More Allergy Problems

Well, I'm definitely allergic to something. This past week I went with Stacy and Zach to Stacy's parents house in South Carolina. One day while we were there, we went with Stacy's friend Melanie on a pretty long run. We ran for about 30 minutes, which is the longest I've ever run. It was lots of fun though because it was all and grass and there was all kinds of stuff to sniff at and pick up.

I don't remember getting bit by anything, but when we got home, my nose was really itchy. Stacy noticed I was scratching it a lot, so she went to find some Benadryl. By the time she got back, my head was about 3 times its normal size and my eyes were swollen shut. Have you ever seen one of those Chinese dogs with all the skin bunched up on their faces? I looked like that except my skin was lumpy and red. I also had bumps and red spots all over the rest of me.

I was pretty miserable, as you can imagine. I kept trying to shake off the extra weight on my head, but that just made it itch more. I kept rubbing my face on the carpet to scratch it, but that didn't help much either. Zach was there to help keep me calm, and it did feel good to have a wet washcloth over my face.

When Stacy finally got back with the Benadryl, I had a hard time eating it because my lips were so big, but Stacy and Zach just crammed it down my throat. I ended up chomping on Zach's finger by accident, but it only bled a little. I felt bad, but it wasn't like I could actually see what I was doing.

Zach and Stacy rushed me to a vet, which was fortunately pretty close by. Even though I was pretty miserable and really weird looking, I still like going to the vet because I get to meet people and other dogs. So I said hi to everybody even though I couldn't see them. The benadryl was working by then, but I still itched like crazy.

The vet, Dr. Amy, was very nice and gave me some shots that made me feel a lot better. She explained everything to Zach and Stacy who were (understandably) really worried.

Since I was still really swollen, Dr. Amy wanted to keep an eye on me to make sure my throat didn't close up, so she asked Zach and Stacy if I could stay at the vet. That was OK with me. Anything to make my face stop itching.

I ended up staying at the vet for the rest of the day, and my swelling came down a lot. When Zach came to pick me up, I was really glad to see him, even though staying at the animal hospital was actually kind of fun. Zach said I still looked pretty bad, but I was definitely a lot better because I could open my eyes most of the way. Zach actually took a picture of me like that, which is kind of embarrassing, but you can see how swollen my cheeks still were. I don't know how to work the camera yet, so I'll have to wait until Zach or Stacy come home before I can post it.

So we're back home now and I'm really tired from the whole ordeal. I think I'll probably just sleep for about a week. Stacy didn't even bother to put me in my kennel, which is why I can type this now ;), because I'm definitely to sleepy to chew on anything I'm not supposed to. Really, it's not much fun getting into trouble when no one's around, so I might as well just go back to sleep.

Update: Here's that picture of me after I came home from the vet. This is after the swelling had come down a lot.