Tuesday, March 18, 2014

PARENTING JUST GOT REAL!

Observing the farm happenings in
solitary confinement!
This one is for you!  That's right, this post is for all you working mothers, single parents of both sexes and families with two working partners....  this one is all yours!

You see, I am one of those single-never-been-married-with-no-children kind of person.   If you asked the teenage me, I would have told you I was going to be a veterinarian with four kids and a husband living on a beautiful farm filled with horses.  Yup, that was my teenage self.  {{{Hmmm...  note the order... hmmm).

Life rolls out on a winding path and I end up being a really fantastic aunt (my blog, I write what I want to) and that suits me just fine.{{{My mom is shaking her head somewhere muttering, 'those horses and those dogs"  and "spinster"  She's not an animal person and had a husband and 8 kids.}}}

"Run away!  Run away!"
Working mothers, single parents and working parents, I salute you!  And, if you also are a rider/competitor, I bow in your honor!  I do not know how you do it!

Sugar is NQR.  She came up, well not really lame but, scary unsteady on her feet and wobbly walking.  Her step was that of a big time model walking down a Paris runway...  her front legs carefully and slowly crossing over each other...  very strange...  Her hind end was not "right" either and once when turned too tightly she almost fell over.  

"Neurological' stated the vet after her examination.  X-rays of her neck show "something" on the C6 vertebrae which could be arthritis or something more.  The nerve could be pinching...  All of the vagaries are due to the difficulty of getting a GREAT x-ray on  a very muscled horse.  She is being treated as if she had slip and fall in turnout which injured the neck causing the symptoms and possibly splayed her legs which may have caused a muscle strain or pull in her hind end.


Da Boys looking for love
in all the wrong places!
I'm running back and forth from vet to work and Da Boys are being short changed for attention.  When I come home, I want to crash but they want me to play...  "leave me alone"! 

And the DMSO bolus Sug rec'd as part of her treatment leaves me nauseous.  Every time she breathes in my direction, I can not help but to turn away and tell her that she stinks.  I abandoned my lil girl to the Barn Manager because I could not deal with the smell.   Really, what mother does that to an ailing child?  

Not a worry, it's all being taken
care of...
How do you do it?  I'm asking all of you working mothers/single parents?  How do you take care of your kids, get them to the doctors, manage their care and still take care of those kids still left at home?  Oh, and while doing all of that, how do you manage your career?  Are there any tips or tricks you can share? 

And, if these were my kids and not just my animals, would I need to prepay their therapy sessions to help them deal with the neglect?  {{{And what is with the word my - my kids, my animals...'sup wit dat?}}}

Note - Sugar is showing improvement after the first treatment of DMSO and Dexamethasone... Vet feels it really is an acute injury possibly a slip and fall in turnout injuring her neck and possibly splaying her front and/or hind legs in the slip.  If the tests for an organic cause come back negative and she continues to show improvement, then she may be back in work in a week.  (Didn't want to leave you hanging.)

8 comments:

Cricket said...

No sleep. Lot's of caffeine. And you learn to let the little things go.

I would also recommend not having a horse until the kid is old enough to entertain themselves.

Anonymous said...

I hope she continued to improve!!

Boss Mare Eventing said...

Poor Sugar :( Hope its nothing serious.

DMSO STINKS - don't blame you.

Can't comment on kids - but I have 3 dogs, 5 horses, a pig, guinea pig and husband. Take it one day at a time, plan ahead, make everything as efficient as possible.

Amy said...

Yikes! You have a lot on your plate. So sorry to hear the other Sug is NQR. Sending jingles. RE the parenting thing -we do what you are doing now. You put your head down and slog through it best as you can. Does stuff go by the wayside? Yep. Does the level of care for some of the other family memebers suffer a bit? Sometimes, but you have to trust that the level of care you have always given them has given them a good foundation. They might be uncomfortable in the short term, but they are certainly not suffering. Things ebb and flow. How to get through it? Try to avoid guilting yourself - takes more energy out and you need that for the important stuff. Don't be afraid to ask for help, or delegate, which it sounds like you are doing. Eat well, take good care of yourself, coz if you eat like crap or get no sleep that makes it worse. And give yourself permission to not be perfect. None of us are. We do the best we can. Oh, and wine. All the other stuff, and add wine.

Nyssa said...

Poor Sugar! Poor you! Hope she recovers soon! Let us know how she goes x

PS - you're not alone with the whole 'happy with no kids' thing ;)

Amanda said...

Yikes! Sorry to hear that Sugar isn't doing so well. I sure hope it is the best case scenario and she is back at it again soon!

As for kids, I don't have a full-time job but even so it is still always a juggling act and one day you look back and realize you aren't quite sure how you got from A to Z. How did I learn to deal with three other human beings and be in four places at once and survive with less than ideal sleep? The list goes on? The answer really does seem to be you just do what you gotta do and when you slip up and fall down you get back up, apologize as needed and move on.

Tracy said...

Sending healing vibes your way!

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

Sometimes I wonder how I get all the stuff done every day that I have to get done. I try not to think about it and just get'r done. Whenever I really think about it I get too overwhelmed! My house is also rarely as clean as I would like. ;)

Glad it sounds like Sug will be good to go soon, whew!