Scary Stuff

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK : Abstinence makes the fat go faster!!! (and that's a Travelling Tart original)

Zanna

And it's all this girl's fault.  After spending a couple of days in the dog motel (kennels) while we were in Melbourne she came home Sunday full of beans and very happy to see us.  Monday night (my FB friends already know this story) about 6.30pm when Bloss was in the study and I was in the lounge pottering on my laptop and cooking tea, Zanna was doing her usual thing of deciding which of us she wanted to favour with her company - she has a mat in both rooms.  I was vaguely aware of her getting up and heading towards the study when suddenly just as she reached the top of the stairs her back legs just seemed to give way and she collapsed in a heap, lost control of her bladder and just lay there with her eyes open but totally out of it.  I was a gibbering idiot - trying to find the vet's phone number on my iphone with shaking hands and no glasses so couldn't see!!  Meanwhile Bloss is trying to mop up the water and talking to Zanna. I talked to the oncall vet and arranged to meet at her surgery.  By this time Zanna had at least lifted her head but made no attempt to get up.  We carried her down stairs in a blanket sling and as we put her into the back of the car she stood up - which was a great relief to see that her legs still worked.  When we got to the vet's she walked around Ok in the surgery and while she was far from her usual self, her vital signs all checked out OK other than her heart beating rather fast.  She slept by my bed that night and didn't move a muscle or make a sound - she seemed to be totally out of it.  Next day I took her to our own vet who did further checks and took some bloods.  The good news is that the results don't show any underlying reasons for her faint or seizure.  Our vet believes she has had some type of seizure but has no idea if/when it might re-occur so meantime we just monitor and continue to enjoy our lovely girl.  It's been a bit of a wake up call for us as although she has become quite grey round the muzzle, she's still very fit and lean and we'd kind of overlooked the fact that she's 10 1/2 now which equates to about 72 human years so is really quite an old lady now - especially for a large dog. Nola was great support and comfort to me during all this as she has had to cope with similar episodes with Harry - thanks Nola - your support was very much appreciated.  It took I'd say about 24 hours before she seemed to be back to her normal bouncy self and I'm delighted to say that she's been fine ever since.

Despite all these stressful times, I have left the alcohol alone this week and am pleased to report a loss of 600g - it was down a bit further before the weekend but I'll just report on what it is on a Sunday.  Some things to improve on - drink more water - with the weather being somewhat cooler I have to make much more of an effort to drink water so that's on this week's PIP (Performance Improvement Plan - an HR term) and I also need to get some more excercise - unfortunately life has been getting in the way but I'll keep trying.  I've put a ticker above - unfortunately it doesn't seem to cater for grammes and just rounds up or rounds down to the nearest kilo - the solution I guess is just to lose a kilo at a time!!

Other news - a busy week at work - month end is always a bit crazy but survived it OK.  Friday night we went round to Deb and Ian's for drinks (non alochol bubbles for me) - quite nice really and the kj count quite low.  Yesterday Deb's two sons were competing in a 4X4 comp on a large property about 60kms from here, so we went down for the afternoon and evening to watch - brilliant fun especially when you know someone who's competing.  Deb and Ian and the boys and their girlfriends camped overnight - we toyed with the idea but we haven't had our camper trailer out in ages and since it was all a bit last minute we opted to just drive down and back - but I reckon when the next comp is on in November we'll stay too.  Thinking also that next time we might take Josh - he would have loved watching the trucks clambering over piles of tyres, stacks of logs, going through water etc.

So that's this week - I've got a pot of chicken broth bubbling on the stove, and now I need to get something into the slow cooker ready for tea - Grant, Tiff and the boys are coming down as usual.  We're also thinking of going for lunch at the local Surf Club with Deb, Ian and Shelly and Pat but that will depend if Bloss manages to get the lawns mowed and the pool sorted first.

Hope you all have a brilliant week
Love Zanna xx

Cameron with his girlfiend Hannah as 'navvy' go down into the gully

Brandon and Zac getting ready to 'walk' the truck along a series of logs

Bloss and I at the 4X4 comp