It’s been a week.
Monday was actually all right, as near as I can remember. I took a deep breath and started prepping Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere, for publication. Because of the way that I formatted the Word doc, though, I had to go back through and edit a bunch of stuff by hand in Vellum. On the other hand, that wasn’t too bad as I also did some final edits and proofreading as I went through. I learned from working on a friend’s book that going through every page; one screen the editing doc, the other the print version, really helps. And as I went through the process I realized that I’m getting it figured out and that it really is going to be a pretty book. Yay!
Tuesday I got my first Moderna Covid vax. Side-effects have been mild, a little tiredness, sore arm, some headache. A little itchy on my arm. Oddly enough, my gut feels a LOT better and something just started feeling better in my body. Psychological? Quite possibly.
And then there was Wednesday. OH GOD, was there a Wednesday (and now the caps lock on my keyboard DOESN’T WORK and it is brand new as of August, damnit). Anyway. Computer problems with husband’s connectivity, the printer kept throwing off error codes that required it to be turned off and back on, the Zoom Soroptimist meeting I was running had a couple of people with internet issues, hoo boy).
But that wasn’t the biggie. After the Soroptimist meeting, I went for a ride. Everything appeared normal with the old mare when we started out. She ate two pounds of grain, was a wee bit cranky about the hind cinch, but that happens sometimes. Ride went well, though a storm was blowing in and it was clear that I had dressed too lightly. And then–she didn’t want her post-ride treats.
That was–worrisome. Mocha never turns down treats. NEVER. I watched her for a while. Something was not-quite-right, but I didn’t have enough NQR signs to suggest that it was a good time to call the vet. I went home to eat dinner, but kept fretting, and finally went back out to the pasture–just in time to see her lie down flat on the ground. Like a dying horse would.
Ulp. Something was wrong. She jumped right back up when I yelled her name. But still…something was wrong. I went back and looked her over. Capillary refill on her gums was still good. But she didn’t want another treat, and she stood with her nose to the ground, and looked like she wanted to go down again. I called the husband to tell him something was wrong. Then the barn owner.
She went down again. Then back up. I marched back to the pickup to get her halter. She went down a third time while I was calling the after-hours emergency vet number. By this time I had a pretty good idea that I had a colicking horse on my hands.
The vet came and the verdict was colic, all right. Early stages. He administered intravenous Banamine and pumped some water into her gut to hydrate her (took two tries, the first, smaller tube kept going into her lungs and caused a big nosebleed). Also did a rectal exam. He advised putting a blanket on her since we had a forecast for a return of winter. I sent the husband back to the house to grab what we jokingly call the “portable shed”–the heaviest damn waterproof blanket on the market.
She came around quickly and was starting to grab at grass like she was starving. Turned loose, she took off at a trot for where hay had been spread. Whew.
We made two after-dark trips to check on her. Both times she was skittery–didn’t like the flashlights, I guess–while her younger pasture mates were all “HUMANS HUMANS HUMANS pet us feed us treats pay attention.”
The next morning she was clearly tired but better. It was cold and snowy so the portable shed stayed on. It came off this morning but will go back on tonight as tomorrow is supposed to be Winter Returns Number Seven or some such thing.
Well, between shot reaction and being tired out from late night colic checks, Thursday was kind of a bust, though I did a panel on short story writing for Quarancon and finished formatting Broken Angel. I also fixed some major formatting problems with The Heritage of Michael Martiniere, and added some new back matter to reflect the latest additions to The Martiniere Legacy series (more on that in another post).
Today, I had a chiropractic appointment, some other things, and uploaded the new version of Heritage as well as Broken Angel to the usual ebook distributors.
Broken Angel now has an official release date of April 25. Now I just need to get all the promo work going. Preorders should be going live pretty soon now.
Whew.
