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As I type, my best ever friend and kindest sweetest soul I have ever known is at the Vet.
Late last may I was rubbing her belly and felt a lump and some wetness by one of her nipples, and the Vet prescribed antibiotics, which did nothing, and I figured the worst and decided to just make every day with her count, and make sure she did not suffer,
Part of making every day count was riding to the watering hole Via Chariot and electric skateboard, and going swimming. It was a daily ritual.
Hurricane Debby then flooded inland areas, and the nearby creek mouth was where it all flowed. The water quality became super nasty looking especially on an out going tide.
One day on an incoming tide it didn't look too bad and I allowed Fiona to go swimming.
5 Oclock that night her mammary had blown up to the size of my fist.
The emergency hospital came back a week later saying the results of the culture came back and the bacteria was Vibrio Vilnificus, and they had never heard of it infecting a Dog before
. It is the same bacteria which kills people who eat contaminated oysters, and is related to cholera and flesh eating bacteria. They said she needed to be on different Antibiotics immeditely,
The mammary had already shrunk down to before the swimming, and continued to shrink.
The emergency Vet recommended a all her mammaries and her uturus be removed.
Her regular Vet said her quality of life was so high, that she could not recommend subjecting Fiona to this major surgery, likely just telling me what I wanted to hear.
So a month ago I Noticed Fiona licking it.
Today, She is having that mammary and the one next to it removed.
So Woulda coulda shoulda have had it removed earlier. The statistics say it is far more likely to be malignant than not, and even after removal it is likely to return in another mammary.
She has been so spunky, and not acting her 11.5 years of age that all we can do is hope she beats the odds, recovers quickly, and has a few more good years left in her.
After The first mammary gland blow up, she was no longer allowed to swim, and the water quality just looked horrible for months. We would still go to the Watering hole, but not swim.
Hurricane Milton had damaged it, and after it was repaired, they paid some moron to re oil it.
When oiling wood one is supposed to apply it, let it drink what it wants, and remove the excess. If the excess is not removed within a few hours, or less, depending pon heat and humidity, it stinks to high heaven and stays sticky.
I found the smell so offensive that unless it was super windy, I could not handle it.
So We would skate to the parks nearby instead.
I noticed a trail from one park into a different neighbor hood with smooth roads and little traffic, and we started cruising this hood regularly.
roll close to the water's edge.
The day before we were here, and Fiona saw a bird and decided to go into the 'private property', along the seawall, So I decided to put her on the leash this time.
I stopped with chariot and Esk8 parallel to the sea wall, pressed the button on my remote to turn it off, and went to lean down and attach leash to Fiona's collar before she jumped out of her Chariot.
But I had not pressed the power button on the remote long enough to turn it off. Fiona was eager to jump out of the chariot, and somehow I managed to hit the throttle. The esk8 launched forward, and one wheel caught an edge, and the board shot off towards the edge of the seawall.
I yelled Noooo!, and dove after it. I got my left hand on it, barely, and it dragged me forward, my body awkwardly rotating. When my right hand hit the ground, my shoulder popped out of its socket. The board splashed anyway,
I couldn't believe what was happening, and then noticed something was wrong with my shoulder.
I didnt know if I broke the Humerus or it was just dislocated, or both. I took some bungees from Fionas charuiot and made a sling.
The Big pneumatic wheels on front trunk kept skateboard from sinking, and smoky bubbles were emanating from the enclosure.
I rigged up a lasso to hook a tire and fished the board out one handed, after the smoky bubbles stopped.
The board was Hissing still, and I pulled the loopkey, opening the circuit between battery and speed controller, and the hissing stopped.
I'd called my dad who had major issues finding me, and No way was i abandoning chariot or water damaged skate, but no way was I bringing the battery into the vehicle.
I undid the velcro sinch straps holding the enclosure to board, and the battery to the enclosure, and left the battery there.
The emergency room was a nightmare.
I had never been in such Pain in my life, as the muscles spasmed and were grinding the humeral head into the screwed glenoid capsule.
Of course i have no Insurance, because insurance companies suck donkey balls and would deny all claims anyway. The Bill came out to close to 9k dollars.
I was able to get it down to a little less than half of that.
If anybody thinks reducing a dislocating a shoulder is a simple thing to reset by slamming into a wall, mel gibson/ lethal weapon style. They are badly misinformed.
3.5 months later I am mostly pain free, but Have next to no strength in some movements.
I did see an orthopedic surgeon, who was like why are you on self pay, is it because you are rich, or poor?
He basically rushed out of the room to snort another line of cocaine when I indicated the latter.
the 200$ visit< i walksed out of there with a generic shoulder evercise pamphet I could have downloaded off the internet.
Many of those exercises were totally incorrect for my injury.
I basically had to research and figure out which of the rotator cuff muscles were damaged and come up with my own rehab regimen.
I still have no Idea if I will ever be able to paddle a surfboard again. It is that interior rotation, where I am the weakest still, and I suspect a Full thickness full width tear of the subscalpularis and a partial tear of supraspinatus muscles.
Since surgery Ain't happening, all I can do is teach the larger muscles to keep the humeral head centrated in the socket, since the rotator cuff muscles can no longer perform that task.
About a month ago I felt like I might be able to tow Fiona's chariot again, and had enough parts left over to rebuild another skateboard, So we have been able to ride again, usually about 10 miles a day. She loves it as much as I do. Not only the journey, but the destinations. We were driving to these spots in my dads car, but its not the same. Walking her from the front door, and we'd get a few houses away, and she was like,' this sucks, lets go home'. and would pull me back and look depressed.
When I had pulled out her chariot and the Eskateboard again, she went absolutely bonkers with delight.
People with whom I have never spoken, Know Fiona's name and say how glad they are to see us riding again, as we cruise past, barking.
My mom's Alzheimers is progressing. Less rational and less cognitive ability every day. It' a fucking cruel disease.
4 days a week, six hours a day, we take her to a senior Freindship center, so she gets to babble with others with similar conditions, which helps all of us greatly.
My Van rarely moves, and when it does it mostly gets loaded with mulch soil and plants, then parked again.
It needs a bunch of rust treated and another layer of yacht enamel rolled on, but that seems unlikely to occur, I have to park it elsewhere and working on it is not high on my to do list.
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