Titus and the Bee

Titus now weighs 30.15lbs, about the same as Kleven. We found this out by taking a trip to the vet this morning. Titus tried to befriend a honey bee this morning, but it turns out the bee wasn't interested in making friends, it was on a suicide mission. Titus came walking into my room with Angelina Jolie lips and a puffy red eye, so off we went to the vet. In reality it wasn't that easy. We normally would have taken him to the Banfield clinic at Petsmart because it is close, but they're closed on Monday, as well as their Emergency clinic in Gilbert. So I called four other places from Queen Creek to north Mesa to no avail. I finally called my mom because she knows what to do in just about any situation and we were on our way to the Queen Creek Veterinary Clinic. But wait! It wasn't quite that simple. I had to get myself and two kids ready to go and both kids and the dog in the car, pack the diaper bag and then turn the car around thirty seconds into the drive because I had forgotten Titus' shot record. And that's after threatening Kleven to get his clothes on, use the bathroom and talk him out of packing a backpack to take with him. About halfway there I realized I didn't grab Ezra's binky and he was SCREAMING. It was nap time for him, lunchtime for myself and the other child, and we were already running late. We get to the vet and Titus does NOT want to get out of the car. Nor does Kleven. I had to convince Kleven that we were there to see the DOG DR, and that NO he (Klev) was not going to get any shots. We make it across the parking lot and Titus does NOT want to go inside, and once inside he does NOT want to get on the scale without a treat. Then we're waiting in the exam room and Ezra decides to head dive off the chair and onto the tile floor. So a bucket of toys and an ice pack later the clinic is finally quiet of crying babies and howling dogs. Titus survived the exam with an acute allergic reaction, a benadryl shot, and a steroid shot only to find out he is missing a testicle (so far) and that 'yes' the bumps on his head are probably just mosquito bites and 'yes' it was most likely a bee sting that temporarily disfigured his face and nothing more serious like a snake bite. We finally get out of there and Kleven has to poop. Which is obvious because he is holding his buns with both hands. I am trying to pay for the exam and convince Kleven to go into the bathroom by himself while Ezra is taking off his shoes on my hip and Titus won't budge on the leash. I dragged Titus across the room and pushed him into the bathroom with Kleven and then handed the patient receptionist my card and put Ezra's shoes back on. Then I hurried back into the bathroom to help Kleven wipe and wash hands. $77.45 later... it took me pulling, Kleven pleading, and a vet tech pushing from behind to get Titus out the door of the clinic. I left Kleven on the sidewalk out front with Titus on his leash so I could cross the parking lot to turn on the AC in the car and get Ezra strapped in. Then I went back and had to pick Titus up and carry him to the car. Thank heavens Kleven can buckle himself! We decided to stop at PetSmart to get Titus' nails trimmed before we headed home and Kleven said he needed a new toy for being good at the Dr's office. We parked and I loaded everyone into a cart, went in and had to push Titus into the grooming salon and then console Kleven because he thought they were taking our dog away forever. We looked at EVERY animal in the store at least twice, picked out a toy, some training treats (for the walk back to the car) and then he was done. We met the grooming lady at the salon door and proceeded to walk to the front of the store to pay for everything when Titus stopped and began to relieve himself and flood the aisle. Another groomer came by just as this happened and took over the clean-up. Thank heaven he decided to go right next to the clean-up station! The boys thought this was quite funny. We did eventually make it home. We paid for our things, gave both the nail tech and the helpful lady a nice tip and then put everyone back in a cart to get to the car. Both boys fell asleep on the way home and took nice long naps. I had a diet coke for lunch and now I have to go get some non-children's Benadryl so Titus can take it every 12 hours for the next three days.
Happy Monday Everyone!