Low juice, a Turtle b-day, hate the vet

Saturday morning I was out the door at 5AM to time a large cross country meet I have been doing for 5 or 6 years.  The difference this year was I was in a supporting role.  I rented the timing equipment I own to Chris, the guy that helps me at a lot of my other races.  He timed it with different software than I normally use.

You may recall the close call we had with a dying battery at the meet on Tuesday.  I made precautions against that happening again by bringing not one but two marine batteries that can be used to extend battery life.  Chris told me he charged the timing box fully the night before.  This fact made it very concerning when he turned on the box and the battery indicator was already firmly in the red, wtf???

I had replaced the internal batteries on this box several months ago so I knew the batteries should be fine.  I didn’t have time to figure out why it wasn’t getting a good charge so I hooked up one of my external batteries to the box using one of the cables I have used successfully in the past.  As soon as I connected the battery the box started making a clicking noise, just like it did when I connected the DC power supply on Tuesday.  I tried the other battery and another cable and had the same results. Son of a bitch.

For a few moments I stood there, flabbergasted, wondering how in the world we were going to get through four timed events with a box that was already showing a weak battery.  I then started to react, coming up with several plans.  First off we turned off the timing box and reconnected the charger.  We figured if we had to, we could just turn the box on shortly before the first finisher from each race crossed and then turn it off as soon as the last finisher crosses to minimize battery usage.

I then hopped on the Timers Forum I belong to on Facebook and described the symptoms I was seeing, hoping somebody with answers would be online at this very early time of day.  I got my answer very quickly, it had to do with the cable I was using.  As I mentioned, I had used these cables before successfully to power this model of timing box although it was the older model the running club owned.  I found out that the newer models, like what I have require a wire jumper in these cords to power the boxes correctly.  Well now I knew what the problem was but I did not have an immediate solution.

I described the problem to Chris.  He told me that the brand new timing system the school had bought to time future races was supposed to be brought on site by one of the cross country coaches.  With about 15 minutes to go before the first race we drove to her car and grabbed the new equipment that was still in boxes.  Inside of them was an external battery cable which I hooked up to my timing box with the battery.  The battery meter instantly jumped solidly into the green and there was no more clicking.  Crisis averted. I found that even the fast charging adapter on the newer systems has a jumper cable installed which mine was lacking, probably explaining the poor battery level even after being on the charger for hours. Later in the afternoon when I got home I installed a jumper in all 5 of my cables, avoiding this scenario from reoccurring in the future.

Saturday night I had made reservations to go to the Turtle Club for Cindy’s birthday.  On the way there I made a quick pit stop at Staples to snag a crazy cheap deal on a small laptop that I can use as a dedicated GMT workstation.  $149 was just too good to pass up.

The only seating available at the restaurant was indoors.  Outdoor seating anywhere around sunset requires reservations far, far in advance.  Our table was jammed a bit inconveniently back in a corner but it did not detract from our enjoyment of the meal.  Both of our entrees were great as were the deserts.

On Sunday morning I saw that Ali had sent me a number of texts regarding Nicki, she had taken her back to the emergency vet because Nicki was acting very lethargic, not even wanting to get up to drink.  I got further updates regarding what the vet was doing, performing numerous tests and was flabbergasted that a very simple connection was not being made.  The pain killers Nicki was prescribed had numerous side effects including nausea and extreme tiredness. Since she was given the drugs she ate very, very little as a result.  To me it seemed like the vet was totally ignoring the fact that Nicki had hardly eaten for three days when they identified  some blood work numbers that were a little low like blood sugar and protein level.  Instead they used those low numbers to subject Nicki to a barrage of additional testing, each of which has revealed nothing.

When I tried to express my discontent with how the vet was handling the situation it was met unfavorably by Ali who did not appreciate my suggestion that the vet is skipping over the simplest explanation first in order to instead administer expensive testing.  I had the been to this vet once before with Nicki and had a very similar experience where it seemed like their number one concern was getting authorization for extensive labs and testing to “rule out” items.  It felt like going to the doctor complaining of a back ache and them asking you to take an eye test.  I have a deep aversion to vets that prey on a pet owners love of their animals. I just get that feeling in spades from this place.

Those feelings did not improve when Cindy and I went there later in the afternoon to visit Nicki.  They made us wait almost a half hour to go back to see her even though there was nobody else in the waiting room and one other car in the parking lot.  We were told initially the delay was because there were other people visiting their pets and there was a lack of space in the ICU.  When I complained a second time, asking how much longer it would be we magically were allowed to go back a couple minutes later, despite nobody leaving the office.  When we got back to the ICU there was one other client in there and the huge room obviously had no space limitations, nice.

Nicki was asleep in one of high walled kennels.  It took more effort than normal to wake her up.  She was so lethargic I asked if they were giving her some sort of pain killer or sedative in the IV.  They said they weren’t.  She also was shivering, a probable side effect of the IV. Eventually she woke up and realized we were there which got a few tail wags.  I was on my knees rubbing her ears as I saw the various shaved parts of her body as a result of all the testing.  Nicki seemed very weak and made no effort to sit up at all.  Seeing her this way brought tears to my eyes, knowing she was just out at the house the weekend before and had fun, appearing as normal as she can be nowadays.

I asked to talk to the vet that was on duty.  I asked for a recap on what was going on.  The vet was very focused on the slightly low blood sugar and protein levels as being the reason for all of the testing.  She would not acknowledge that the lack of eating after the pain killers were prescribed was a viable reason for the low numbers.  She chose her words very carefully as if not to say anything that would indicate their prior actions could be involved.  When the vet said Nicki could potentially be there a couple more days as they wait for more test results to return it only deepened the black hole I felt I was standing in. I left there feeling depressed, angry, and frustrated.

At this point it is just a wait and see thing.  If Nicki does not perk up enough to be able to stand, eat and drink on her own they will just keep her there.  I just have a sick feeling in my stomach that won’t go away that kept me up a good portion of the night.  There are multiple facets to the emotions running through my head right now and none of them are pleasant.