Its a worry

Sitting in the vets office; I was worried. I'm not a worrier; ask any of my friends and family, I don't worry unless I have to. I learned a long time ago that you can worry yourself silly for absolutely nothing; my strategy is worry when you have to and not before. Ya I know; easier said than done. So there I sat; unusually worrying. It all started Saturday morning at 5:00 am; the sound of heaving and slosh. A noise no dog guardian wants to hear. I was up and moving Tilley out onto the deck while still asleep. She finished out there. Nothing weird; dogs just sometimes vomit.

The rest of the day was pretty normal; she went for a walk, ate her breakfast and lounged the rest of the day. All until 12:00am Sunday morning; again the heaving and slosh, now I'm starting to worry. She ate a completely different dinner than the night before; it didn't make sense. Back to bed and try to drift back while trying not to let those thoughts twirl around in my head. At 13 years of age I'm worried; it's not like a young'n puking. But I finally slipped back into sleep; and awoke worrying.

Yesterday morning; Tilley didn't want cheese at breakfast. She pushed it around on her bed and finally ate it. Highly unusual; she then turned her nose up at her breakfast, this has happened only once before when she was struck by Vestibular disease. Not in all of her 13 years has she not eaten; this was definitely a worry. I called the vet and tried not to worry. It could be nothing; dogs always puke and they always get better.

I already had the plan set in place before I got to the vet. At 13 years of age I wanted a full diagnostic x-ray done and full blood panel. The vet gave Tilley a thorough physical and concurred with what should be the steps we take. And he agreed that it is a worry at 13; I was right to worry. They took Tilley to the back; being separated at the vet is not something I often allow but knowing I'd be up against a good fight about the whole x-ray thing I let it go this once. Sitting in the room my mind started to wander; not to a good place. I tried to shake it off; "it's probably nothing."

I could hear the vet and techs talking in the back; I tried using my best bionic ears to get a heads up, I couldn't. I did hear them say what a great dog Tilley was though. The vet finally came back into the room after what seemed to be an eternity. I braced myself for the news; nothing, no tumors, obstructions or anything to write home about. I let out a huge sigh of relief; wow, I felt like I had been holding my breath that whole time. He did see that Tilley has some pretty good sized bone spurs at two spots on her spine; very painful he explained. That made sense.

I packed Tilley into the suv and we headed home; glad to have her coming home with me. When we opened the door there was Luke and Jessie so happy to see her that it made me smile. They gave her the once over; Luke smelled every inch of her body, lingering on her blood draw spot and wherever the vet had laid hands on her. He never stopped wagging and Tilley seemed to enjoy all the attention.

So I am waiting for the blood results; hopefully they will be good and it was all just one of those things that dogs get, again. And I am not worrying this morning; ya right.

Afternoon addition: Tilley's bloodwork came back with nothing out of the ordinary. Nice. Just a bug or something but she is feeling much better and sleeping away in the kitchen while I bake up a storm.