Right, like airlines even believe in a thing called customer service to start with...
So yesterday my flight was canceled due to inclimate weather...at this point it sucks, but I do not blame the airline. In fact, the girl who "helped" me seemed so nice. She checked bunches of flights, other airlines, etc. Nothing. There is crappy weather and canceled flights all over. So, she reschedules me for the same flight this evening. Tells me I am confirmed.
Today (too bad I wasn't cynical enough to do this immediately when I got home) I went on-line to see what kind of seats were available - I was actually thinking of upgrading to first class. Instead, I get a message that my flight has been rescheduled and that I must call the 800 number to "resolve the issues with this reservation". So I call. I am in the queue for a good 15-20 minutes before some outsourced US Airways employee answers. Based on her accent I am betting I was put through to India. She proceeds to put me on hold for another 5 minutes to figure out what is going on. At which point she comes back and tells me it is going to be long and starts asking me about some flight this morning.
What flight this morning? It seems the bitch at the ticket counter yesterday royally fucked up and confirmed me on a flight that would have left this morning, going through Phoenix, and would have gotten me into Seattle around 7:40pm. However, that isn't actually correct either, I don't think, because the note on the web page as I was trying to check-in this afternoon specifically noted Flight 1549 for this evening. The person on the phone informs me that my "confirmation" was a standby reservation. What the hell is that? How can you reserve standby?
Anyway...the BEST they can do for me NOW is to put me on a flight TOMORROW that goes through Philly and won't get me into Seattle until 11:40pm. I also do not yet have an assigned seat on the Philly flight because all they had left were exit row and "premium" seats...I will supposedly be assigned a seat when I check in in Charlotte tomorrow. (What this really means - though she specifically told me that it was not true and I was guaranteed a seat - is that I may not get on that flight either because I am certain ALL flights are overbooked at this point.) The weather is supposed to turn for the worse again in Seattle...I have no idea what it is doing in Philly, but it probably isn't good and at this point I am betting money that I will end up stuck in Philly for who knows how long.
When I ask what compensation I will get for having an agent of US Airways outright lie to my face, I am told there is nothing they can do, but that she was very sorry for the inconvenience. Inconvenience? The retard at the counter should be reprimanded up to and including termination for lying to a customer. They won't even give me a voucher for an in-flight meal and I will still be paying the $15 for my checked bag.
Amazing. They know they've got you by the balls and they are loving every minute of it. If I could not ever have to fly (or at least deal with an airline) again it would be the best day of my life.
Today was the last check-up for the Moo before I leave town. I took her in instead of just calling in because she has started shaking her head and rubbing her face on the floor again. And when I clean her ears I am getting more gunk than I would like...this time mostly out of the right ear.
The vet cleaned her ears again while we were there and said he is seeing more inflamation and such than he likes, but there is no sign of infection or yeast which is good. So, for the time being the vet extended the prednisone (at a lower dose - once every other day), put her on an antihistamine two to three times a day as needed, and told me to continue the drops twice a day until I get back. The poor folks at the kennel are going to hate me! (And poor Neil who has to do this all for several days before she goes to the kennel!)
But mostly poor Moo. She is being SO good about it all, but you can tell she is tired of people messing with her ears.
When I get back...and I am talking right back - I get off the red-eye flight at around 6:10am...wait for bags, the shuttle to the car, etc., drive directly to the kennel to pick up the dogs, and then, after dropping Sadie by the house, go straight to the vet's office for another check-up at 8:30am on New Year's Eve...he is going to look at her ears and probably change up the meds. Hopefully at that point we will be off the prednisone and the drops will change to something else that has a steriod in it. He can't do that now because her eardrum is not healed enough yet.
Then the exciting part...depending on how things are looking, we go on a food trial. Three months of prescription, non-allergenic formula crap. I am not excited about this. The problem is, we need to rule out a food allergy and because she has already been on food that has an alternaitve proteins or carbs in it, we have to go with Hills Z/D diet. I am really, really, really hoping that it is an airborne allergy...though I think even if it doesn't seem to be food, I might try out the Wellness limited ingredient food once we are done with the trial to see how she and Sadie fare on that. We'll just see. The worst and hardest part is that she can't have any treats unless they are prescription, non-allergenic things. And her heartworm meds and other supplements have to stop too.
I guess I am dreading this, because in my heart of hearts I truly don't think this is food related...and part of me feels like if we could wean her off all the crap I am putting in her body and her ears right now that she would be OK. But, I don't want to do that and end up right back where we were before (or worse). So, for now, I have to trust that the vet knows what he is doing (which I really do think he does - he isn't the kind of vet to do things for doing's sake).
The doc said her ears are looking really great...and that now the fun part starts. We have to wait and watch to see if it is going to be a continuous problem.
The good news is that typically a food allergy still shows symptoms even with prednisone, so he doesn't think that is it. (Whew!) However, it could be an airborne allergy that triggers it...so we are now keeping an eye out for feet chewing/licking, shaking the head, hot spots, etc. while she gets weened off the prednisone. Unfortunately, my trip home falls right in the middle of all this, so she may end up on a low dose of prednisone while I am away to stave off any issues until I am back and can tackle them as soon as they show signs.
Ultimately, though, I don't think this is a chronic problem. I truly think it was the infection from this summer that never got cleared up properly. And now that I know I need to clean her ears regularly, I don't think it will be an issue.
Sadie, on the other hand, has a hot spot of sorts...it looks as though something either bit or stung her rear end while she was going potty the other day. Right under the base of her tail. Poor gal! I gave her some benedryl and rubbed the spot with some rubbing alcohol.
Only 10 days until I leave for vacation to visit my family! I can't wait!!! This week has been insane...next week I only have a 2-day review so that is good. It will be busy, though, with getting the house ready to be empty (relatively) for about a week and a half.
Tomorrow Marly goes to the vet for a follow-up to see how her ears are doing. I am a little concerned because the right one seems to be red and irritated, but I am hoping that is just left over irritation from the procedure.
Also, tomorrow I get my hair cut. YAY!
This weekend will be spent cleaning the house and packing up doggie items for both Neil's house and for their kennel stay.
Tonight I must get gifts packed up so I can take them to be mailed tomorrow. Thank goodness the UPS store is right next to the vet's office so I can do all that in one fell swoop. I can also hit up the pet store near there for some Nature's Miracle* and cat food.
Nothing else new happening here - work this week has been icky. I will be glad when today is over.
*Someone has been marking again...Mr. M. So, he is going to be relegated to the outdoors while I am away. He seems to do alright inside as long as someone is home, but if left alone inside he starts marking out his territory (which is apparently the entire house now). However, I ran out of the good enzyme cleaner stuff yesterday so I will be grabbing more tomorrow while I am out and about.
I am SOOOOO tired. Marly is doing great with the prednisone in that she isn't having any incontinence issues, but she still has to go outside about every hour and a half. Which means no sleep for the doggy-mommy.
I got my new cover for Mockingbird today...it is pretty, memory foam covered in a natural colored hemp material. And black trip with gold colored zipper-pulls. It is quite plain and natural looking. I dig it. I needed it for my trip home in a couple weeks since I will be hauling both Mockingbird and my work laptop with me.
I am tired of never going out and doing anything (aside from the basics - eating, grocery shopping, working, etc.)...Charlotte is a big city, there MUST be things to do in the evenings that would appeal to folks I know (i.e. I am not going to go out by myself...) and that don't cost an arm and a leg. *sigh*
Three out of four walls in the living room are now painted! YAY! I tried to do some decent edging along the ceiling, but deep down I know I am going to paint the ceiling...someday. And so, the 'oopses' I think will help spur that day into being sooner rather than later. The last wall should be a piece of cake, I just need to empty out the cabinets and get them moved...which will not be quite so easy.
After that I am going to tackle the guest bath since once it is taped off, it will also be a piece of cake since it should only take one coat.
Dun-dun-dunnnnnn.......then the kitchen. Depending on where I can put the ladder to reach things, I may have to pay someone to finish it too. We'll see once I get going on it.
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Marly is doing better every day. Still hates the ear drops, but I think I am getting a better handle (hahaha pun not indended) on how to hold on to her to keep her still. That and she has quickly figured out that treats come immediately following the ordeal...
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Christmas shopping is about done. Just one last thing to buy or create for a friend...I am just not sure what yet. My mom's oh so exciting gift (a vacuum...my sister told me how badly she needed a new one, and things are tight for my mom so it was something nice I could do for her, even though not that fun!) is at my sister's waiting to be wrapped when I get there. My sister and her husband are getting a refurbished Xbox 360 from us...they use Netflix and watch a lot of movies and since Nick is stuck mostly indoors this winter (due to a major knee surgery last spring) I figured he could use something to keep him occupied - I may look at grabbing a game to go along with the console. However, I need to get it all wrapped up and mailed so it actually gets there by Christmas! And I am so bad, their anniversary present (that should have gone out ot them at the beginning of September) is also going to be mailed. Neil and I are going to do Christmas (sort of) the weekend before since I will be out of town the week of and he will be out of town the week after - which is the weekend after next, so I need to get his stuff wrapped too.
By the way, the Netflix/Xbox thing is pretty slick if anyone is wondering. And if you don't know what I am talking about...with most of the Netflix account options you can rent movies that are available for immediate viewing on your computer. Now you can watch those movies on your TV via your Xbox. And of course, if you can only get the movie on DVD, the Xbox doubles as a player. Heh. Of course there is also the Media Center thing you can do with the Xbox, but it is not nearly as user friendly as the AppleTV's use of iTunes.
I am going to miss the dogs a lot while I am gone...almost 10 days without them. I admit, the break will be nice, especially after all the fussing over Marly that has to be done between now and then, but I still love their company. At least they will be having fun at Neil's and then at their day care/kennel place while I am away. My neighbor will be checking in on the cats for me while I am gone which is very nice of him. I need to get them a little gift of some kind as a thank you/Christmas thing too.
I guess enough rambling...I need to get the dogs bathed. Marly's will be more of a sponge bath since I can't put cotton in her ears yet and I don't want to risk getting water and soap in them yet either. But man is she stinky...I hate how they smell when they get back from being in the vet for a day.
Well, a day and a half now of the prednisone and Moo doesn't seem to be having any incontinence issues! YAY! She is still being a pill about letting me get drops in her ears (and who can blame her after going through what she has?!?) but we are managing.
Running around too much still seems to really bother her, but there has been little to no whining outside of those times and she is sleeping well. We shall see in another week or so if this is all working or not.
It is a good thing we did this procedure now...we'll start with the good news:
The good news is that the procedure went very well and there weren't any complications. Also, Moo's bloodwork came back and she is in excellent health (aside from the ears).
They did both ears - the right ear also had gunk deep down inside, though nothing as bad as the left ear and the right eardrum looked to be perfectly fine. The doc, wonderful man that he is, saved the right ear gunk to show me...a small wad of hair and gunk that looked kind of like something you might pull out of a shower drain trap.
The left ear is the big problem. There was much cleaning to be done and once it was, he said he couldn't find any evidence of the eardrum still in tact...which means a middle ear infection as well as everything else. The good news there is that apparently the eardrum will regrow itself in three to four weeks...so, as long as the infection hasn't done any permanent damage to the ear, her hearing should be fine.
Marly is now on medicated ear drops twice a day (they are weird, thick, milky drops), prednisone twice a day, and antibiotics twice a day - all for the first week. Then the prednisone tapers off and we add in some ear cleaning. Ultimately the prednisone tapers off but is given for a total of 15 days, the antibiotics are a four week run, and the drops and ear cleaning will go on for at least two weeks and then will be reassessed after a follow-up visit to the doctor. Thankfully, Marly is great about taking her medicine...I can just put the pills in her food bowl with her breakfast and dinner and she eats them right up. The difficult part is getting the drops in the ears. She is very wary of anyone coming near them right now and is difficult to get to hold still on my own. Neil helped me out this morning, but it will be a different deal tonight when it is just me. We'll see how that goes!
Poor Moo was in a lot of pain last night...not to mention still pretty out of it from the anesthesia. She whined ALL night long with some moans and groans thrown in to boot. I finally put her in her crate and closed my bedroom door so I could only sort of hear her agony. She is still very whiny this morning and now we have to see how the prednisone (which causes increased water consumption) effects her bed-wetting issues. Poor gal may end up sleeping in her crate for the next month if that starts acting up again. We will just have to wait and see.
The worst part of all of it is that there really isn't anything I can do for her. I did call the vet office this morning and they said that once the prednisone starts kicking in, it should alleviate some of that pain fairly quickly. I hope so, I hate feeling so helpless...and I feel like such a bad doggy mommy for letting that ear get like that (though, then I remind myself that we have been to the vet more than once over it as well).
OH! And did I mention I also got pictures of the inside of each ear? Yeah, before and after shots. Let's just say after looking at them I didn't have much of an appetite last night.
The Moo went into the vet this morning for her ear procedure. I don't know why, but I am really worried about her. I wasn't concerned when she went in to get spayed or when Sadie had to have surgery (twice - one on each knee)...but this one is bugging me. I guess maybe because there is a hefty bit of unknown as to the extent of the troubles in the ear.
Ugh - back to back phone meetings throughout the day. I dislike that...a lot.
Sadie is glued to my side today. She hates it when I take Marly and then don't come back with her.
Somewhere in my day today I am going to write some Christmas cards, frame a photo so I can wrap it and get it ready to ship (a very belated anniversary gift for my sister), and box and wrap some other gits that I will have to ship ahead of me. Then of course I need to actually get them out to be shipped. Heh. That is always the hardest part for me.
I also need to do some laundry.
I wish the vet would call and tell me everything went well...I guess it is still early in the day, though.
Marly Moo (her nickname is Moo because she got so big so fast...we called her Moo-cow) is going in on Thursday for a sedated ear cleaning. *sigh*
Today was her annual boosters, exam, and her first big-girl (3yr) rabies shot. During the exam I asked the doctor to take a look at her ear because it still seems to be bothering her off and on (I am cleaning it three times or more a week to keep it from bugging her). After a lot of struggling to get her to hold still, and a lot of looking and saying "hmmm", he told me that things did not look good in there. That I was doing a fabulous job of cleaning her ear, but that because the original gook/infection from this past summer was never fully cleared, it had been accumulating crud way deep down in the canal that regular cleaning just can't get at.
The hope is that this is truly just left-over from that initial infection and once it is finally cleaned and cleared-up it will be over and done with. According to the doc, the more common probability is that it is an allergy related chronic issue. I am voting for the one-time deal!
Once cleaned she will be on heavy-duty anitbiotics. How heavy will depend on whether the ear drum was comprimised. If so, she could also have a middle-ear infection...which means she could also go deaf in that ear (if she isn't already). And she will be on prednisone, which sucks. Chances are it will bring back the bed-wetting issues, but the doctor was fabulous in actually talking to me about all of that and told me that if it were his dog, he would deal with the bed-wetting because without getting the inflamation under control the infection will keep recurring.
So, there you have it. A simple trip to the vet results in yet another trip that is going to cost me hundreds. No stockings this year and anyone I haven't already shopped for is simply out of luck.
