Cuteness Break

To say Leo's recovery has taken over my life, and my blog, is an understatement. I appreciate all the well wishes, btw! Leo is recovering, but, as he's off of sedatives now the situation has changed. He's more bored, more vocal, less cooperative, and feeling the need to run if allowed. Yeah, so it's to the kennel Leo goes. He doesn't like it and I can't blame him. But his persistant whining and clanging into the cage with his collar is fraying my nerves.

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Next week is the studio's summer break and I'm trying desperately to hang in there until then! So, too keep my chin up I had a brilliant idea. Post cute puppy and kitten pictures. That'll lift your spirits I thought. Now prepare yourself... if you hate cuteness do NOT scroll down!

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You have been warned....

8 week old Leo. The day after Therapetics gave him to me to raise. He still has those jowels btw. Feeling cute happy feelings already!

Louie at about five months (one month after I got him). O-M-G!! This is before he became a fluff ball. I love his little puppy sit and expression! Just too much.

Oh gawd!! This makes me want another kitten. Like bad! Mina was about six weeks. She is still freakin cute. Dang... I have some cute animals around here!

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I do feel a bit better. I knew this would work! Hope it helps you all too. Whether it be a bright spot in a gloomy day or just another thing to smile about during a good one.

Recovery Week [Almost] 3

Leo is doing much, MUCH better! His recovery process is going at a nice pace much to my delight and Dr Mary (Therapetics vet). We're still keeping him at home to give his soft tissues as much time as possible to heal and firm up. That said, he's already bearing weight on his 'gimp' leg, as I like to call it, and under the impression that that is enough to allow him to run around. Naturally, he does not understand the whole 'take it easy' concept, so I have to escort him outside and around the house with a leash and unless he's in his kennel he is on a leash. Better safe than sorry, right?

Leo is SO over this whole recovery process!

Caring for Leo is rather intensive. He requires four different pills at various times in the day. Unfortunatly Leo hasn't been trained to open pill bottles, nor to take his meds himself, so it's up to me to 'feed' him pills, up to 14 per day. Of course, I have to do this by sticking most of my hand in his mouth to deliver the pills all the way in the back so he won't decide to play 'hmmm... what's this texture?' with his tongue. We have lost a couple of capsules that way. Woo hoo for trial and error!

The other part of Leo's care is cleaning, drying, and medicating his wounds so they'll close up nicely and not get infected. I have to do this at least twice a day. Sometimes I clean them more than that as a couple of the wounds are still a bit open and, well, oozy. Yeah I know, fun stuff right? Q-tips, iodine solution, and cut up strips of gauze pads (which the vet thinks is ingenious) are all utilized in this process- yes, every time I do it. Leo handles it pretty well for the most part, he doesn't mind me touching his leg or holding it gently. Cleaning his wounds is only challenging in the morning as he's particularly wiggly with energy. This is why one of his pills is a sedative though on the flip side of that I have serious concerns about making this dog an addict! :-p

Oh did I mention we had to e-collar him? Yeah... puppies don't understand not running with a gimp leg, not playing, and not licking wounds! When we had the bandages on the hardware changed the doc fitted him up with this oh so glamorous accessory! It looks like crap now, six days later, as he has chewed on it and rammed it into every surface around the house; including our legs. It's like it's not even on him! Which makes for some degree of hilarity at times.

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So we are in a routine now and things are working out. It is difficult though and it tries my patience in SO many ways! However, he's worth it. There is no question in my mind why I'm doing this and why I should be so anal/OCD about his care. I want him to recover as quickly as possible, get him back to training, and get him back to his playful, normal, puppy self.
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Not going to lie- I wanna get back to normal too!

Getting Centered

Awesome photo non? Thank you Google and the original photographer

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The last six weeks have been absolutely nuts. Someone asked a group I was with yesterday how their summer was going so far and all I could say was, 'Crappy!' Between work, getting sick, work, Jon's burns, Leo's broken leg, my car, work, work, phone dying, work, and a nasty heat wave I have been doing whatever it takes to function and get through each day. Suffice it to say I wasn't able to perform at my best and some tasks have been left undone out of neccissity. I even canceled my French classes for June so I could have more time! I hate that, and I hate not being able to do my job well, but, sanity and immediate needs (work wise) had to come first. It was the best I could do with what I had.

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This week was supposed to be the craziest of my summer, but, for some reason the universe decided it had dooled out enough crapiness and work and life has begun to settle down. One of my bosses emailed me at the end of last week, after an insane five days of music theatre day camp, telling me that instead of doing another round of camp this week (for even longer hours I might add), they needed me to be at the studio to take care of projects as we are in a big transitiono right now. It was as if they had read my mind knowing how frustrated and concerned I was trying to juggle everything on top of being in charge of keeping everyone else at these camps sane and children in-line.
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It's only day two of extended office hours, and big and small items at work and in my daily life are already getting checked off the list. I can already feel the relief coming to the surface as each item is addressed. Last night while at dance practice I began to feel tension release after I danced for a bit; in fact at one point I nearly cried as exhaustion and mental clarity (I know weird combo right?) set in. I can actually keep track of what needs to be taken care of great and small. I am still recovering from the physical and mental burnout, but, I can even feel that working its way out.

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It's good to be able to get myself back, centered, and balanced. Life happens, we all get caught up with things to do, stress, physical fatigue, etc. At some point, one just has to seize the opportunity to take care of yourself and get centered again. I, for one, know how doing this makes me a happier and healthier person.

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With that, I feel like I should say "ohmmm" or, "namaste" or something! lol

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ps- Leo update coming soon!

Gross... Just Plain Gross

I went to OK Mozart today, taught some cool people to dance, danced for some people, went home because of some serious fatigue and other issues, and was going to type up a post about it. Then I had dinner, and realized as I was preparing my second soft taco that the salsa had mold in it.

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Mold. I had just put this salsa all over my first soft taco.

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I ate mold. Never in my life have I seen mold in salsa and here I was staring it down and feeling my body begin to 'sour' on the inside.

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Suffice it to say eating mold, consuming a lot of anti-histamines, rushing to the bathroom, thrwarts any blog post about dancing at a major music festival. Dontcha think?

Someone to Watch Over Me...

It has been a long, long week. Leo is getting better and more settled everyday. Louie is being a fantastic 'big bro' and keeping an eye out on Leo, sleeping downstairs with him at night, escorting him and me outside, as well as resisting temptation to play. Louie is kind of my hero at the moment. I couldn't be prouder of him for standing in harms way with Leo after the accident. It's going to be some intense weeks of recovery, but, I know I have a bit of 'help' along the way from my puppy.

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And I think Leo appreciates it too.

It Does Look Gruesome...

Leo showing off his external fixator. When we picked him up he was whiney and obviously stressed out. Now, he's calmer and acting more like his old self. Leo's going to be a bit high maintence for a bit, but, we're hoping he'll be able to go out and about in 7-10 days. Fingers crossed that after 8 weeks, when the external fixator is removed, his bone will have healed. Thank you all for the well wishes and keep 'em coming please! Want Leo 100% as soon as possible.

Being Thankful

Last night, much to my horror, Leo and Louie managed to escape Jon's house. We aren't sure how the gate was opened, but, it was and both dogs bolted unbeknownst to Jon and I (I was tending to his 2nd degree sunburn). When I went to get the dogs was at the door, but, no Leo. so the frantic search for Leo began. I ran back into the house at one point to get my phone when I saw that Harmony, one of the cool Therapetics people, had called. I called her back in quite a state- obviously. Calmly she told me they had Leo.

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He had been hit by a car. A hit and run, actually, just down from Jon's house on one of the main streets that run through Tulsa. What is amazing is when Leo was hit Louie stood in the middle of the street 'gaurding' if you will Leo until good samaritans saw them, picked Leo up, called Therapetics and took him to the emergency vet clinic. They tried to pick up Louie, but, he ran away from them back to the house.

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Leo's okay. Some slight bruising on his lungs, a bit of a cut on his lip, and the worst injury a broken leg. The break is in his lower left front leg, nowhere near the growth plate, so, his future as a service dog is not in jeopardy and most importantly he should make a full recovery. The leg will be operated on and he'll have a type of set up that will be outside of his leg to allow it to heal properly as he grows. I will be able to give you more detail once I know more.* The Therapetics vet, Dr. Mary, told me about it this morning. She kept Leo last night so that she could address any immediate medical needs Leo had. She is taking Leo to the vet, Dr Henson who sits on the Therapetics advisory board and will be performing the surgery.

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So while I am thoroghly traumatized I am so, so grateful. Grateful to Louie who put himself in harm's way and protective instincts probably saved Leo any further trauma. I'm so thankful for the people who saw them and took care of them and were concerned about both Leo and Louie. I am extremely grateful and overwhelmed with the kindness of the Therapetics staff who showed up en masse at the emergency clinic, have kept in touch, and were amazingly kind to me as I feel like a horrible puppy mamma atm. And to Jon who kept me calm and to every friend who has expressed concern on FB, or via text, or phone. I'm simply blown away by how supportive and kind everyone is being. It really is overwhelming.

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More updates to come, but, the good news is he's okay and will be okay. And for that I am beyond thankful for!

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*ETA- Leo was outfitted with an external fixator device. Surgery was successful and he'll be home tomorrow!

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**Oh and to add to my day, after I posted this my phone broke, and my car magically had a flat tire. Suffice it to say I'm hoping I get all this crappiness out of the way for a bit!