These books take me back to childhood, of days when I was unwell and my mum would bring me colouring and dot to dot books to keep me occupied while I was in bed recovering. I also remember Lucozade which came in bottles wrapped in cellophane. I loved the tingly sensation and the flavour - it was worth being ill for! I also remember a neighbour leaving a stack of books set in girls boarding school. I'm not sure whether they were Chalet Girls' books but I devoured them.
I've been reminded of these days particularly as I have a head cold and felt really lousy yesterday. I did as little possible (changed the bed and ran two loads through the washing machine). Despite the warm weather I was curled up on the sofa wrapped in a blanket with a colouring book! We had some Ribena in the house and that's another throw back to childhood. I made myself a number of warm/hot Ribena's. Ah! I ventured onto my bench by the back door to soak up some sun rays and finally got warm but once the sun moved and shone into the lounge I was back on the sofa taking a nap!
I am reading I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes at the moment. It's our Book Club read. Normally I get lost in spy stories. If I watch them I'm confused within moments. This is a big read at nearly 900 pages (paperback) but I'm following it! I'm now just over half way through it. I really want to finish it before we meet up to discuss it. Still I have a a couple of weeks so it should be no problem. It's a very different book to the ones I normally read. I have picked it up a number of times at book shops and had I known it was about the spy world I probably wouldn't have ever bought it. Just goes to show and that's the beauty of a Book Club.
While on the subject of ill health our guinea pig Cocoa has been through the mill again. She seemed to be hobbling and we found sort of scab on her front paw. It didn't look nice. I took her to the vet and she confirmed my suspicions that it was a condition called bumble foot. It isn't easy to treat because guinea pigs are on their feet all day but she was given antibiotic (to be administered twice a day), a pink liquid for a foot bath and cream. I was also advised to use a different bedding, something softer than the wood chippings she has.
I researched bedding and came up with Vetbed which is for dogs! Basically it's like a small carpet and is also good for aging guinea pigs with arthritis. I went out and bought one. Cocoa wondered what the hell this was and tried to escape! But she soon took to it. It's soft and warm. Very cosy. It's actually much easier to keep the cage clean. The wee (sorry) goes through to the latex layer underneath so she is no longer lying in her own mess (I trained hamsters to use a jar but I couldn't train the guinea pigs to use one corner of the cage). I now have two Vetbeds and I change them every three days (they wash in the machine and I do it at night when I clean the cage so it's with nothing else). Underneath the mat I have a layer of pulped paper like pellets which I shovel up when I change the mat. The pellets keep the cage bottom dry. The cage never smells now and is dry.
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| Cocoa's new Vetbed (grey carpet. I've turned it the other way now so it fills more of the cage) |
So, a week after the first vet visit things were looking up, though there was still pus under the scab. It was cleaned and painkiller was added to the medical list. Next time things were looking bleak. Having seemed to be getting on much better I was worried. This time the vet had a consultation with another vet. I feared the worst. They wouldn't remove the scab to clean it as she said it would be too painful and might cause a secondary infection. She used the words 'she is getting old' and I thought she's on the way out. I was advised to keep going with the antibiotic and painkiller, switch to salt water for the foot bath and keep an eye on her. As long as she was eating and seemed happy enough just keep going. No return visit was planned. I was told only if she deteriorates do I need to go back. This is a notoriously hard condition to treat. I felt sad when I left. I bought some Vitamin C drops (another recommendation) and carried on.
I am pleased to say there has been a great improvement. There is no longer any pus and the scab is getting smaller. The painkiller has run out but she no longer needs it. I am still doing the cream and foot bath and giving antibiotic twice a day as a precaution but I'm hoping that within a week it will have all cleared up. The change in bedding I think was crucial in keeping the foot dry and giving time for the antibiotic to work (I was told this was the strongest one for a small pet). Cocoa seems happy and eating like crazy. She seems to be out and about more. She is fighter, always has been and now aged seven she is having a good life again. Obviously I will keep an eye on her feet and am more aware of what can happen but I'm hoping with the changes we've made this will not be the thing that will do for her. I am very confident.
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| The box to transport my precious cargo to the vet! |
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