The Doc's Advice

 

I know you've already seen this picture, but I wanted to show it again. As you know, my biggest fear is that Cadie will break her very long legs, and we will have to fix them. This fear isn't totally irrational as my last dog had a broken leg, and the care she required at that time haunts me still.

I had noticed a change to Cadie's gait a while back, and I kept asking people if her legs looked broken. They always answered no, but I was convinced that there was something wrong. So I brought it up with my vet. She had Cadie walk up and down the stairs several times over, then she watched Cadie walk straight across the room.

It turns out that Cadie has a ligament injury on her back right leg. So she's been favouring the right by shifting her weight to the back left (something you can see her doing in the picture above).

Not great news, but obviously it's not a break, so it's not terrible news. However, it means that we are now doing some light stretches after our walks to help ease the injury, in the hopes that Cadie will stop shifting her weight. This will also make a difference to the way we play with the tennis ball, no more high balls, from now on we have to roll them across the grass. I'm glad we caught this early.

Cadie Scarlett Comes Home

So it’s all over, except of the unpacking. On the whole it went pretty well. WE worked pretty solidly all day yesterday, I was up early to make a huge pot of chili, and start moving some boxes, and get ready for today. My dad, my brother and Salt’s mother were over last night, and I was dismayed to hear that I did not appear to be prepared for today’s move. That didn’t last, they got me back on track, and I am pleased to tell you that the move was more or finished by noon today. I mean, it’s still a little bit of a disaster in here, boxes everywhere, and I have a lot of teacups that still need permanent homes, but this is fairly minor in the bigger scheme of things.

I am very fortunate, I will tell you the least of the reasons why, and then the most of the reasons why; I am very fortunate to have some wonderful antiques. They were obscured in the last apartment; however, they are now being properly showcased. More than that, I am very fortunate, not just to have antiques, but I have mementos of both of my grandmothers in my home. And while the one is still alive and only a phone call away, the other has been gone for almost 9 years, so it’s nice to have a space where I feel so connected to them both.

Secondly, I am most fortunate to have great friends and family. In all I had 9 people here to help me today, and over the weekend, help that was needed and appreciated. Moving is crap, no one likes doing it, even if you are moving to a wonderful new place, it’s still crap. I’m very thankful that I have the week to really put this place together, but I would still be wadding through furniture and other miscellanea if I hadn’t had such a great team this week. So a big, big thank you to all of those very dedicated movers, shakers, and readers of this blog.

Cadie is handling the move quite well. She was panicking a little yesterday, so she stayed with Salt today, while we did the bulk of the work. And I’m glad for that, she doesn’t need to be stressed like that, and I couldn’t have been able to do my part and still look after her. So a big thank you also goes out to Salt for being such a good paws pal.

As my dad and brother were packing up to head out I had a terrible accident. I tripped on something, God only knows what, and I fell, and hit my knee cap on the marble door jamb. I screamed out the foulest of profanities, in front of my new neighbors. At first I didn’t know how bad it really was, but now I’m convinced that it’s nothing more than a bad bruise, however, if it’s really bad tomorrow I will go to see the doctor. I did my best to reduce the swelling, I sat and watched TV with my feet up, and I made sure to cool the area with a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream, it’s so great to see that modern medical treatments can be both effective and delicious.

Cadie has been very quiet tonight; she didn’t sleep well last night, and has already put herself to bed. I regret that I am going to have to wake her up, but, alas, it is bathroom break time.

So, off I go to enjoy my first night alone in my new home. Tomorrow is another day!