And deep my wound

Jez came home yesterday. At first they weren’t sure whether they’d let her out as she had a slight temperature, but that soon came down. The nurse also told me Saturday morning that she had been quite agitated, but I said that was normal for her following an anaesthetic. So we drove up Saturday afternoon to get her.

The nurse was very strict with her instructions about how we were to look after her and they gave us a written sheet setting it all out. That said, they obviously had as little success with her as we have, as the nurse said she’d tried to put an ice pack on her leg but Jez was having none of it. She also hadn’t eaten. Good job I’d taken some chicken & pasta for her, as she demolished it as soon as she got in the car!

We had a good journey home and Jez settled nicely on her duvet in the back, although I think the Kong filled with peanut butter helped a lot. But she was obviously in quite a lot of pain. She kept her distance most of the time, and slept most of the evening and all through the night.

Today she’s slowly getting back to her normal self but her leg clearly bothers her and she is only just tentatively trying to put it on the ground. She’s on her normal NSAIs and anit-biotics, plus she has a morphine patch on her leg. Her scar is really long, and there is very bad bruising on the inside of her thigh. But that’s hardly surprising as they’ve cut a chunk out of her thigh bone! Her appetite is good though. Oh, and not only has her leg been shaved again, but there’s a square patch shaved on her lower back from where she had the epidural. It looks really funny.

In terms of her recovery, she’s at her own vet for a check up tomorrow morning. She is also not allowed out for 3 weeks and is only allowed out in the garden if we take her out on a lead. She’s not allowed to run, jump or do anything that will jar her leg, which is plated but needs the bone to grow back (apparently jarring it disturbs/dissipates the cells which will gradually form and then harden, so the process has to start all over again). We have to phone her specialist in 4 weeks and give him a progress update, and then go back for more Xrays and a check up in6-8 weeks. Oh, and the estimate was about right – I had to pay out £1,965 yesterday! That means that leg has now cost over £4,000 so far – that’s one very expensive leg!

There’s not much else to tell really. I feel a bit odd, and hope I’m not going down with this flu that is going round. And my laptop and keyboard are playing up again and driving me nuts! For every word I type the next few have half the letters or spaces missing. Explorer works when it wants to on some sites and for some things, and Chrome does the same. I suppose I should really use Firefox, but I don’t like it – it’s all a bit too chunky and cumbersome for me.

Today is the winter solstice. From now on, days get longer and nights get lighter.

And nothing has changed, Everything has changed

Well, those of you on Facebook or who read Jez’s blog will know that she didn’t have an operation on Monday after all. Trying to get her sorted is turning out to be a real rollercoaster for us. If fact, Monday was a bit of a naff day all round. It was supposed to be sunny, but was cold and damp and miserable. The journey to Devizes was ok, but takes about 1 hour 50 minutes to do the 56 miles. Nevertheless, we arrived on time, only to have to wait half an hour to see the vet. He was excellent though, and we spent over half an hour with him. At the end of that time we left Jez for more Xrays and, we thought, an operation. Interestingly he didn’t think the original vets had done a bad job.

We had planned to go to Lacock Abbey for the day, as I said. And we did go to the village of Lacock. But it turns out that the Abbey is only open at weekends through the winter. So we only got to walk round the village. We did get lunch there at the village bakery though. Chris took one or two photos of the village, and of the Abbey (from a distance) – oh, and of me!











We then went into Devizes and walked round the town centre, which was nothing to shout about, and went and got a coffee to kill some time. After that there was nothing else to do, and so we went back to the vets only to find he hadn’t even got round to looking at her by that time. So we sat in the car and read. Eventually, just as it was getting dark, he phoned us - I told him I was in his waiting room! Anyway, he’d re-Xrayed her and said that we had to make a decision. He could try to move the ligament again, but there was a chance that he couldn’t move it any further / wouldn’t be able to move it far enough. But apparently in Staffies, due to their stance, the femur can be at an angle with the tibia, putting pressure on the knee joint. He showed us this on her Xrays. The operation to correct this (femoral straightening) involves cutting through the femur and removing a wedge of bone, and then plating the whole thing back together again. This is a much bigger operation involving an epidural to help reduce the amount of anaesthetic required. So we had to decide whether to risk letting him have a go at another tibia crest transposition that day. The problem was that if he couldn’t move the ligament, then he’d have to close her up and have her back again for the femoral straightening. It was a bit of a no brainer really – we opted to take her back another day when he had time to do whatever was necessary in a single operation.

So they bought her round and we bought her home. She was a lot better than usual after the anaesthetic, and slept most of the night. I suspect he’s got a better anaethnatist. She’s been a bit sore since then though.

Today I took her back to Devizes ( a 4 hour round trip that Chris kindly volunteered me for). Just after lunch the vet phoned and said she’d had her op and he’d done the femoral straightening after all, which wasn’t really a surprise. As she’s had an epidural she’s got to stay there tonight. We have to phone in the morning and check that she’s well enough to come home before going to get her (another 4 hour round trip). As her leg will have been plated I’m hoping that this means that we needn’t be quite so nervous about pins moving etc. But apparently we will get written instructions on her care when we pick her up. And the estimate for this little lot? Around £2,000! That will wipe out the remainder of her insurance cover for this condition. Still, it will be great to get her home and well again. The vet is very hopeful of a successful outcome, by the way.

Otherwise I met Val for dinner last night – we had a Chinese and a really good natter. And today we’ve been back looking at bathrooms. We’ve got a design we’ve agreed upon, and a bath, shower cubicle and toilet. We just need to sort out the washbasin now – oh yes, and find someone to fit it as that will involve laying the floor where the sunken bath currently is.

The season of the bitch

A year ago today (Saturday 15 Dec 2007) Chris and I drove over to the RSPCA centre at Ashley Heath and collected our little bundle of trouble. She was 13 weeks old, inquisitive and surprisingly trusting of us. And she looked like this…







12 months later…



She's stressed us out completely, cost us a fortune, I dread to think how many hours I've lain awake worrying about her, or how many tears I've shed over her. But above all she's bought us joy and laughter - more than we could ever have imagined.

I'm hoping this time her operation on Monday will be a success and that 2009 will see us being able to get out and about with her again.

Open up your heart to me

Just a quick update for those of you how haven’t seen Facebook or Jez’s blog. I had confirmation of Jez’s appointment and an information pack through from the specialist yesterday. It turns out that she is booked in for the day on Monday, the intention being that the vet will examine her and operate on her all in the one day. I had been expecting a consultation and then a future appointment for any operation. I phoned the clinic today and they have confirmed that this is the case. So now I’m feeling much better, and looking forward to my little girl having her leg fixed properly (and hopefully finally) on Monday. Of course, I haven’t heard what the specialist has to say yet –well I wouldn’t have done, would I – but it sounds encouraging. Interestingly one of the people of the Staffy forum said that when their dog’s operation failed the vet removed the actual kneecap, and that after a few weeks the dog was fine. Of course, all this means that Chris and I are pretty much restricted to the house over Christmas, as we won’t really be able to take Jez out (she’ll most probably be on 10 minute walks and no jumping up/climbing stairs). But that’s not a big deal.

Anyway, we drop her off just after 10am and pick her up again after 4pm. They have even sent us details of what to see in the area and where we can eat. If it’s a nice day I thought we might go to Lacock Abbey, which is a medieval abbey which has been converted to a house. It’s been used in films like Harry Potter, Pride & Prejudice & The Other Boleyn Girl, plus was the home of the photographer William Henry Fox Talbot, and there is a museum to him there. Sounds like our sort of thing and is only about 10 miles from where we’re going. We’ll need something to occupy us for the day. Getting her back all that way in the car after an anaesthetic will be fun, as she is always so distressed, but I plan to put her duvet on the floor in the back of the Merc as there’s a lot of room there. Hopefully she’ll settle down on that.

Otherwise I have spent the last 2 mornings clearing leaves AGAIN. That’s the last time though, thank goodness. I can’t believe how many leaves seemed to fall off the trees this year!

And I must say a big Thank You to Audrey for the pressie I got through the post yesterday. I haven’t drunk mine yet (one of those flavoured coffees Audrey was talking about a little while ago) but Jez demolished her dog biscuit immediately. I’d hardly opened the parcel before she was climbing all over me trying to get at it. I don’t know what they put in it, but it certainly caught her attention. She clearly thought it was very yummy…





And then, as if that wasn’t enough, she decided she had to eat the packet it came in as well!

I don’t know if I said, but we were supposed to be going to our gay friends’ wedding (well, Civil Partnership as they are called) tomorrow. We had to say we couldn’t go in the end as we can’t really leave Jez with the sitter given the restrictions on walking her and allowing her to run and play with other dogs. But we’ll be thinking of them. So I’d just like to wish Dave and Paul very best wished and to say Good Luck for the future.

My crazy brain in tangles

How come my glass is always half empty?

The vet phoned this morning: Jez has an appointment with the specialist on Monday. It’s just that from his tone and what he said (plus what he said when I spoke to him last week) I got the distinct feeling that he didn’t think the prognosis was very good. And he’s really unhappy about the dose of her meds that she’s on, and the length of time she’s been on them. I run out of them on Saturday but he won’t give me any more. He says I should take her off them for 24 hours before the specialist can see her, so that he can see just how bad she is and make a proper assessment. Which makes sense. But I got the feeling he was also saying so that we could see just how bad she is.

I keep thinking back to what he said last time I spoke to him. He explained why he wasn’t sending her to the closer specialist by giving me an example of a dog that had been in a road accident. The specialist in Ringwood said he could fix whatever it was it was being referred for, but apparently the dog’s injuries were such that it just wasn’t going to survive. He told me the owners took the right decision and had the dog put to sleep.

So now I’m terrified that that’s what he’s hinting they are going to say about Jez: that they can’t fix her and that she’s in so much pain that the kindest this would be to put her to sleep. But surely they must be able to do something to help her? I’m so scared for my little dog. I couldn’t do that to her. It would be different if she had some terminal illness, but she’s so young and healthy, apart from this fucked up knee. So I’m dreading the appointment on Monday. It’s so long since we had good news about her. And I daren’t say anything to Chris – he’ll only shout at me. So here I am writing about it as usual.
I tried to take my mind off it for a while this morning by raking up the leaves YET AGAIN. I’ve only done the back lawn though. I’ll have to sweep the drive AGAIN tomorrow.

I thought I was going to meet Val for dinner tonight after she cancelled last week, but it turns out I got my wires crossed and she meant next week.

So anyway, I’ve had this song going through my head all day – round and round:

Hold me tight
Keep me cool
Going mad
Don't know what to do
Do I need a friend?
Well, I need one now

Who'll love Aladdin Sane

You may have seen from my replies to my last blog that the vet phoned me late Friday afternoon to say they still hadn’t got the Xrays. So I phoned the old vet who said the computer said they’d been sent that morning. I queried this as they were supposed to have been sent the day before. Anyway, I knew that the girl I was talking to has a soft spot for Jez, so I laid it on thick about how the new vet needed the Xrays to refer her, and that in the meantime she was in a really bad way, and so she went and had a look round for me. Sure enough the XRays were still there! So I went round and picked them up, and then took them to the new vet – a round trip of around 45 minutes. Of course, the new vet had left for the week-end, so won’t have had a chance to do anything until today, but at least I know they’ve got them. The receptionist had also printed out a spare set of Jez’s notes ‘just in case’, so I’ve got those to, which might help with any insurance claim for her other leg. I’m not sure how long it will be now before I hear what’s happening. Meanwhile we’re continuing to try and manage the situation and rest her, although we’re taking her for a short period of exercise each day. It helps keep her calmer and us sane.

Dad and Pat came for ‘Christmas’ lunch yesterday, as they are going to Spain for Christmas and New Year. We all ate and drank too much, but everyone seemed to enjoy the meal (the piece of beef I had was beautiful). Jez got overexcited, as she always does when my Dad comes over, so I dread to think what she did to her knee. But Dad was really put out as he forgot to bring Jez’s Christmas present.

On the film front we have watched the new Indiana Jones film, which was a lot better than I expected given Harrison Ford’s age. In fact, we watched it twice as I put it on for Dad and Pat to see Sunday afternoon. We also saw The Bucket List which was excellent. As Chris said, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman were so good, most of the time you forgot they were acting. Chris seems to have given up trying to watch Dexter – he really isn’t that keen. But he’s over the moon that the final episodes of series 3 of Supernatural have appeared on cable.

Well, I think that’s about it – other than the fact that I see that the Aladdin Sane print is now for sale. I spoke to Chris about it, as we never bought the Hunky Dory print but at the time thought we would be interested in AS if it was ever released. He said: “Well, you’ve got a choice: Aladdin Sane or Jez’s knee. What do you think Jez?” Jez voted for her knee. I said “Well, no contest then!”

Sending me so far away

I’m still worrying about Jez – we still haven’t had a referral to a specialist. It turns out that that is because her previous vet is incapable of putting her XRays in the post to her new vet. It’s ironic really, they are all digital now, but they can’t email them as the file sizes are huge. I spoke to her new vet, Duncan, yesterday and he was hoping to get them today. I said to let me know if not and I’d go round there and transport them myself.

In the conversation with Duncan he told me that he’s decided against referring her to the specialist in Ringwood. He said that although they would do an excellent job, they would aim for perfection, which might not necessarily be in Jez’s best interest and would be extremely expensive. Instead he’s referring her to another orthopaedic specialist who he mentioned when we first saw him, who he uses a lot. The good news is that this guy will be cheaper (whilst still being extremely well qualified) and the insurance may cover it. The bad news is that he is in Devizes, which is nearly 60 miles away. I told him that I had been worrying about the extent to which her knee is fixable now, but he said this guy should be able to sort her out pretty well, although her arthritis in later life will be worse than it would have been. Ironically the reason we had the operation done so quickly in the first place was to lessen the damage to her knee and therefore the amount of arthritis she will suffer in later life. Duncan used an interesting phrase when talking about the new vet: he said he uses him a lot to sort out dogs that have been ‘buggered up by other vets’. I think that says it all.

Anyway, Jez hasn’t been too bad this week. Although she’s not quite so good to day, she was limping a lot less, so we’ve put the in the car and taken her to the Country Park for a change. We’ve only walked her a very short distance there, but it’s been something different for her after 2 months of only seeing the area close to the house. Only problem was that Tubs has put on so much weight her car harness won’t fit her any more (and we’re not putting her in the back of the car as she has to jump to get in there, which doesn’t do her let any good). So I had to go out and buy her a new, Extra Large to fit Rottie, Labs etc, car harness.

We’ve also let her up on the sofa in my room, although we’ve provided her with a plastic box to use as a step. But she’s discovered that she can go from the sofa, to the arm, to the top of her crate, to the window ledge in the bay window, where she now spends a lot of her time. She sits there and gets worked up over the neighbours cats, generally watches the world go by, and suns herself. You can see her route in this first photo…



But she’s scratching the sill badly so Chris put an old quilt up there for her to lie on…



In other news I was due to meet Val for supper on Wednesday, but she called off at the last minute (Wednesday afternoon) as she had to go to the doctor. So I’m hoping to see her sometime next week. I also went to the hairdresser on Wednesday, who decided to dry my hair differently for a change (as those of you on Facebook will have seen).



Otherwise I have written all my Christmas cards this week, and I’ve wrapped the presents! So, I’m all ready for Christmas now. Dad and Pat are off to Spain for Christmas in a couple of weeks, so they are coming here to dinner on Sunday. I’m planning to do prawn cocktail, Roast Beef etc, and Cheesecake. Oh, that reminds me. I tried out a new Indian recipe on Tuesday: chicken with spinach. It was really good. Chris and I are both eating too much at the moment though, and have both put on weight.

The pain must feel like snow

I don’t even know where to start. But I suppose where I left off. Jez’s leg hasn’t improved over this last week. It’s slowly got worse. I’ve lain awake at night agonising about whether to take her for a second opinion, and on Thursday night decided, sod what the current vet thinks, I want to know whether she’s getting better and what I should be doing to help her: two things I haven’t really ascertained from her vet. So after realising that she really wasn’t any better yesterday morning, and that she was holding her leg up more and more, I phone the vet that Jo, her trainer, had recommended. They agreed to see her yesterday afternoon.

The new vet was very nice and spent ages talking to us. He had her records from the current vet (I said that I initially wanted a second opinion), but said that they appeared to be quite confused and he had trouble working out what had gone on, so we talked him through it. He was really surprised that they’d wanted to sedate her. His view was that you fix the problem in such a way that allows for the fact that a dog will be a dog and will run and jump occasionally, no matter how hard you try and stop them.

Then he examined her.

I’m not sure how I held it together at the vets – I was so upset. Her leg is in a really bad way. Far from being fixed the joint is almost permanently out of position. It’s no wonder she is limping and holding her leg up. If you were trying to walk on a knee that was dislocated how would you feel? He was not happy that he could feel the pins in the way he could and said they would soon cause a seroma. We had been told that her left knee is fine. But when he examined it (oh, and he’d picked up on the fact that she’d been limping on that leg earlier in the summer from her notes – something her current vet kept dismissing), he said it too is slipping badly. So she’s having to put all her weight on a leg that she would ordinarily be limping on.

So, both legs need operating on. The right leg needs corrective surgery, assuming that is possible given that she’s had two operations on it already. The left leg needs surgery to deepen the groove in the patella and stop the joint slipping. He said there was no way he would touch her – wouldn’t even contemplate it. So she needs referring to a specialist. There and then we said we would transfer her to the new practice so that he could refer her. There are two options: the orthopaedic specialist in Ringwood or one in Devizes. The one in Ringwood is apparently the best (he suggested world reknowned), but is not good with humans and is very, very expensive. What’s left on her insurance ( just over £2,000) almost certainly won’t cover it. We’ve asked him to contact the specialist at Ringwood. He’ll see when he can get her in for an appointment and see if he can get an approximate cost.

There was another, slightly alarming, aside as we were about to leave. I’m running short on her anti-inflammatories/painkillers, so asked if I could have some more (I’d discussed what she was on). When he worked out 10 day’s worth though it was half what I needed. I pointed this out and it turns out he had mis-heard me. The dose Jez is on is the maximum allowable for her size. She should only be on it for a short period and at that dosage shouldn’t really be in any pain. She’s been on it for 2 months. He was clearly shocked. He said if she is limping this badly given her dosage then the pain must be acute (or words to that effect).

So now we are waiting to hear about the specialist. We know that there are at least two more operations ahead of us, and that meanwhile our little dog is in a lot of pain. And we know it’s going to cost a fortune. Meanwhile, we are reducing walks (to occasional sniffs outside when she needs a bit of mental stimulation) and keeping her in the house/garden. I need to find things to try an occupy her. This morning I bought a singing Christmas hedgehog (not a dog toy, but she loves that sort of thing) at Tesco. Ok she raced round the house a few times with it, but she thinks it’s great and has spent ages shaking it and gently chewing it. Our view is that although she shouldn’t really be running and jumping, the damage is done, so the occasional play isn’t going to do too much harm at this stage. So, here’s Jez with ‘Hedgie’…









Having been really upset last night I didn’t sleep well. I’m still upset today, but not as much and I’m trying to move forward.
Other than that I managed to finish my Christmas shopping in the week (other than Jez’s presents). And I watched Mama Mia, which I thought was a load of rubbish: contrived, badly scripted, badly acted, badly cast, poorly sung. I didn’t find it a feel-good film – it was too awful for me. I struggled to watch it all the way through. But I know I’m a lone voice. It’s supposed to appeal to women ‘of a certain age’ – thank God I’m not one of them.

Don't you know you're driving your mamas and papas insane?

I can’t believe that it’s been so long since I blogged. Where has the time gone? What have I been doing with myself?

Well, the answer is: not a lot. Other than worrying frantically over Jez, as those of you who keep up with me on Facebook will know. The problem with Jez has been that she has aggravated her knee somehow. Well, I say ‘somehow’, but she must have been jumping somewhere she shouldn’t. Every now and then we catch her at it. And she was set off a week last Monday by a firework that shook the house. It took her 2 days to calm down (she wouldn’t settle at night either) and it was during this time that she seemed to hurt herself. What on earth am I supposed to do with a dog like this? We tried the valium again, but since she gets hyper for the first hour after she takes it, we are trying to leave her off that. Instead we are now trying one of those DAP (pheromone) collars that are supposed to keep them calm! I’m wondering how long it’s supposed to take before they kick in. Her other new trick last week was jumping up in my sitting room and putting her front paws on the window sill (which she can only just reach) and trying to see out. So we put something in front of the window to stop her getting to it. So what does she do now? She stands back a bit then tries to stand on her hind legs to look out the window!

Anyway, we saw the vet last Friday who agreed her leg was worse again (and that was after I’d rested her for a couple of days). Then Saturday it got really bad and she hardly put it down. I was so worried about her. When I flexed her leg I felt the joint clunk badly. But we’ve rested her some more and it gradually seems to be improving again. She still walks a bit awkwardly (favouring her other leg), and skips a step from time to time, but is nowhere near as bad as she was. So I’m hopeful that she had just aggravated it and that it is settling down again.

Otherwise last week was Chris’ birthday. We didn’t do anything special other than getting an Indian takeaway. I’d knitted him a new woolly hat, which he seemed to like. Plus I got him a Bluetooth headset as he talks on Skype to someone he does a lot of work with quite frequently. Not sure if any of you are on Skype. I haven’t downloaded it, but could do if I had someone to talk to on there. Otherwise I just got him the usual books & CDs. Joy sent him the box set of Dexter, which she loves. We watched the first one last night and decided we could take it or leave it. I actually prefer Moonlight (which we have been watching), and think it’s a real shame that US audiences didn’t like it enough for CBS to commission a second series. And now, apparently, its getting quite a cult following. It reminds me a bit of the Charlaine Harris Sooky Stackmore series with its vampire/human love interest.

In other news I’m finally trying to sort out getting our en suite bathroom replaced. We had a woman come out and measure up this morning (much to Jez’s delight). It really needs doing: either the drain or the taps on the bath leak (so we can’t use it) and the shower tray is held together with mastic. We’re also in the process of trimming back the front monster hedge. Well, Chris is doing the trimming and I am doing the collecting up of the trimmings and taking them to the tip. I’ve made 5 journeys so far, but we’ve almost finished. Personally I’d have finished it today as there is so little left to do but Chris didn’t want to. We stake Jez out on a long line while we do it. It gives her somewhere to sniff around and seems to tire her out quite nicely for virtually no effort. Which means she is now asleep in her bed in the living room.

Well, that’s about it. I really must start thinking about my Christmas shopping.

Silver leaves are spinning down

At last we seem to be getting back to normal! Thank goodness for that.

Jez is much better, especially as we’ve left her off the valium. All she has now is are the anti-inflamatories, which she’s been on for ages. She’s allowed short walks (2x 10minute walks a day), so we walk round the neighbouring pond in the morning and afternoon. But it’s enough to wear her out, which is good as she then sleeps. And although she still won’t go in her crate at night, she has slept through the last 2 nights. She’s generally walking well, although she’s a bit stiff in the mornings so limps for a little while until she warms up. We think that’s where she hasn’t been using the muscles in that leg though, rather than the fact that her knee is hurting her (we think in that case she’d get worse, not better, as the day goes on).

This morning I took some photos out on our walk as it has been a nice sunny day. Just to explain we walk to the far side of the pond nearest to us (the smaller of the two) and then go into the small wooded area there. You can see where I mean from the satellite – it’s the wooded bit inbetween the two ponds.



So, here’s Jez looking miserable in her head collar…



And walking in the woods…



And a shot across the pond…



When we got home I set about raking up the leaves from the back lawn…



But just look at how many leaves are still on the trees! I’ll be doing it again, that’s for sure. But at least I’ve cleared the first lot off – they were getting trodden into the lawn and making it really wet. Only trouble is the tops of my arms really ache now.

This afternoon I took the larger camera when Jez and I went for our walk and got some better shots, especially in the late afternoon sun.
















And lastly I’ll leave you with Jez looking much happier with herself. I was worried that she was getting a bit depressed being in all day and having no toys really to play with. So I went round to her trainer Jo (where I got to make a big fuss of her 9 month old GSD Roo) and picked up an ultra-expensive dog toy that is supposed to stimulate them. As it wasn’t a leaping around type toy I thought it would be good for Jez, but she gets really excited when she plays with it as it involves food! Oh well, never mind – she loves it. So here are some photos from earlier today of her with it – she has to move those plastic sliders to get at treats hidden underneath. Oh, and in the second shot you can see the scar from her latest operation.







It didn’t take her very long to get the hang of it, as you can see if you take a look at the video of her.



What she has to do now is work out that if I put those little wooden pegs in she has to pull them out in order to be able to move the sliders. Not sure whether she’ll be able to cope with that!

Anyway, that’s about it, apart from the fact that my 2009 Bowie calendar arrived today. It’s really nice – I’m ever so pleased with it.

The mental and diva's hands

What a disgusting day it’s been today. It has rained virtually non-stop, plus we’ve had force 9 winds at times. As a consequence Jez has chosen to spend most of the day in bed.

The week-end went well. We had a really good bunch of guests (I think there were 49 of them). And as ever at the White Hart the food was good. It’s odd to think I’ll only be going back there once (at New Year) as Joy has changed hotel chains. I also took the opportunity while I was in Salisbury to do a bit of shopping - mainly birthday presents for Chris (it’s his birthday next week).

Jez was sooooo pleased to see me when I got home. She got really excited. Chris had been giving her the valium over the week-end. That seems to suit her a lot better and mainly makes her sleepy. I haven’t given her any since I’ve come home as most of the time I can manage her pretty well, and anyway, as I’ve said, she’s slept a lot today as the weather is awful. I thought one of the pins was sticking out further, but I’ve just had another look and it seems fine. She’s really stiff when she first gets up after lying down, but after a while she starts walking on it properly. She’s also standing on it a lot more, and is sitting more normally (she’d had to sit sort of slumped to one side). Despite the rain I’ve taken her out for a short walk this afternoon and it went really well. Once she gets going you’d never know there was anything wrong with her. Her stomach if fine again now as well, thank goodness.

Oh, something that happened on the Weekend. We had two really nice ladies from New Zealand as guests, and in the incident room on Saturday night something was said about healing. So in character I said to one of them, ‘ Oh you can do some healing on me’, and she did. It was wonderful – a sort of laying on of hands, but I felt so relaxed. It was only for a couple of minutes, but as I said the next day, when I went to bed I just felt so calm, and slept really well. Apparently she used to belong to some sort of healing group at one time.

I think that’s about it. I can home to find the house a total tip. There were crumbs and bits all over the living room floor, where Jez had been chewing things. And chunks of my dustpan and brush which Chris seems to have let her chew! And the kitchen floor was filthy. So today I’ve been cleaning, and it looks a lot better now.

Friday 7 November 2008: When the mother sighs

Just a quick update. I’m waiting for Chris to come back from his walk so that I can leave for Salisbury. I’m all packed & bag is in the car.

We have had a dreadful week with Jez. She picked up a bit Wednesday and then yesterday, as instructed by the vet, we gave her two of her ACP tablets. She was quiet for an hour and a quarter and then we had all sorts of problems with her. She was up and terrified. She was jumping up, backing away, running round, trying to eat the dog gate, an airer, and the furniture. She ripped by patio blinds and pulled some of them down. And she tried to eat the window. Oh and once again she kept pooing, so we were following her around with a scrubbing brush and toilet roll. Although she slept most of the afternoon and evening she wouldn’t go to bed and Chris had to sleep downstairs again. I took some video of her in case I had to show the vet. If you want to you can see it here.

Today she has recovered and we’ve been back to the vet where she’s had her stitches out. The good news is her leg has healed nicely and the pins have not moved any more. She is using it a lot, which pleased the vet. And eventually we managed to convince her (the vet) that the ACP tablets did not suit Jez and that she had an extreme reaction to them. So now we have some valium for her, although she’s been asleep most of the time since we got home, so she hasn’t had one yet. As I haven’t read any horror stories on the web about these, and as they appear to suit staffies, we’re not expecting any problems. I hope not as Chris will be on his own with her until Sunday afternoon. Fortunately we can start walking her next week – two 10 minute walks a day (although we add in standing around and sniffing time).

Not much to say about me other than the fact that Chris and I are now shattered and emotionally drained – sounds stupid but it’s true. I’m hoping that it’s all downhill from here on in and that our problems are over.

I’ll leave you with a photo of Jez from this morning. The caption reads:

"What Mum? You said I wasn't allowed on the sofa. But you never said anything about the coffee table, and I thought Dad had put those cushions on there so that I could get up and lie in the sun!"

Tuesday 4 November 2008: Pale blinds drawn all day

Thought I’d better try and do a blog update. What a nightmare the past few days have been! And I didn’t realise that it had been a week since I’d written.

So, Jez had her operation, and true to form, paced until around 3.30am, so I slept on the sofa with her – no way would she get near her crate. But she seemed much better the next day and was using her leg quite a bit. Of course, she still wouldn’t go in her crate and wouldn’t settle at night, so Wednesday night Chris slept downstairs with her. Thursday it was back to the vet for a check and she was really pleased with her, plus Jez was using her leg a lot. And of course, Thursday night she still wouldn’t settle. I let her bark for a long time, but Chris had a Murder Weekend coming up and I was worried about his lack of sleep, so once again I gave up and went downstairs to sleep.

Friday you would never have known she’d had something wrong with her leg. But the vet had said absolutely no jumping up at all for 6 weeks, so we started a new regime to try and keep her of the sofas. Basically there are things either on them or in front of them to stop her jumping up. And we have to take her out into the garden on a lead so that she doesn’t go up the steps or jump onto the wall. The joint is really good – the problem is the pins moving again.

So Friday I was on my own with her and we had a couple of very short walks just round the footpaths here as this tended to keep her quieter when she came back in. Friday night as I was on my own with her I did cold turkey and just let her bark and howl. She eventually gave up and I got to sleep (in my bed this time). Saturday it rained hard and was freezing, but we still had a couple of short walks.

Saturday night was dreadful – loads of fireworks close to the house. Jez barked from about 8pm until 10pm. I waited until it had all gone quiet and all the firework parties seemed to have finished then took her out for her bedtime wee. She was doing fine – until someone let of two more rockets which burst above the garden. Jez lunged on the lead at them (yes, in the sky) and pulled herself up onto her hind legs. So much for keeping her quiet.

Saturday night she settled down very quickly and I got a good night’s sleep. But Sunday morning she wasn’t walking so well again, and there were two lumps on her leg where the pins are. I was so uspet.

We went back to the vet on Monday and she says the pins have moved but not enough to warrant another operation, thank goodness. But now we have to keep her really quiet and she wants to keep her sedated. I’d been resisting this, but the movement in the pins gave me a real scare. So yesterday I tried her on 2 Tramadol as suggested. Hopeless! She slept for an hour and a half and was then was back into her dog-from-hell mode – pacing, anxious, ears back, barking at the trees! So I phoned the vet was given a different sedative for today.

Today I’ve tried her on the new sedative and am not happy. I’d looked it up on the internet and some dogs had reacted badly to it, plus most people had recommended cutting the dose. As the vet had suggested I vary the dose I started her off on half a tablet. She didn’t sleep though – she lay by the patio doors staring out. Turns out the brain is alert but the legs won’t move! Poor little soul. When she eventually got up she wobbled all round the house. It clearly scares her. I tried giving her the other half to see if that was any better and it’s been worse. She can’t settle for more than a couple of minutes and wobbles everywhere, sometimes at speed. From time to time she sits and shakes. And something (either these or the Tramadol) have really upset her stomach. Oh – and she’s trying to eat me out of house and home despite the upset stomach, and drinking loads. She is clearly very distressed and I can’t stand seeing her like this. 3 hours after the second half tablet she’s finally managed to settle a bit. . I’ve got a call into the vet at the moment. I know she wanted me to give her up to 3 tablets, but I’m really not prepared to. I’ll ask if we can try something else. What I want is something to make her sleepy and less alert. The obvious thing is valium, and I’m not sure why she hasn’t given her this. At this rate, though, drawing the blinds seems to be the best thing to keep her calm and dozy.

So that’s pretty much it. Nursing Jez has turned into a full time job. I did manage to make my two Christmas cakes over the weekend. And I coloured my hair again, but used a slightly different colour and don’t like it. Then today I’ve started to learn my part for this week-end. I was going to play the tart again but have swapped and am playing the killer, which is a really easy role. I’ll be in Salisbury so should be able to get to the shops on Saturday morning and get a bit of shopping in.

Tuesday 28 October 2007 - Something in the air

No – the Tramadol did not send Jez to sleep – it upset her in the same way anaesthetic does (apparently they both contain the same morphine based derivative, which acts as an opiate). So after a couple of days she wouldn’t settle and wouldn’t go in her crate at night – which meant Saturday night we didn’t get much sleep. So I gave her one tablet Saturday morning then took her off it. Sunday night she went to bed as usual, although last night she didn’t want to go back in her crate again. However, Chris managed to get her in at last and she settled down.

Yesterday we went back to the vet and this time saw Caty, the chief vet, again. The good news is that Jez’s knee joint is no longer moving. The bad news is that the pin is causing problems and although by yesterday she was walking much better again, it is clearly catching on the muscle in her leg. At the point where the pin comes out of her knee it’s swollen and after a short walk you can see that it’s been bleeding internally.

So today it was back to the vet for another operation. We hoped it would be a short procedure to sort out the pin that is already in her leg, but it appears not. I don’t know the details as we aren’t due to see the vet until we pick Jez up at 6.30pm, but we do know they have had to re-pin her leg. So it looks like the poor little soul will be in a bad way again for a while.

Otherwise I don’t think there’s much else to tell. I’ve finally got round to trying to sort out my Christmas cakes, so have put one lot of fruit in to soak. I’ve also found a new cake recipe that I want to try, but it involves Drambuie, which I’ve not been able to get. So I’ve now got to try and track some down (having bought all the other ingredients).

We had the heating fixed, so that’s good, especially as it has now turned a lot colder. Unfortunately we got the bill today. Actually, saying it’s a lot colder, this morning was lovely – it was quite warm out in the sun. So we put our garden furniture away and I cleared up a load of leaves, although that’s a bit of a losing battle as the oaks still have nearly all of their leaves on them still.

For those of you in the UK, Autumnwatch is coming from Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. For those of you not in the UK, you can’t see the programmes but you can check out the website here.

Meanwhile I suppose I’d better prepare for another sleepless night or two (guess who’s turn it is to sleep on the sofa and keep Jez company tonight while she recovers).

Poor soul

It’s not been a good couple of days as Jez is a lot worse. She can hardly put her leg down at all now. I have taken her back to the vet this afternoon, and she wasn’t due to go for another week and a half. It’s so upsetting. Poor little soul – what has she done to deserve this? And I don’t know what I can do to help make it better. So after we tried a couple of short walks today and she limped really badly - I was so upset.

The good news is that the vet thinks the joint feels quite good and there was hardly any movement in it. He thought it seemed better than Monday and not inflamed at all, and so couldn’t understand why she’s not putting it down.

Anyway, we’re to rest her again for the next 3 days and he’s put her on additional pain medication (Tramadol). I’m to take her back to see the vet she originally saw (as Richard her current vet is on leave) on Monday.

Oh, and Richard did warm me that the Tramadol can have some side effects – it might make her sleepy. Chris asked if we could have a permanent prescription – LOL!

I don’t think there’s much else to say otherwise, except that the knitting is going a lot better now.

And nothing has changed

Jez’s check up did not go well. Although she is really well in herself, and the wound on her leg has healed well, her knee is not good. The vet was really disappointed as the knee is still slipping, which it should not do. The vet manipulated her leg a lot, pulling it and pushing it. And it’s still a bit swollen and tender in places. But Jez was as good as gold. She tried to sit down, so I had to hold her up, but otherwise she never made a sound and just let him get on with it. The upshot is that we are going to see what it’s like in 2 weeks time when the muscle has strengthened and the cartilage has grown back a bit more. If it’s not any better she will be referred to an orthopaedic consultant and may need further remedial surgery. Poor little soul. I gave her a big chew bar as a treat for being such a good girl when we got home. I’ve noticed that her leg is very stiff tonight after all that pulling around.

As regards the central heating, we’ve got a guy coming tomorrow to look at it and service the boiler. The boiler is definitely working as we have hot water, so it might be a problem with the pump. Anyway we’ll know tomorrow. I dread to think how much it’s going to cost, though.

Oh, and the knitting is not going well. I’ve gone wrong yet again. The trouble is I can’t see it on the black wool.

More idols than realities

Just a quick update, mainly as there’s not a lot to say.

Jez is much better and is back to her old self. She is also using her leg a lot more, especially if she walks. But the trouble with her being back to her old self is that she keeps wanting to dash round the house like a mad thing and jump on sofas, which she’s not supposed to be doing. To give her a bit of stimulation I take her out to the footpath at the side of the house and let her have a good sniff round. Only problem is she pulls like mad in the drive as she looks for cats, and also pulls if another dog comes along. She goes for her 10 day check up on Monday, but I’m sure it’s going to be fine. It’s more a question of how we go about building her walks up again.

I’ve finished my cardigan apart from the buttons, which I’ve still got to get. But I’ve made the sleeves too long. I would have unpicked them a bit, but the neck is knitted from the top of the sleeves, and the front bands are knitted onto the neck! Oh well, I’ll just have to live with it. I went and got some more wool to do a cardigan for Chris – but remind me never to buy black wool again. I can’t see what I’m doing!

The weather here has been a bit colder, but we’ve had quite a bit of sun. So I’ve taken the opportunity to tidy up the back flower beds. I’ve done them all except the bit behind the pond now, and I must say it looks an awful lot better. Plus it feels good to have got it done. We need to cut back the front hedge at some stage though, plus the leaves are beginning to fall, so there will be those to start clearing up. It’s never ending!

We’ve not watched a lot of films recently, but saw two this week: Penelope and Butterfly on a Wheel. The latter was ok, but not brilliant. We quite like Penelope though – a gentle little romantic thing, so not exactly a great film but quite light entertainment. We’ve got couple to watch at the moment: Freebird (a British road movie thing), and 21(about 6 MIT students who take on the casinos in Vegas having become experts in card counting).

We watched a great programme on TV though: a Peter Kay spoof on all these reality contest things like X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing etc. It was about a talent show called ‘Britian’s got the Pop Factor and Possibly a new Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice’. They even managed to get Paul McCartney to make a cameo appearance. Apparently he has released a single from it which could well be top of the charts, or very near, this week. You can watch The Winners Song here.

Think that’s about it.

we've bought you lots of things to keep you warm and dry

My poor, beautiful little girl. She is in a sorry way, and I feel so sorry for her. We are doing everything we can to make her comfortable, but there’s only so much you can do.

Friday night was, as we expected, a nightmare, what with all the pacing and crying after her anaesthetic. She just couldn’t settle. In the end I slept on the sofa in my sitting room, but it did little to reassure her. I suppose that I should be grateful that I managed a few hours sleep, although 2.30am saw me feeding her chicken & rice. She finally settled down around 5.45am. Chris, who’d slept through most of it, woke me up at 8am.

She slept in the sun in the lounge most of yesterday morning and then brightened up a bit, but is still pretty low. I suppose that’s to be expected though. She’s not very impressed with us taking her out into the garden on a lead, and at the moment while she’s still hopping on 3 legs I don’t think she can physically jump up on the wall. So I’m leaving her off the lead and just going out with her.

I took some photos of her yesterday – don’t worry, although her wound doesn’t have a dressing on it it’s not too nasty – Chris manages to look at it.

This was her early yesterday morning looking very sorry for herself.



Then this is her a bit later on when she’d perked up a bit.



And this is what they’ve done to the poor little soul.



Last night wasn’t much better than Friday night. She started crying again when we tried to go to bed. In the end after around 90 minutes I got back up as I didn’t want her to get too distressed. She is still frightened of her crate, so won’t go in it. We think it’s where she finds herself shut in a cage at the vet when she comes round. So I’m trying to persuade her back in now. Anyway, last night me being downstairs didn’t do much good, although letting her in the living room helped. So when she quietened a bit I went back to bed. Half hour later she woke me up as she was barking like mad. Chris slept through it all again, so once again your truly had to get up to her. I think I finally got back to bed and to sleep (until Chris’ alarm woke me up) at around 3.30am.

Today she’s been out in the sun in the garden for a while and although still not herself is a bit improved.



Plus there’s a bit of video of our poor little hop-a-long soul.



Oh – and her flatulence has returned. It’s unbearable – I’m feeding her wind tablets to try and ease it.

Otherwise there is not much to say except that I’ve nearly finished my cardigan. Just the second front edge and the sewing up to do. If it doesn’t look too bad I’ll post a piccie when I’ve finished it.

And I think something's going to be horrid

Well the big day has arrived and Jez has gone in for her knee operation. I’m a total wreck at the moment – completely stressed out over it. Chris just shouts at me for being stupid and getting him worried, but I suspect that what I feel may have something to do with the fact that my Mum died as a result of a fairly routine operation. Either that, or perhaps I am just stupid.

Anyway, we saw the vet this morning (don’t think I’d mentioned that I’d asked to see him as it is a different vet to the one she’s been seeing). Pleased I did. Turns out he had seen her when she was Xrayed. Poor little soul - he really pulled her leg about for ages, but she was as good as gold. Not a whimper. He confirmed that it has got a lot worse and is dislocating almost continually now, which explains her taking a few normal steps then skipping along for a few, then walking normally for a few more, then skipping etc. Unfortunately this almost certainly means a much bigger operation. He is likely to re-attach the ligament to a position where it will hold the knee in place much better, deepen the grove in the patella and pin the knee. He says the pinning means we will have to keep her really quiet for much longer so that the pins don’t move.

I’m waiting to hear from the vet to see how the operation has gone. He was going to give her her pre-med as I left her at around 9.20am this morning, so hopefully they should be finished by now, or at least will be shortly.

In the meantime I’m making bread, washing, cleaning, sorting out credit cards etc.

Oh – and getting very close to having panic attacks.

I’ll let you know how its all gone.

I'm looking through African eyes

It is now a year since I was in Kenya. It just doesn’t seem possible, especially given that the country has gone through so much turmoil since then. I feel so sad for many of the people out there, who did not deserve to have their lives disrupted in such a terrible way.

I am marking the anniversary of my holiday in two ways: I am reading through my holiday diary and reliving it all (which I can remember really vividly), and I am watching Big Cat Live on the BBC. Big Cat Live is a documentary series that the BBC screen a couple of times a year from the Mara. As it’s title suggests it follows the lives of the big cats there: lions, leopards and cheetahs. But they cover lots of the other animals as well. Although you can’t watch the programmes outside of the UK, they do have a website where they have live webcams streaming from the Mara. Last night I was watching the lions feeding – today I’ve been watching hippos. If you want to check it out you can do so here.

The weather here has been pretty disgusting (well, it is today). It got quite cold at the end of last week and over the weekend, but we finally relented on Sunday and put the central heating on for a short time in the morning and the early evening. Since then, of course, its warmed up: its just very wet and miserable now. Miserable weather does have its advantages though: Jez just wants to sleep. So for much of the day she curls up on the sofa next to me, as you can see…



(Please excuse the fact that it’s slightly blurred – Chris seems to be having problems taking a photo with my little snappy camera).




She is limping really badly – well, most of the time she skips along on 3 legs – so it confirms that we have made the right decision about her operation. And although she likes to go out for very short walks (just round the neighbouring pond) 2-3 times a day, she’s quite happy when its time to come home.

Maria has posted some photos from last weekend (the Murder Weekend) on Facebook – those of you who are on there may have seen them. But for those of you who haven’t I’ve taken a copy. You may recall that Maria is an actor who has been with Joy for years, but who now lives in NYC so rarely gets to act. She was a guest on the week-end has was messing around posing with the bodies…

Maria and Joy.


Maria, with Paul (body) and Judy.


Maria with me and Becky (body)






Notice how nicely my new Italian guy has cut my hair! Oh, and please excuse the skirt. I know I was wearing it a few years ago to B’net functions, but I really am getting too old for it now. Plus it was a bit embarrassing having one of the guests in the Incident Room pointing out that I was flashing my knickers! No doubt John will like the pics though – LOL!

Don’t think there’s anything else to tell you.

If I'd only paid my bill

If you’ve read Jez’s blog you will know that her knee isn’t any better, and so we’ve taken the decision to go ahead and have it operated on. She’s booked in next Friday and I’m already starting to get worked up about it. It’s got to be the right thing to do though. Poor little soul can hardly walk on it today. I’ve just taken her round the corner to post a letter and she skipped along on 3 legs most of the way.

She will go in Friday morning and come home late afternoon / evening. I’m not expecting much sleep that night given her reaction to the last anaesthetic. And I’ve reminded the vet that she was allergic to the last lot of stitches she had. The vet reckons this will be far better for her in the long run, but from what I understand her recuperation is likely to take a few months. Initially she will only be allowed in the garden on a lead to toilet, then she will be able to walk round the garden, then we’ll be able to take her to the end of the drive and back, and so on. But it should stop the joint slipping in future, which will help to minimize the arthritis and so give her a much better quality of life. Oh, and I’m also thinking of taking her for hydrotherapy treatment when she’s well enough. There is a place near here does it. Not sure what she’ll make of it, but if I’m lucky it will teach her to swim. Apparently they have someone in the pool with them, and wear buoyancy aids. The vet says swimming will be really good to help her rebuild the muscle.

I think in my last blog I said the bank had quickly sorted out the fraud on my credit card. Well in a way they have, as the new cards arrived this morning. But the account collects the payment due automatically from my bank account, and swapping the cards over has messed this up (it hasn’t collected), so now they keep telling me it’s overdue! I’ve told them it’s their fault and I don’t expect to pay any interest or charges.

Chris’ Mum and Dad are staying in Bournemouth this week, so we had them over for lunch on Wednesday. We all had a nice time. Apparently my youngest brother-in-law and his wife have a thing about the dog (well, her breed) and don’t want her getting anywhere near their two boys! This should make Christmas interesting as we usually all meet up at Chris’ Mum and Dad’s one day near Christmas. It will be amusing to see what they do when we turn up with the dog. Chris’ Mum and Dad think it’s stupid and blame the mother-in-law. They are very fond of Jez, who, by the way, was extremely well behaved when they were here.

On the family front, apparently my other sister-in-law lost her father on Wednesday. He was quite old (late 80s I think) though. She’s Guatemalan, and was upset as she couldn’t get back in time for the funeral (which took place yesterday). Meanwhile Pat (who’s now 88) had a cataract operation on Tuesday.

As for me. Well I think this menopause business has finally got to my brain and killed off any remaining brain cells. I had a physio appointment this morning and managed to leave for it an hour before I was supposed to. I was even rushing to leave the house as I thought I was late. So having driven across town for it I went and had a coffee while I waited. I had to laugh. Apparently under the NHS referral system I am only entitled to 3 appointments with this particular physio. I didn’t like to tell him that that was my 4th appointment! My shoulder has been a lot better of late though, although my neck and shoulder now ache where he worked on it this morning.

Think that’s about it.

Sailors fighting in the dancehall

Well thankfully things seem to be getting back to something approaching normal, although Chris’ parents are on holiday in Bournemouth this week, so I think we’re going to see them tomorrow and then have them over here one day.

The Murder Weekend went very well. I really enjoyed my character, although went bright red as I had to sit in a room of nearly 50 people and listen to my sex tape being played. Saturday night I had to have a big fight with Becky (my sister on the plot) and we had a good old tussle on the floor, after which I was fighting with the copper who was trying to keep me away from her. I think one of the ex-actors who was a guest on the week-end videoed it as she said something about posting it on You Tube, so if she does I’ll put a link up to it. I know that Maria (another actor who lives in NYC and only comes over for the occasional week-end and who was also a guest on this one) has taken a load of photos and I’m waiting for her to post them on Facebook so that I can grab them. She was having a good laugh and insisting on posing with all of the bodies. Saturday night I was screaming at her and pushing her away from the body on the last death. But it was nice to see people and have someone to talk to! And we had a great bunch of guests. Shame about the hotel. The Wessex in Winchester has gone so badly downhill in the last 5 years or so that it is now appalling. Dinner Saturday night was virtually inedible, and they haven’t heard of customer service.

I came home yesterday to find Jez limping worse than ever. Chris said she’d been subdued while I was away and thought she had been pining for me. So Saturday he took her to Delph Woods where she met her friend Lenny the Lurcher and chased round with him. Consequently her knee was a lot worse. But he feels really guilty about it. She also played up and wouldn’t go in her crate to sleep, so he let her sleep on his bed. Yesterday as soon as I came home she perked up, and she’s been very bouncy morning today. I had ordered some extensions so that we could put her puppy gate across the stairs, and they came this morning, so Chris has put the gate up. We’re hoping that if we can stop her going and down stairs so much it will help the healing process. I’ve now got her on Glucosamine & Condratine plus Green Lipped Mussel capsules to help with her joints. I mix it all up with a bit of peanut butter and flour to get her to take it.

The other thing that we discovered over the week-end is that we’ve been the victims of credit card fraud. Fortunately my card company spotted a couple of big transactions and it’s all been sorted out. They had put through about £1,000 worth of goods on my card though (which the card company will reverse off). I was really pleased with them – the woman in the fraud department I spoke to this morning was really friendly and helpful.

I’m going to leave you with a couple of photos of me that I found on Facebook from the last MW plot we did. The first is the one of me where I’d been suffocated by having a plastic bad put over my head. The second is of me earlier on in that plot where I’d been injured, but not seriously, and had to come down in a dressing gown covered in blood.

As I'm unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed

Well £175 later we have Jez back from the vet. She’s wandering round the house like a little lost soul and keeps crying, although I can’t make out why. She won’t settle at all. Chris thinks she’s just still a bit dazed and confused after the anaesthetic. But she’s eating well – in fact I’m just cooking her seconds. But she’s had a painkilling injection, so she’s walking well. And leaving the vet we met her friend Tyson and his sister, so she was ever so excited.

Anyway, the vet says the good news is that it isn’t her cruciate ligament. The bad news is that she has very slight dysplasia in one hip (but not enough to worry about) and as she thought, there is not a deep enough groove in her right knee cap to hold the knee in place, so it’s slipping out. There’s slight arthritis in her hip, but a lot more in her knee.

At the moment she’s been given a pain killing injection and non-steroidal anti-inflamataries for a week. And she’s limited to two 10-15 minute walks a day for now, and no getting up on the beds! Then the vet will assess her again. She may be ok with it for a number of years, as long as it doesn’t slip too much, and we may get by on pain killers. Or it may be best to operate and deepen the groove in the knee. We’ll wait and see. I feel a lot happier about it now though. But with Jez at the vet I have been totally out of it today.

I’ll leave you on a lighter note. I did my ‘sex tape’ for the week-end. I was hoping I could upload it so that it would be playable, but don’t know how. A simple upload to my webspace won’t work. Suffice to say I surprised myself. Looks like I may have found a new career – LOL!


Updated

Jez was a total nightmare last night. It was like having a dog on a bad acid trip. She just wandered round and round whining constantly. She was terrified of her crate so my plan of getting her to bed wouldn't work. And she was constantly up and down stairs (which she's supposed to avoid). She finally settled down sometime after 3am, then woke at dawn, then went back to sleep again on Chris' bed. She's still there now - oh no she's not - she's raiding the post which has just come through the door!!! Then, to cap it all, Chris is ill this morning - he's busy throwing up as I write

The same old painted lady

I’m really upset. Jez is still limping, so we were starting to worry about her. Consequently I took her to the vet this afternoon. Turns out she has a problem with her knee. The vet mentioned ‘arthritis’ and the fact that the joint is moving out of the socket slightly. Although she didn’t say so it sounds like something called Luxating Patella. But whatever it is it sounds as though it will be a problem for life. It also means I’ve had to cancel her agility.

I’ve booked her in tomorrow to have X-Rays done so that we can find out what is going on. She has to have an anaesthetic for that. Poor little soul. I’ll let you know how she is when we know more.

I don’t think I’d said, but I was due to play the Friday night death in Winchester this week. Now Joy wants me to swap characters and do the whole week-end. I get to play the local tart. Type cast again. So I’m currently learning the plot and my part. And knitting – I’ve decided to knit a nice warm cardigan/jacket. I used to do loads of knitting back in the 70s & 80s, but haven’t done any for over 15 years now! Don’t seem to have lost my touch though, although I find I can remember what I’m doing if I don’t think too hard about it.

I know when to go out, And when to stay in

Well the main rebuild went well. The PC seems much better at the moment, plus it’s installed the Vista updates for the first time ever! Normally there were one or two important updates that would never install. And it now recognises all 4Gb of RAM, contrary to what the guy at PC World told me. The main pain has been re-installing software. However, at least I’ve not had to go back in and alter all the settings as I restored a backup. I have had a problem with a couple of bits of software, but that’s sorted now (fingers crossed). All in all it took a couple of days though.

The weather here has actually been nice this week, and today has been bright sunshine and warm. I’ve been out planning pansies and bulbs in planters. No walk for me & Jez today. She’s damaged a hind leg again (right one this time). I’m not entirely sure what she’s done, but she can’t put her weight on it properly. It’s worse if she’s been asleep – it takes her ages to get going. Eventually she seems to walk normally again though, and once that’s happened she can trot around and run as though nothing’s wrong. I’m assuming she’s strained something, or maybe twisted something. Today she hasn’t wanted to do anything at all and has been feeling very sorry for herself, so we are resting her completely. In fact its 3.30pm and she’s only just stopped limping for the first time today. Good job her agility was cancelled again. This time it was due to a permanent change of venue. The new place is apparently loads better, so hopefully she’ll be well enough and the weather will be ok to start next Saturday.

In other news I met up with Val for supper on Thursday night. We went out to an Italian chain restaurant and had a good old natter. I caught up on all the news. It was really good seeing her again, and really good to talk to someone other than Chris and whichever dog walkers I bump into of a day. Seems that they are worked harder than ever at work, so I’m glad I’m not there any more. Mind you, my retirement fund has taken one hell of a hit with the falls on the stockmarket as I have a lot of banking shares (from staff share schemes). I haven’t dared work out how much I’ve ‘lost’, since I Haven’t actually crystallised that loss and it would only depress me. I’m just sitting tight in the hope that they will go back up again.

I’ll leave you with some new pictures of Jez (well, new so long as you haven’t looked at her blog). I wanted some of her at 1 year old, so took the opportunity of the sunshine on Thursday to snap a few.