Big Dog, Pig Dog

There are good days, and there are bad days–and sometimes it’s hard to know who is the one having The Day. 🙂

We are on Day 3 of doing our PT stuff, which includes a walk of 8-10 minutes. Now, Sam was (and still is) ECSTATIC to go on this. About gave himself an apoplexy. And did his first real faceplants of this journey when he discovered that lifting a leg to mark a mailbox is, in fact, the same as lifting a leg to take a pee in the backyard…and that without a supplemental support system, it usually ends in tipping over. 😀 (But, to his credit, he figured that out ASAP, and now leans on things to mark them. Of course, since he is leaning on his “good side” up against the object to be peed upon, it usually heightens the odds of him peeing on himself, but hey…it’s all wet and muddy out anyway. What’s a dribbler or two?)

So, that is good. BUT they completely wore him out–to the point where he could barely stand. And while he recovered after Day 1 fairly quickly, Day 2 was slower. And last night he just didn’t seem to bounce back at all. He didn’t eat (save for a few scoops of ice cream), whined and cried all night, and really didn’t want to move. I tried doing some of his exercises with him, and he just pulled away (more than normal). He was still that way this AM. I managed to get two tiny cans of Fancy Feast in him, but that was it. And he wouldn’t patrol the yard or anything, and his legs just tremble when he stands.

So, of course I am upset and distracted and worried about this, and thinking “OMG, I KNEW PT would make things worse…I have to cancel his upcoming appointments!” or “Holyshitto, is this the end? No! It’s only been a month! HELP!” blah blah blah (or, rather BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!)

BUT…years have therapy have taught me I need to call a mental timeout for myself. Ergo, I am here posting (instead of working, like I should be :p), in order to purge my system and calm my ass down. I am de-certfiying Dr. Google, if you will.

I am taking a moment now to remind myself that “too much, too soon” doesn’t just apply to, say, me going out for a run after 12 weeks of sitting on my butt after my OWN surgery and wondering why my knee feels like it’s on fire and swearing I am next in line for total reconstruction surgery or have some weird muscle-eating disease or something. It can also apply to elderly, already orthopedically impaired, yet still over-zealous dogs who are going on their first few walks post-op and are using muscles they’ve never utilized before.

I am taking a moment to reinforce the idea that, yes…sometimes, the cause of a problem really IS a benign one. (Well, MOST times it is, I suppose…if you want to speak truthfully. BUT I SWEAR TO GOD THAT BHUTRO-BENTABI FEVER CAN OCCUR WITHOUT WARNING, AND WILL EAT YOUR JOINTS ALIVE AND YOU JUST NEVER CAN BE TOO SURE WITHOUT CHECKING GOOGLE.  :p)

Annnnyway…

So, I will give him a rest day, and see what happens. Take a breather. Feed him some hamburger or tuna or cat poop or some other wonderful meal and see if I can’t improve BOTH our spirits. 😀

In fact, we’ve got a new batch of homebrew IPA that’s all ready to go, so maybe we’ll do one (or four) for me; one for my homey tonight. :p (<—JUST KIDDING. I DO NOT GIVE MY DOGS AN ENTIRE BEER. It’s not good for them. And it makes them mic hogs at the karoke machine. :eyeroll:)

I saw a quote today (from Doug Kotavy, writing on behalf of his beloved black lab) that I think is appropriate, and I will remember to repeat to myself: “[You need to] recognize that the days ahead are the icing on the cake of my life. Try not to smear the frosting.”

Relax, don’t worry about what hasn’t happened, and make all of the moments count. Moments wasted on fear and worry and what might happen in the future are just that…moments wasted.