Gains and Losses

In all this blitz of activity, we noticed our beloved chow, Sheena, stopped eating her dog food and lost weight. Once we had one free minute, we took her to the vet again. She had seemed a little puny in August, and the vet thought she had skin trouble or "hot spots" getting a bit infected, which was normal for the hot season, so we shaved her fluffy red fur off and forgot about it. Normally her fur grew back quickly, but after a month, it hadn't grown at all, and I put tee shirts on her to keep her warm at night. I was writing and submitting a quarter million grant, taking care of mom, unpacking and sorting our stuff, and the vet called and told us Sheena's blood test has revealed a terrible cancer in her liver. A huge mass had grown, and we took her to a specialist for surgery on the same day I bundled and submitted the grant, and we didn't know it then but my mom had been bitten by a hobo spider. Sheena died on the OR table, mom's leg swelled up and turned black, and the grant went in on time. I've never felt such a loss as losing my beautiful dog. Something in me just shut down. Steve and I couldn't stop crying, and mom was in terrible pain. She wouldn't let me take her to the emergency room, she just wanted to wait for Dad to come get her. She is very stubborn and too big to move without cooperation. I gave her some hydrocodone, and she was able to sleep through the night. Dad showed up the next day, and I told him something weird was up with mom's leg, and our dog had died. The doctor diagnosed mom's leg as a hobo spider bite, and she underwent "wound care" for two years to heal that awful injury. We think our hide a bed must have been the source of the spider, since I vacuumed the house after removing the carpets. All the furniture had been in the garage all summer, so the spider must have been in it somewhere. We never saw it, and neither did she. She can't remember being bitten either, but apparently the venom numbs the bite site and one doesn't feel it. I'm going to skip the ensuing winter and move on to spring. Suffice it to say we got a horrible flu during the holidays, rescued a Chow, (Griz) from the pound in Bonners Ferry, and managed to survive a very cold snap without losing the water.