Sienna

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001

I can't work right now.

I can't concentrate.

And as much as I try to make my pretty pictures and write my little Word documents, I keep thinking about Sienna.

Perhaps I'm overeacting. I probably am.

But I'm worried.

James took Sienna into the vet this morning. She's been kind of ill for weeks now. But not a consistent ill. That's why it's taken us so long to take her in.

You see, she's been puking and having diarrea. But it's been very sporatic. And at first we did take her into the vet. They checked her stools, gave her a physical and said it was probably stress. They also gave us some dewormers and antibiotics just in case.

Then she'd go a few weeks. Be fine. And then she'd puke again. Or have diarrea. And this time we attributed it to the canned food we were feeding her. It seemed she always got sick when we fed this stuff to her. So we stopped. And she was fine.

For a few weeks.

The next time she had diarrea and puked around the house, it was after she'd been eating out of a new bag of dry food. God, silly us! We thought maybe something was wrong with the food so we bought a new bag. And she was fine, again.

For a few more weeks.

Then two weeks ago when we dog-sat for a little Jack Russell, Sienna once again got sick. This time we attributed it to anxiety. She is a shakey little pup. At the end of the weekend, Lucy (the Jack Russell) went home and Sienna went back to normal.

Until Wednesday night.

Sienna ate her dinner while we ate ours (why do dogs to that -- wait to eat until their humans do? it's so polite) and less than fifteen minutes later she puked it all up. We were dumbfounded and worried.

So, James called the vet yesterday and they said she should come in. They set the appointment for this morning. I collected poop for him to take along. And James just returned a few minutes ago from the appointment.

Without Sienna.

They want to keep her. For tests. I'd be lying if I said they weren't worried. They are. And they want to do a full work up with x-rays and blood tests. It's about \\$400 worth of work, but the money really isn't an issue at this point. I don't care what it costs. I want my dog well. James said when they weighed her, she came in at a scant 24.5 lbs. She hasn't weighed that little since we got her and she was 6 months old! She's lost four pounds in a month and a half and that's a lot for such a small dog. They fear it's something in her intestines. But they won't have an answer for the rest of the day.

So I'm waiting. And worrying. And half-pissed at myself for taking her to these fucking dog parks where she could contract this shit.

I thought she was immune. She's had her shots.

But we just don't know...

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