2001-12-21
9:06 p.m.

On Wednesday, I took two of my dogs, Piper, and Gracie, in to be spayed. I have never seen my dogs so pathetic in their lives. They both sat in their crates, shaking, and whimpering, making me feel evil for taking them in. Then, after Piper had her first injection, so that she would be sleepy enough to be shaved, and have a catheter put in, she did a wonderful job of making me feel like a person two inches tall. Half asleep, she pulled herself up on shaky legs, wobbling the whole time, just to put her head on my shoulder and go back to sleep.

We get her into surgery, and after Dr. C had cut in, she gave a big sigh, and told me to put on gloves. She then told me I needed to surgically scrub. I have never done that before..but I have to admit it was kind of fun. So, I go back in, all nice and gloved up, and I held my own dogs uterus. Piper was very stubborn about letting us take her uterus, but we won. It was really neat to get to assist on my own dog.

Next was Gracie, who is actually my mom's dog, while being Piper's sister. While we were putting in the trech tube, the little witch bit me..not one, but TWICE. After the second time, I looked up at Dr. C...'MORE DRUGS!' So, we finally got her biting self to sleep, and started on the surgery. Dr. C is just daring to Gracie to bleed, as Piper had done. Everything looked good..until Dr. C looked up at me, stuffing a gauze into the abdomen 'I am never spaying another one of your dogs again.' She grumbled some more, and fixed the little area that was bleeding. I am doing the anesthesia, laughing..until a very bloody gauze is thrown at me. Dr. C smiles, satisfied, and finishes up with Gracie. Well..no one throws a bloody gauze at me and gets away with it.

Yesterday was our office Christmas party. We shut down for two hours, had everyone bring in lots and lots of junk food, and exchanged Secret Santa presents. Dr. Fuller was my person, so I got him a book that depicts everything that has changed over the last millinium. It is actually very interesting. During the whole party though, he just seemed..I don't know..withdrawn. I felt bad for him. He came up to me later and gave me a hug for the present, but he just seemed to unhappy.

Okay, back to the bloody gauze thing. Dr. C hates pink more than even me..which is a lot. So, Heather wrapped her present in hot pink wrapping paper..hehe. She loves cats, and during the surgery on Piper, she began telling me how she could do without everything in her life, except her cats. So, for her present, I got her a book of inspirational stories for cat lovers. I also found out that she has the same taste in books as I do..I have never found another person who knew the people I was talking about. I also wrapped her present like a surgery pack, which she thought was pretty funny. I also wrote her a really nice card, telling her how much I admire her and such.

Leslie gave me a necklace that says "Some Special" which I thought was really sweet. I also got three animal keychains, which I collect. I also got a wallet organizer, and a German Shepheard bobbing dog head thing. It was really nice to be there with everyone. Then, Dr. C walks over to Leslie and says "You were my person, but your gift isn't here yet, so you will have to wait until I get back" Then, to my surprise, she looks at me, "you too." Dr. C got me a present? About this time, I began looking around for alien pods.

Hehe, Leslie then gave her a pair of smiley face thong underwear as a gag gift. If any of you knew Dr. C..I am surprised Leslie is still in one piece. A little later, Dr. C walks over to Leslie and I with a book, and sits down. "My mom gave this to me when I was younger, so I am giving it to you two to pass down." I just thought that that was really sweet. Dr. C doesn't have kids, and I honestly can't see her ever ever having kids. So, she has kind of adopted Leslie and I has her children.

After the party, I was down at the barn blowing the walkway free of shavings, when Dr. C walked down toward me. I turned off the blower, and went to meet her. She handed me a very very nice belt buckle, with a horse head engraved on the front. She then said "I don't really know if you can use this or not, but it reminded me of you. I also though you could at least draw the horse, because the horse you drew in my card was beautiful." Then, the most shocking thing of all, Dr. C, one of the most closed off people I know, gave me a hug. By this time, I was sure she had been taken over by pod people. I just thought it was a really nice gesture. I know she must have been hurt really bad in her past to be as closed off as she is. She reminds me of one of my dogs that has been abused. Wanting so badly to trust, but too afraid to do it. Maybe Dr. C is beginning to be able to trust a little more.

I really admire her, and her abilities with the animals. She reminds me a lot of myself, which is maybe why she and I get along so well, while most of the staff almost seems afraid of her. She seems to have a foot thick brick wall around her, which turns most people away, but, I used to have a brick wall too, so I know what it's like. So, I guess I can say the Christmas party went pretty well.

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