Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers,
Continuing on with our 30 days of 'Tails from Home'! Today we have a 'tail' directly from the hound! Enjoy!
Ok, I know why you are there because you want to read about me. I mean with
a name like Constantine Aurelius how could you not be interested in reading
about me?
Mark and Mary adopted me on 11 April and to this day Dad still swears
he loves me more than his luggage. I am
not sure what it means, but I am sure that it is something good as he scratches
my ears as he says it. Afterwards he mumbles something about a BMW and how that
would have been cheaper.
So, I started my time with them just breaking them into
life with me 'the miracle dog' as some have called me. I just like to think of it as keeping them on
their toes! I mean I gave them a good year to get into the swing of things before
putting them to the test and ripping my neck open while playing with Rajah in
the back yard. So there was some blood
and a deep gash and 13 stitches later what the heck, I was just warming them up
for things to come! Come on guys, really, it was only a couple stitches. I mean
it really was just a warm up of things I had in store for them.
I healed from my running mishap with Raj and let them get back to thinking
life was normal and all was well before I decided to really throw them a curve
ball and get a serious case of leptospirosis. It was a bad time around the
house. I ended up spending three days at Foley Clinic hooked up to IVs and was sent
home for the weekend with a plethora of meds and more IV bags to be
administered at home. (Seriously a counter load of IV bags and meds was a sight
to behold).
Just for fun I got up and walked across the room with the IV
attached to see if they were paying attention.
They were! And boy did they move quickly! The vet techs were very nice
at Foley Clinic and they came in on Sunday and reinserted a new needle into my
leg and fluids continued to be administrated. Our friend Randy came over and
took family photos as we did not know whether I was going to be around when the
weekend was over.
Well I fooled them and, ta-da!, here I am still standing. Oh and
mom and dad had to go out with me after every time I peed to water down the
lawn where I went so that Raj would not become infected. I like keeping them
busy. And where else are they going to spend their money than on me? This too
came to pass and I was still just warming them up.
O, the time passed as I had a couple dentals and few scratches her and there
and then I decided I was really letting them down so I broke my toe just to see
if they really loved me. Yes yes they
did... Ah, I love that they keep up on me.
This was my lead up to see if I could push them over the edge. A few days after breaking my toe dad started
a house sitting job and mom and Raj and I were at home hanging out. At about 6
in the morning I decided to have a stroke just for mom. Yep, you talk about a total freak out!
All I could do was lay on the floor with my
front legs locked straight and my eyes rolling in my head and unresponsive to
anything mom could do. She tried calling
Mark but being a night owl he was not going to answer his phone. She waited until a decent hour (7am) and
called her nephew Drew who came over and helped carry me to the car and then
drove over to pick up Mark where he was house sitting as it was on the way to
Foley Clinic. She pounded on the door till she woke him and we were the first
ones at the clinic door that morning.
Dad carried me in and they took me in back. Unfortunately they did not have the equipment to really
ensure that I had a stroke. The only way to tell for sure was to go to
the University of MN hospital and have a MRI done of my brain. The clinic
called ahead to tell the animal hospital we were on our way and away we
went. It was a long day at the hospital
but the results came back that I had indeed had a stroke and survived.
There
was nothing to do at this point but wait it out and see what would happen. I
was given IVs. I am a champ at this IV stuff by now and Mom and Dad went home to
make sure that Raj was good and take care of the pets Mark was pet sitting.
They came back to visit and I was unable to do much but lay there while they
petted and talked to me. They were told
that nothing but time would tell the outcome of the damage from the stroke.
They left me there for the night and went home.
Now you may think this is just a sad, sad story but if you did not know
Dr Barr graduated from the U. And they line the halls with pictures of graduates
from every year. And whose graduation picture in his styling tux did we get to
spy but Dr Barr! If you ever get a
chance to check it out it is there. And Dr McHale as well, with hair! I will
never tell the years they graduated, but they are there!
The next day Mary and Mark returned to pick
me up as time was all that would heal me.
They were surprised when I actually shakily walked out to the waiting
room to greet them. If humans could
recover as quickly from a stroke as dogs it would be interesting.
I went home and Rajah was, as always, happy to
see me! I was happy to see him and
slowly all pronounced traces of the stroke disappeared. And within a week you
would never have known that I had given the two of them another run for their
money. Today you cannot really tell I ever had one unless I am really tired and
my front leg gets a bit stiff but that is only if you know me well enough.
I have tried to keep a low profile since that time. I mean at 10 years old I do not want them to
think their time is short or anything. I
continue to bring them joy and happiness and more medical bills! I did just have
7 teeth pulled and a benign growth removed from my side on the 1st
but it had been a few years and they needed to spend a bit of cash.
Well, as dad says he loved me like he loves his luggage but not as much as
that BMW he could have had as he scratches my ears.
Now that I have developed these opposable
thumbs and can type I think I may look these things up! I mean what is this
luggage thing and BMW???? Well thanks for reading about me and how I keep Mary
and Mark busy and their bank accounts working.
Peace Out
Con
Thanks for sharing your 'tails' with us Con! And Happy 'Gotcha' Day!!
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