Change of Plans

Protection 

Cone of pain and shame

This past weekend I was wishing that I could speak "dog" and explain that this too shall pass. On Friday morning I took Sam, the 13 year old basenji, to the emergency vet to have his right front paw checked out.  An hour and a half later he came out after having cleaning and soaking and trimming of a torn footpad.  Mr. Lucky had taken him for a long walk, although nothing unusual, on Wednesday evening. Sam came home with a slight limp and I watched him on Thursday in between taking Mr. Lucky to the airport and having a lovely day with a friend sewing up a Kwik Sew skirt that afternoon.  But he was still bothering it with excessive licking and a limp on Friday so off to the vet we went.  Sam's a very aloof, loner, stoic dog, not at all the cuddly type to anyone but me.  None of my friends would miss Sam....and that's probably vice versa on his part.  But my heart just ached for him when I could hear him crying in the vet room.  He cried and whimpered for about 8 hours back home, despite the pain meds they gave him.  Finally around 11pm that night he was willing to put his head down and sleep.  I knew that it would eventually be just fine but it was a tough day for all of us.  Missed coffee with a friend and my monthly movie discussion group but now he's feeling frisky again, as expected.  Yes, there is a sewing point to the story.  Since that partially lost footpad is an open, tender spot, I have to keep it clean and protected.  He gets a salt water soak a few times a day but it can't be bandaged, has to keep air drying.  They suggested that I tie a plastic bag on his paw and leg in order to walk him outside....that worked for about 8 seconds.  So while he cried, I tried to think of a way to protect it and keep him mobile.  Here's my jury rigged version, just a narrow fabric tube tied onto his body with elastic with the plastic bag inside.  I'll have to make a few since it's already getting threadworn in three days but it's as good an idea as I could come up with under the circumstances.  Still don't know what caused the injury and he's not real eager to have me examine it but no more limp or licking so it's back to our regular programming schedule. 

Temps dropped precipitously here in SW Florida so I wore my new Pamela's Pattern Perfect cardigan todaysnapped a promised photo on me  Light and cozy, perfect for this morning's windy weather.