Good news. We got to visit with Märzen today for a few minutes. She's medicated and still on an IV, so she wasn't herself, but she was obviously very glad to see us. The doctor says she's doing really well but has to stay on the IV at least through tomorrow to give her pancreas a rest and ease the inflammation. They'll do another blood test tomorrow, and if it's as good as expected, we'll be able to bring her home Saturday afternoon.
|
Comments [0]
After we took Märzen to the hospital yesterday, we took the rest of the day off. I didn't do laundry as I'd planned, so I still have that to look forward to. John did walk to West Marine late in the afternoon, and on the way back to the boat he stopped at the vet's (they're in the same strip mall). They said Märzen was a little perkier, so that's good. I'll stop by when I go to do the laundry a little later today. (The Laundromat is in the same strip mall too.)
We just took the dinghy down to the harbor master's office to extend our stay here. We're paid up until Sunday noon. On the way back I started the motor and drove the dinghy for the first time. It wasn't bad, but I think it's more fun as a passenger.
We have a new neighbor on the dock, another Baja Ha-Ha boat named Jammin. Jammin is owned and sailed by Dave and Helen Peoples from Milwaukie, Oregon, but right now Dave is on his own while Helen attends to some health problems back in Oregon. Although our home port is San Francisco, we have deep roots in Portland, so we feel an extra connection with Dave - even though he is a Beavers fan.
By the way, our SSB radio has been working great. John has been updating our position using Sailmail when we don't have Internet. So even if there's no blog entry, you can still see where we are.
|
The vet was very nice ??" a fellow sailor ??" and he gave Märzen a shot to stop her vomiting and fluids under her skin to re-hydrate her. He also ordered some blood tests. Then he let us take her home. She seemed better last night but still couldn't keep anything down, most worrisomely not even water. She had a quiet night but started throwing up again early this morning, so we took her back to the hospital even before the vet we saw yesterday was due to come in. The new vet took a short look at her and admitted her.
The immediate concern is the dehydration. She'll be on IV fluids now for a few days. From the blood work, they think it's pancreatitis, although she doesn't seem to have the pain normally associated with it. Since we were concerned after talking with the vet yesterday that it might be kidney failure and that she could have diabetes (but that wouldn't explain the vomiting), this is somewhat of a relief even though pancreatitis is quite serious and can even be life-threatening.
So we'll be here in Oxnard (Channel Islands Harbor) at least until Saturday noon. Tom has gone to visit his sister Phyllis and will probably fly home out of Burbank. Our friend Kevin Steele is an attorney in LA, and we're going to have dinner with him tomorrow night. There are stores nearby (the vet hospital is on the edge of a shopping center), so we don't even need to rent a car. If Märzen has to be sick, better that it's here than somewhere in Central America. (We're trying to look on the bright side.)
|
