways, surgery is successful. The next few months will be a big challenge for me because he will still be immobile while he heals and I'll have to carry him around, feed him, even "extract" his bladder and who knows what else. I've never taken care of a person or pet really that immobile before so it is going to be really tough. But that's what we do for our babies!

PS - an interesting story of what another pet owner went through with this same thing here.

Shadia's Baby Shower

Today was Shadia's baby shower. I still can't believe that she's preggers and going to be a mama in a few more weeks! The shower was at Sip and Erin, Yasemin and Shadia put it all together. It was the perfect place for us to hang out together. Erin brought some awesome coffee from Colorado and put it in plastic bottles as favors. That and tea bags. They put baby pictures of Shadia and Jeremy as tags on them too. It was super cute. And one of the neatest things they did was buy a bunch of white onesies, bibs and hats and they put them out on the table with markers and asked the guests to draw on them. I made a funky onesie with a purple monkey and a bunch of my scrapbooking swirly doodles.

More pictures from the shower are here.

Dick's Birthday

Tonight we went to the Chicago Firehouse Restaurant to celebrate Dick's birthday. They say it's a steakhouse. It's build in an old firehouse and even has the pole they slide down next to the bar. There are awesome old lights and an old tile floor too. This is a really neat place to bring people who visit from out of town.

Kylie Minogue @ UIC Pavilion (10/7)

We had the best time at the Kylie Minogue concert! And it was a total surprise that I even went because my friend got tickets and had an extra one for me. The show was great and she is very theatrical. Most of her stuff is real dancy, which is fun. There was one point in the show and she sang "Your Disco Needs You" acapella and she has the voice of an angel. She is super cute and now I am a huge fan!

See all the pictures from the Kylie show here.

The Lost Symbol

Recently finished Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol. All in all, I enjoyed it. This book is as fun as any other Dan Brown book. Half of it is unbelievable and the other half makes you think... I found plenty of stuff to google and see if it was real - and it all was. I was especially curious to see some of the artwork mentioned. I think that's what makes his books stand apart from others, his research. He writes about things in a way that people won't believe it, but it's all true.

As for the writing of the book and all that, some of it was kind of annoying and sometimes, like when reading what the bad guy was thinking, it was just plain dumb. But that's okay. I kept turning the pages and couldn't stop reading by last 100 pages or so of the book.

So do I recommend this book? Yes. But not because it is anything earth shattering, unique or touching. But because it is fun and I can't wait for some more of my friends to read it so I can talk about some of the topics with them.

Googling "Melancholia I", Albrecht Durer, "The Apotheosis of Washington", circumpunct, "Kryptos" and Noetic Sciences...

Whip It!

Saw Whip It! and LOVED it! First of all, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page are all uber cute. And the story was fun. Roller derby is something no one really knows about and now, after this movie, I totally want to go check it out. These girls are tough!

PS - made a "derby name" on the official movie site and my name is Tic Tac Tackles.