Visiting hours, fast cake, sleepwalk to a win

On my way home last night I stopped in to visit Nicki.  The vet where she is at is literally right on my homeward route.  I had called for a status update on Nicki earlier in the day which didn’t sound like much changed.  However Ali told me when she had visited they actually had Nicki up and walking outside which was good news.  I was hoping to see her feeling more energetic.

When I walked in the ICU she saw me and wagged her tail but did not move from her laying position.  The excitement was not very long lived as she put her head down, doing slow, labored breathing.  The visual I saw did not seem any different than Sunday.  I felt terrible for her.  She had wet her pad so I asked the staff back there if we could change it.  I served as a human forklift as I lifted Nicki up as they tried to quickly swap out the bedding. She laid still in my arms as I held her, too wiped out to even really react.

Since Sunday they had completely wrapped Nicki’s right front and rear paw in elastic bandage.  For some reason they have an IV connected at both spots.  I saw that Ali brought in Nicki’s blue monkey toy, something she was fond of as a younger dog.  I just took turns kneeling/sitting on the floor petting her.  She kept moving her rear left leg, almost like she was trying to reposition herself.  I tried helping her move but she couldn’t really show me what position she wanted to be in.

I talked to the vet that was there (this place has a lot of them). He indicated that their main focus was something different than what the vet on Sunday told me.  (low blood sugar and low protein)  He said Nicki’s low blood pressure was the main thing they were trying to address.  He also said they are concerned about her getting mobile as soon as possible.  Much like an old person that breaks their hip, the longer Nicki goes without being able to get around herself the more difficult it is going to be to get her back to that point.  She just seemed so tired and weak to me at that moment I could hardly believe she was walking around earlier in the day.

I left the place not feeling the optimism I hoped for.

When I got home I jumped right into high speed chocolate cake making.  Over the weekend I realized I didn’t give Cindy an official birthday cake although we did enjoy some pretty good deserts at the Turtle Club.  I told her if she could make sure we had the ingredients I would make the cake last night.  I had to rush the process a little bit so it isn’t the best cake I ever made but based on the cupcakes we made out of the same batch I think it is still pretty good.

Last night I watched a good portion of the Eagles game until my sleep deprived eyes closed late in the third quarter.  I was happy to hear they held on to win easily 27-7.  It was an odd game, you would think beating the Giants by 20 points would really make you feel good about the Eagles future.  The reality is the Giants played AWFUL making mistake after mistake and turning the ball over like it was coated in butter.

The Eagles defense played well.  The Eagles offense was ok but Sam Bradford continued to display a pretty glaring lack of accuracy.  He just is not throwing the ball well, especially anything over 10 yards.  The Eagles at 3-3 are now leading the NFC East which is battling hard to be the worst division in football.  I’m happy for the win, I’m still not convinced it means the team is going anywhere this season.