good, bad, and hopeful

Well life has been crazy good and then crazy bad. First off, we had a great Valentine's day in Solvang. We went to Village Spinning and Weaving and picked up my new drum carder. It's fabulous. For lunch we went to Cold Springs Tavern, which is a very rustic little oasis on an old stage coach road and frequented by bikers. Very cool. The chili there is excellent. We had a really fun day little road trip together.

Things went bad on Wednesday morning, when I returned home from yoga practice to find my lovin' spoonful, Tank, on the floor and unable to move.













Of course, I completely freaked out when I found her. After dialing the vet's office about 10 times to no avail, I was finally able to pull myself together enough and get through and tell them I was coming in. We were immediately in the car and off to the Vet. The x-rays showed that she had some compression in the neck between the C2 and C3 vertebrae. After the x-rays I had to take her to another facility to get an MRI, which showed that indeed she had a neck injury and bulging disc. She went immediately into surgery where she had a bad reaction to the drugs and they had to stop the surgery. After an EKG and getting her to wake up from anesthesia, they decided to proceed with the surgery. Wednesday was a very long day.

Tank is still in the hospital. She still does not have movement in her legs but we are hoping and praying that when the swelling goes down she will regain movement. Her prognosis was good before surgery because she still had feeling in all of her limbs. Needless to say, I am hoping for a full recovery and that she up on her legs soon.

Tonight, we are going to visit her in the hospital and bring her some treats. Apparently my finicky eater is not eating. So nothing there is as enticing, and says I love you, like hot dogs and cheese. She's not highly food motivated but I am hoping she will be tail wagging and gobbling down the goods.

Some other good news in an otherwise worrisome week is that I picked up my diploma yesterday. The last of the library books have been returned and truly I am not a grad student any more. At the student union I picked up my official UCLA frame and hung it up immediately for fear it would languish somewhere if I didn't. Honestly I never took much stock in the diploma. To illustrate my point I have no idea where my undergrad degree is and I never went to my graduation ceremony. This time there is something different. This time it is a very tangible piece of paper marking my time and hard work. The Ph.D was the hardest paper I have ever written...well maybe it was my Master's thesis that was the worst...I was practically suicidal at the end of my thesis. No the Master's thesis was the worst experience in grad school, but the Ph.D was definitely the hardest to write and the yearly struggle perpetually undermined my confidence. So, for now, not every time I pass it, but when I am paying attention and I catch a glance...I marvel at my accomplishment and it tastes sweeter for the appreciation and the experience.

So that's all the good and the bad around these parts. We are hoping for more good things for Tank, like getting back to standing, walking, and eventually a scamper or two.