Ugh. I am sick. I have a head cold, and as always, it is really irritating my sinuses. I must have picked it up on campus, my classes were half empty, and everyone else was not feeling well on Tuesday.

But, unlike my usual miserable self whenever I am ill (I am a horrible patient), today I am very happy. I wrote last month that Rudy had been a little sick. After a week of panic, we had good news yesterday, he has prostatitis (an infection in his prostate), which is the least serious thing he could have.

He had blood in his urine since early January. The first two weeks of antibiotics didn't work, so he was given another two weeks of Clavamoxx and an x-ray. The vet didn't see anything in the x-ray, and although the second round of antibiotics seemed to be working, the vet was uncomfortable. So Rudy had to have an ultrasound yesterday. That meant he would have to be sedated. Due to his age he had to go in for blood tests.

They were looking for kidney stones, prostate cancer (because a simple prostate infection is rare in neutered dogs), or urinary tract cancer (which is pretty rare in dogs). The prognosis for prostate cancer is poor, 4 months is considered a long time to live. Anyway, $750 dollars later, it turns out that although he is neutered - he does just have an infection in his prostate, all his organs are cancer free and he has no stones either.

So they switched his antibiotics to Baytril, which is better for the prostate, and he should be fine. Also, they didn't wind up knocking him out. I'm not sure if they muzzled him, but they said he was good. He had to lay on his back the whole time and have his belly shaved. We could tell he was mad at us last night. But, what a relief!

Something I would like to have added to my comment in the Freeman (but didn't, because I didn't want to be petty):

Q: What is one thing Olive has that Woodstock doesn't?

A: A supermarket rather than a CVS.

Ha ha ha...

Print that in the Woodstock Times and a flame war is sure to ensue.