Yesterday, Addy had blood pulled for her sixth—VI—6th time since March for yet another bloodwork panel.

I had the vet out…….(the week-end vet, not Stevie Wonder).

It was because Addy stopped eating…….and she’s always been a shining member of the clean-plate-club…

My heart hit my heels and my stomach stopped in my throat…

I have every reason to take paranoia to the extreme…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time out for keening, self-hugging and rocking~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Her temperature was all right.  But she just didn’t “seem” right…

As an old woman with a lot of animal-experience but no animal-medical-degree…….I put a lot of weight into that word———she “seemed” off…

So we drew blood, checked gums, checked inner eyelids (slightly jaundiced) and opted for intravenous (I.V.) hydrating…….and watching…

…………..probably just to placate me………….but it has been so hot & humid.

Addy is still sweating, that’s a good thing with horses, especially in the sub-tropics.

*****Non-Sweating Horses*****

So the vet placed and stitched in a jugular catheter, we hung the first of two, 5000ml bags of fluid.

There was a ladder handy, so we hung everything from a rafter…….and I paid my bill…

…………………and then Addy & I sat and waited…

…….drip by drip…….

But because the bag was hung from such a high nail, the bag was dripping quickly…….

It took about an hour (more or less) to drain into Addy…

Then I clamped down the empty bag.

After that I had to spider-monkey back up to the rafter to hang the second bag…

…I got the port established in the bag and it started running too…

……………..and then we waited some more…

Addy was really good…….she stood so still…

There were no worries about her wrenching the catheter out of her neck…

She napped & dozed…

I didn’t…

I sat & stared & cried…

(*****Note to self:  once she “seemed” to doze so soundly that she closed her eyes; dropped her head; & her knees started to buckle………………………not normal………………………crap).

I yelled at her and got my younger daughter out of the way.  Fortunately Addy roused and stood up straight after that………………………but………………………it was weird…

…………So, today is another day…….Addy is still standing…….and I’m waiting for the bloodwork results………….

My hair couldn’t get any grayer.