Tatum and Jet

Last night, Tuesday, I went home from work early and fed the pack. Then took Jet and Tatum for a walk to see if Tatum would poop. And, fortunately, she did. The vet, on Monday, took an ultrasound and x-rays of her to see if she could see any blockage or anything else that was wrong. She said Tatum’s liver looked small, but that may or may not mean anything. And her bowels were just filled with stool. So I was worried about her pooping. I’m glad she finally pooped Tuesday night. Tatum is a stealth pooper and usually we are not able to watch her poop. But on walks she’ll poop so I’m glad she did. Her poop was big and black and firm. But I don’t know if it was all that was inside her. I just don’t know how to tell, but it seemed like there was a lot more in her that came out.

But her spirits are a bit better. She doesn’t seem as spooky or afraid. She’s not avoiding me or my husband by leaving the room we are in. She’s still eating fine and drinking okay. She hasn’t thrown up since Monday. I wonder if the anti-nausea meds the vet gave her helped, too. She’s also on antibiotics for a while.

I’ll be convinced she is fine once I get home and she’s biting me on the but again. She has been growling at the other dogs again so that’s a good sign. I just want her to be her regular bratty self soon. I just adore her so much. And I hope she’ll be up for agility soon too. Maybe, if she’s feeling better, we can go train on Friday if we have time.

Jet in the Dishwasher

I guess when I was lots younger I liked to run around too. But now I’m like the older dogs, content to sit and veg. It’s good that I do have some younger dogs to keep me on me feet and moving. And I do move! I’m thinking, instead of jogging, I need to go sprinting. Since most of my dog sports where I’m moving are agility or flyball, where I’m sprinting full speed for only a half a minute or so. Maybe I’ll try to do that when I’m out with the dogs. Just take off full speed for 30 seconds and see if that helps. LOL.

Anyway, so I’m going to write down everything I eat… I think that’s the best way for me to lose weight. I hate it. My anxiety surfaces when I have to track something like that with OCD. It’s why I don’t clean well or cook well. Same anxiety. But alas, I’m getting too big. And the only thing that has really worked for me in the last year has been when I’ve counted calories and written down everything. Bleh.

And I need a long term goal, like a year. I guess I can’t expect to lose 10 pounds in a month. Even though that’s what I want. I’m now past 40, and yup, it’s much harder to lose weight now. Ugh.

Oh well, so me and the dogs hopefully won’t be sticking our heads in the dishwasher trying to lick out every dang crumb. LOL. If I get to that point, then please put me in therapy!

levi

He’s not even bothering his foot that much either where the cysts were. He has some stables in his foot where they were, and there’s not much red and no puss. And he’s pretty much leaving them alone too. He licks a little bit but nothing bad. I had the cone on him the first couple of nights but I think he’s leaving it alone just fine now. Maybe some prenatal vitamins would help him heal faster… but I’m not sure about that! I just want to keep him happy and healthy so he gets back to his normal obnoxious self.

Levi

Levi had a couple of cysts on his foot too, that wouldn’t heal. So the vet put him under to take those off, and x-rayed his tooth to see if it was bad enough to remove. Well, it was. The rest of his teeth are fine though. I think this is Levi’s first extraction. I wish we could have done a root canal or something, but not sure if it’s worth it for a dog to go through all that.

Now Levi is groggy and recovering. I hope he feels better, the tooth was probably hurting him quite a bit. Ugh. No ATV Accessories for us now, we have to pay for Levi’s surgery. Poor boy. Levi is my heart dog, and I don’t like it when he hurts.

Levi

It’s mostly controlled with diet, though there are some drugs, I guess, that can help. Tomorrow (Friday) I have a test where the GYN will go and look in my bladder. It may or may not show anything. We’ll see. I don’t want the procedure but maybe it’ll help diagnose me.

Where this isn’t really dog related, I think it’s going to affect my dog sports. I don’t plan on doing any less dog sports, but I think I’m going to have to make some changes to my trial and tournament days. I’m really going to have to watch what I eat (I have a list of foods to eat, and what not to eat), and I’m going to have to drink lots of good quality water. I’m also going to have to give myself needed down time. Stress is a big contributor to the pain of IC. So I’m going to have to say no to going out to dinner, or lots of parties, and no drinking alcohol. And I think when I travel, I may have to just travel by myself so that I can have complete downtime in hotel room. The way I unwind is to be alone. Or maybe with my husband. It’s going to be tough until I really get this under control. I’ve felt pretty rotten since I’ve gotten back from California for the Danish-Swedish Farmdog Specialty. I was okay for a few days here and there, but I’m back to feeling rotten again. Managing my world and my stress is going to be a big part of taking care of myself.

Good thing I have the dogs to cheer me up.

Jet and Muffit

Monday i went out jogging and was just fine and then came home, and walking from the street, on our front lawn grass, from the street to the house, I stepped in a hole and twisted my right ankle. I went down, swore, and heard a crack. UGH. Jet and Chase didn’t know what was up with me.

So now I have a sprained right ankle to match my sprained left ankle. I sprained my left back in October 2007 doing agility. For the last three or so months it’s been hurting again… the left one. So I’ve been wearing my brace and taking care of it. Well now the right one is out.

Maybe some dental discounts would help me, or some stupid joint discounts even. I went to the doc today and had both ankle’s x-rayed. He said they look okay, though I have some bone spurs and some arthritis. But they are minor. But he didn’t really address any soft-tissue things. Maybe I need to make the trek back out to the sports doctor and ask him. This doc, a family doc, said to keep weight bearing on it, so keep walking on it, but keep my activites lower. So probably no agility for a while. Agility has got to be the worst dog sport for human ankles.

So if I had hooves, maybe that’d be better. I could be a Satyr and not have to worry about feet. Though I know, I know, feet give us a lot of mobility that hooves don’t. But still, I hate how they can be so weak, and I hate pain!

Angel and Chase April 2005

She has a fever of 104.7, which is really high. About 101 is normal. The vet gave us some antibiotics to see if they will help. But her white blood cell count is normal. So in a way her body is fighting something off. In another way it’s not.

So she is really going downhill fast. We cried at the vet a little yesterday. I cried coming home from work today. Right now Angel is on my bed with me and we are snuggling. We have to let her go soon. She is just old. We don’t want her to go, we are very sad. But we don’t want her to be in pain, either.

This is a cute picture of her and Chase playing tug. She didn’t play tug much with Chase, but she did love to play and have me chase her around when she had toys and socks. Now she just sleeps all the time. I love her so much, this makes me very, very sad.

And I’ve eaten too much sugar tonight, ignoring the quick weight loss tips, because when I’m stressed I either don’t eat, or I eat junk. Bleh. I’m just an idiot. Oh well. Angel, I love you so very much.

The Couch

I know that they are, really, just fine having a few days off… maybe I’m starting to feel better and so I want to work more now, but I still feel rotten enough that I’d rather sleep all day. I need some Costa Rica vacations, maybe they would settle me down and heal me up…

I just have a bad cold. Not the flu. The flu would take me out for a week and I’d feel all weak and awful. I just have a head cold and stuffy nose and achy joints and stuff. I am pretty sure it’s not the flu. I’m glad it’s not the flu!

Well I hope I get better for ASCA agility next weekend. I have Tatum entered in pre-novice, scary! Now I’m getting nervous about it!