Shyla Saturday

This amazing girl is making my down time since surgery so much better. No matter what, she's by my side smiling at me.

 This photo was from a sunrise earlier this winter.

Wordless Wednesday

 

A parade of animals check out a mountain lion scent post

During this recovery, I have had time to look through some trail camera footage that otherwise might've fallen by the wayside. I had a camera pointed at a series of mountain lions scrapes that were very active last year. The scents left by the mountain lions attracted a huge variety of wildlife from Bear's to deer to foxes to bobcats to turkeys!

Check out the video if you have time. And, when you walk past pine trees with deep layers of pine needles below them, think about who might have been marking there!

The Hachi chronicle

We continue to move forward with Hachi's training a teeny bit at a time. Since I last wrote an update about him, he has learned to target our trainer's hand and to play the bucket game in an exam room at the vet hospital.

 

With our trainer, we took advantage of a gorgeous warm day to work entirely outdoors. We started with a warm up walk on the driveway during which our trainer was handing Hachi treats as he walked behind her. Then, we moved to our deck where our trainer played the treat-retreat game with him. This is a game that they've played many times in the past. Over the past few weeks, our trainer has begun sticking her arm out to the side with her palm towards Hachi just before she tosses him a treat. The goal of this was to get him used to her making extraneous movements and to eventually have him touch his nose to her palm. At a particularly relaxed moment in the game, our trainer interjected the cue "touch" which told Hachi to touch his nose to her hand. He did it, and she gave him a treat. They repeated this several times. Hachi being relaxed enough to touch her hand was a concrete step forward!

 

In that same week, the Runner and I took Hachi to the vet hospital. We had reserved an exam room so that we could get him comfortable in there without being rushed. After he was acclimated to the outside of the vet hospital while wearing his muzzle, we walked him into the exam room. Unexpectedly, there were a lot of excited and happy high-pitched voices coming from the direction of the waiting room. The voices scared Hachi. He reacted by lunging toward the door and making scary barking sounds. We distracted him from the noises by feeding him almost continuous treats. He quickly calmed down and more thoughtfully listened to the voices. In that phase, we gave him treats whenever he looked toward us. After about seven minutes of simply listening and being rewarded with treats, Hachi was ready for a short bucket game. He did very well to focus on the game rather than the noises of the vet hospital. After that success, we quickly headed for the car so we could end on a good note.

 

For Hachi, these were big steps forward. I must emphasize that we know that this would be very slow progress for a normal dog. However, for our Hachi, it was cause for celebration. A big part of learning to rehab Hachi has been accepting that we need to move at his pace. I no longer focus on the end goal. Rather, I focus on the process and giving Hachi a good life. The goal of having a vet be able to examine him is important but I drive myself crazy if that is all that I focus on.

Because my right arm is in a sling after shoulder surgery, I dictated this. I tried to catch the mistakes but I seem to miss some funny ones every time. Also, I cannot hold a camera so the photos are from a little while ago. I am doing my best to keep moving forward despite not being able to use my right arm or hand.

Wordless (Worthless) Wednesday – A bluebird day in the mountains

Dictation is hilariously terrible. I just saw that it changed the word "wordless" into "worthless"!

 

 

 

Black Dog Sunday

It has been such a hard winter. Not only have I had three surgeries but I also lost my dad. The most recent surgery has thrown me a curveball because I cannot use my usual coping strategies. I cannot ride a bike, I cannot snowshoe hike, and I cannot even type. I have to constantly be in an arm sling, and I must absolutely avoid damage to my shoulder. Even typing is super hard because I can only use my left hand. I am dictating this post but, to be honest, dictation does not work all that well. But I have a story that I want to share with you.

The other night while I was sleeping, our black dog visited me in a dream. It was spring time, and the meadow outside our house was verdant green. A thick fog was hovering above the meadow, obscuring everything except the glow of the green grass. Then the fog parted, and our Black Dog was standing in the meadow gazing at me. He was young and physically perfect, his black fur glistening in the fog. He gazed at me with his warm brown eyes, and I was enveloped in a feeling of warmth and peace. We stood suspended in time looking at each other. Then, I started to walk towards him. Within a few steps, the fog closed around him, and I could not see him anymore.

I woke up feeling happy and so lucky to have had our black dog visit me as I slept. He is with me all the time.

Recovery time

It is time to start the recovery walk. 

 

In my shoulder surgery yesterday, they fixed my ruptured biceps tendon but then they discovered that I'd also damaged my rotator cuff. So this is going to be a long recovery. It is really hard to live with your dominant hand in a sling and with orders that you may not use it in any way at all. 

 

I have to admit that I am discouraged to have to face such a very long recovery without being allowed to ride a bike or pick up my camera or countless other things. But I also know that I am lucky to have had surgery so rapidly after the injury and to be on the path of recovery.

Thanks so much for all of your good thoughts.

A ruptured tendon

I've not said much about my wrists and surgery recovery because a new problem has been shadowing my view. My shoulder started hurting badly back in October It's gotten worse and worse. Then, a little while ago, I made an involuntary fast movement with my right arm to avoid slipping and falling. I didn't fall but the pain in my shoulder was instantaneous and excruciating. 

An MRI shows that I ruptured the tendon that attaches my biceps muscle to a spot near the shoulder. I mean *completely* ruptured it so the muscle is now untethered within my arm. I've decided to get it fixed surgically, and that will happen pretty soon. I don't know the day yet but we are hoping that it's early next week.

This has been a winter of difficult times. But, at least, I saw lots of glorious winter sunrises with Shyla. This was the view of the forest on the hillside above our house just as the morning sun first touched them. I will never tire of seeing this instant of rose-colored sunlight.

It will be an eight week time period of not stressing my shoulder at all after surgery. The optimist in me immediately realized that I'd be ready to start to return to my active life in time for our high mountain spring. That's one good thing.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Watch fall morph into winter on an animal path

As an arctic storm is hitting us, it's fun to look back at this fall during the phase when the world was going to sleep at the end of fall. The scene was an animal trail that includes trees that bears scent mark. A variety of wildlife passed the spot - including a bear or two! The bears are most certainly asleep now. In contrast, the snowshoe hare who appeared partially white on 10/2 is probably still active in that very same spot. What an amazing small animal!

Check out the video. It's short, and it reminds me that winter will soon start to give away to spring because the seasons change fast!

The Hachi Chronicle

 Hachi has continued on his generally good trajectory. Our work with his trainer has been going super well. We start out each session with a short walk on our driveway. She walks ahead with Hachi on a leash behind her. She drops treats for Hachi as she walks. Last week, she began letting him take treats from her hand as he walked behind her. That was a big step!

After a short walk outside, we move inside our house to our living room where the trainer can toss treats to Hachi in what's called a "treat-retreat" pattern. She tosses a few treats either to him or between her and him. Then, she tosses one behind him to let him de-stress by going further away from her.

Partway through, the Runner and I do a vet exam on Hachi using the "bucket game". After a few weeks of this, Hachi is able to completely focus on the game rather than keeping an eye on the trainer. We've gradually moved the game closer to the trainer. Last week, we were only about 6' from her while we played it. Our goal is that the trainer will eventually participate in the game, either as the treat-giver or, ideally, as the person doing the exam. That will simulate a vet eventually giving Hachi an exam.

His work at the vet's office is going well. He is getting more and more relaxed while walking all around the outside of the clinic. He can let it go quickly after a person with a dog goes by him. He does all of our "vet training" with a muzzle on to prepare him for wearing one for an exam. The act of putting on the muzzle, either in the car at the clinic or in our living room with our trainer present, is getting to be very easy. He no longer seems to worry about putting it on in stressful situations.

The exam room where we would like to train with Hachi has been very busy but we have a few reservations coming up so we can work on his comfort in that room.

So, the Hachi report is good. He did have a couple of "off days" during which he could not relax. We've learned to let him decompress on days like those rather than trying to push forward with training. Fortunately, they passed. Our greatest fear is that someday he won't return to his new normal but that did not happen (and hopefully never will).

These are good days for our family. Hachi has a wonderful big sister for playing with him. That makes us all smile!

Sunrise Sunday

We have had a winter of incredible sunrises. This was a recent one.

Just as it started to get light, the sky lit up. You can see the sky reflected in the greenhouse (where there are actually plants growing, even in the depths of winter!).

The forest silhouetted against the sky was gorgeous.

Even if I cannot ride my bike to fun places for sunrise, I can certainly enjoy views like this one from my house!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for the full moon! This was from last month. It is snowing too hard to see the moon right now.

My wrists are healing so I hope to be back consistently soon.

Sunrise Sunday

This view made me smile at sunrise the other morning. I am so grateful that we can see the sunrise sky from our house.