Yesterday I Did Something SuperFun

Not to repeat myself or anything, but yesterday I did something Super Fun! I went strollering at the mall! To help me stay happy and alert while I'm recovering from my surgery, Mommy and Daddy bought me this Chariot:

They call it a "stroller," but I think it's really a chariot. We went out to this really dog-friendly mall yesterday to do some post-Christmas exchanging, and I got to come in my new chariot! I got to go into all the stores, including, but not limited to, the underwear store and the kitchen store. I felt so cool. I accidentally peed while we were in the kitchen store, but I was sitting on a bunch of pee pads, so it was okay.

Since I had so much fun yesterday, I got to go out again this evening for a chariot ride through the neighborhood. It is nice to be out again. I hope someday that I can walk all by myself again. I start physical therapy in a couple of weeks after I get my staples out.

Recovery Update:
Today I wagged my tail! Mommy and Daddy went out to lunch and left me home for two hours by myself. When they got home they picked me up and I kissed their faces and WAGGED MY TAIL for the first time since my injury!!! Mommy's Mood-o-Meter: HOPEFULLY OPTIMISTIC

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: My new year's resolution is to start labeling my posts. And also to walk again.

Mommy and Daddy are Leaving Me!!!

Mommy and Daddy are going out this evening with Mommy's family. And I am not invited! So they are leaving me! At home! At least they are not leaving me alone. My Uncle DJ will be here to doggysit me. Here is a picture of the two of us in happier times, when I was a wee pup of only four months:


They are very nervous to leave me, but they made these plans weeks ago, and they can't really break them. I'm sure they will be calling a lot so see if I'm okay.

Here is some news on the recovery front:
My weird toe has stopped oozing blood and looks a lot better now. On Tuesday the outer layer of my toe pad FELL OFF! Our vet thinks it is one of three things, none of which are harmful in the long term: a bad reaction to a bug bite; a small "foreign body" like a plant sticker or something; or a histiocytoma. The last one sounds bad, but it is really just a benign growth that young dogs sometimes get that heals on its own in several weeks.

Also I can sort of stand up now. But only if someone holds me up under my tummy. And my toes still knuckle under and I still wobble and fall down. But Dr. M (at our regular vet clinic) and Dr. S (the surgeon) both say it's amazing that I can bear any weight at all only a week after spinal surgery. I told you I was a genius dog!

Bye for now,
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

Merry Christmas Eve

I am trying to help Mommy get into the Christmas spirit. I am feeling a little bit better because I am not in so much pain right now. Although last night was pretty restless.

We went to the vet this morning to have my fentanyl patch removed. It was very sticky and I was too upset to let Mommy and Daddy take it off themselves. You all know how I feel about sticky-ness on my furs. I guess it's good news that I could sort of feel it. I sometimes twitch my legs around a little bit, but I'm not anywhere near standing up yet.

Remember that swollen pad on my foot? Well, it's not any smaller and now it's oozing blood. Great. Mommy put some ointment on it, so I hope it will feel better soon.


Today's Mood-O-Meter: Cautiously Optimistic

Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: There is a show called "Dog Genius" on the Nat. Geo. channel next Sunday. I'm pretty sure this show is about me, so I told Mommy to Tivo it.

Finally Home

Well, I'm finally home, and I don't feel so good. My back hurts and my legs still don't work yet, so I am whimpering a lot. It makes Mommy and Daddy sad, but I can't help it. I'm trying my bestest to be calm, but I'm pretty scared. At least I'm home and not at that scary hospital anymore.

This is the pen that Mommy and Daddy set up for me in the livingroom. It is right next to the Christmas tree. Mommy says that having me home is almost the best Christmas present ever. (The best would be to make my legs work again.)

In my pen I have an orthopedic bed and some grass to go potty on, and my favorite yellow blanket. I also have my wubba. Sometimes when you are feeling sad it is good to snuggle with your wubba.

Thank you to all my DWB friends for the wonderful comments over the past several days. It has really helped me feel better. We have a long way to go, and I have to learn to do something called "rehabilitation." I wonder if that is like agility... Although I heard something about an "underwater treadmill." Surely you jest.

Resting With My Wubba,
Poppy the LBC

I'm back...almost

Hi friends,

Mommy and Daddy came to visit me in the hospital today. I was so happy to see them that I tried to swim out of the nurse's arms through the air to get to them. The nurse was good and held on tight so I wouldn't fall. We got to spend some time together in the "quiet room," which is this very nice room with carpets and couches and boxes of tissue. I wimpered a lot because I am so sad right now. There is something funny with my legs...I can't seem to make them do what I want.



I get to come home tomorrow, and Mommy and Daddy are spending all day today preparing for my arrival with pee pads, a new low-front doggy bed, and a reinstatement of the ex-pen and crate system. I remember when I was very small I had to be on what they called "crate rest" for a long time because my pelvis was hurty. I have to do the same thing now because my legs and back are hurty.

I am trying to keep my chin up and be brave for Mommy and Daddy. It has been very helpful to me (and especially Mommy) over the last few days to use my blog as someplace to talk about my troubles and to read all the encouraging comments from all my DWB friends. I promise I will be around visiting and commenting when I am feeling a bit better.

love,
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

post-surgery

Here is the latest news about our little baby doggy...

Poppy is out of surgery now. The surgeon said it went as well as it could have. She had one ruptured disc, which they repaired. When we talked to them she was already awake and sitting up. They are going to keep her there overnight and tomorrow night, too. We can go visit her tomorrow morning. She has to be on strict crate rest for two weeks, during which time she may or may not regain movement in her legs. After that, it will be a several month long process of recovery. She'll probably need rehab. She still has a 90% chance of walking again. I was preparing myself for the worst and spent all afternoon looking at doggy wheelchairs online. We are hopeful that she won't ever need one...time will tell. (Here's a very inspirational picture of an adventuresome-looking dachsie)


Thank you all for your well wishes. I have been visiting your blogs, but I just don't have the energy to comment without Poppy here to "help" me. We'll be back soon.

Sarah (Poppy's mom)

It's not cancer

Well, it's not cancer. Dr. M called this morning. But over the last couple of days Poppy has not gotten out of her bed at all, even to pee. We noticed yesterday that she wasn't using her back legs at all. We brought her in to see our new vet this morning, and they were very concerned about the lack of strength in her back legs. They took some x-rays (the second set of her short little lifetime) and they said she might have slipped a disc or maybe two. They sent us to a surgical specialist right away.

The specialist evaluated her and said it was definitely paralysis due to a slipped disc. He wants to do surgery as soon as possible, so we had to leave our baby there. They will do surgery tonight or tomorrow morning. There is a 90% chance that she will walk again.

For those of you who know how athletic Poppy is, we are just crushed that she may lose the use of her legs. We are hoping and praying that she recovers. We will keep everyone posted. It seems that the swelling on her foot was coincidental. Maybe walking around with the bandage for four days caused her back to contort into a bad position. We might not ever know what caused it.

If you pray, please pray for her. If you don't, please hope and wish for her.

S&E (Poppy's parents)

UPDATE:
We just talked to the surgical vets. Poppy is in the CT scanner right now, and then they are going to take her straight to surgery after that. They told us on the phone just now that she hasn't spent a single minute in a cage, because everybody is taking turns holding her and carrying her around. They said she is a "lovely dog."

Update on Poppy's leg

Poppy's mom here...we had a very rough night. Poppy was in so much pain from the bandage on her leg that we ended up taking her to the emergency vet at 1am. After the bandage was off, she seemed to feel a little better, but only a little. This morning she was still in so much pain that when I tried to get her up to eat something she screamed and bit me three times (she has NEVER done that before) and peed in her bed again.

Of course, I was in a panic and Eric was at work. I called our vet and said I needed to bring her in right away, but they said they couldn't see her. They wanted me to drop her off and leave her all day and someone would look at her "when they had time." I thought that was a totally unacceptable solution, so I called another vet. This other vet is one that we have been thinking about switching to ever since our favorite doctor (Dr. R) left our regular clinic and went to this new place. Well, this was the final straw. I called the new place and told them we were former patients of Dr. R and that I was having an emergency with my dog and needed to bring her in. They said that Dr. R wasn't working today, but that of course I could bring her in right away. Now that's more like it. We saw a wonderful vet (Dr. M) who was very kind and understanding and got Poppy some pain medication right away.

We ended up staying there for almost three hours while they treated Poppy and I sat nervously in the waiting room--she's much better for them when I'm not there. Dr. M looked at the skin irritation where the bandage had been and also at her swollen pad. She said she wanted to "aspirate the mass" and send it off to be tested. She said the C word. Oh god please let it not be the C word.

We are at home now, and my baby is sleeping all wrapped up in her favorite fleece blanket. We have two kinds of pain meds, antibiotics, and an ointment for the skin on her leg.

Please send good thoughts our way.

Sarah (Poppy's mom)

Tough Day

My day started out well enough, with lots of errands. We got coffee (I pooped on the sidewalk in front of the store), shopped for Christmas ornaments (we got a chihuahua one!), and I even got to help pick out the Christmas tree!


But then, this evening, something happened to my bandage. It started pulling my delicate leg furs! And it hurts so bad!!! I was screaming and screaming and even peeing a little bit because I was so scared. Mommy and Daddy tried to help me by cutting the bandage off, but they couldn't do it without pulling, so I just screamed some more. I wouldn't stop shaking for a long time, and I was even doing the stress-pant, which I never do! The bandage is supposed to come off tomorrow, and I think I'm going to have to go back to the V-E-T to have them do it. Mommy and Daddy can't stand to hurt me and it makes them sad when I scream.

Does anybody know any tricks to get sticky bandages off of fur??? I think it's only the very end that is sticky. . . at least, I hope.

Feeling sad,
Poppy

Pee Box & Woe is Me!

Hi friends!

Many of you seem very impressed that I can pee in a box. Below you can see a picture of me in action. The box is called "Puppy Go Potty" and my parents put synthetic grass in it. We have about 6 pieces of it and they have to wash them every so often. Underneath the grass is Feline Pine cat litter. Mommy and Daddy always say that if they could go back in time, they would not add the grass on top. It is such a pain to wash them. It is even more of a pain because my sissy Clover likes to pee in the box too, and we all know how bad cat pee smells!

The reason we have to use the grass is that I kind of like to eat cat litter. Especially Swheat Scoop, which is what Clover uses in her box. They have to keep her box up out of my tongue's reach. The Feline Pine in my box doesn't taste very yummy, but somehow I can't resist munching a bit of it if the grass isn't covering it up. So I guess it's not all Clover's fault about the grass being a pain in the @$$!

And, yes, do you see my foot?!!! Notice how it is covered in a big green bandage with paw prints on it?!!! I don't know what exactly happened, but WOE IS MEEEEEE!!! On Tuesday night Mommy noticed that I was licking my back foot very vigorously, which I normally don't do. She checked it out, and on closer inspection she saw that one of my pads was swollen to twice its normal size! It didn't get any better on Wednesday, and in fact I started limping, so I had to go to the V-E-T on Thursday to have it checked out. They said they couldn't see what was wrong, but that I might have cut it on something. So they soaked it in iodine and wrapped it all up nice and snug and gave me some antibiotics. I can take off the wrap on Monday.

Personally, I don't see how I could have cut my foot on anything, since Mommy and Daddy have been mega-stingy with the walks lately. They are really busy, or something, blah blah. Plus it's been way too cold to go outside the past several days. We play a lot in the house, which is great. Maybe I stepped on a wayward staple or something. It's a mystery. But I'm trying to squeeze all the sympathy I can out of Mommy and Daddy. They're suckers for this sort of thing!!!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: We are very very sad to hear about Thrawn. He went to the Bridge yesterday and his family is very sad. Go visit them if you have a minute. He will be missed by all the DWBers.

Hello December!

Hi everydog!

I haven't been blogging much lately because my Mommy has been really busy. Something about trying to get a better job, blah, blah, blah. It's not that interesting. But I'm still here! And I've been tagged by Sparky and Patches to tell you eight things about myself. Here we go:

1) I pee in a box! It is great--I never have to go outside when it is cold or rainy or dark. And I can pee whenever I'm home alone for a while. But I won't poo in my box. So I just go on the floor if nobody lets me out. But don't tell Mommy and Daddy's friends--they'd be appalled.

2) I love my sissy Clover, but I'm also a wee bit scared of her. It's very confusing.

3) I get cold sometimes, so I have lots of sweaters and jackets. I'm wearing my red Christmas sweater right now. You can see it in our Christmas picture:

(By the way, is it weird that my parents have coordinating "house pants"?)

4) I'm a reluctant eater of dog food. And Clover is a reluctant eater of cat food. But if we could switch, oh boy! Look out!

5) I love to go camping. When I'm ready for bed I walk over to the tent and scratch on the door to say I'm ready to go inside and get in Daddy's sleeping bag.

6) I sleep under the covers in the middle of the bed. Sometimes if I feel that I need more room, I will try to use my little feets to push Mommy off the side. Can you see my feets?!


7) I am a very fast runner. And I mean VERY FAST! When I first came to live with Mommy and Daddy, they surmised that maybe I was part Italian Greyhound because I was so fast. But probably not, since I'm so small.

8) Sometimes after I've been outside for a little while (like 5 seconds), I will come back in and "fake-a-poo." This means that I spin and kick and look up expectantly so that someone will be tricked into giving me a treat. I taught my parents that trick very early on and it has paid off quite nicely in the long run!

Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua