Chocolate and Easter

Saturday was my confirmation. The mass lasted about three hours (two hours longer than a normal mass!), and Brandy and MealyMel and the Fox were all in attendance. It was really wonderful. I was very honored and proud that they took the time to attend. I love them!

Upon arrival home after mass, The Boy and I exchanged Easter gifts and I was able to open the gift that my mother had sent to me. She actually had a rosary made for me by one of her customers. It is clear and yellow Swarovski (spelling?) crystals with a gold cross. It's really nice and totally shocking that she chose that to give me! I would have never guessed that she would have thought to do that. But I love it. I need to take it to mass some week and get it blessed, but it is very beautiful.

The Boy gave me the entire collection of Chronicles of Narnia. He was very excited because the edition that he got me is in textual chronological order, not in the order that they were actually written. (Yes, he focused on such things). I excited to read them but I have to get through The Subtle Knife, if not all of the His Dark Materials, first. I am very excited.

After we opened presents, we watched a movie, drank champagne, and ate copious amounts of chocolate and ice cream. I never realized how much I missed the stuff! Yummy.

Sunday morning we awoke and went to Easter Brunch at Revival Grill. It was a wonderful meal. Unfortunately, upon our return home at noon, things took a turn for the worst. As soon as we unlocked the door, we saw that The Beast had gotten into the pantry closet and made a pretty good mess of things. (I must not have closed the door tightly and she knocked it open.) Rice was strewn about, cookies were gobbled up, apples were punctured ... you know how dogs are. Then we discovered that she had also consumed about a half of a pound of extra dark chocolate. I was concerned but not overwhelmed. She has gotten into chocolate in the past and was fine. However, at around 3pm, we noticed that she was acting really clumsy and weird. She was bumping into walls and chairs (more so than her normal awkwardness). Her heart was pounding, and she couldn't stop pacing. We induced vomiting (yuck!) and she threw up massive amounts of chocolate and miscellaneous garbage that she had ingested. It didn't get much better from there. We ended up taking her to the emergency vet and they placed her in the ICU overnight. They put her on IV fluids and pumped charcoal into her to cleanse her blood. Needless to say, sleep last night did not come easily for me. She continued to throw up into the morning, and I had to take her to my regular vet (across the street from the emergency clinic) for observation all day. I spoke to them a while ago and they told me that, as long as she doesn't throw up again, she can come home at 4pm. I cannot wait for that hour to pass! She should be okay because the blood work showed no kidney or liver damage, thankfully.

A funny side story ... When I went to pick her up this morning, the receptionist told me that the total bill was $1600.00. I was like, "Quoi?" I told her that I was quoted about $400 and that no one had contacted me for authorization. She printed out an itemized bill and it had something listed as 200 doses of a medication that totaled $1500. I was like, "I think there is a big mistake here. Someone clearly pushed too many zeros." Turns out, I was right. Of course, I had already had the heart attack.

Not-so-funny side story ... When I went to take her to the emergency vet last night, the stupid LVT who admitted her expressed concern over how thin B is. I reassured her that B had been vomiting and was about 5 lbs. underweight and her vet was not concerned. She looked at me and said, "No. You are not hearing me. This is going to be a major issue with the vet." At this point, I am ready to choke her. I am almost a sobbing wreck because me dog could potentially die and she feels it appropriate to chastise me in front of other clients about my dogs weight? I was steamed. I couldn't believe it. I brushed her off at that point because I knew that B had to get medial attention immediately and my arguing with the LVT would only delay treatment. I was still ready to blow. When the vet called us back to discuss B's condition and prognosis, she made absolutely no comment about B's weight. Of course, I'm not one to let it go, so I said something to her. I explained how unprofessional and inappropriate the tech's comments were and of course I started balling. The vet was totally understanding and talked about how weims and greyhounds are naturally superthin and her condition was a little underweight but nothing to be concerned about. She also said that she would address the issue with the staff. I felt better. This morning when we went to pick her up, her ribs were barely visible. Last night she was so full of crap and nastiness that her ribcage was bulging. As soon as she got rid of it all, she looked normal again. I really wanted to smack that tech.

That's enough for now.