Stuck

The past few days have been hard.  Really, really hard.

It started Sunday evening.  We were preparing dinner when Lexee said, "Oh my gosh, Jack is eating a pin."  How could Jack get a pin, you ask?  It's a long story, but I'll try to condense it.  

The week of Britt's open house, instead of spending the week cleaning every nook and cranny, baking cookies up a storm, and working on general preparations, I thought I would take a day to whip out some drapes.  The drapes in my family room were nearly 10 years old, sun faded, and dusty.  I've never had drapes in my living/dining room, but had purchased the fabric for them 4 or 5 years ago.  It was the one home improvement project I thought would have the most impact for the open house.

A one day project, I surmised.  Nope.  It took me four long days.  

On the final day, I only had to finish up the drape for the 9ft. sliding glass door.  I figured I could have it done by noon.  Nope.  I tried getting the darn thing to hang straight after hemming three times.  Three times.  In exasperation (since the one-day project had turned to a four-day project, and this final, final thing just wasn't working for crying out loud), I decided to just pin the darn thing, with the intent to hand-hem it hopefully before the open house.  Nope.  Oh well, I thought, no one would ever go look at the hem of my drape on my glass slider at the open house anyway, which turned out to be an accurate supposition.  The pins have remained, of course, because that elusive "extra time" to finish them has not yet presented itself.  

Fast forward to Sunday.  Jack managed to pull one of those quilting pins out of the temporary hem, get it into his mouth sharp-side-first, which luckily, Lexee had observed.  Bill rushed over to hold Jack's mouth open, and asked Lex if she could see the pin.  She could, and Bill told her to try and grab it.

Then Jack swallowed.  Good-bye pin.  

We called the vet clinic and by pre-recorded message were instructed to call an animal emergency care facility, which we did.  Yes, swallowing a pin could cause some major issues.  Yes, we should get him to the facility as quickly as possible.

Short version:

2-hour wait (almost as bad as a people hospital)

lots of paperwork

x-rays (2 to be exact, at $110 a pop)

pin and ROCK (we didn't know about that one) located in Jack's stomach

shocking estimate of forecasted costs (I sobbed uncontrollably cried a few tears)

no other practical or humane options

surgery scheduled, paid for, and performed

long night with Ava, who couldn't sleep without someone nearby

Jack came home Monday afternoon, with the instructions of

No jumping.

No running.

No getting excited.

Special diet.

Nasty medication which may cause him to spit and foam (which he absolutely does).

Party hat.

Keep separated from Ava.

It's been a long, L-O-N-G couple of days.  We've discovered that it's nearly impossible to keep Jack from jumping, running, getting excited, eating whatever he can find in the backyard on his potty breaks, and getting medication actually down his throat.  The party hat (cone) has been a bit of a hindrance, but he's discovered ways to deal with it (which includes jumping, especially when he's on the grass scouting for delicious treats like deer poo -- he's realized that if he jumps from spot to spot, he doesn't get snagged on that darn brown, matted, wet spring grass).

And now I'm stuck at home.  And it's not easy.  It wasn't easy pre-incident, but it was manageable.  Now it's considerably harder.  We have one more week to go before the staples come out, then four more days before Jack should resume "regular" activity.  We've resorted to sleeping with the puppies, since neither one seems to be able to settle down on his/her own.  Jack doesn't smell so good, and a bath is a good week away.

I've been trying to look at the bright side, though.  Due to state testing at school this week, Lex has been home every day until about noon, and she has been an amazing help.  My husband has a job.  My family is healthy.  My house has not been blown away in a tornado.  I have two washing machines (laundry day today, so it's towards the top of the blessings list).  The puppies are currently NOT whining or barking.

Of course, there are a myriad of other blessings I can count, but I need to get back to my chores, since there is a fleeting moment of peace and contentment in the house.