A couple steps back

The last few times of walks it was just me walking Winston so I wasn't really able to see how he was walking, but I did know that he still wasn't very graceful.
Last night John came with me and walked Winston so I could watch him. His walk is just terrible and I feel like it's getting worse. It's like he doesn't bend his right back knee so he swings his hips very far left to compensate. I will be taking a video and sending it to Dr. Durkes in the next few days.

Because of his walk I went into worry mode and watched Winston like a hawk last night, then finally around 8:30PM I sent Dr. Durkes this email.

Hi Dr. Durkes,


I'm writing the email instead of calling because I think if I call I'll forget to tell you everything that I want to tell you. We got the gold beads done on Winston on the 29th of October and his brace came off the Monday before Thanksgiving. I have seen some results, he stands faster, doesn't slip on the hardwood floors anymore, has more energy and more vocal, but I'm worried about what I've seen with him lately.

He's licking his back feet constantly and when walking he throws his right back leg out so he swings his hips far left to compensate and can't stay in a straight line to save his life. I can send a video of this in the next couple of days if you'd like to see. He also will start dragging his front feet if we're out more than 10 minutes. He still isn't good with the stairs and will need help getting back up, he'd much rather sleep upstairs on his bed anyway. I'm just wondering your thoughts.

I got a reply this morning saying that we need to put a neck brace back on for a couple of weeks (guess I should get that bath done then. I didn't find a place without ramps to the baths and I haven't forced the issue at home yet because I didn't want to jar his neck while he fought with us to get him into the tub. But Winston is stinky and needs a bath badly) and if we don't see improvement in a week then we'll put him on a small dose of prednisone. Mickey had/has to take the medication so I was aware of it and I'm thinking it will come to that.

Winston does have an insane amount of energy when walking so I really hope that that's a good sign. Last night he even charged a wooden fence to bark at the dogs behind it which he has NEVER done. I wasn't a fan of course and it took John and I to pry him away. I'll have to figure out a way to keep him more in control and still be able to use a harness. I'll probably ask K9 Lifeline since they're the ones who trained us with the Halti, which we loved and would still be using if we could.

I'll post the video of him walking soon. I really wish that we would have remembered to record him before the gold bead procedure like we were going to and a week after the procedure I thought I had recorded him, but instead I was just taking pictures.

The picture does show that his hip swings far, but it seems to be worse now and a video is always better.

Last night I was so depressed. Even after all the talk of not getting my hopes up is seems like I have. I was on the verge of tears all night while I watched him. Sleep also didn't come easy to me, but it never does when I have worrying on my mind.

This morning I'm feeling better, but I've talked myself into low hopes again. I just keep telling myself that if he stays stable then everything will be fine. That the procedure was worth it even if it doesn't work because at least we know we tried, I could never live with myself if we just gave up.

Christmas stocking

I started John's Christmas stocking 4 years ago, no lie. I would work on it from October until January until my hands would ache and then I'd put it away until I remembered about it again the next October.

Why all the work? Why not just buy one from Target? Well my Christmas stocking was cross stitched in 1991 by my mother's aunt and I wanted to keep the theme, I just didn't think it would take me as long as it did. Also my stocking hangs left so John's had to hang left (stockings that hang left are a rare occurrence in the retail world, but it does seem like most cross stitched ones do). 

About the second year into the project Sophi ripped up the cross stitch instructions so I had to buy a whole a new kit just for the instructions, so I have a brand new kit available if anyone wants it.

 

I didn't want to do french knots where told so I replaced them with seed beads. I think it looks so much better.

 I have a small kit to finish for the dogs that should only take me a few months :), but I am looking for another regular sized kit to buy ASAP in case it takes me another 4 years to finish it might be ready for when we have a baby. 

Home

I finally found time to finish my second craft I bought at Wood Connection.

 You buy the "H" "M" and "E" separately and then the "O" comes in a pack of 4 months. I bought September, October, November and December. I love Wood Connection because everything comes as a plan piece of wood and you get to craft it any way you want.

 

 All were really fun to do, but I think October is my favorite, I love his little button eyes. Now it's time to buy January - April and get started on that.

Winston day 29

Well I'm sure everyone wants a Winston update. His brace came off 8 days ago and Mr. Scaredy Cat did not like the cutting and ripping of the tape. I (little, tiny me) had to hold Winston's head still while John cut and tried not to stab Winston in the neck when he jerked away from me.

His brace was very thick and I must have been just the right amount of crazy because his skin didn't rot.

I'm not noticing huge amounts of progress, but I have to keep telling myself that it takes time. Winston will now walk through most of the upstairs with confidence and if he wants to stand up (he's a poop in the morning and would just rather sleep) he can usually do it in one try whereas before it would be at least 6 tries with lots of coaxing from me.
He still has his dreaded rooms, the office and bathroom, that I just haven't had the energy to tackle yet. He also hasn't decided that he wants to join us in the family room downstairs and I don't force it.

On Saturday I took him on one of his pre-bad walks, it's roughly 15 minutes and when he started getting bad he'd drag his front feet 5 minutes into it so we stopped. He seemed very happy to be out in the brisk late fall air and had more energy than I've seen in a while.
Winston was still all over the place while walking and probably looked like a gave him some strong liquor before the walk since he weaved next to my leg.
His scaredy cat ways are really draining though and I'm not sure if they'll go away on their own. While on the walk an elderly couple wanted to pet Winston, right after I said that he was very friendly and they took a step forward Winston jerked back. Luckily a truck was parked and stopped him/cornered him and gave me a second to figure out what he was scared of. The lady had a freaking grocery sack (filled with dog treats of all things!) and it terrified him. Once she handed him one of the treats he tentatively took a step forward to the man and decided that the situation was okay. Looks like John and I will have to start desensitizing him or he'll keep embarrassing me in public...sigh...

One comment that a vet tech made while we were getting Winston's ears fixed has really stuck with and bothers me. She asked, "Are you guys sure that you'll want to and be able to keep up with this [wobblers]?" Um...we drove 3,000 miles round trip to Indiana and emptied our savings account for him, yes I'm pretty sure.

Anywho, back to the walk, Winston kept prancing away from me until the leash tugged and then settling back to my side. Never pulling, but having a surprisingly good amount of energy. He did start dragging his front feet once we hit out street again, but that's an improvement to me. Once home he crashed, Winston's not used to any amount of activity so we have to build him back up.

My next project will be getting him a bath which he desperately needs. By the way, does anyone know of a self service place with tubs on the ground? I'm sure a ramp is something he'll be scared of and we'll make a huge scene trying to get Winston up it.

hope chest complete

We started refinishing the hope chest in March and John finally had time to finished it with two clear coats and hardware. It looks amazing!

White was probably a bad fabric choice with Winston slobber.

Winston's ear infection

When I got home from work last night I noticed that Winston's left ear was really red and drippy. I groaned and called the vet to make an appointment for the next day.

Getting Winston into the car was so much easier than it has been the last few months, with John's help it only took a minute or so to get him in instead of five and a fight. Maybe that does mean he's getting better.
Once at the vet he wouldn't move from their mat by the front door. Their floor is white painted cement and very shiny so that meant that Winston WAS NOT going to walk on it so they had to treat him right there.

Winston was not a happy camper, he wouldn't even let them take his temperature. The wobblers has made Winston scared of everything, my usually calm and easy going puppy has decided that we are no longer allowed to touch his ears or feet and the infection was making it worse. I suggested that they muzzle him because it wasn't going to get any easier.
It took 2 vet techs and the vet to man handle Winston into getting his ears cleaned out and putting the medication in. I'm pretty sure he thought we were trying to kill him. 

The medication they have now means that treatment is a one time thing instead of twice a day for a week. I thanked God right then and there. He was so stressed when we left the vet that he was a drooly mess.

 

This is the back seat of my car when we got home. 

I call Dr. Durkes Monday for Winston's three week check-up and to see if his brace can come off. 

October's block of the month

I'm not a fan of appliqué, but I guess this one wasn't too bad. It took longer than it needed to because I forgot to take a picture of the example and had to decipher how it went together from a crappy black and white photo.

It's a good thing that we don't have downstairs neighbors because they would hate us. My craft room is right under the kitchen and while I was in there working John fed the dogs their dinner which is quite the commotion. It sounded like the ceiling was going to crash down on me and I seriously looked up to check for cracks.

Winston alone sounds like a giant walking...BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! He's never going to be light on his feet.