Good News and Bad

Sorry I’ve been so bad about updating lately. Here’s a recap of what’s been going on.

Despite some minor problems at the last minute, we closed on the house last Thursday. We are now the proud owners of a new place out in Summerfield. We will be moving stuff in slowly over the next few weeks and will be officially living there by the end of July.

Immediately after the stress of the closing on Thursday we headed off for the mountains on Friday to be a part of Ashley’s Uncle Tim’s wedding. He and his new bride Michelle were married in Burnsville, NC – yeah, I’d never heard of it either – in a beautiful ceremony. I have some cool pictures from the event. If I’d ever release the new version of the Blizzog, then you’d be able to see them.

And then the bad news. As many of you know, we have two guinea pigs, Squeak and Frosty. Ashley bought Squeak about a month before we were married and we found Frosty as a stray – seriously, it’s a long story – a few months later.

When we got back this weekend we noticed that something was wrong with Squeak. He was very listless and not really eating or drinking too much. Guinea pigs are pretty sensitive animals, and if they get sick they can go downhill really fast. When they do get sick it is hard to find a vet to treat them that really knows anything about them.

I ended up taking Squeak to an after-hours clinic last night because he was in such bad shape. The vet there consulted with our old vet back in Raleigh, who specializes in exotic animals. Through her exam she determined that Squeak had some kind of upper respiratory infection. She gave us some antibiotics and sent us home. We didn’t get back until after midnight last night.

This morning he was not any better. We watched him throughout the day but he wasn’t really eating or doing anything. So this afternoon I put him in the car and took him to our old vet in Raleigh. In the preliminary exam they noticed that one of his lymph nodes was swollen. They did an X-ray to see what his lungs looked like and they were clear. This would indicate that he doesn’t have a URI as the vet last night said.

They did a biopsy on Squeak’s enlarged lymph node and sent it off to a lab for testing. We should hear tomorrow. According to the vet there is one of two things wrong. One, he has some sort of bacterial infection and the lymph node is swollen just like yours or mine would be if we were sick. The second possibility is that Squeak has lymphoma, or cancer of the lymphatic system. The fact that only one of the lymph nodes is swollen and the other is fine has Ashley and I fearing the worst.

Guinea pigs don’t usually get cancer but it does happen. We are so sad and worried right now. Squeak is in the hospital back at the vet’s office in Raleigh tonight. They are keeping him hydrated and fed and making sure he gets his medicine. We’re not sure how this is going to turn out, but we’re not optimistic right now.

It’s funny how you can get so attached to animals. No, guinea pigs aren’t like dogs or cats. They don’t run around and jump up on your lap when you come home. But they do have personalities all their own and very much appreciate the attention that you pay to them. Squeak has been a part of our lives since we were married, and it’s hard to imagine him not being around anymore.

I suppose some might think it’s a bit much to be so upset over something like this, but I am unbelievably sad right now. I feel like a member of my family is dying and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. There’s a chance still that this is just a bug that he has and he’ll get over it but it’s not looking good right now.

If you’re into such things, we’d sure appreciate a prayer or two for the little guy tonight if you think about it.

More later.