Poor Hadjo!

Oh, dear.  Yesterday I glanced over at Hadjo and saw a big lump under his left jawbone.  It just appeared, out of nowhere, without any warning:

I worried and obsessed over it for a while, called my friend Lorrie, a vet tech back in North Carolina, and decided to watch him carefully overnight and see how it looked today.  Well, this morning it was bigger and he was looking pretty miserable:

So we called the Medford Veterinary Clinic, a group we hadn't had experience with yet but one that I was hoping to get to know, and they agreed to see us at 10:40.  Once the vet had taken a good look at him and poked a needle in the mass, she diagnosed it as an abscess, probably from a small puncture he'd gotten while rooting around in the overgrowth we haven't gotten to yet.  So they sedated and numbed him up and lanced the thing there in the office while I paced like an expectant father.  Finally, a second vet, their very strong cow and pig specialist, appeared in the doorway carrying my 79-pound (I know, I know.  But his back legs hurt him too much for him to exercise).  The doc said Hadjo was very cooperative and brave throughout the procedure, which went just as planned.  But he was still draining some bloody fluid and they were worried that he'd stain the upholstery in the truck so they wrapped his head in Vetrap, a type of stretchy bandage that clings to itself.  This particular wrap was pink with blue hearts, and in the words of the vet, "He was walking around just fine, but he got embarrassed about the bandage, and as soon as the thing was on, his legs just quit working."  Poor thing really HATED that pink stuff!  But we were instructed to remove it as soon as we got him home, and he acted as though he felt much better once it was off.  Maybe it was smashing his ear or something that was making him physically uncomfortable, but he sure did look like he was embarrassed!



Mom!  Do you have to take my picture NOW???



Now he's home and recuperating.  He gets antibiotics twice daily and we will go back to the office on Wednesday to have the drain removed.  Hadjo is exhausted and doesn't want to eat right now, but I'm sure he'll feel better in the morning.  Meanwhile, he's camped out on my bed, lying on several old blankets and towels.  Poor baby!

While we were gone, a big storm came up, with rain and lots of wind.  Our poor tomatoes are sporting the "windblown look" this evening:



but hopefully will recover.  They're loaded with baby tomatoes and it's going to be really depressing if they don't deliver on what they've been promising! 

The last picture, below, I found in my camera's memory while I was uploading today's images.  It's a much better shot of a pair of sand hill cranes and their baby than the unidentifiable lumps I showed you before, so I thought I'd share it with you.  I love these birds; they were all but extinct from Wisconsin at one point but are doing really well since they were reintroduced a few years ago.  We have three or four families in our little corner or the woods.

Today's storm has cleared the air and the next couple days are supposed to be really nice, with temps in the 70s and clear skies, so I'll work outside again.  But I'll take lots of breaks to go inside and check on my poor patient.  I'm hoping he'll be a happier boy tomorrow.  I know that if he is I will be, too!