2019-04-19 - Clever Variable Name

Clever Variable Name

April 19, 2019 - News Post

Apologies for the extraordinarily late comic.

This is the first one ever delayed at length by my news. Here's why:

I wrote the comic on Thursday night. When I went to write the news in the morning, I decided to focus on the adorable habits of my two dogs. One of the monsters was acting weird. Comically weird.

I decided to write the news about that. I found it quite funny. I wrote a page and a half about how my dog was suddenly scared of everything. She ran from her dog dish, she started playing in odd ways. She had taken on some new habits and none of them were good.

Trust me, the news was hilarious. It always is. Nevertheless, I decided to wait until morning to give it one more pass for editing.

The thing is, by morning the dog was acting even stranger. She didn't eat her food, and by midday she started... leaking... from both sides.

Now, before I go on, I should point out that I am aware I talk far too often about illnesses. Usually, it’s my own. Sometimes, it’s about my coworkers. Today, it’s about my dog. If you don’t wish to read on, know that I got a haircut this week. That is the most excitement I have to offer. You may skip to next week’s comic now. For everyone else...

When it came to dog’s many messes, I found them inconvenient, nothing more. She's only three (a little young for something serious). When she kept vomiting, we took her to the vet, got some pills, and she seemed to respond well.

For a couple hours.

By the time I got back to writing my news, she had grown much, much sicker. She stopped eating, and worse, stopped drinking. It became serious.

The next few days were filled with x-rays, blood tests, and oh so many expensive trips to the vet. She kept getting more lethargic, and less interested in food. It's cost me a computer so far. But that’s the price to find an incredibly ambiguous possible obstruction in her stomach (it may have been the way her stomach was folded). We still don't know what's going on.

So we wait, force her to eat antacids, and hope she gets better. Poor dog.

Edit on 2019-04-26: I'll skip most of the scary parts and say that she is doing better. She's eaten a half cup of food in the last day, she's drinking water, and acting more like herself. It’s an improvement. Not great, but good. We still have no idea what happened.

-Jeff