A Quick Thank You!

I have to admit, I'm not the most avid blogger. I started this blog as an English project my junior year in college because we were required to. Our assignment was to create a blog and just write about something we were interested in. So I chose to write about my favorite thing in the entire world; my dog Sage. She was 11 months old when this blogging adventure began and we had already had some pretty interesting adventures.

However, as I began to go through the pictures I had taken from the past year and put our memories into words, something incredible happened. I realized that the Daily Adventures of Sage & Erin wasn't just a blog for my English class, it was our life and our memories put into words! This blog forces me to really take advantage and appreciate all the time I have with Sage because for some reason, when I am writing, I think about the end of the story. I know that someday Sage will no longer be with me. That's really sad to think about, but I know that I can go back and read about my time with her. I not only document the good times, but the hard times too. These stories are real and they're emotional sometimes. But that's what having a dog is like. It's not always easy, but it's incredible. So I love this blog! I may not update all the time, but the important stuff is here and I will blog about my time with Sage until the very end. 

So, that was a little deeper than I anticipated...but here is the real reason I wanted to write this post. I just wanted to say thank you to my blog friend Lauren for passing along two blog awards to us! I have been a terrible blogger because one of these blog awards came a long time ago. I think I'm supposed to pass them on, but I don't read many blogs! So, ya...like I said, I'm a terrible blogger.

So instead I want to say thank you to Lauren & Claire! Lauren's blog is called life with claire and it's awesome. Claire is Lauren's dog and their stories are hilarious. You should definitely check them out. (She also posts much more frequently than I do.) 

I also want to take this time to say thank you to all of you who actually read this blog! I'm thankful for all the funny comments as well as all the kind and supportive ones you leave when times are tough. Thank you so much! 

What A Shame, The Cone of Shame!

So it's day 2 with the drain tube and things are already starting to look better! I am so relieved! I don't know if I could take it any longer if Sage didn't start to show improvement soon (it's been 9 days since the original dog bite). It's been so sad for me to see her in pain!

But today is a new day! Sage is MUCH more active and all she wants to do is be outside. Unfortunately, that's not an option right now so she's stuck inside and locked in the pantry.

She lets me know how miserable she is with her little whines and sad puppy dog eyes...

When she does get her allotted outside time, she takes full advantage. Her first trip is to the water bowl, where she spends the majority of her time...

(Sage wanted me to note how difficult it is to wear the cone of shame, both physically and emotionally.)

Then she explores a little.

Sometimes she finds some toys laying around, but often they get a little stuck, which is pretty embarrassing.

Then there is another trip to the water bowl...

Then it's back inside where Sage waits not so patiently for her next trip outside.

The cone of shame...What a shame!

Poppin' Pills

It was a beautiful day in Texas this morning, but instead of enjoying the cool weather by going on a walk with Sage as we normally would, we instead made a trip to the Animal Emergency Clinic. The swelling in her leg seemed to be spreading and didn't look much better this morning, so I decided to take her in. I would rather be safe than sorry for sure...especially when it comes to Sage.

As we walked in the front door of the AEC, we were welcomed by some familiar faces. Sage is a bit of a celebrity there because of our frequent visits. The vet on call happened to be the same one who had seen us last Sunday. I was relieved because he just had that nature about him...you know those times when you meet someone and just immediately trust them? Ya, he is like that. He recommended that we put a drain tube in to relieve the pressure and allow the wound to continually drain.

A couple of hours later, Sagey was ready to come home. The vet prescribed another antibiotic to take in conjunction with the one she had been on as well as another pain medication. She is now on two different antibiotics and two different pain medications.

Sage spent the day hangin' out with John just resting (and draining). The good thing is that she is in good spirits and seems to be feeling better...I think the pain meds are working!

 I'm confident that these meds are going to kick in and heal this nasty infection right up! The drain tube will be in for 3-4 days and the stitches will come out in 10-14. And unfortunately, the cone of shame will be around for 10 days as well, however I think she's used to it.

Sage's (FAT) vet bill folder

So here we are...3 sets of stitches, 2 dog bites, and 1 dirty piece of scrap metal all in 3 months. Is that some sort of a record? 

Confession

I guess I should just cut to the chase.

The reason it's been awhile since my last post is...well...just look for yourself...

Stitches. Again.

 I didn't want our very next post to be about another injury!

Waiting for our sweet puppy at the emergency vet at 1AM!

 Unfortunately,  Sage got stitches a few weeks after our last post...We were playing frisbee and she ran into some scrap metal that someone carelessly through over their back fence. An expensive trip to the emergency vet left her with some stitches, antibiotics, and pain pills. A week later, they were ready to come out!

What a look!

 

Don't worry, I'm not done...

Notice the NEW shaved patch on Sage's leg along with the OLD shaved patch...

Last week John took Sage and his two dogs on a walk. The next morning when we woke up, Sage was limping. We checked her out and noticed her right forearm (right below the elbow) was pretty swollen. OBVIOUSLY it was a Sunday so we visited our friends at the emergency vet clinic. The vet seemed to think that Sage was suffering from a dog bite.

She went home with some pain pills and antibiotics. 

The next couple of days her leg got more and more swollen. I took her to our normal family vet and they thought it might actually be a snake bite! Here is the short story: I freaked out, vet prescribed Benadryl, swelling went down, abscess in leg bursts, we went back to vet, vet said it was dog bite (not snake bite), we got more antibiotics.

 Now, two days later Sage is confined to her crate because it seems that the abscess in her leg is getting bigger even while on antibiotics. The plan is to watch her and see if the spot on her leg continues to expand. If it does, we will go pay some money to our friends at the emergency vet clinic. I'm hoping that it will subside on its own...

So there. Sage has already had a pretty eventful 2012, what about you?? 

However, I will end my post with some fun pictures of Sage that I took between emergency vet visits...

playing with christmas presents

Sage throwing the frisbee to herself

Get better soon sweet girl!