Still Waiting...

R had his blood tests this morning but we don't have results yet. He seems less sleepy today so I am hopeful that the results will be good.

I visited the local emergency vet today to pick up R's leash, that got left behind during the crisis. The receptionist told me that she thought that R was at death's door when the technicians carried him out to the ambulance. She was astounded to hear how well he's doing now.

The wild mushrooms, a likely culprit, are going crazy near us. They are growing bigger than I've ever seen before. This is an upside down mushroom next to my foot for scale.

Today I saw an even bigger one but thunderclaps prevented me from stopping to take a photo. For now, R is wearing a muzzle whenever he's outdoors to prevent him from ingesting anything dangerous. He hates it but we don't feel that we have a choice. Excess rain is still fueling the mushroom growth so there's no end in sight.

This was the Divide before the storms hit this morning.

I didn't write about Shyla's astoundingly relaxed behavior throughout R's whole crisis. Because we didn't know how long we'd be away from home, we took her everywhere with us.

She easily handled many situations that would have scared her halfway to death a year go. She wanted to make friends with every single person we met. She handled going "into the back" in the first emergency vet place, despite all sorts of looming equipment, lots of people, her brother being deathly ill, and me quietly crying.

Then, after R was transferred to Colorado State, things got even weirder. We were in a huge empty lobby, except for the cleaning crews. They had vacuums, mops, and even a "zamboni" machine for cleaning the huge tile floor. None of it scared Shyla. To our surprise, she wagged and tried to make eye contact with everyone, even the people using scary equipment.

I'm starting to think that I should call her a "formerly fearful" dog or a "sensitive" dog. Visible fear is a rarity in her now.

Indeed, the morning after the crisis, we met a friend on the trails. He's a big guy who rides a mountain bike. He straddled his bike as he chatted with me. Although she's seen him many times in the past, Shyla never had the courage to approach him before that morning. On that morning, she sidled up behind him and nuzzled his hand as we chatted. It took her three years to find the courage to do that - but she did it!!!!

At the beginning, I honestly never thought that Shyla would gain as much confidence as she has now. I've learned an important lesson about resilience!

I'll keep you updated on R. I wish we had those blood test results. R has just a little bit of GI distress, which makes me worry about his liver. The phone is next to me, and I am willing it to ring!