not quite a GIP

So last time I scribbled possible icon pictures to pass time on public transit I ended up with this one, and I figured it might work as an icon for the "I just can't deal/look anymore, and wish I could hide under my blanket for the rest of my life" moments, as well as perhaps for ironic reference to that feeling. I'm just not sure whether it would work better with some kind of text, or whether I should leave it as it is. What do you think?

( If you're interested you can see the pencils behind the cut )

BTW I noticed that I haven't posted on my rat Dustin for a while. Unfortunately the tumor has so far only become more defined in its upper part not the lower, so the vet said that with it being so close to his penis they couldn't be sure to completely remove it. With his general health and breathing problems the operation isn't worth the risk when it is likely that he'd need to operate again, so the vet said the better option for now is to continue with the spider venom treatment as long as that works to contain its growth. So for now I'm bringing Dustin to the vet every four to five days for an injection. I don't really dare to inject him myself, because I can't really see how I'd be able to hold one rather uncooperative and struggling rat while injecting him safely at the same time all by myself. I mean, I guess there's techniques for this kind of thing, but well, even with the commute it's much less stressful to have the vet doing it while I just hold him. If I wasn't living alone and someone else could hold the rat while I handled just the injection it would be different, but not as it is.

another rat update...

I just came home from the vet, and it turns out that what they had thought to be likely a tumor was an abscess. Today I noticed that Dustin was licking there a lot, that the lump wasn't fully covered by hair anymore, and that a small area of the skin above it was brownish like scabbed. When I showed the vet, she felt it and squeezed a bit and pus started oozing out of it *shudder*, and then she told me that it was an abscess that had broken open. Apparently they can't really tell the difference from just feeling these lumps. I mean, over the last weeks two of the vets at the office examined the lump, and it's not like there had been any wound or anything I had noticed.

Anyway, the vet drained it (and I hope I'll never see greenish pus squeezed out of one of my pets again, ick), flushed it, put on salve and gave him an antibiotic, though whether that is the right one will only be sure when the results from the swap she took for a culture come in tomorrow afternoon.

So now I have to convince Dustin to take antibiotics again, and wrestle him to put on salve twice daily, but I hope it'll heal well. When the vet gave him antibiotic orally he struggled with levels of energy I hadn't seen Dustin display in a while, but he had been prescribed that antibiotic previously for his lungs and then he took it when I mixed it with food, so I hope he'll do so again. Anyway, it's the first time one of pets had such an abscess, but it has to be better than tumors, right? At least if it's really "just" an abscess not some underlying problem that developed an abscess on top of that or anything like that.

Right now Dustin is sulking, possibly because this had to be one of the most unpleasant vet visits he ever had, having that abscess cleaned can't have been pleasant for him. I hope it might at least feel better for him now that it's drained of the pus, and perhaps he appreciates that.