Archive for the ‘Puppies’ Tag
An Unexpected Addition
Well I’m now the owner of a new 5-month old, to-be-named, lab-mix puppy. Trust me when I say this was the last thing I expected this weekend. I wasn’t even looking for a dog but Friday I had a bout of the Fozzy-missings and the only cure is the humane society website. They had a huge number of dogs come into the shelter and a few of them looked like good matches.
The problem was that the shelter opened at noon and I had a wedding at two. I worked out a schedule that, if executed perfectly, would get me to the wedding on time. Now I should state, I am terrible at taking the uncontrollable into account in my schedules. For instance, finding a trainer to get the dog into a visitation room for me or the long line I had to wait in to put a hold on her. My schedule had me leaving the shelter at 12:45 and barely having enough time to through my dress on before running out the door. What time did I leave? 1:20. I don’t know why I didn’t realize right away that I couldn’t make it home. In one of my more embarrassing moments, I had to have Brian bring my dress and shoes to a gas station where I changed in roughly 1 and a half minutes.
Right as I was ripping my clothes off, a women walks into the bathroom. I apologized and explained I had a wedding emergency. She laughed and responded that she had an entirely different type of emergency. By the time she was out of the stall I was completely changed and ready to go. She did a double take then complemented my dress. Guess I can pull off a good gas station change. Luckily, the reception was very close to our house so we had time to stop off before the reception so I could finish getting ready before the reception.
Both the ceremony and the reception were beautiful. I think all that talk of “better and worse†convinced Brian not to kill me for almost making him late to a Catholic wedding. I must be truly blessed because he also agreed to see the dog the next day.
She here we are, with a new dog. We’re figuring it out; remembering how to be completely on our guard. One thing about me is that I don’t like the latest thing. I’ll replace what I have with an identical replacement. I know I will love this puppy but right now, I’m just waiting to form some bond with her. If anything, new puppies make me love my old puppy more. I know this will change but I hate the waiting.
Houdini Bennett
Think have been kind of getting back to normal around the house (sort of, more on that later) so Brian thought it would be good to spend some time with Bennett. I thought taking him to play with Surrey during our board meeting would be perfect. It poured buckets that morning but Kate still said it was cool to bring him.
After a brief greeting, we through them in the backyard to get disastrously muddy. It would be a small price to pay for a happy puppy dog. Meanwhile, Kate and I set to work getting dinner ready for the girls. After about 15-min we heard a crash and the scamper of paws. The dogs were inside! At first I thought Bennett had opened the door because it had a handle doorknob. That is until Kate showed me the knob style that she had and explained he had used his two man-paws and turned it! I really didn’t believe my stupid golden had figured out how to turn a doorknob! We locked the door just in case.
So everybody arrived and we were probably 30-min into our meeting when I hear Kate yell.
   “They’re out! Ohh my God, They’re out!â€
She jumped up and started running to the front door. We all looked to find the two puppies running around the driveway. I rounded up Bennett and Kate got Surrey and we put them back through the gate. Before Kate even took her hand off the latch, Bennett was pushing it up again. I grabbed the latch and held it down, he gave me the stink-eye and pushed with his nose as hard as he could against the latch. Finally, we decided the laundry room was the best place for these two.
I apologized endlessly to Kate for the trouble. Looks like I have a lot to learn about Bennett.
New Shoes and New Dog Beds
I knew I was crashing yesterday. I was putting my new cycling shoes together, inserts and cleats and such, while watching office reruns and all of a sudden, I just needed to sleep so badly. I pushed off the need to sleep because I had too much to do, which was probably a really bad idea. I did go to bed on time but still overslept in the morning and I never oversleep. I’ve been training 8-hours a week for 6 weeks straight and, even at lower intensity, that might be pushing it. I’ve also been extremely busy and have not been great about getting 8-hours of sleep every night. Pile on top of that the crap I’ve been putting into my body and it’s a recipe for disaster. My TP goals this week should be to eat better, sleep more, and get a message. The message isn’t going to happen but 2 out of 3 isn’t bad.
Last week I bought the dogs beds. Brian thought it was stupid but now they won’t leave them. Bennett will disappear at night and we’ll find him in bed. Fozzy will eat his breakfast and go out then get right back into bed. He doesn’t even say good-bye to Brian anymore. It’s really freaking adorable. My only complaint is that Fozzy didn’t pick the bed closest to me. I also wonder if they’ll still love them in the summer.
Funny Stories and Bike Drama
My back has really been hurting these last couple of days. It’s so difficult for me to say if it’s muscle of spine since the muscles are totally related to how your spine moves and feels. I tend to think that it is just muscle pain but it makes me nervous. The good news is that it is very low; much lower than my L2.
Yesterday was nice and relaxed. Brian came home early and decided not to go into the office today. The mood was light and fun for the first time in a while. As we were cooking dinner, I mentioned a conversation where Shontell tried to argue that pint glasses were 12-oz. Brian wondered if pint-glasses were actually 16-oz or if they held a little more so that you could fill it with 16-oz and still walk. Being engineers, we had to try it out. I filled a pint glass almost to the very top and it measured 16-oz. My plan was to drink it but after I poured it to the top I started giggling. As I giggled the water threatened to spill which made me giggle harder. Giggling turned into laughing which turned into waters spilling all over me. Brian was almost in tears laughing over the whole ordeal.
Later, I was trying to crawl up the stairs on my butt. I sat down on the stairs and Bennett immediately sat down next to me. He gave me this adorable look like “We got this mommyâ€. Brian started up the stairs and tried to pass when Bennett got all excited and tried to block him. It was so cute!
Today I went to MJ’s to get fit for a new bike. When I got there, the guy who was supposed to fit me passed me off to another sales guy who didn’t fit me at all. He looked over the measurements of the two bikes I was looking at and just talked to me about them. I had already done all the research so he didn’t really tell me anything new. He did tell me he didn’t think the Parlee would fit being 2cm taller than my last bike. We decided on the Madone only to have him check inventory and find they don’t make it in my size anymore. I left really upset. When I got home I realized that that Specialized has been expanding their line of short woman’s bikes and they sell frames. So worst case I buy the frame at BSS and build it with my discount at MJ’s.
Fozzy’s Follow Up w/ Dr. W
I really wanted to write was the amazing care I got for my dog a at the vet on Wednesday. I had made a last minute appointment to get his sutures out because we had miscalculated the date. They put me in with one of the other doctors, which was fine. When I got there, they said the vet who did the surgery wanted to do his follow up and moved his schedule around to make time for me!! He didn’t rush at all even though I’m sure he had trouble fitting me in. He talked through everything with me and told me exactly what to expect. He check Fozzy’s ears and spent extra time making sure he was comfortable the whole time. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have such an awesome vet. Now fast forward to our oncology appointment Friday. This woman had no idea how to handle dogs. The first time he saw her, she smacked his hips even after I told her twice he had hip-dysplasia and was very sensitive. Friday, she petted him into his face then later, she clapped loudly and yelled at him to get up. It was not the energy she should have had in an already tense environment. We will not be seeing her again unless we have to and I’m glad we opted not to give her any more money.
Thursday at work was finally a catharsis. After weeks of struggling, at the final hour everything came together and I was able to make the samples. My reward to myself was to take Friday off, which was much needed. When I go back on Monday I will be back on my old project but gearing up for a very exciting new project!
The weekend deserves its own update an I am out of time. Maybe tomorrow!
Fozzy’s Diagnosis
It’s amazing where my life has gone in the 2 weeks since my last post. I talked about my life changing forever but really had no clue. Both Brian and I received first silicon this month which has meant 50 to 60 hour work weeks for both of us. On top of that, the infection that Fozzy had on his paw turned out to be a tumor and that tumor is canine malignant melanoma. The last 3 weeks have been full of vet visits. First the toe was amputated. Then we couldn’t find anything that would keep him from getting at the bandage. Finally, after he got at the wound 3 times and pulled all his sutures out, we ordered a muzzle to keep him from getting at it. He had to have a second surgery since the damage he did was unrepairable. All of this while I was trying to work 50-hour weeks and Brian was completely available.
Picture of Fozzy with the first contraption to keep him from getting at his foot
Fozzy wearing his new "no chew" bandage that he promptly ate the next day
We found out that it was cancer two weeks ago and my emotions have run the gamut. I immediately made an appointment with the canine oncologist who informed me that for $3000 of treatment his life might be extended 9 months. I think the hardest part was having a choice for treatment. It meant putting a dollar amount on the value of my dogs life and I couldn’t take that. It took a ton of crying and many phone calls to family and friends to finally find peace in my decision not to treat it.
I have been at peace with this decision for a few days now and part of me wishes that I had taken the time to post here to capture all the thoughts and emotions of the moment before I found peace. The one thing everybody kept asking me was if it would hurt any less if he died in two years vs one? Of course not, and my desire to keep him in my life is purely selfish. I will be a wreck when the time comes. I have loved him more than I ever thought a human could love an animal. He was mine and mine alone. He loved Brian but he had an unconditional love and trust of me that I have never known before. I hope that I have given him the best life any owner could give a dog.