That Hope(less) dog....

I am sure there is an unwritten law known by all pet animals.... if you are going to do something stupid causing injury..... make sure the Vets is shut first....

This afternoon, shortly after I hit publish on the last blog post, I was still upstairs communing with the naked ones (well trying to persuade Hugo that bad things would happen if he leapt from the top of the study door onto my lap where his mother was enjoying a cuddle) there was a very loud cry of terror and pain from downstairs.....

Now my dogs can be quite vocal, but this was a definite "panic, panic, I'm in pain" type of cry....... not helped by the fact that it was shortly followed by at least one other dog growling and snapping......  It's amazing how fast I can get downstairs at times.....  I could see the problem as soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs..... somehow they'd managed to open the kitchen door (which I shut when I leave them in there) and Hope had made a bid for freedom over the top of the baby gate - something she's been doing since she was about 14 weeks old..... only this time she'd misjudged it and her back left leg had got stuck at the hock joint between the bars, leaving her front half hanging over the top of the gate and her right back leg flailing about in mid air.... Gretchen and Kammi, freaked out by the noises Hope was making, had decided something was terribly wrong and reacted in a way that dogs will and were attacking her trapped leg.

By the time I'd untangled her and hauled her the rest of the way over the baby gate her eyes were rolling and she was looking rather shocky.... her hock was also starting to swell quite badly.... I couldn't feel a break and the joint were stable (there are times when being a former vets assistant come in very handy) but getting the vet to check her over was on the cards.... so off we went... luckily my own vets have a weekend call out service and when I got to the surgery with her the vet on duty turned out to be the one I'd worked with in the past, so after a quick prod at her leg she confirmed what I thought, the silly dog has badly sprained her hock and is now on crate rest for a week with anti-inflammatory medication and no walks.......

Hope is not a happy dog right now, she's in pain and shut away from everyone... because I don't trust her for a minute not to try and jump even if it does hurt she's not even getting supervised time out of her crate for cuddles.... Gretchen has been sitting on my knee looking extremely smug for most of the evening.....             

Musing about anthologies...

I recently bought, and read, a couple of anthologies.  Now this is unusual for me, as I am not a big fan of anthologies..... which I think goes hand in had with me not being a huge fan of short stories (at least not when I have to pay as much for them as I would for a novella).....

Anyway, these were billed as being "kinky" Christmas stories........ which should suit be just fine..... now one anthology I did enjoy most of the stories... the other unfortunately was a reminder of exactly why I don't usually read them..... from 5 stories, 1 I enjoyed (and admittedly it was from an author whose work I've read before for free on Literotica so I know their style), 2 were okay at a push, the other 2.... well, I wondered how on earth they got into the anthology at all (in a sort of ... what really? did they not get any better submissions??)

And this is the problem..... in any anthology I find that for me there is always going to be at least 30% of the work in there that I just can't get on with..... which leads on to another problem......... and one which is probably in my mind..... but it's there anyway.... and that is that my LiAW story is going to be part of an anthology....

My story will be in the 5th volume.... along side stories by real, proper, popular authors....... my story! written, well scribbled, by me, a complete novice at this sort of thing...... My stomach kind of flips when I think about it... because yes, I am pretty sure that for a lot of the readers mine will be in that 30% giving readers a "WTF is this crap?" moment...... I suppose at least they can just skip it and at least it's free so they won't have wasted money on it....... 

I know it's probably just nerves.... after all the ratings it's had have been good..... but still... *sigh*

Right, I shall go off to brood some more, and stand by the phone waiting for my mother to call me.....she informed me yesterday she'd borrowed a couple more books - I recently lent her Tigers & Devils and Tigerland to read, she enjoyed them and wanted another of the same sort of thing.... trouble was she chose herself and is currently reading My Fair Captain..... I have a horrible feeling I am going to have one of those slightly squicky conversations involving me trying to explain the concept of fisting to my 75 year old mother......

Storm warning.......

Today should have been a good day....

I wasn't at work, I should have been going to see a friend and exchanging Christmas presents, I should have been having fun, doing last minute Christmas shopping and drinking flavoured (decaffeinated) coffee...... I should possibly have been celebrating my exam results (or drowning my sorrows)....

Nope, didn't happen.

Instead, I woke to find that I was stuck at home
Literally..... thanks to the rainfall onto frozen ground overnight which meant that the road resembled an ice rink.... and then when it warmed up enough to get out I had a doctors appointment..... deep joy, the 3rd different doctor I've seen in the last week.... this one obviously hadn't even read my notes to find out what I was there for so we went through the whole thing yet again..... and I have another fortnight's worth of antibiotics to take... that will be zero alcohol for me this Christmas....

I then had to go to the bank to sort out some financial stuff...... four years after moving here and nearly five since separating all my stuff from the ex and taking back control of my money and what do you know, it can still be stuffed up by someone else..... apparently she has sold the house we owned jointly (which subsequently was transferred to her) and had some problems with the mortgage on the new place...... and there had been some credit searches etc done on my accounts which had flagged up some issues.....I'm sorry but WTF??  I think we have finally got to the bottom of it all and made sure she's not mentioned at all on my credit scoring or history..... but it will probably be another 3 years before my credit rating is where it should be.....

I nipped round to my mothers after that.... and she took pity on me and fed me some lunch..... then had a go at me when I admitted that I hadn't actually eaten anything up to then (it was about 2 pm at this point)..... I am sure it's the drugs that are squashing my appetite, but apparently this matters not and I need to eat three proper meals a day.... including one in the morning....... She's probably right, but, meh, just not happening at the moment.

And on top of all of this....... I am still waiting for my exam results...... which should have been released earlier this week..... so it looks like it will be Monday at the earliest before I get them....... and I am starting to get really really twitchy about it all.

The upshot of all this is I am in a really tetchy mood...... I've shouted at the dogs, snapped at the cats and, erm, taken out my frustrations on a packet I couldn't open with a sharp knife..... and now have to go clear the kitchen sides of the broken pasta pieces that are currently decorating them......

This is one of the things I hate most about being single, not having someone there to listen, or who can tell me to pack it in when I am being really unreasonably mardy, or who can just give me a hug and tell me that things will sort themselves out and to stop worrying......

*sigh* right, I think I shall go put on the CD player far too loudly and sing very out of tune till I feel a bit less frustrated about life in general......

I hate waiting......

It's a pretty much established fact that I only have an extremely limited amount of patience.....and my tolerance levels were all used up thanks to being grounded on the sofa last week....

So, knowing that my exam papers were marked last Monday (3rd December).... because one of the guys I work with is in the marking group.... and being told that our results should be received this week..... I am now getting to the stage of being extremely anxious about the whole thing.

If I was able to walk properly on my stupid leg I'd be pacing.

As it is I am silently (and on some occasions not so silently) driving myself up the wall..... at times like this it's a good thing I live on my own with only the critters to roll their eyes at me when I start chuntering to myself or, erm, throwing things (it wasn't anything important).....

Okay, I am not 100% sure I've passed both exams, I am really hoping I've passed at least one of them.... but I'd really like to know.... like, well, now, please, if not sooner......

*resumes mental pacing*

Vague mumbling....

Hurrah! I am being released into the wild tomorrow........ okay, well not quite... I am being allowed to return to work on the strict understanding that (a) I do not walk more than 50 metres. (b) I pack it in and go home and rest if I feel at all unwell and (c) I do not over do it.......(anyone else starting to think that my doctor is perhaps getting to know me??)

Now (b) and (c) are not too much of an issue but (a) is as the nearest car park is well over the allowable walking distance........ and they powers that be decreed that outside the office parking is for visitors only (which means that the 5 disabled spaces sit empty for 99% of the time which really irks me).... anyway, work are obviously extremely pleased I am allowed back and have arranged for a taxi to get me to and from work for the next three days, which is wonderful of them... What is not so wonderful was in arranging said taxi my team leader managed to send my personal contact details on an e-mail to every single employee in our head office.........this I am not particularly impressed about as I don't think everyone should have access to where I live or my mobile phone number but then again, I am unlikely to develop a stalker from this and anyone that wants to burgle me know I am out, well, yeah, good luck with that one, cos rent a mob might let you in, but you ain't going nowhere once you're in......

So today I have pottered about a bit in an attempt to use my leg just a little bit...... which basically meant taking myself to mum's house and lurking on her sofa whilst I wrapped presents to go in the post.  They are all done now which is surprisingly organised of me.

I also picked up my candle order today.... not only my usual selection of particularly nice smelling Christmas type candles - such as cinnamon sticks, warm spices, cherries on snow and pure snow - but also my nice long tapered solstice candles for burning on the 21st onwards....... I have been quite traditional this year and got natural beeswax candles, which smell really nice.  The metal holders are out on the window ledge all ready and I am starting to feel quite festive...

I also bought a few candles to give away as presents, they may only be little things, but to me a candle is kind of a significant gift, particularly at the Winter Solstice as it lights the way forward into the new year.

Right, time to extract Hugo from the top of the door and head to bed to get a decent nights sleep before I have to remember what getting up at 6.00 am is all about..........

The view from the sofa....

Soooo, I last updated on, erm, I think it was Tuesday, when the leg of doom had gotten overexcited and I'd skipped off to the doctors for antibiotics.... but was spending the day on my sofa trying to feel better... and intermittently working on stuff that was left over from Monday.....

Let us move forward to Wednesday, when despite the fact I still hadn't eaten anything and I'd developed an interesting rash on my forearms, not to mention swelling on my finger and wrist joints, I decided that I was well enough to go to work.... and the parental taxi, very unwillingly I might add, agreed to convey me to and from my place of work....  Now in theory this wasn't a bad plan, I wasn't on the roads, I didn't have to walk further than the front of the building to the elevator and I could sit all day and work.... which I did... and slowly felt worse, and worse and worse.... I phoned the doctors in the morning and muttered that perhaps the rash was an allergic reaction to the meds and what was their suggestion.... answer, have an appointment after work.....

By the time I got to see the doctor I was feeling completely pants and in fact absolutely convinced that I was going to have to go to hospital for IV antibiotics...... I'd even put the emergency dog plan into place and my friend was primed to come pick up the hell hounds and take them away for the duration (brave woman that one!)......Suffice to say, yes, I was having an allergic reaction to the meds, but not the simple one that like 1 in 100 people get, no I had to go the whole way and have the reaction that 1 in 100,000 people get - namely my tissues and joints swelling - so I swapped for alternative drugs and was given strict instructions to return to my sofa until they kicked in........ it wasn't a pleasant 24 hours after that as my body seemed to wage some sort of war against itself (we voted in the end for it re-enacting it's own battle from the 12th Century English Civil War (Stephen v. Matlida) and somewhere definitely there had been a charge or two of heavy horses across my body....)

Which meant Thursday was viewed from the sofa......... as was Friday.......... which should have been a day's holiday spend doing festive things....... today has also been spent on the sofa........ the highlight of my day being the grocery delivery ...... which I looked at, put away and wondered if I was ever actually going to feel like eating again........ not sure if it's the drugs but I have no appetite at all... though I am drinking all the fruit juice in the world!

Most of my sofa time has been spent reading (okay, in the first couple of days there was an awful lot of sleeping going on too) but also watching ... or at least having on in the back ground.... any TV shows that I could find that didn't cause me to throw things at the TV.....

Which is a dangerous thing

As it made Rupert suddenly start twitching his whiskers

He feels that quite a good story could be concocted from the meeting of an older flamboyant well known celebrity archaeologist and a some what sedate but openly gay young police detective, who meet when the archaeologist's team are carrying out a dig at a medieval castle and come across a shallow grave which contains rather modern remains.... suffice to say neither character hits it off, the police have jurisdiction  the TV crew have permits and a deadline and a 10 year old missing person case has just become a murder investigation.......with the murderer still at large.......

And now I've dumped that out my brain hopefully the bunny from hell will stop pushing!

Ooooh, look how exciting... I can get off my sofa..... and get into bed...... this is getting old, very, very fast........

Relegated .....

To the sofa again!

Alas my leg decided, rather unexpectedly as it had been healing really well, to flare up on Sunday afternoon and by yesterday morning was rather horribly swollen and sore.

A quick trip to the doctors and yes, the cellulitis is back..... possibly of all things caused by the sore throat I had a couple of weeks ago.... which I had done as recommended by medical practitioners everywhere and not sought more than advice from the pharmacist because you don't need antibiotics for a sore throat..... apparently this isn't the case for me any more!  I had thought I'd got my temperature under control - but alas it was just under 39 degrees C last night... really must go find out what it is today...

So for starters I have 2 weeks worth of antibiotics ... which may then go on for another month or so.... it's a good job I am not bothered about not drinking alcohol as that will be out for the whole of the festive season!

I don't feel anywhere like as bad as I did in August the first time this happened, to the extent that I am bored out of my tree and had it not been for the small wobble of dizziness this morning I would have gone to work today.  Instead I have done a bit of work from home but am now on strict instructions to rest up.  Oh and I really should try to eat something as I haven't really eaten a proper meal since Saturday... which may have been a clue that I was coming down with something now I think of it!

Hopefully my Kindle is now recharged and I can go put my leg up and sofa surf for the afternoon...