Is There a Doctor in the House?

The last week has been eventful, to say the least. I've been fighting with some pretty nasty allergy symptoms for the last few weeks and was on the verge of losing my voice Tuesday afternoon. I gathered up some materials and loosely prepared for a sub for Wednesday - just in case. Just as I was climbing into bed, Donny came into the room - chewing on something. I was able to pull a 1-2 inch piece of elastic headband out of his mouth pretty easily, but panic set in as we searched the house for the rest of it (another 10 inches or so). Unable to locate any remnant of the headband, we took Donny to the 24-hour emergency vet. They took x-ray photos and found the headband sitting in his stomach! After unsuccessful attempts to remove the headband by induced vomiting and endoscopy, the vet determined that it would be necessary to perform surgery to remove the elastic from his belly. I was a wreck - hormones surging, tears flowing. Ben was calm and reassuring, but it was not easy saying our goodbyes and letting the vet take Donny for surgery. Around 5:00 Wednesday morning, the vet called to say they had retrieved the elastic pieces and that Donny was starting to come out of his anesthesia. He spent 2 days at the vet recovering, and was finally released on Thursday evening around 7:30.

Donny - shortly after coming home from surgery

He was in pretty bad shape - about 30 - 40 staples up his belly, one of his paws was sore from a catheter, and one of his eyes had abrasions on it from drying during surgery (did you know cats' eyes don't close when they're under anesthesia?). All he wanted to do was sleep. And he did - all night Thursday, all day Friday, and most of Saturday. His regular vet told us that if he didn't start eating and drinking by Sunday evening, that we should start force-feeding him. He gave us a plastic syringe and special food the consistency of pudding for this task. Luckily, he started nibbling on some food on his own late Saturday and ate a couple of times on Sunday. Today, he's been eating his regular food and sitting in his favorite place (as opposed to curled up in seclusion in the closet). Definite signs of progress!!

Bird-watching while recovering

One of the saddest parts of all of this is that Marie doesn't recognize Donny. She has been hissing and growling at him! Donny doesn't really respond... he just looks like his feelings are hurt. 

After worrying all night and not getting any sleep, I was feeling even worse than I had been the day before, so I ended up taking Wednesday off. I also had my monthly doctor visit and my glucose test that afternoon. The doctor said everything is going very well. I haven't heard anything about my glucose blood test, but they said the lab would only call me if I failed and needed to come in for a 3-hour test. I'll call this week just to double check that everything went well with the blood test.

On Saturday we celebrated Ben's graduation from UK with his professor and other graduates at the park.  It's always nice to relax and just hang out after how much hard work these students put in! Ben's parents came down from IL for the big day. The commencement ceremony for masters and doctorates was held in Rupp Arena. We were sitting pretty far away, but here is a picture of Ben just after being hooded by his professor, Jim Campbell. 

I'm so proud of all of Ben's hard work over the course of the last ten years! He's persevered through all of the rehearsals, presentations, papers, and late-night study sessions! What an amazing accomplishment!

Dr. Ben Stiers!!

After graduation, we ate lunch at Three Suns Bistro in Brannon Crossing. Thanks for the recommendation, Gina - the food was fantastic! It was a great way to celebrate both Ben's graduation and Mother's Day! While I consider myself more of a "mother in waiting," it did feel pretty wonderful to kind of be included in a very special group of people. I hope all of you Moms out there reading this know just how special and important you are! 

My first Mother's Day flowers!

Entering my 3rd trimester this week! Time is flying! I'm feeling very thankful this week - for my health, Donny's recovery, and time to celebrate Ben's outstanding achievement with his parents!