NOOO! Why me? Why today?

Okay, I know I'm overreacting.

Here's the problem:

I'm training for my second half marathon.

Part of my training schedule includes one distance run each week (and a few shorter runs).

The distance of my long run increases by 1 mile each week so that I am up to 12+ miles by the marathon.

This week, this morning, in fact, I am scheduled to do a 10 mile run with my runner buddy Laura.

When running distances, or during any physical activity, especially if it is extended, hydration is vital.

So when I run my longer distances I carry a camelbak,

which is a great backpack that holds a water pouch. It has a tube that carries the water to the bite valve, which stays closed and doesn't leak, until I bite it and suck the water out.

This is awesome for running. Or hiking, or biking, or pretty much any activity where you want a water bottle handy, but want your hands handy too.

I used this during my first half marathon in addition to the water stops and it worked great.

But this morning when I looked for it I couldn't find it. And then I realized I didn't remember cleaning it after last week's long run.

So I looked in the place where 50% of my lost items turn up: Under my bed.

And sure enough, there it was.

Last time I used it I used a combination of half water, half orange gatorade.

Apparently, my dog Sammie likes orange gatorade.

She chewed up the bite valve and the L shaped hydrolock corner, but left the rest alone, so I can only assume she drank the rest of the gatorade, and couldn't help but destroy the valve and corner with her sharp doggie teeth.

(Sigh)

I can replace the parts for about 10 bucks. But what will I run with today?

Oh, well. Could I really stay mad at this face?

Update:

I ran anyway.

I drank a bunch before the run and shared Laura's camelbak on the run.

Then drank more after.

And later I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought replacement parts.

Toby Update

Toby got to come home from the pet hospital this morning.

They wanted him to eat and poop before he came home, but they settled for just eating.

I think part of that decision was based on the fact that he was feeling good enough to bite a tech. It wasn't a bad bite, but they figured he would be less tense at home.

I agree.

He is still on 3 different meds and special food for a few days.

The total bill came to about $770.

Phew, it's a good thing I love him.

We paid $450 dollars to buy him 3 1/2 years ago, so the vet bill didn't quite cost twice his original price.

I can tell he is feeling much better now than he was when I took him in on Saturday, but he is still not 100% back to his normal self.

His day was a little worse today when we had a thunder storm since he is terrified of thunder.

So anyway, next time you are wondering "Is it okay to give my dog a pork bone?" ask yourself if you have an extra $800 to spend at the vet.

If the answer is no, then the answer is no.

Even if you have the money don't do it. It's not worth it.

-Della

Don't give your dog pork bones!

I always knew dogs shouldn't have chicken bones. But I didn't know how bad pork bones could be.

Until yesterday.

My poor Toby had a really bad day.

We had pork chops for dinner on Friday, and several of my well meaning children shared their bones with the dogs.

Sammy came out of it ok.

But poor Toby didn't.

I won't go into details, but I will say that I don't think I have ever seen a living thing have such a hard, painful, messy time trying to poop. And I mean, it was really, really bad.

I finally had to take him to the vet. After a series of medical treatments, (again, I won't go into details), and so far about $500, the vet still wants to keep him until... well, until he's better.

The bone fragments from the pork chops are basically cutting up his insides.

So, the point of this post, regardless of how strange and classless is seems, especially after yesterday's post, besides being somewhat therapeutic for me, is to warn you not to give pork bones to dogs.

Please.

-Della

My poor dog

My wonderful dog Toby has allergies.

The vet said before that the only reason she can attribute to his symptoms is allergies.

Toby has certain places on his body that get very red and itchy. These spots are under his chin on his neck, and in his arm (leg) pits. His eyes also puff up and get itchy. He will rub his face against the floor to scratch them.

The spot on his neck even gets so bad that he loses hair there and sometimes will bleed.

I have tried bathing him with medicated shampoos, cleaning the spots everyday, putting lotions on them, and cleaning and trimming his nails so he's not scratching himself with dirty nails.

We have even considered giving him benadyl or allergy eye drops to see if that helps.

Sometimes it gets better for a week or so, but then gets bad again. All of these symptoms have gotten worse since we moved here. I can only assume that is because he has a much larger yard to run around in so he spends more time outside. He is also exposed to a bigger variety of flora and allergens than he was before.

The last time we took him to the vet she gave us a spray to put on the itchy spots, which Toby hated.

I think we will be taking him back to the vet soon. We are seeing signs of spring here wich are probably making his allergies even worse. I worry about him.

Okay, this was probably a strange thing to blog about, but it was on my mind. If anyone has any suggestions about how to relieve my poor dog of his itchy rashes I am very open to new ideas.

I also wondered the other day while I was talking to Chris about possible options: What do you do if you have an allergic reaction to benadryl?

Merry Christmas Eve

Toby isn't sure if it's a merry Christmas or not, but he's at least going along with it.