It was a usual Sunday morning. The hubby was up early while I was sleeping in. I was dreaming or thought I was dreaming when I heard the worst sound out of my husband's mouth.
"Heather......get up......wake up now.....Heather....there is something wrong with Bentley.....he isn't breathing.....hurry.....get up......Heather wake up....."
The fear, panic & desperation in Shane's voice was like nothing I have ever heard before. I can still hear him in my head & feel sick to my stomach every time I think of it.
I flew out of bed, damn near tripped over the pet gate in front of our bedroom door, almost fell down the stairs & then I saw Bentley laying lifeless on the kitchen floor in a pool of phlegm & vomit. He wasn't breathing. I tried to move him out of the vomit & he was limp. I immediately thought he was dead. While I was doing this, Shane is frantically trying to tell me what happened. He said Bentley was trying to throw up & just collapsed to the floor. After he told me this I instantly felt a wave of relief come over me & I knew he was going to be ok....eventually.
It is called "vomit drop" & is very common in Bulldogs due to their elongated palates. I have seen Bentley do this twice before while Shane was out of town. Unfortunately, Shane has never witnessed it....until this morning. When bulldogs try to vomit & nothing comes up, their carotid artery will constrict due to the wretching & will cause them to vagal & eventually pass out. After a few minutes, they will come to & recover as if nothing ever happened. Definitely scary to watch.
I opened his mouth, did a sweep, cleared what mucous I could away from his trachea & pulled on his tongue. I then rolled him on his right side & as I did this he started moving, tried to cough & was able to clear more mucous out of his throat. He then came to, started to breathe & just laid there in a daze. Scariest 60 seconds of our life! I was 2 seconds away from giving my dog mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing & CPR. And for those of you who don't think it can be done....watch this video:
Actually this video is quite informative & can be used on ANY dog breed - not just Bulldogs. If you have a dog, please take a few minutes to watch it. I pray that none of you ever have to experience something as scary as this with your beloved pet. Shane & I both laid on the kitchen floor next to Bentley for about 10 minutes petting him & loving on him until he finally got up but his recovery was quite slow. He was coughing up a lot of phlegm throughout the day & was quite lethargic. I almost took him into the ER Vet to have him checked out because I was worried he might have aspirated vomit when he passed out. But after watching him closely & listening to his lungs several times throughout the day he seemed to be fine. He didn't start acting himself until the next day & that is when I felt he would truly be ok.
Ugh - we love that silly dog so much. I am SO dreading the day when Shane & I lose him - it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it :(
Tonight the neighborhood girls gathered at Melissa's house for February game night. There was a great selection of wine, a dee-lish spread of food & as usual, many laughs shared by these fun girls. I decided to try out a new dip recipe & it seemed to be a hit with all the girls. It was called Greek Dip & I served it with pita chips. Must have been good as there was hardly any left by the end of the night. It was a layered dip consisting of chive/onion cream cheese, hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, feta cheese & kalamata olives. I will put the recipe below if anyone is interested.
After we ate, drank & got caught up with everyone we gathered around the table to play Left, Right, Center which ended up being a lot of fun. Everyone brought $5 in quarters with them & we went around the table rolling the dice, passing quarters to our left, right & to the center & a few of the girls were lucky enough to win the jackpot in the center. The girls called it a night around 11pm as many of us had to get up early the next morning. As usual, it was nice to catch up with these wonderful ladies & I am looking forward to seeing them again in March when it is my turn to host this monthly event.
Greek Dip recipe: 1 tub chive & onion Philadelphia cream cheese 1 container Sabara original hummus 2 med tomatoes, diced fine 1 cucumber, diced fine 1/2 cup red onion, diced fine 4 oz container crumbled feta cheese jar of Kalamata olives, diced artichoke hearts, diced (optional)
I have had a pain in my butt lately & it believe it or not his name isn't Shane :)
For the last 6 months, I have noticed this pain/burning in my left butt cheek that is deep & radiates down my leg after I have been sitting for even short periods of time. When I get up from sitting, I have to move slow & usually walk with a limp until my leg feels normal again. Last week I jumped up to help a co-worker after sitting for quite some time while feeling the all too familiar pain in my cheek, then my left leg was tingly & I almost fell flat on my face. So I finally caved & made an appointment to see the Dr.
I thought for sure it was my sciatic nerve that was bothering me but after seeing the doc & performing a few "tests" which involved provoking sciatic nerve compression by doing flexion, adduction, & internal rotation maneuvers, as well as taking some X-rays it was determined it wasn't sciatica...kinda, sort of.
Turns out I have "piriformis syndrome" - a neuromuscular disorder that occurs when the sciatic nerve is compressed or irritated by the piriformis muscle which aggravates the nerve causing sciatica-type symptoms. Nothing too serious but it is something that is painful, uncomfortable & quite annoying.
To get rid of this annoying diagnosis, I have been instructed to take muscle relaxants at night, NSAID's during the day, do stretching & exercises that target the gluteusmedius & hip abductor muscles daily & avoid activities like running, bicycling & unfortunately certain sex positions (what the heck?) which all aggravate the muscle while healing.
This is the literature the Dr gave me regarding this condition & sex because I didn't believe it either: "it has been suggested that sexual intercourse can aggravate piriformis syndrome due to the abduction and external rotation of the hip joints by the female in the standard “missionary” position. Therefore, in women who suffer from piriformis syndrome, maybe copulating in the prone or canine positions would be better choices to avoid exacerbating the condition".
Who knew?? I can see the conversation now: "Sorry honey, my butt muscle is still healing. No lovin' for you!"
Ok - I better keep this clean. My family reads my blog & I'm sure I've already said too much :)
SO - am I going to live? YES. Will this pain go away? more than likely, YES. But if none of these things seem to be helping, then we will need to get a little more aggressive with treatment by doing things like physical therapy, massage, custom foot orthotics, gait correction or deep heat ultrasound treatments.
Here's hoping that my pain in the butt goes away soon because as simple as it sounds, it is starting to become debilitating.
Hmmm - however, I think I could handle getting massages every week?!?
This year we decided to stay home to watch the annual football game. It wasn't for lack of being invited elsewhere because there were several invitations. We just both agreed that it would be nice to hang out together with the furries, in our jammies & enjoy the game & the commercials without all the socializing .
So, instead of going to a SB party, I decided it might be fun to bring the SB party to us.
I made some new appetizers for the two of us to indulge upon during game festivities & thought I would pass along the recipes since they were oh so yummy. Chicken Roll Ups - a cheesy, chickeny, pastry pillow puff
"Pigs in a Blanket" - made with hotdogs & no cheese. So easy, simple & yummy with a side of ketchup & mustard!
3-2-1 Dip- a spicy, creamy, sausage dip served with Tostito's chips I can't find a picture for this dip but trust me - it is GOOD & always a hit at parties!
As far as Super Bowl 2012 goes: the game - close, good & I'm glad the Giants won! Half-time entertainment - have been & always will be a fan of Madonna Commercials - I've seen better in past years SB ads
Here are a few of my favorite 2012 SB ads:
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Here's hoping the week ahead is a quick one!
Love you Bubba :)
