Just got back from a run to the vet. Chelsey's hamster has suddenly
gone bug eyed. And I mean really, really bug eyed. His eye balls are
literally popping out of his head. I can barely look at him. This
started two nights ago, around 3:00 am actually when Chelsey woke me up
to tell me something was wrong with him.
We called the pet store the next day and they guessed it was irritation
from the bedding material we were using. They told us to change that
out for plain paper napkins or newspaper, and to get some saline eye
drops. We tried that yesterday. Last night, or this morning depending
on how you want to look at it, Chelsey came in to let me know that he
was making sad noises and she couldn't sleep. It can be really hard not
to get upset at being awakened in the middle of the night. I have to
stop and imagine myself as a 13 year old girl and try to do what will
comfort her the most, and quickest as I do need to get back to sleep so
I can get to work in the morning. We decided to move the cage to the
laundry room so she wouldn't hear him making his pitiful squeaking
noises and when we got up early this morning we gave him more of the eye
drops.
Chelsey called late this morning to tell me she was trying to do some
stuff in her room but couldn't stop worrying about "baby". We moved him
out of her room again so she might be able to distract herself but
further calls ensued. She reminded me of what I would feel like if it
was Chesley at home sick and I was at work. Wouldn't I be constantly be
thinking about her and worrying that she would be okay? I agreed and
finally realized I had to leave work to run home and take my little girl
and her "baby" to the vet. If nothing else we would find out how long
he had to live and if it was real bad perhaps they could help ease his pain.
At this point calling one vet and then going to a different vet isn't
too surprising for someone who hasn't had much sleep in the past few
days. Eventually we ended up in the right waiting room I just couldn't
look at poor "baby". His eyes looked to me like they were going to pop
out of his head at any minute. It was really scaring looking. I was
trying to prepare myself for the potentiality that we would be getting
some really bad news. Finally the vet was able to see us and took a
look at "baby". He looked and poked and squeezed and petted and
declared that it didn't look like anything worse than some sort of
infection or inflammation. He recommended putting an antibiotic
ointment on his eyes a couple times a day and hopefully he will start
getting back to normal in 4 or 5 days. You can't imagine a pair of more
relieved people when Chelsey and I heard that.
So it's now $70 later, our $3 hamster is on the mend, and I back to
work. I can't thank my employer enough for letting me make these little
mommy runs during the day to take care of those little emergencies at
home.
This full time dad and part time mom can really wear you out sometimes.
1:49:20 PM 
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