January 12, 2018

White Dog was in the other room yelling; it woke me to see Steve standing over me. "We have a problem," he said. Immediately I was fully awake and racing through possibilities. "Stormer?" my voice quivered. Before I could go through the entire list he held out a destroyed pill container. "Which is it, breakfast or lunch," I asked not even bothering to ask whose teeth marks matched those on the case. There are different pills for each time of day. He brought in the still intact case. "OK those were lunch pills that are gone. Fewer of them."

"She missed this one," he said holding up the Furosemide pill. "So she got the Potassium and the Lisinopril (a blood pressure medication). Grab the prescription bottles from safekeeping so I know the doses." I looked at the clock and speed dialed Dr. Julia's.

As Michelle, the only one there at this early hour, hurried to find the chart, I grabbed Bailey. Eyes, not dialated, pulse was normal, mouth wet and gums pink. Her respiration sounded normal and when Steve knelt to listen to her heart it was regular and steady. I shared all the info with the tech.

She promised to call the doctor immediately and we dressed to be ready to respond. In just a few minutes, the call came back that Bailey was to come in for a day of IV flushing and monitoring. Dr. Julia was heading into the office immediately and Cindy, her #1, would be in very shortly.

Steve hurried out of the house with the WDA's song of concern and Bailey.

Cindy called to let us know that Bailey was receiving her IV and that they would do an Xray to make sure none of the plastic from the case was a digestive problem. The blood work showed elevated Total Blood Proteins. I appreciated her level of concern when she joked, "Thought you would have learned about Sibes by now." "Ahh," I responded, "Remember Zsofia is a very special Sibe...an Eskie-raised one..seemingly with more sense." Humor does offset tension sometimes.

I spoke with Dr. Julia mid afternoon. Bailey was going to be fine. All her numbers were back to normal. "But let's recheck early next week just to be cautious." She gave us a list of things to watch for that might indicate complications and said that technically she was under observation for 48-hours. We could pick her up from the vet at 5:30pm.

Steve and I discussed how to safeproof my cart while still keeping what I needed accessible to me. Our temporary solution is a metal safebox with a spring clasp. Not elegant but for now it hopefully will keep our drawer opening, counter surfing, devious obsessed girl safe.

"Think we can ever train her out of this?" Steve asked. On top of the drama, HE had stayed home fighting some kind of cold that has him achy and exhausted. "Zso," I called her over. "Can you work on training your sister about manners and respecting things that are not theirs? I will work on it, too."

White Dog joined our conversation. "It MIGHT take the whole Army," she said looking pointedly into the kitchen where our starving girl had front feet on the counter.

Opal and Nilla inspect Bailey's shaved leg where she received the IV.