Squish, slosh, slap! Squish, slosh, slap! These were the noises that awoke me from my nap this morning. In between the normal sounds of face and body shaking the large red hound-looking dog, named Gabby, sloshed her way in to the clinic. “She keeps shaking her head” Gabby's mom pleaded, with a weary look on her face. “I don't think anyone got any sleep last night! And now one ear is swollen to three times the size of the other! Could it be a tumor?” Gabby's mom asked as the familiar smells of fear and yeast wafted out of the room. Sweet Sally did her best to reassure the lady that it probably wasn't a tumor.


Soon mother was on the case, and after some time looking over the Gabby dog she knew just what the problem was. “It's an aural hematoma” mother announced, “It's like a big blood blister in the ear. The more the dog's shake, the worse it gets. We can fix the hematoma, but we really need to figure out why she started shaking her head to start with.” I've heard this speech so much that I can almost give it myself now. This is where mother launches into the long talk about water in the ears, allergies in the ears, yeast in the ears, on, and on, and on. I often wonder why I haven't start growing yeast in my ears, or maybe I have and just don't know it. I'm pretty sure if I did, Bea would tell me. She's definitely not shy about stuff like that.

So Gabby ended up staying for awhile. Mother had to put Gabby in the tub and poke a hole in the squishy, sloshy part of her ear. I couldn't have been the only one who wanted to watch either because two of the helpers stood by. No sooner did the pointy tube go in the ear than a brilliant stream of red syrup shot out. Vonnie caught all of it in a bowl, so unfortunately they didn't need my help with the clean up. Gabby's ear suddenly went from a sloshing bag to a slow drip. Swabs were taken from deep inside her ear and then the greasy goo medicine was applied. Bea has had to have the greasy goo medicine before. When she came from her first den, she had small bugs living in her ears called “ear mites”. Ear mites must tickle when they walk around in your ear because Bea was always scratching back then. The worst thing about the greasy goo medicine is the taste. I tried to lick her ears clean, but if even I can't stand the taste, you know it must taste bad.

Gabby also had to go home with one of the white plastic rooms on her head. I really hate these rooms, they seem to follow you wherever you go, and there are no windows to see out. So Gabby came in with a slosh and went out with a bang, as she rubbed that white room all over the doors and walls trying determinedly to get her head out. I wonder if anyone at Gabby's den will get to have any sleep tonight either?