When we left home on Thursday we planned to spend three nights in Carlinville visiting with family and friends before heading southwest for the winter. We park at my brother and SIL's so we get to spend good times with them and get spoiled with all the great meals she makes for us.
On Friday we met my high school BFF, Dorothy, for lunch at Taylor's Mexican Chili Parlor on the square. If you are ever in Carlinville, treat yourself to one great, unique, original chili. That chili has been served in several different locations in Carlinville under a couple of different owners since 1904, but the recipe remains the same.
Rich went back to the RV, Dorothy and I took a ride out to the Mayfield Memorial Park Cemetery. What? You and your best friends don't cruise cemeteries while you catch up on each other's lives?
The truth is that it had been quite a while since I had been to this cemetery and only learned the day before that her folks are buried catty-cornered across the lane from my paternal grandparents.
On Saturday, we met an old friend of mine for lunch at Doc's in Girard. I have known Joan for many years and we have quite an interesting history, but we don't get to see each other as often as I would like.
Doc's is an old time pharmacy which was established in 1884; it was owned and operated by three generations of the Deck family for 117 consecutive years before the last Deck brothers retired. In 2007 new owners bought the building. The original 1929 soda fountain and a new grill provide local residents and Route 66 travelers a place to gather. It also houses a museum displaying many antiques and artifacts from its many years as a pharmacy owned by the Deck family. Rich was excited about one antique in particular...it is a machine that physicians used to "revitalize" a patient with electric shock. Guess who Rich thought it would be fun to test it on!
After lunch we went to Joan's house to continue our visit then Rich and I drove out to Union Chapel Cemetery where our lot is and where my folks and many other family members are buried.
From there we drove up to Virden to meet my cousin, Betty, Aunt Audrey, and Uncle Don for dinner at Di Carlos.
Here are Rich and my cousin, Kathy. Wayne and Mary were there too but I didn't get a good enough photo of them to post. They will be thrilled about that, since they are extremely camera shy! There are some great places to eat in these small central Illinois towns.
When we got back to the RV after dinner, our world was thrown into turmoil. Bella had been sick and vomited all over the floor of the RV. We knew she had been stressed and had munched on a rug but she has done that before and it just passes through...not this time. She continued to be sick throughout the night so we took turns staying up so that one of us would be with her and could clean up after her at all times.
Sunday morning Wayne drove Rich and Bella to the emergency animal clinic in Springfield. They discovered that she had a severe case of pancreatitus and intestinal blockage. She was also dehydrated by then so they put her on an IV hoping that fluids would result in the movement of the rug fibers.
This morning we had to be in Springfield by 7:30 to move her from the emergency off hours clinic to a regular day hours clinic. After more x-rays and an ultra sound it was clear that she needed surgery. She went a little later than the 2:00 scheduled time and they were just closing her up in surgery at 7:00. We are still waiting for the veterinarian to call but the nurse called then saying that Bella will be fine but there was a lot of rug in her intestines.
She will be moved to the off hours clinic yet tonight and we will have to pick her up there again at 7:00 in the morning and transfer her to the clinic where she had the surgery. She will remain at the day hours clinic until late tomorrow and then will have to return for checkups.
We decided this afternoon that we needed to be closer to her veterinarians and clinics so we drove back to Carlinville, touched base with Wayne and Mary, and moved the RV to a park just south of Springfield.
This may delay our travels to AZ for a week or so but that's okay. Right now we are so relieved that she will be okay...so joyously relieved.
Lovin' Life ~~ Thankfully
Update: Just as I was ready to publish this post, the surgeon finally called. They managed to save her life by removing lots of rug fibers and 40 centimeters of her small intestine then re-sectioning it. Her stomach, intestines, and colon contained strands of rug. This is not the first time that she has eaten rugs, Dora has too, but they have always been able to pass it. It will be a challenge to keep her from ever doing that again. Tonight Bella is in fair condition and will be closely monitored for three to five days before they know for certain that she will be okay.
