Molly the Spaniel's Emergencies

While I've been away from the blogosphere it's been quite a couple of weeks.

Molly the Spaniel has had to have two emergency operations. Over a few weeks we had become concerned about the amount of water she was drinking (5-6 litres a day) and then, of course, having to be let out for a pee every few minutes. Eventually, I took her to the Friday night vet surgery and she was admitted straight away. Turns out she had an infected womb (Pyometra) and needed to be spayed immediately.

Molly

We hadn't had her spayed earlier because we hoped to breed from her. Molly's kennel name is Mompesson Gio and her great grandmother, GBSHCH Mompesson Remember Me, was the all-time best in breed (bitch).

Mompesson Remember Me (Jill) - bitch CC record holder

Her grandafther, GBSHCH Mompesson Blinking Hell, was reserve best in breed at Crufts a few years ago

Mompesson Blinking Hell

Any plans we might have had in that direction have now gone out of the window.

If you're interested in English Springer Spaniels, have a look at their website - some of the pix above come from the website. Mompesson English springer Spaniels

Molly went in and was operated on. She came out with zip-like stitches down her belly and we were given a large 'Elizabethan' collar to put on her to prevent her pulling at her stitches. When we put it on, she just stood there looking forlorn and wouldn't move. Every time it touched anthing, furniture, etc, she stopped dead and stood like a condemned man, head down, waiting for something to happen. In the end, we took it off her and threw it away. She never touched the stitches and everything healed very well.

While Molly was being examined, the vet also found a lump in one of her teats. While this was most likely to be benign, we were advised that they invariably turn malignant at some stage (equivalent of breast cancer). The vet took a few cells and sent them off for analysis and when they came back, the result was that they "could not rule out malignancy". As soon as Molly recovered from the first operation, she had to go in for a second and have the whole teat removed. Again, the vet nurse tried to insist on her wearing a collar but we refused and also refused to pay for it!

We had a few days of messing and peeing in the house but Molly is a very clean dog - we've alays found it difficult to tell when she's on heat, she keeps herself so clean. We were hopeful that everything would soon return to normal and that, indeed, proved to be the case.

And this is Mompesson Gio (Molly)

Last hypnotherapy session and new stained glass

This week, I made my final visit to Sheila Granger, the hypnotherapist in Molescombe (near Beverley). It’s a long drive; about 2 hours 20 minutes but I have to say I’ve rather enjoyed it. This week, at my suggestion, she reinforced the image of the virtual gastric band because I wasn’t sure I was getting the ‘full’ feeling which is intended to make you want to stop eating early. I still have trouble leaving food on the plate, though I am cooking much smaller meals. I calculate I have reduced my intake by about two-thirds.

Under hypnosis, Sheila asked me to picture myself entering a hospital and passing a side room which turned out to be a mortuary with a body labelled to say it had died of some obesity-related illness. After that, I don’t know what she said because I remember nothing. When I asked afterwards whether she had talked about the band, she confirmed that yes, she had. So I was plainly too far under to remember. I now get the full feeling much more strongly than before though I have to say I have almost never felt hungry since my first visit to Sheila. I feel ready for food but, previously, I was hungry all the time.

I've lost about 19 pounds so far (in 4 weeks) so I'm feeling very pleased. I've really got to keep it up. I've taken Sheila's advice and bought some T shirts that are too small for me (at the moment) and hung them on the outside of the wardrobe as an incentive. I hope to get into them comfortably by the time we go to Spain in April. Just before my first trip up to Beverley, I bought a shirt - very cheap from Tesco and it was far too small but I've now worn it and it fits fine. I'm very pleased with progress so far. It's not too strong to say that I was desperate - not to lose weight, though that would have been marvellous, but to stop my weight rising. I've now done that and more. What more can I say? Onwards and upwards!

I’ve also found time to take out the stained glass window between the hall and dining room and replace it with one that matches the one between dining room and kitchen.

The original design

The new window

I got the old window out without damaging it.

The new one looks good

And matches the kitchen window- above

It's been a long process from the initial designs

We now have the same pattern though in slightly different sizes, on both doors. The next job is to put the window I removed into the bedroom door (if it fits – I’ve not measured it properly yet). I can then get on with designing something small for the front door. This is just a small window in the centre, about the size of an A4 page. Shouldn’t take long. The last one took an inordinate length of time to complete because I could never get time to do it. Hopefully, when I retire in May, I’ll be able to do much more – I need to practice.