Duke's Surgery

Duke had his surgery on Wednesday.  Drop off time was 8-8:15 am.  The Vet called me about 11 or 11:30, and said he was out of surgery and he "did" fine. (He was completely under anesthesia, so I don't know how he did anything, but... :P) But I was glad to hear it all went well.  She said he was howling. I laughed.  (But then I started to worry, too..)  Then while we were talking, I could hear him howling.  It was loud.  She said that's actually pretty common, they are pretty loopy when they come out of anesthesia and are confused. We were able to pick him up at 2.  (When I went to pick him up, another dog was howling in the back...)  Look at the six inch (?) incision!! :(  For a little 3/4 inch tumor...    She said she got "wide margins"...   Yeah. I guess so.   Poor Duke.   I was really worried about him that first whole day (and night). 

He did sleep a lot. That first night (and last night, actually) we put his big pillow in our room and he slept in there.  I did not get much sleep that first night.  Besides being worried about Duke, I had to take my sister-in-law to the hospital the very next morning (she asked me a couple weeks ago, and I said I would.. I didn't know Duke was going to have cancer, and his surgery was going to be scheduled the day before).      

Getting him to take his pills is a whole other can of worms...   He has two pills to take- one for pain, one for the inflammation; around the incision site.  The first time I tried putting it into a piece of lunch meat. He did eat one that way. but spit the other one out.  Then I put it into a piece of cheese. He ate the cheese and spit the pill out.  Brat.  Then the next time we smushed them up, and mixed it with peanut butter. That worked. Once. The next morning (the morning of my sister in law's surgery) it didn't work. He was on to me. So I had to trick him by giving him pieces of my eggs, then putting the peanut butter on my finger. He ate it.   I was telling my sister in law about it, and she said our other sister in law (my husbands' and her husbands' sister) got some special treats for one of her dogs, because it wouldn't take its meds either.   So last night we went to PetCo and got these...    They work pretty good.  He still keeps spitting half the treat out but so far has eaten it all.     This week was stressful...  Well, the past two days were.  

My sister in law gave me this, yesterday; when we got back to her house. (She had cataract surgery, by the way; her last one..)   I said she didn't have to do that. But it is beautiful, and I do love it! I never buy myself things like this. (I am always buying yarn or crochet magazines, or books for myself..)   It's a peacock, and it opens up into a little box.  I love it.   I don't know what I will put into it..   

I finally got my husband's ladder out, and went and picked some apples from one of our apple trees. We have two. But the other tree; the apples are all wormy, and real small..   I feel like a slacker because I should have been picking the apples all along. They just have been ending up on the ground, then my husband cleans them all up into the wheelbarrow and the end up in the mulch pile. (You should see how many are back there!!)  But....   I feel like I can't keep up. Between housework and picking all the blackberries...  Washing them, freezing them. Baking blackberry cobbler. Let the dogs out let the dogs in. Go run errands. Do laundry.   Then this week was crazy..   How did I do everything before, and work five days a week?   I feel like I can't keep up lately...  Now I hope these all don't go bad. Because yesterday, today and tomorrow is a high heat advisory (over 100). So there is no way I am going to be baking...  I don't know what kind of apples they are.  And it's weird, because even though they are all from the same tree, they look like two different apples. Maybe I should have waited to pick the smaller green ones..  Maybe they weren't ready yet?  But the ones on the top are beautiful.    The kids still haven't eaten one. I posted this picture on Facebook, and one of my friends (from school days, she lives in Michigan) said she wished her apple tree got apples like this. Her one son will eat a whole bag a day just for a snack..     :0    I said I wish my kids would eat one apple.  Not unless it is inside a pie, or a cobbler, or with some (super expensive) caramel dip...   I want to make a pie with these.  I was going to give some to my sister in law yesterday, but I was in a rush in the morning and didn't get to it..