Well, I took a required course called “Trends in Nursing.” That took up all of June. I got an A, but it was only 1 credit hour. I also took Spanish 101, which took up much of June and July, but it was a telecourse. I got an A, for 4 credit hours. Nice.
Somewhere in the middle of July or so, I lost my mind. Somehow I got suckered into Facebook. Not just Facebook — but Facebook rescuing dogs.
Now, I’ve been transporting dogs for awhile. But I’ve never actually fostered them. Somehow, I saw a picture of two unfortunate dogs at the Miami/Dade HellHole, and got somebody in Miami to pull them and board them at a vet in Fort Lauderdale. The dogs were Jude, a pit/lab mix, and Betsey, a boxer/bulldog. The vet was Coral Ridge Animal Hospital, run by Dr. Gordon, his tech Stephanie, and a cast of various other saints. The idea was for Jude and Betsey to board there for about 10 days until I could travel down to get them. I was supposed to pick them up around July 29th.
Then all hell broke loose. Jude — a neglected, probably abused, probable bait dog — came down with distemper. The bottom line is that eventually Betsey was able to come home; I drove down to transport two other dogs, and drove Betsey back to Maryland with me. But Jude never made it out of Florida. He went up and down, up and down, and crashed. I flew down there last Monday, fully expecting to have him put to sleep, but since it looked like he had pneumonia (which is survivable), I authorized a feeding tube and IV to get some nourishment in him. We were going to fight this.
But Saturday, Stephanie called me. The distemper seizures had started. There was no hope. I was crying, but managed to tell Dr. Gordon to “go ahead” and let him pass peacefully. This conversation took place on board a Southwest flight to New Orleans, while we were stopped in Birmingham. The flight crew probably wondered why I was crying all the way to New Orleans.
Betsey meanwhile is in boarding, in a marvelous facility called Noah’s Ark. She is having skin issues; I asked them to take her to the facility’s vet, who told me today that Betsey clearly has allergies, but we can’t tell yet whether it’s a seasonal thing, a food thing, or what. I have an appointment with my regular vet on Monday. We’re going to get to the bottom of this.
Betsey had met Jude at Coral Ridge, and the two of them got along famously. She is lonely at our house; there will be another dog joining us, one that I’m transporting on Saturday. But that will be another post.
I am REALLY looking forward to no more transports. I am REALLY tired of crying. I am looking forward to starting up nursing school again. AND I HAVE DEACTIVATED FACEBOOK.
