Met The Neighbors and our Visit To The Vet

A lot has been going on the last few days. I had another wonderful day in the ministry work. The temps now are in the 80s during the day and drop into the 70s at night - perfect. :-) I got to meet the neighbors over the fence. Four of them. They are spiny-back iguanas and live in the palm tree over the fence. They all came down the other morning to take a drink from a running hose in someone's yard. Absolutely HUGE. When they first came down the tree they were bright green, but when they came into the yard they changed colour to match...really is incredible how Jehovah designed these animals.

I shouldn't have been surprised but Pearl got herself into a bit of trouble and we made a rush visit to the vet. Dad and I were sitting in the livingroom talking and we could hear crying from my bedroom. Pearl was in A LOT of pain, so I scooped her up and Joe drove us to a vet. This was a REAL experience...and I was really worried. This office was just too down to earth for me. Nicest man and woman vet in the world, but I just didn't feel they were equiped to deal with a true emergency. At one point I asked for x-rays and he said okay and made a phone call and then this man showed up with an x-ray machine that I swear looked like it was last used in the 1940s - dust covered with big knobs and a needle that moved back and forth to show radiation levels. The worst part for me was when he asked me to lay Pearl on her side on the floor so that he could take a picture of her. Now you can guess that this request was just NOT going to happen. Pearl doesn't lay anywhere for two seconds, let alone on her side, on the floor perfectly still. I couldn't control her and was being prodded to hog tie hold her and finally just broke down in tears because it was such a disaster of an effort. Finally he leaned the lead panel up against a machine and I held Pearl's front legs up and we took a picture best we could of her body parts. Well he diagnosed that she had a blockage and sent me home with laxatives. But she was so sick that night and her symptoms just didn't seem like they fit that, so I went onto the internet and through my tears found a website for what was recommended as the "best veterinarian in Mazatlan". So after three hours of sleep and cuddling a crying Pearl through the night my sister Marcelle drove me to his clinic this morning. YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE IT...it was beautiful and modern and he was just excellent - same as my vet in Korea, or one in Canada or America. English speaking. He and his assistants went over her with a fine tooth comb sticking probes in every orifice of her body and found out that she didn't have a blockage but rather an infection. He gave us the right medicine, and a shot of antibiotics in her peanut butt, and tonight she is on the way to health. But it really restored my faith that there are wonderful vets in Mexico also. :-)

One side note - Harvey at this moment has a split on his nose and a puncture in his cheek - slathered in Neosporin of course. During one of the procedures the vet asked me to take Pearl outside and let her "expel" the contents of her bowel after he gave her something, so we decided to walk along the sidewalk. A few houses down there was a huge courtyard with an iron gate with about 6 inch spaces between the rods. Inside were two MONSTOROUSLY large pitbull type dogs. Marcelle was leading Harvey and she didn't realize how close she was to the fence - just then one of the monster dogs lunged through the fence rods and grabbed Harvey by the face. I prit near had a heart attack and the little dude was bleeding, but back at the clinic Marcelle and I got him all cleaned up and slathered with ointment and now he too is mending. So it has been quite the day and I am ready to hit the hay early again. :-) So everyone, take good care, and I hope you are having a wonderful week. Love, d