Tornado Toenails

Originally, I was planning to take Sinbad to the vet on Wednesday for his blood test and check-up to get his meds refilled, but with the uncertainty of the state of emergency restrictions, I decided that the sooner I could take Sinbad to the vet, the better. But I was worried that a Monday following a major holiday in Japan would be super crowded. Now, the Animal Hospital that I go to in Gunma is open every day although Sundays and national holidays have morning hours only. I was hoping that would make things less crowded today.

I woke up this morning at 4 am with the plan to leave here by 5 am. It takes approximately two and a half hours to drive from my house to the Animal Hospital that we go to in Gunma. I prefer to leave as early as possible to avoid the morning rush hour traffic through Tokyo and to hopefully get an early appointment. The way my Animal Hospital handles appointments is on a first-come, first-served basis. Appointments are only taken when it is an emergency or a scheduled surgery. Early in the morning (I'm not sure what time), a sign-up sheet is put in front of the reception desk. When you arrive, you leave your hospital identification card and sign your name and your pet's name on the sheet. Then, at 8:50, you check-in at the reception desk to receive your number. To prevent the risk of Coronavirus infections, the hospital gives you a beeper so that you can wait comfortably in your car until the vet is ready to see you. Usually, when I arrive around 8:30, I am assigned to numbers between 5~10. So it isn't that long of a wait unless the people before you have pets that take a bit longer. This morning I arrived at 8 am and when I went to the sign-up sheet, I was number 20 on the list! I knew it was going to be crowded but I didn't expect that long of a list! However, on Mondays, all 3 veterinarians are on duty. When I go on Wednesdays, there are only 2 vets on duty. So I was hoping that time might go faster. Another thing is that some people will sign up early, but actually come later. So let's say that you're number 3 on the list, but you don't get to the hospital until close to noon. What happens is that they'll skip your number but then take you as soon as you arrive. I seriously didn't expect to be seen until after 10, but we were buzzed in around 9:30 and we were done by 9:45!

Everything went smoothly. Sinbad's weight is down to 6.6 kg which is good. At one time, he was close to 8 kg and the vet said Sinbad needed to lose weight and we put him on a strict diet. He was also on steroids for a while because of his blood condition so that put on some extra weight. But now that his blood levels have stabilized, he's been off the steroids and doing well. Usually, the veterinarian and the assistant take Sinbad to do the blood tests without me, but today they invited me to stay so I held Sinbad while they did his test. He was perfect! He didn't flinch or react at all. I really think he prefers two of the vets and the other one he is a bit uncertain about. I guess Sinbad is like me: definite likes and dislikes when it comes to people! haha... I wasn't sure if they'd be able to cut his toenails because of what happened back in August. Last year, Sinbad had a grooming appointment and he became really upset when the groomers tried to cut his toenails. His tracheal collapse condition combined with the heat and getting over-excited caused him to have a bit of a seizure and so they had to immediately put him in an intensive care cage to cool him and calm him down. Luckily everything turned out okay, but he wasn't able to get his haircut and the vet advised that we no longer put Sinbad through grooming procedures. Being a senior dog, the strain of having to stand up for an extended period of time might be too stressful for him. I worried that long toenails might be dangerous for him, but the vet said it would be better to only cut them when he was calm or if he would respond to me cutting them. Well, since he seemed very calm today, I asked if they could try cutting his nails. The vet said it would be no problem. The assistant who did the nail cutting was perfect! I know Sinbad likes her so as I held him, he was fine. Each time she clipped, she was laughing at how long his toenails were. I knew they were pretty bad and they looked like those fingernails you see in the Guiness Book of World Records that have the title of longest fingernails. His clippings were loud and you could hear them as they fell on the table. It was pretty gross. The assistant picked one of the clipped toenails up and said in Japanese, "Look! This is a tornado toenail" because it was all curly like a tornado! We had a good laugh.

The drive home was nice because it was much earlier than I had anticipated I'd be driving home. Before heading back, I filled up gas. I wonder why Gunma's gasoline prices are so much cheaper than Yokohama's gasoline prices. Shizuoka's gasoline prices are more expensive than Yokohama's gas prices. Anyways, I always make it a point to fill up gas while I'm in Gunma because it's so much cheaper. I then picked up brunch at McDonald's to eat on the drive home. I stopped at two parking rest areas today because I started getting a little sleepy so I took a short break at Hanyu Parking area and then I stopped off at my usual Hasuda Parking area. I took Sinbad for a walk at their little park area and then decided to do a quick live stream to wish my friends at Happs, Periscope and Twitter a Happy New Year. It was great not having any traffic throughout my drive today.

As for the state of emergency call, it seems like there will be one for Tokyo, Saitama and Kanagawa, but I'm still unclear as to when and what that will mean as far as my work situation will go. No doubt an e-mail will be following up on that soon so for now I just have to wait and see. At least I can relax knowing that Sinbad has his meds for the next 3 months and the "tornado toenails" have been put under control!

xox