Daisy

September 2, 2012
 

Courtesy of my brother, Jack

Well, it’s been waaaay too long since I had a chance to write, but it has been a hectic month!

Primarily, we’ve been preoccupied with our hairy daughter, Daisy, who went to the vet a few weeks ago to undergo a full hysterectomy to eliminate her heat cycles once and for all. (When our friend and part-time neighbor, Elizabeth first encouraged us to adopt her a couple of years ago, Daisy had a sterilization procedure done by a local Olon vet – that apparently did not include taking out all of “her equipment”, unbeknownst to any of us at the time).

 

Courtesy of Jack

 

Todd, “Daddy Doug”, and I took her to our vet’s office near Valdivia for the operation, including a day or so for recovery…..Poor Daisy…the look on her face when we had to leave her there was so sad and confused. 

Unfortunately, the surgery did not go as well as planned. When our vet, Dr. Otto opened her up, he discovered that her uterus had been removed, however her ovaries were still intact, but covered with tumors (apparently non-malignant, but sexually transmitted, from the information we’ve been able to gather so far). He tried to remove some of them, but felt that he was perhaps not qualified to operate to the extent planned, so he sewed her back up, recommended that she be given an injection at the start of her next “heat” phase  to prevent it, until further surgery can be performed (most likely in Guayaquil, with more sophisticated options).

We brought her home to recuperate and let her stitches mend, did our best to keep her inside at our new rental place or keep her quietly sedated on Doug and Pam’s patio, but it’s nearly impossible to keep an original “beach stray” from well….straying……or staying inside…Or scratching her stomach stitches with her paws.
Her stitches broke open, and because of our concern over infection, we took her back to Dr. Otto’s for another week’s recuperation under his watchful and caring eyes.
 

She’s back home now, stitches healed – and DAMNED happy to be back, though she lost weight during these last few weeks of trauma. But other than being thinner than normal, she’s more or less her old self – and she will fatten back up in no time because of all of us who love her. She shamelessly works all of us for meals and snacks and doesn’t lack for “being spoiled”.

In the meantime, we’ve had many, many visitors come through. It’s been fun to meet all of them. A few of them have stayed at “Sarah’s Place” (our former Olón home) – in particular a fun and interesting family from Montana, and a darling young couple (3^rd time guests - who are from London, teaching in Quito), who brought his British parents visiting Ecuador for the first time.

 

Cynthia and Libby.
A couple of intrepid and adventurous travelers,
who had chance to meet each other in Montanita.

 

In addition to that, a number of new expats are arriving to our coastal area and getting settled in. Many of them are building, and Todd and I are watching, observing everyone’s experience. We will eventually be constructing a house on the lot we own in Jardines de Olon, but we’re in no hurry until we’re better educated and have a clearer vision of the structure we want to build within our budget.
In the meantime, we are quite content in our cute 2 bd/2ba Ecuadorian long-term rental in a very friendly local Olon neighborhood, a few blocks away from our Jardines property.

Will and Rebecca who are
building a property in the north
area of Olon.

View from the lot in nearby San Jose
that our friends Judy and Richard are building.
Photo courtesy of Judy.

Heather and Dave
World Citizens,
Courtesy of
Bill and Colleen Baker

 

As I mentioned in my last post, expats Dave and Heather, who live in Ayangue recently instigated “gringo get-togethers” a couple of times a week at various locations, which has been a great way for everyone to get to know each other better and exchange information, especially for the “newbies”.
And for the most part, the newcomers are bringing in a breeze of new enthusiasm, fresh and un-jaded perspectives, and  special talents, passions and ideas, so we have learned from them as well.


 

 

 

Todd and I don’t always get to these because we’re working, but they are fun, and we have met and gotten to know delightful new friends. That, and there have been just a ton of other fun parties recently (and this is SLOW season).
 

…I NEVER thought I’d hear these words come out of my mouth, but honestly: “I’m tired of partying” and look forward to the quiet days when I can just cuddle up in bed with a good book, a fun movie, and Todd.
 
 

 Lastly, Todd and I want to welcome Sarah R. (Aussie who lives in Huntington Beach) who bought our Olon house earlier this year, sight unseen. She arrived earlier this week to see the house for the first time, and to kick back. Welcome to your new home and the ‘hood Sarah!