It's Raining, a Lot

Rained all night, or at least it started sometime after midnight. Still raining, get a nice howling wind now and then. Looks like it will be raining most of the day. Ziggy stuck his head out the door and said hell no. I don't believe they will go out unless I do and I'm not planning on it for a while yet and it's nearly 10 am. will be a short walk at any rate, just long enough for them to do their business. I haven't even gone out to feed the chickens yet.

My ear is much better than it was, still some residual pain, will be using the drops for a few more days. Treating the other ear as well now as it's been itching and that's usually a sign of things going badly.

Rooster seems perkier again, too, but his left ankle looks nasty so after I get dressed and am wearing protective clothing I'll see if I can grab him and treat that leg again. I'm expecting him to be a little more ornery this time.

Finally got back to crocheting yesterday, this shawl I started in May for Hal's sister has been languishing all summer and I only have 4 rows to go, but this one is complicated, requires lots of checking as I go and as it's a very wide and deep shawl the rows are very, very long. If I finish this one by Sunday (today is Wednesday) I will be surprised.

Back to work now.

Annoying Medical Things

This is a bitch and moan post, I'll try to keep it short.

Have an outer ear infection, left ear. Realized it Thursday night, started the drops, got really bad by Friday night and thus Saturday was no fun at all. The poor pups got a 10 minute walk up and down the driveway, thankfully they did not run off (far anyway) after squirrels and I was able to get back home and crawl back into bed with my nook and stay miserable the rest of the day. By this morning it was finally apparent it's getting better, at least I was able to roll onto my left side without too much pain by 6 am. I've been having infections in one ear or the other on and off all year. My physician's assistant had given me lots of sample bottles of drops because I am so prone to these things but if it happens again I'll be going back to see her, I think the "bugs" have just become too resistant and I'll need something stronger.

Apparently, oral antibiotics also do not help with this. I'm on amoxicillin again for a toothache and though it killed the tooth pain the ear ache just roars on. As for this toothache, this is the 3rd recurrence this year. First time was about 8 months ago, I can't really remember though I do remember it was about the time one of the crown on my upper right side broke off. I at first thought the crown just came loose so I kept re-seating it with my tongue but when I got to the dentist for my cleaning it was determined the entire top had broken off. The root-canalled roots were fine according to the dentist so over the next 3 visits he rebuilt and re-crowned it, good as new. A few weeks after that the pain started, over a weekend of course. And when I went back to the dentist he couldn't find anything wrong on the x-rays and dubbed it a sinus toothache. I was prescribed 2 weeks of amoxicillin and then my PA prescribed another 2 weeks of augmentin. The pain went away for 4 lovely months, then came roaring back on August 8. I remember this because it was the weekend of Hal's family reunion. 

That time I simply called my PA and was put on augmentin and then a newer much pricier drug called ceftin when the pain hadn't quite left after 2 weeks. Again, pain gone but this time only for 2 months. It returned just in time for my next cleaning at the beginning of October. The dentist put me on more drugs, took x-rays but this time sent me to our favorite endodontist who happened to have a cancellation that afternoon. He actually couldn't see anything on the x-rays either but I still had some residual pain in the last tooth on the upper right that had been yet to be root-canalled. So, oh joy, guess what I get to have done this coming Friday afternoon? My only worry is that he is a bit worried about that broken tooth. Apparently, depending on how long it had been compromised, bacteria could have gotten in and cause the root canal to fail. Lovely. I guess I'll find out in a few months if the pain comes back.

About a week ago I noticed my old rooster was definitely not doing well. The birds were free ranging and he just stood in the middle of the yarn, tail drooping, feathers fluffed up, head down, looking miserable while all the hens and the young rooster gallivanted about the yard. His comb and wattles were also extremely pale instead of bright red so I suspected mites. I threw out some boiled egg yolks, making sure he was not bothered and he did eat that. I set up the dog crate in the garage with a 60 watt bulb for a heat lamp, straw, food and water and a cover to hold what little heat the bulb would make (just try finding a 100 watt incandescent anywhere these days, I dare you!) Hal helped me catch him in the coop that night. It was easy, he was on a lower perch, normally he is on the highest one. I dusted him with poultry dust for red mites as I have lost 2 hens to those nasty little blood suckers this year. But none crawled from him onto my arms so I wasn't really sure what was wrong.

In the crate I fed him egg yolks and chicken feed and oats. He did eat, he drank, he remained droopy. About 4 or 5 days in I thought his comb was a little pinker, but then I noticed his legs looked awful, swollen, and the scales distended which meant scaly leg mites! I grabbed him and he fought a little, making little protest chirps which is more than I'd heard in a long time, he doesn't crow anymore either. I coated his legs in petroleum jelly to try and smother the blood suckers until I could research a better remedy. I think it helped a little, one leg looks better than the other but then I came down with this ear problem so he sort of got put on the back burner. But yesterday and today, his tail is no longer drooping! He still stands in front of the light most of the time and isn't using the perch I put inside, but his comb is definitely pinker and he cocks his head to watch me now. Plus he's bitten me twice so he must be feeling better. As I, too, am feeling better we shall join in battle today and I shall attempt to bathe his legs in epsom salts, and using a tooth brush, clean out those scales and treat his legs again. One he starts crowing he goes back out with the gang.

Well, this post didn't end up very short after all.