Sadie's Surgery and Thanks :)

Sadie "meeting" the cat outside the NC State Vet School.

Sadie's surgery is over.  I was extremely calm the whole day which surprised me.  All of our friends must have been sending a lot of calming wishes and prayers my way too :)  It also helped that Tim met me at the vet school when I took Sadie so I would have a level head and another set of ears with me.  We met the surgeon, Dr. Early, and he explained everything, answered questions and put my mind at ease.  I was thinking, "This man works at one of the best vet schools in the country and his specialty is spine stabilization.  Who else would I want doing the surgery?"  It's not like I was thinking we should be taking her to a specialist.  He IS the specialist!  He and Dr. Campbell, the resident in charge of her case,  were very open and honest talking about her pain, her recovery, and possible outcomes.  We gave them a card with Sadie's tutu picture on it, thanking them for taking care of her and some "Save Sadie's Spine" shirts.  I left there knowing she was the best place she could be AND knowing we were doing what's best for Sadie.  

So many people made this surgery possible.  It starts with a Lab rescuer who saw her in the shelter when he was pulling a Lab and just couldn't leave her there.  He gave her to one of our CBR R&R rescuers, Mary Lou, who kept her until we could get back from our trip in May.  We knew we needed about $1500 for further testing to see exactly what was going on.  That seemed like a million dollars when we started!  Thanks to Heather Hauser, Elwood's foster mom, giving me fundraising advice, we started Sadie's facebook page.  Amazing "friends" started appearing and following Sadie's journey.   I am still humbled by the support and generosity of our friends.  We could not have saved Sadie without everyone's help.  The donations of money, books, t-shirts, offers of other things to auction, advice, and emotional support for me and Sadie got us to where we are today.  I also appreciate Chesapeake Bay Retriever Relief and Rescue for supporting Sadie's fundraising.  Pat, our treasurer, has put in extra effort to keep all of Sadie's funds straight and is always available when I am standing in the lobby of the NC State Vet School needing her to pay them!! (Huge thanks to you Pat!)  I know some people contributed to Sadie's fund that would have contributed to the general fund of CBR R&R.  I'd like to think that we didn't take away too many contributions that would have helped other dogs.  Perhaps, instead, we made more people aware of the needs of rescued Chessies. 

I love sharing Sadie's story on facebook.  Her page is MUCH more fun that my own facebook page.  I look forward to sharing our journey to full recovery with all our friends!

   

11 Days to Go

Sadie's surgery is in 11 days.  I am beyond nervous about the whole thing and feeling a bit guilty about putting her through what she's getting ready to go through.  It's hard when she is not in obvious pain to know that she is getting ready to be in pain without understanding why.  I do see evidence of her getting a bit worse.  I thought the recent "bathroom accidents" in the house were because I was sick and not paying attention.  I realized that she doesn't seem to feel that she needs to go to the bathroom until the LAST SECOND.  This is new.  Now, I have to go in the yard and give her the bathroom command or she will not go (until she's inside and realizes that she needs to go RIGHT THEN).  The other day, she was out in the yard for 4 hours playing with Sonny, came inside, went upstairs with the girls and peed all over the playroom.  This is happening more and more and I know she is beginning to have less feeling in her rear.  She has to use her front legs more to pull her back legs up on the couch or bed.  At least we don't have much longer to wait.  Then we have the recovery.  Luckily, she is fine in the crate.  She doesn't love it when we are here but she doesn't go nutty when we are gone.  She has in every other enclosure we have tried.  The trick will be keeping her calm for 4-6 weeks while she heals.  I need to go buy lots of rugs and find an X-pen to borrow so she can have some time out of her crate.  Any other suggestions are welcome!  I'm sure Sadie will be fine through it all (much better than I will be).   She is such a sweet girl and does whatever we ask of her.  Plus she has lots of people pulling for her!  Our whole family appreciates all of her "friends" we have met during this journey :o)

Chessies in the Surf 2010

I grew up at the beach so as soon as I cross a bridge going over salt water, my blood pressure drops about 20 points.  Thursday, September 30 we went to Rodanthe, NC on the Outer Banks of NC between Manteo and Cape Hatteras.  Every year, some of our Chesapeake Bay Retriever Rescue friends meet here and stay at the KOA Campground in the little cabins.  The cabins have a queen sized bed, a set of bunk beds, a little wooden table attached to the wall, electricity (yes Lord), a ceiling fan,  a fabulous porch with a porch swing and most importantly, they allow dogs in the cabins.  I have been many years though only once since the younger 2-leggeds were born.  We brought the girls and Sonny dog 2 years ago when they were 1, 2 and 3.  They all had colds and it was a miserable trip.  I won't go into details but let's just say it wasn't pretty.   We may consider taking them back in 10 years or so.  Maybe.  It was so nice riding in a car for 4+ hours without hearing, "When are we going to be there?", "She touched me!", "She won't give me that ___!" and "I need to pee!"  Plus, Tim and I got to have complete conversations.  MANY complete conversations.  Several times he said, "You didn't tell me about ...blah, blah, blah!"  I realized that a) I thought I told him b) I may have told him but was drowned out by one of the 3 very persistent voices of the 2-leggeds and c) I probably didn't tell him because we never get to finish a conversation.  We also got to eat a real meals (with adult conversation) without having to get up 15 times to get somebody something or having someone decide they like YOUR food better than the chicken nuggets that they ordered.   We slept ALL NIGHT for 3 nights without a little person climbing into our bed because they were sick, scared or just awake.  When I woke up one morning and the clock said 7:30, I almost fainted.  I only woke up for about one second each night when the dogs barked at something.  The dogs had a wonderful time playing in the ocean and sound with their 4-legged friends.  Sadie amazed everyone with her speed and endurance (along with her extremely gentle personality).  Sonny did his best to keep up with the young ones but by day 4, he was showing his age.  The 2-leggeds had a great time talking about all the other Chessies in the Surf trips and we realized that Mary Kearns' Kimo is the only one left from the first trip.  That was sort of a sad moment when it struck me how short we really have our 4-legged children.  We do love getting to know all the new ones though!   I have already looked at next year's calendar to see when 2011 Chessies in the Surf will be held. We talked about it being the same as this year, the very last week in September which would be Sun 9/25- Sun 10/2.  More people come the last weekend and we plan on  taking Sonny and Sadie Thurs-Sun again.   It will be 11 months after Sadie's surgery so the rest of the dogs better get in shape if they want to even touch a ball :o)  I really hope more people will come next year even though we had a nice turnout this year.  I will do a better job of reminding people far enough in advance so they can make plans to come.  All dog lovers welcome!  

Check out the link below to see a short clip of Sadie on the beach.  We wanted her to have a wonderful time before her spinal surgery on November 2.  As you can see, she did!

Sadie at the OBX

I missed the girls but I know that trips like these without them will make me a better mother and wife (and keep me out of the mental institution).  Now, I get to unpack and do laundry.  Fun times!

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!