Forgive me

I extend my heartfelt apologies to the approximately five non-family members/ friends who read my blog. I've been AWOL these past four days in large part because my dog, Luka, came down with a horrible case of bronchitis and his non-stop coughing has prevented either of us from getting much sleep. For me, little sleep results in not getting much of anything done during the daylight hours including keeping up with my blog. I don't have any experience taking care of sick children, but I can say with absolute certainty that caring for a sick dog is no fun.

It all started Thursday afternoon when I became convinced Luka was choking on a small piece of granola-like Kashi cereal that I gave him. I'll spare you the gory details (picture Linda Blair in the Exorcist), but I was freaked out enough to take him to the animal emergency room at 10 that night. Despite having to pull the car over once due to all the throwing up, as soon as we walked into the clinic Luka's tail started wagging and he clambered up on the reception desk to greet the vet tech who checked us in. The timing of his "recovery" couldn't have been worse: Because there appeared to be nothing wrong with my dog and the clinic practices triage medicine (as it should since it is an emergency room) we were shown the back of the two-plus hour line. Aaarrggghhhh! Thank goodness my mom was there to keep us entertained. Anyway, the emergency room vet ascertained that a) Luka's vitals were normal; b) due to his behavior his condition wasn't life-threatening and c) since he never once coughed or threw up while at the emergency room there really was no telling what the problem might be. After pumping Luka full of fluids and giving him a shot of something to "settle his stomach", we returned home where my dog promptly resumed throwing up for the rest of the night. Good times! The next afternoon, Luka's regular vet determined that he was suffering from tracheal bronchitis and prescribed an antibiotic and the doggie version of Robitussin. He's been on both for three days now and I think/ hope he's getting a little better. He's still coughing, but had enough energy this morning to go for a little walk and to shred an emtpy Diet Coke carton. Hopefully we'll both be able to get some good sleep tonight and my desire to blog will return. Keep your fingers crossed...