It Takes a Village

I had no idea what we were getting into when we agreed to foster Sadie.  We just felt like it was the right thing to do for Sadie.   She needed a home and we have one of those.  It's not like we have tons of extra time or money and with 5 kids, 3 under 6, a part time job and homeschooling,  I consider it a successful day if I get to brush my teeth AND take a shower.   So when we got Sadie, we ended up with a young dog who was not housebroken, had no idea how to walk on a leash, was terrified of most things, couldn't go up or down our stairs, was too unhealthy to  be spayed and was going to need lots of $$ to pay for medical bills.  We knew we would have to deal with the money issue eventually but we had more important things to work on with Sadie.  As time went on,  Sadie improved in every way just by living in a home...with a family.  The little girls helped so much.  She never seemed scared of them and they could get her to do things Tim and I couldn't.
Finally,  we knew it was time to face her spinal injury and now we needed the money.  Bottom line is that I am a fundraising "idiot".  I DISLIKE begging for money even if it's a cause I am passionate about.  I am more the "doer" (take care of the special needs children and animals) not the "fundraiser" (anything having to do with business or money).  Thank goodness other people are good at business and money!   The all around support we have received for Sadie is amazing.  Fellow rescuers, old friends, and new friends have donated money, donated items, helped me set up facebook pages, updated our website, forwarded Sadie's information to their friends,  advised me on everything from food to legal matters to medical advice,  helped me socialize Sadie at the park, volunteered their cat to see how Sadie reacts to them,  listened to my fears and given moral support with emails, messages and phone calls.  The bottom line is we could not do this for Sadie without everyone's help.  We wish we could do everything she needs without help from others but we can't.  We are more appreciative than we can express.  Not only has Sadie benefitted from all the support but our whole family has too.  Our little girls have learned so much from this whole experience.  They learned that there are bad people in this world that hurt animals.  They also learned that there are WONDERFUL people who are willing to HELP animals.  Perhaps the most important lesson they are learning is that you don't have to be perfect to be worthy and happy.  I can't think of a better lesson for them to learn at an early age.

So again, thank you all for being there for Sadie.  There are so many of you that I would like to mention by name but I am scared I will leave someone out!  You know who you are :)  We know we will  need a lot of moral support during her surgery and recovery.  It's comforting to know that we have so many friends who will be there for us.  Hopefully, we will find the right home for Sadie when she has recovered from her surgery.  We hope there is someone out there with a loving family who is home a lot, is willing to train her to be a therapy dog, lets their dogs be 100% part of their family, has another nice dog or two to play with, has a one story home and a lot of carpet :o)  That's our wish for Sadie.  The girls were really sad when Beau, our last foster,  left but I told them that we can't help other dogs if we keep all our fosters.   If we can't find a perfect home, she can stay here forever in our imperfect but loving home.

The Girls

Hunter 

We have 3 lovely daughters who sometimes drive us crazy.  It's so hard to let them express themselves, be creative and develop good self-esteem when they are doing things that make you want to scream.  Sydney (5 3/4) shows good self control most of the time and will usually stop doing annoying things when we ask (except the other day when I had to threaten her life to get her to quit clucking like a chicken!!???).   Hunter (4 1/2) does whatever in the world she wants to do.  Thank goodness she usually wants to do nice things.  She is always happy (and figuring out new things to get into.)  She's the type that weighs the options and sometimes decides that whatever she wants to do is worth the punishment she will get for doing it.   (She is also proficient at digital cameras, cell phones and iPads.) We try not to think about her teenage years.  Maybe we will be too old to know what she's doing.  Zoe (3 1/2...the baby...period) may end up being our biggest challenge.  She has quite a strong will and knows what she wants.  She is VERY persistent if she wants something and resorts to whining or repeating herself in escalating volume.  She and Hunter together are just frightening.  They get into things you didn't know existed.  Today, Sydney was sick and the Zoe/Hunter combination got into all sorts of trouble.  Most of it involved water....on the carpet in their room....4 bath towels to clean it up....and in Zoe's bed.  They were filling their mouths up with water and spitting it in her bed.  Nice and ladylike, huh? We are proud!   We didn't realize how much Sydney helps out in the "snitching"department until she was out of commission for a day.  I realize that these little irritating things will pass and I try not to let them bother me.  They will be grown and gone in the blink of an eye.  I want to enjoy every second with them.  It's really hard when you are cleaning up an entire container of powder that they tried to sprinkle in the toilet.  I keep telling myself they are learning SOMETHING during all their escapades.

Sadie's Surgery Date

Isn't it against some law to put your foster dog in a tutu?

Sadie is on the calendar for surgery on November 2.  I get to take her in the day before at 3:00 PM to meet the new resident that will be handling her case (and start my sheer anxiety that will last until I know she is ok).  I guess the down side of going through a teaching hospital is that the doctors do things other than work at the clinics.  Dr. Early will be doing Sadie's surgery but he will not be at the clinic the whole month of October.  Dr. Crook is the resident that has been handling Sadie's case but she won't be back until mid-November.  Dr. Crook and I decided that she needed Dr. Early more than Dr. Crook so we scheduled her surgery the first day Dr. Early was back.  We could have done the surgery NOW but a) we haven't raised enough money (and VISA doesn't really want me to put that much on our credit card at this time) and b) we are taking Sadie to Chessies in the Surf at the Outer Banks Sept 30-Oct 3.  We really want her to get to go play on the beach, swim and have a fun time before she is in her crate for 6 weeks.  So the date is November 2.  I will be really grumpy around that time so you have been warned.  I turn into some crazy (crazier) person when one of my kids (2-legged or 4-legged) are sick, hurt, etc.  I guess it's just a "Mom thing" and I can't help it.
 I am really worried about Sadie's rehab and how she will handle being crated.  She HATES being confined and will do anything to get out of where we try to keep her.  She sleeps on the sofa or on our bed now.  She won't be able to do either so I need to get her used to the crate.  Then there is the issue of the girls.  It's not too quiet around here with a 5, 4 and 3 year old.  I will probably have to put a lock on Sadie's crate so they don't let her out.  The girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her and want her around them every second.  Tim needs to build a ramp for the front steps so she can go to the bathroom.  We only have 2 front steps but 6 in the back.  I guess the neighbors will wonder which one of us 2-leggeds is now in a wheelchair!  Someone posted on Sadie's wall that they lived near us, had 2 Chessies and one of them just had spine surgery.  I realized that her husband was my ex-husband's fraternity brother.  It's such a small world.  At least I will have someone to talk to about the surgery and rehab.  It will be helpful for me to know what to expect from a family's point of view, not the the doctor's.  I keep telling myself, "6 weeks of crate rest for years of fun".  We can do it.
One final thing...I really am overwhelmed at how many people are willing to help Sadie.  We have "friends" we know from different parts of our life and those we don't even know offering to help in many ways.  It restores your faith in the kindness of people and helps take away some of the disbelief that someone could shoot Sadie and break her back.
Off to cook more chicken and rice for Sadie, the princess ballerina :o)

Busy Week, Quiet House

Beau(left), Sadie(back) and Sonny(right) on Beau's last day here.  

The week started out as usual with me, Tim, 3 busy girls and 3 wild and crazy dogs.  Right now I am sitting in total silence.  The girls have gone to the beach with my parents, Beau went to his forever home (YAY!) and Tim, Sonny and Sadie are taking a nap.  I don't handle quiet, calm houses well for very long.  I need a few days of it just to get our life organized since I let it slide when things get crazy.  And it's been crazy this week.  Monday, Sadie went to the vet school for her check up. Wednesday, I got the girls off to their grandparents and drove Beau to Danville, VA to his forever home.  Thursday, I dropped Sadie off at the vet school for her tests and worked all day.  Friday, I worked then picked up Sadie and dealt with her "stress diarrhea" all night.  She is better now and has managed to keep in 3 small meals of chicken and rice.  She looks like she just escaped from a concentration camp!  (Her new haircut from all the testing doesn't help.) She is so skinny it's almost painful to look at her ribs sticking out.  It seems like whenever we get her stomach straightened out, she has another stressor (spay, go to the vet, tests, etc.) that sets her off again.  We are back on straight chicken, rice and yogurt.  I got a different dog food that is also chicken and rice and not much else.  I think I will probably just try adding some people food for awhile, like boiled hamburger,  canned pumpkin and eggs. I will get her straight on the chicken and rice then add one more food to make sure she handles that well before I add another.   I would love to see her tummy be "happy" for several weeks and maybe even keep her on people food until after her surgery.  Then  we can try dog food again.
Speaking of her surgery....I need to get busy raising money for it.  We managed to raise all the money for her tests so I know we can raise the money for her surgery.  Who wouldn't give just a little for a dog who had her back broken and was shot with buckshot?  ( I am a little more comfortable that I won't have a front row seat in hell.  I CANNOT believe someone could do that to a dog.)  Any fundraising ideas are welcome.  I have several people who are helping which is just wonderful!  The support we have is amazing and I know we couldn't take care of Sadie like this without everyone's help.  Her birthday (that we gave her) is coming up September 29.  I wish I could come up with some type of fun fundraiser for that.  I'll have to think on it :)

Off to do laundry and clean toilets.  This "Mom job" is so glamorous!