premedication

the vet said "just in case" and wrote the prescription for five pills. one pill is supposed to calm her down for six to eight hours. the trial run is today.

1 p.m.

i administered the xanax with one of my more clever ideas: scrambled eggs and toast. medication and peanut butter or cheese doesn't work anymore since the whole six-meds-a-day-because-we-think-she-might-have-lupus thing. egg salad has worked pretty well, but i didn't have any on-hand.

2 p.m.

there's been a pretty good nap going on for the last 20 minutes, but that's normal for a sunday afternoon. so i threw her favorite toy into the other room and she chased it like she was on fire. this must be why the bottle says "take one tablet two hours before travel." dually noted.

3 p.m.

she's barking at me for no apparent reason and won't stay off my heels. she stepped on the heel of my slipper halfway down the staircase and we both almost ended up in the hospital. time for another lap around the living room.

4 p.m.

i'm wrapping presents and zoey's acting like she's been blind until today. i saved her from one plastic bag and had to hide the rest. she ate the cardboard container thing that the two rolls of tape came in and chewed the ends of an empty paper roll. there’s nothing going on outside, but it has all of her attention.

5 p.m.

she hasn't chewed anything for a half hour and she's been laying down for a while ... let's not jinx it.

6 p.m.

a short road trip wasn't intolerable. at least she sat. a bit. i'm wondering if she's so curious about everything because she's calm enough to notice her surroundings. she walked through the battlefield of presents, paper, bags, and ribbon to get to the fireplace. you're saying: so what? normally, that's something she would never do ... too noisy.

7 p.m.

i haven't seen any significant evidence that says zoey won't be a complete basket case for the trip next week. she was maybe 20% less crazy today than she typically is on a lazy sunday. at least she didn't go for my jugular and i didn't have to scrape her off the ceiling. she’s napping again, so i’ll give the xanax the benefit of the doubt.

sometimes all you have to go on is faith.