Midweek #ROW80 Check-In

It’s been a less than productive week so far.  Part of this is because once I got the two new scenes written in Be Careful, they necessitated that the NEXT chapter be rewritten.  Which I haven’t gotten to yet because of the other part.  The Daisy having a Really Bad Day part.

I am a simple woman.  The thrust of how my days go center generally around 2 questions:

How is the writing going?

How is the dog?

Daisy is getting on up there.  She’s 12 years old.  It’s been a year and a half since she had the spinal stroke.  We have been through hell and back getting her whatever treatment we could afford to see that she recovered as much as she could.  But she’s had regressions over the course of this year that have left us frustrated.  She’ll get better and then have another regression, further than before.  We’ve done physical therapy.  Right now we’re doing acupuncture.

In any event, Monday wasn’t a good day.  Well, it started off okay.  She was fine in the morning, even did a short walk at lunch (we wandered over to say hi to the neighbor).  When I took her out to potty after dinner, she couldn’t stand up in the back.   Took her out an hour and a half later, she was…well, not FINE, but walking again under her own steam.  I was able to coax her down the fenceline and through the orchard corner.  I felt better.  Then an hour and a half later, after hubby got home, we took her out again and were back to the not being able to stand.  This was upsetting and heartbreaking and frustrating.  There were a lot of tears on my part, and I am NOT a crier.  She’s my baby, y’all.

So yesterday was her weekly acupuncture appointment.  Her neurologist was in, so she got looked over.  Didn’t notice any worsening sensitivities than she’s had the last year, but doc did notice she seems to be giving UP on stuff sooner.  We discussed the possibility of a quad cart (doggie wheelchair basically–would hold her weight but still allow her to walk).  She’s not there yet (thank goodness because eegads, it’s going to take us a while to save up for one–brief PSA: BUY MY BOOKS!  THEY FUND MY DISABLED DOG’S HEALTHCARE!).  So we’re starting a round of anti-inflammatory drugs, as she may have some arthritis going on.

Anyway, we got home, had supper.  And after supper went out to potty.  She was up under her own steam.  And I don’t know what prompted me to do it, but I went to go get her favorite red ball.  One of those little cheap plastic kind that are like $3 in the toy section, about the size of a soccer ball.  Her FAVORITE thing USED to be to bounce it off her nose like a seal.  And she was damned good at it.  Well as soon as she saw it, she started barking.  We tried the seal routine (I didn’t actually expect her to do anything), and that was a no go.  But she followed the ball around.  So I started being a soccer player (note: I have NO SKILL in this area) and she CHASED ME AROUND THE YARD FOR A FULL TEN MINUTES.  Totally under her own steam.  Sagged a little a couple of times and got herself back up because she WANTED THAT BALL.  And I got her to turn LEFT three times.  This is her weak side, and generally she will go around the world to avoid turning in that direction.  This was better than she’s moved in WEEKS.

My sweet, Machiavellian little baby has been malingering for attention.  Not totally.  She really is on up there and really does have issues and some regression.  But this totally proves that she is CAPABLE if she’s properly MOTIVATED.  She’s a smart dog and she’s been BORED.  And we haven’t paid as much attention to her as we should (Callie either) for a while (because life is busy and now I feel like a bad furmommy).  So last night’s writing block was taken up by playing with the dog and researching dog puzzles that you can make.  Anyway, we’ll be working with her more intensively to make sure she gets exercise and keeps engaged.  The fact that it’s cooling down will help as she really enjoys the cooler weather.

Anyway, now that things are looking up for Daisy a bit, I can get back to focusing on knocking out Be Careful.  May the rest of the week be more productive.