We Went to the Vetrinarian

This week has been full of firsts for us. We were supposed to have surf lessons on Wednesday, but to unfortunate luck, we had to cancel and take our little dog to the veterinarian. Our lesson was rescheduled for Friday. 

For any of the readers who are squeamish, now may be a good time to stop reading since I am going to be discussing why we had to make the visit to the veterinarian. . 

Original photo

Original photo

About a week ago our little dog had a weird discharge coming from his anus. I didn't think anything of it; maybe it was just dirt from outside or maybe it was an upset stomach? Wrong! It turns out that the problem was progressing and he had a ruptured anal sac. Anal sacs in dogs are like an Appendix in humans; they are pretty much worthless-at least for domestic dogs.  

We discovered what may be going on in the evening, too late for the veterinarian to be open. After a to of research, we decided that our little dog would be okay if we waited the night and took him in to get checked out the next morning. He had to be put under a local anesthetic, with the needle stuck in his arm (and wrapped of course), received a deep cleaning of the area, had antibiotics given to him and several prescription medications; the total bill was $78. 

Deep cleanings and local anesthetics have been a daily ritual Wednesday through Friday. He goes back in Monday for a check of the area. In the mean time our little dog gets to wear "the cone of shame" when one of us cannot monitor him, which he is not fond of. The antibiotics seem to be working also, which means unless he is outside, he'll be sitting on the couch with a towel under neath him. Our little dog has seen better days and hasn't been his chipper, normal self. Who could blame the little guy?

Surfing is coming along. As I mentioned earlier, we haven't really been able to go this week as much as we wanted. I thought we had a lesson first thing Friday morning. The manager seemed a bit caught off guard when I mentioned the lesson, so she asked us to go check out the waves as she did not think they would be appropriate for our skill level. 

Robert and I stood looking at the seemingly endless set of waves for about 20 minutes. Further down the beach the waves, according to the manager were at least 6 foot waves, which is what she surfs; she has been surfing for 5 years. The jellyfish are gone and now the big waves are coming in. I look forward to the day that we can ride these waves, but for now we will ride the wave after it breaks (see picture below)

Robert and I had a good session. Yesterday was the most number of times Robert and I caught waves. It is gratifying to see that just five lessons ago we couldn't stand on a board for more than a few clumsy seconds and now we are beginning to learn about the boards and stand up a little bit longer each time. Our lessons are two hours long and I think I could have been out there for another hour at least.  

This week I thought I would try to find a good ketchup recipe to try. For whatever reason, I do not really like ketchup in Panama. If I really wanted, I could probably try to find the ketchup I used in the US, but ketchup really only consists of tomato paste, vinegar, and some spices/sweeteners. Why not?

Despite the heart shaped spot of honey I put into the ketchup, the recipe was not loved. Luckily there are plenty of other recipes to try!

Work is keeping us both busy, but we remind each other daily how much we like the pace of Panama. Time does not seem to stop for anyone, but the pace of life is nice. I could not imagine wanting to be anywhere else. Panama is very foreign to me in many ways and although I do not fully understand the  language and culture, but in the short time we've been here, it feels very much like home.