I'm Home, I'm Home

Thank you everybody for all the prayers. I feel so good being home.  I know, my back really hurts, though.  I don't like my mommy picking me up, but sometimes I have to let her.  We slept a lot yesterday afternoon.  SHE put the futon down so we can sleep in the study.  I can walk on to the bed just fine.

Last night I had to get up a lot to go outside and pee.  I never do this.  I like sleeping too much.  I also needed to drink lots of water.  SHE says it's my medicine.  I try to scratch my ears, but my back legs don't work the way I want.  When SHE sees me trying, I get my ears scritched.  It's good, but SHE doesn't know exactly where to do it.

This morning I keep eyeing the couch and then walking away.  My choice is either jump (and I can't) or have her pick me up, which I hate.  I'm an "I can do it myself mommy" dog.

This morning we spent lots of time in bed while she massaged my legs and back.  Then she moved my legs around.  The massage is great, but this leg moving stuff hurts a little.  She says we have to do it until I'm better and can walk really well.  She's promised me lots of good walks in a few weeks, after I get the staples out and the vet says it's ok.

I got to have a piece of bacon for breakfast.  Boy did that taste good.  I'm sure I didn't eat a thing at the doggie hospital.  Speaking of the doggie hospital.  I really had the staff doing what I wanted.  I didn't have to stay with the other animals.  They took me on lots of little walks and gave me massages and the doctor wrote "Thank you for bringing Isabelle to the Maine Veterinary Referral Center's Neurology Service, she is such a pretty little girl."  I don't feel so pretty with a bare patch on my back and needing a haircut.  She's talking about getting me shaved, so it all grows in together.

(Note from mommy)  I only plan on having it cut really short.  There are lots of matts only made worse by her surgery and confinement.  She is two weeks beyond her normal grooming date.  I've had to cancel two appointments.

Pat and Isabelle

Baxter Peak and the Knife Edge Trail on Maine's Mount Katahdin.  from Wikimedia Commons (Greg Neault)

My mommy and I drove to Millinocket which is north of here a long way near that mountain.  We stayed with one of my favorite people, Pat. Unfortunately Oscar the cat lives there now.  He and I have come to an agreement.  I won't chase him unless he asks.  We greet each other briefly by touching noses and then try to stay out of each other's way.  I got my own plate of Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, potatoes, squash, peas and stuffing with a bit of gravy)  I ate some of everything, but left most of the peas.  I only like fresh peas, thank you.

We stayed in the apartment so I wouldn't have to do stairs.  That's how I met Pat.  She rented us the apartment behind her kitchen when we moved to Millinocket.  Our house wasn't ready because the wife of the former priest was still living there.  The first weekend SHE had to go to Bangor because one of the people in her church hit a moose and was very sick.  I stayed with Pat in her part of the house and we became fast friends.  It took my mommy a lot longer to become friends.  Pat came with us on our last trip across the country.  We had so much fun.  Pat really liked seeing Teddy Roosevelt National Park and Glacier and Crater Lake and especially the Grand Canyon.  I liked having two beds to choose from at night and getting only people food.

Yesterday morning we left Millinocket very early.  It was still dark.  I recognized the doggie hospital when we got there and refused to come out of the car.  Alas, SHE is bigger than I am and finally managed to corner me and pick me up.  I showed her.  I peed on the floor of the hospital.  Then they took me inside.  I haven't seen my mommy since.  They put me to sleep and now I am very groggy.  They say I have to stay here three nights.  I want my mommy!!

UPDATE: (10 am)  I'm awake and able to walk around.  My doctor didn't think I could.  They don't know what a strong dog I really am. Now if they would only take this funny clear tube out of my leg.  They tell me it's so I won't hurt and they'll take it out tonight.  I hate being in a cage, but I need to sleep so that's all for now.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

I have to have my back operated on Friday.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that I don't have cancer.  I hope that means I still get to eat yummy dinners.  Tonight it was more chicken, rice, broccoli plus some sweet potato.  Then I had a great nap on the floor.

I'm tired of being picked up.  I feel good enough to get on and off the sofa even if I have to scramble to get my back legs up.  I'm scared it's really going to hurt when they operate on my back.  I want to drive to California with my mommy so we may have to leave a bit later than she thought, because I'll have to get better.  Road trips are a lot of fun, but not if I hurt.  I don't want to travel in a cage.  I can't stand cages.  I have a nice dog seat that lets me look out the window.

Please pray my surgery goes well.

Singing to Isabelle

SHE likes to sing to me.  One of the songs is "How much is that doggie in the window?"  So we found the muppet version.  It made her laugh so I think I've done my job today.  I'm still pretty groggy, but she brought a roasted chicken home for our dinner and I've already had a snack.  Yum. We want to share it (the video, not the chicken), so other people can laugh too.

My Visit to the Hospital

SHE took me to a new hospital.  SHE said it was a special place that would make me all better.  Well I didn't like it much at all, although the people were very nice.  First the vet tech looked me over, then I saw the doctor.  SHE called her a neurologist, whatever that means. They said I was "bright, alert and responsive."  Of course I was.  I'm always that way.  That's me.  They also said I had "a mildly hunched back and slight weakness in the left hind limb" and that I was "uncomfortable on thoracolumbar spinal palpation.  Meaning my back hurts and my left leg doesn't work quite right.  I know that. I then had to go with the tech inside some doors.  The gave me some stuff to put me to sleep and then I had what they called a myelogram/CT scan to see what was happening with my back.  The next thing I know was I had to spend the night there.

SHE said they took a little bit of something behind my tongue to see how bad it was (a biopsy).  They decided not to operate on my back.  We have to wait a few days to find out how bad it is.  The neurologist said she thought it was squamous cell carcinoma.  Too big a word for a dog like me.  I heard her tell my mommy to feed me soft food.  YEA.  That means SHE'll cook for me all the time.

I'm not supposed to go on walks for a while and I can't jump on furniture, so SHE can't leave me alone unless SHE locks me up in the study, where there's nothing to jump on.  AND I don't have to go to the groomers today.

I hurt again and I can't jump up on things.  SHE seems very worried, but I'm fine.  SHE gives me a pill in a yummy treat and that helps, but there's something wrong with my back leg.  I can't feel it and I have to be very careful.  SHE won't let me go upstairs anymore, but I like sleeping on the futon.  I can just walk onto the bed.  It's also a good place to rest when SHE goes out.  I hate going to the doggie doctor.  I shake and shake and breathe so hard I get the floor all wet.  The doctor is very nice though.  She doesn't hurt me at all and is very gentle.  The doctor says I'm a very stoic dog. SHE says "gentle-gentle" all the time to me, especially when she picks me up.  I'm not supposed to wiggle when she says this, but sometimes it hurts.  SHE says we're going to see another doctor today.  NO.  I don't want to.  Help!

Acadia's Sand Beach

I got to run on a beach for the first time in ages.  I think maybe since we left California.  Beaches have so many wonderful smells.  I do like smelly seaweed, but SHE wouldn't let me roll in it.  I also think the sand is fun to walk on.  It's easy on my legs.  SHE and her friend Jane (I like Jane, she gave me a McDonald's hamburger today—plain, nothing on it) took me on a nice long drive to a place called Acadia National Park.  I got to walk a bit and that was nice.  It was sunny and not really cold at all.  The stone stairs down to the beach were pretty easy for me to manage.  I think because they were so nice and deep.  I didn't worry at all about going down or up.  I would like to have a beach like that near where we live.

I like long drives when SHE lets me sleep on her lap.  Sometime I look out the driver's window and sometimes I sleep on my chair and sometimes I go into the back to see if maybe there's some food.  The McD's lady gave me a dog cookie as a treat.  That's because I lean very far out of the car window so they know I'm here and it often leads to a cookie.  It's a good trick.  Bank tellers sometimes have dog treats too.  Advice to my dog friends.  Always stick your head out the driver's window to let the drive-through people know you're there.

Now we're home and I have to eat kibble tonight.  You'd think SHE'd know by now that I hate kibble.  Maybe I'll nap first.  It was hard work being with humans all day.  I never really got to nap all that long.

Photo is from http://www.acadia.ws/sand-beach.htm