Conversations with Marilyn...

February 3, 2006 Does he have a blocky head?? Dark face? (yes)

How is your hip? (Left hip - she asked if that was the one)… It’s alright… He feels that he needs to build up muscle… like a body builder working out. (Very true but would be a fact I think with any dog that has hip dysplasia and just had a Femoral Head Excision)

Other hip?? He said he just needs to keep the muscle going. I’m three legged but try to use all 4. Other hip is mild, not severe. He’s SO glad both of them weren’t done because the other one doesn’t need it yet.

How can I help you to be less anxious when I’m coming and going? He’s not anxious when you come home but he calls it “alert”. Oh…the leaving… ..anxious then.

(There’s something with the nose,…. Sinuses…empty cavity… hard to focus… Watch him)

Why do you beat up on the girls you love when we’re all out for a walk or when I’m around and you can’t get to me? It scares them. I know you do it sometimes when I’m not around or at least you used to because my mother would see you and she worried about Olivia. Brain shutting down…. Habit, he’s gotten used to doing it and it’s partially stress. Too much stuff going on…...

What about what happened when you were a puppy? When happened when puppy isn’t important anymore. He doesn’t want to talk about it. He’s “pretty happy” now. he said “I’m her favorite”…

Teddy – what can we do about your stress barking when you’re not in the middle of things? Climbing the walls… can’t help it. Marilyn suggested an anxiety wrap and maybe the collar. Stressed – doesn’t want to be confined.. me to confine him.. he wants the opposite of I want. I want to go east he wants to go west.. same thing only a bigger picture. Doesn’t like the idea of Ari going everywhere.. content to be a house dog if I’m there.. likes to be with me… more intensity than Olivia about house dog. Depression when I go to work.. when I take the other dogs….she’s gone again… does Olivia help…. 2 peas in a pod..

February 7, 2007 Teddy – are you feeling ok? *****likes to hang out with me in LR… he thinks he's my lover boy… he thinks he’s my favorite. Ari can just go be a fighter. They were aware of how sick Ari was and Teddy said life would have been easier for him but he doesn’t wish anything bad to happen. When I mentioned a puppy he doesn’t care and will hang out with her. When I said it won’t take away from them they said be serious, of course it will!

June 7, 2007 How are you feeling? Your bones? ….ok… more relaxed - tiredness in spine arthritis… maybe from overdoing doesn’t take much..

How do you feel about Brita? Play with him.. face – enough is enough… likes that

What else would you like to tell me? He said Olivias right about peeing in yard – they need to mark the yard and he does the corners and she does the house.

February 27, 2008 Teddy – How are your legs? Kind of a tingly feeling in front paws – lack of circulation… a sensation – discomfort – spot just above the elbow and ties to just behind the shoulder like a muscle pain.. not a bone related issue.. could be a pinched nerve – massage or acupuncture better than chiropractic but that would help. Yes the red light on neck… it’s the right leg and left side of the neck C2-3 where the shoulder attaches - he also has a headache. He loves me and likes when I rub his ears – Brita takes advantage of him and of his good nature and she bugs him. Because of his movements she is more annoying. She is a bundle of energy and doesn’t stop moving and kind of fun and amusing and also an irritant because she is so spunky. He wants to go on walks when he gets better.. Lying around can be exhausting. Be his coach…

April 7, 2008 Note: Marilyn feels the pain in her own body where a dog describes it. I asked her if the fact that he was on pain killers affected what he described and she said “yes, thank goodness” and she’s glad or it would really be painful.
* Teddy says that the bones in his right front foot feel icky – arthritic – like being pulled together. He bites there but it doesn’t help but it gives him satisfaction (like us biting nails when stressed).
* His right front shoulder feels weird. Marilyn described it by asking me if I saw the hair commercial where the hair shaft breaks apart and it looks frizzy because that what it seems like)
* He has an intense ache in his joints – on a scale of 1-10 it’s a probably a 6.
* The left front ankle area (not in the paw) is painful and the pain radiates up and down the bone.
* The right side of his neck feels pinched or squeezed and the right shoulder is tied into it. Marilyn described it like a drawstring – when the jaw moves the neck turns into the shoulder and when the head turns it causes tightening and the shoulder and neck seem to be magnetized.
* He says there is stress in his low back. He says he has a pain in his rear left hip. It feels like waves of pain…pulsating…like a cadence…tremor. It will be continuous and then it will stop for awhile. It’s hard to get up when it’s happening.
* He has a headache and is sometimes nauseous.
* He says there is a tension across his chest. (I mentioned cancer spreading to organs and asked about a chest x-ray and she said it probably wouldn’t show anything.)
* He says he saw me pull others (Kobie and Ari) through and is willing to work to get better but thinks this time it won’t happen. He understands that all things change form.
* He says he is not able to do the things he used to do like rolling on his back. (I commented that he didn’t do that because of the way his back was shaped and then I remembered these times I took photos.)
He says that he likes sleeping next to me (which he hadn’t done very often). (yesterday he snuggled) He says it draws on my energy (not negative for me) …like plugging in. He’ll be sticking closer to me now.

April 28, 2008 Teddy – after trip to the vet, that, yet again, showed nothing on the x-rays, this time of his back legs and abdomen. He is achy in his low back and hips and anything other than a light touch hurts him. Massage around his neck feels good but not toward his back end. He is very uncomfortable and Marilyn feels that it could be systemic and pain in the joints. To write off any tick related diseases, even though he tested negative, he’ll be on Doxycyclene for a few weeks.

5/19/2008 Teddy – Shoulder aches – he’s fatigued and can be out-of-sorts a lot. He’s really slowing down and likes to lay down and sometimes it’s hard to hold his head up. He said he loves me and I don’t have to say it back because he knows I love him and now he wants to cherish the good times left which could be months – August?? …fall?? He said he has muscle spasms in his shoulder but not to worry, they don’t hurt. I said we’ll get water in his pool and he said he’d love that! His paw feels numb.

Marilyn said he’s saying he wants ice cream?? I’ve come to the conclusion that it may be pumpkin that he’s taking about. I have kept a can in the fridge in the past and spoon fed it to Kobie and Teddy and they liked that so I have started to do that again.

The other dogs are very respectful of him and I told her Kobie was play bowing to him outside and I was concerned she was too rough but Marilyn said unless Kobie is touching him, let her because it’s her way of cheering him up which is Kobie’s role.
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2/20/2009 He's ready... it will be soon... probably next week but maybe before.......
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4/29/2009 He’s (Teddy) everywhere….everything’s fine….comfortable…at ease…· Fine with his resting place · Ari’s coming soon but that’s ok since everyone gets along – they were together before. · He’s watching all of us and he’s everywhere.