Heartbreaking Evening

Heartbreaking Evening
I met my new Primary Care Doctor last night, and she is FABULOUS! She’s in her 40’s and could very well be “family”, but I am not sure. She took care of all my meds without blinking, referred me to the top back specialist at the U for a consultation, and we went over a treatment plan together. She told me I am doing great on medication for pain management and doesn’t have any problem whatsoever prescribing me pain medication or muscle relaxers. I felt comfortable enough with her to make an official physical appointment including breast exam, pap, the whole nine yards. She wants me to get another mammogram (oh, dear Lord). She’s also very excited about the prospect of assisting me and Lindi as we think about insemination and pregnancy. I LOVE her!

After my appointment, Lindi, Sarah and I along with Lindi’s mom, trekked out to Ruth’s Diner up the canyon for our monthly dinner with “The Girls”, a group of ladies who have been friends since Lindi was a baby. Usually, there is about 14 of us, but last night was cozy with 8, and we enjoyed our meal in the outdoors. I had crusted chicken over linguine (their version of chicken parmesan), Lindi had their enchilada platter and Sarah noshed on a beautiful chicken caesar salad.

Afterward, we headed home, and I headed to the duplex next door to collect Dori. If you’ll recall, Dori is the momma kitty to our precious Minni, and who I placed with our next-next-door neighbors. Only problem was, they didn’t tell me they had two LARGE dogs until Dori had been there a week and was living on the water heater. I’ve been trying to collect her from them for the past week, but they are never home, so I finally called and let them know I would be taking her last night to isolate her before I took her in to be fixed. Okay, so it was a little bit of a white lie, she didn’t need to be isolated, but I wanted to get my hands on her. Her roommate told me she had an abscess on her neck and had worms. Worms? Minni didn’t have worms. She also told me she hasn’t been gaining weight, then turned around and told me she’s got a pot gut. WTF?

Anywho, it was time Dori came home with me. I snatched her up and took a look at the “abscess” and, as it turns out, it was a puncture wound about the size of a quarter! I am certain it was from the dogs. She was thin and mangy and scared out of her mind. I looked in and saw that they had been feeding her kitten food, which may be the culprit of her stomach bloating and her not gaining weight.

We rushed her to the Cottonwood Pet ER and were pleased to find my favorite vet of all time, Dr Scott Matheson, was working the ER. Dr. Matheson has helped me put down two of my families dogs, and he is the kindest man on the planet. He handled Dori wonderfully, prescribed her antibiotics (penicillin for kitties), cleaned the wound, de-wormed her, and reassured the foster mommies that she would be okay. His vet assistant, Shanna, was an expert at handling Dori. She clipped her claws before we had Dori swallow the de-worming pill, which left me with marks up and down my arms. Shanna handled Dori with the hands of an expert. I was very impressed. Dori’s neck was shaved and they took a good look at the wound and said it would heal nicely.

We came home around midnight and Dori was right at home, talking to us, curling up between Lindi’s feet to sleep. I feel so horrible that this happened to her and I am trying t stave my feelings of tremendous guilt that I placed her with those people. I figured the ER visit was my karma repayment, and I need to do everything I can to do right by this precious soul. Even as early as this morning, her coat was shiny, she was purring and happily talking to us as we got ready for work. The Universe brings the most interesting and wonderful energy into my life.