She's lucky she's cute

So, we were at a birthday party at the Mid-Michigan Children's Museum last night. When we came home, Joey seemed a bit off. Panting, drooling (okay, she usually does this!) excessively, and running around, eating bits of lint & miscellaneous off the floor. Pica behavior is how I would best describe this.

Induced vomiting with hydrogen peroxide. Oh, what didn't come up!? She had eaten shoelaces (cat toy), puffy soft balls (also cat toy), and some sort of plastic - it actually looked like a heavy saran wrap. Plus, most of her dinner. After a frantic hour or so of watching and waiting, rubbing and thumping her belly, her pulse slowed and breathing became more regulated. She burped. Then slept.

I took a Benadryl. I needed to sleep (I had had a long weekend of private hell). All night long, I kept waking, bolting upright. I doubt I slept more than the 90 minutes I did when I first went to bed. As morning dawned, Joey was awake and licking - her belly, her paws. She seemed her normal self other than those. But, nonetheless, I took her to the vet. No fever (yay!). Awake and alert (bonus!). Friendly (the vet is not a "small dog", so of course Joey would be friendly). But, no bowel sounds. Could it be because she hasn't eaten today? Or is something blocking her intestines?

She stayed. I left. We should know something in an hour or so after x-rays.

It really brought a few things home for me, though:

1. Life is precious
2. Time is limited
3. We only go around once

You hear that so often, yet I think this last few days, maybe it's middle-age crazy. Maybe it's a hard kick in the ass of reality. Maybe I should add:

How long can you leave another creature in agony without feeling anything yourself?

So many other unresolved issues are swirling through my head at the moment. I am fasting for a few days, with my fasting buddy Rachael from Charleston. I am so upset this morning, the very idea of food is nauseating. And, after ingesting a few allergens over the weekend, I have to say I am looking forward to clearing them out of my system.

I truly wish it were as easy to clear other things out of my system. People, memories, songs, places - letting go of something I know was never meant to be mine. As hard as it may be. It was just something I always thought would be, but I'm learning as I grow. Or am I growing as I learn?

Some days.