Boris' New Trick : Weave

Holiday Snow

Got some snow today. It complements the leaves on the front lawn.

Note my lovely XMAS decorations - the 2 blue balls and the star hanging from the tree.

Boris had fun too!

Boris and Buddy

Lost and Found Puppy

On Christmas Day, I took Boris to my sister's home which is situated on a few acres out in the country. Confident that Boris would NEVER run away, I left him outside playing with a 10-month old Catahoula Hound (Dash). So for the next several hours, all was well and the 2 pups were having a great time playing (and getting quite dirty in the swampy soil).

Later in the afternoon, someone noticed that Dash was running up the driveway alone - Boris was nowhere in sight. After a quick search around the house, Boris was still missing.
So a massive "pup hunt" began!

Initially, we slightly expanded the search area to the adjacent properties, since I was certain that Boris would never stray far from people, other dogs, or food. However, the search still yielded no pup.

So then we got into cars and started driving around the neighborhood calling for Boris. The kids (about 10 of them) were all helping out. We drove around for nearly an hour, at which point I deceded to call off the search. I figured that either he was napping somewhere or someone had picked him up and would call (the number on his tag - my cell phone) soon.

Just as we returned to the house, one of my nephews took one more look into the thick brush on one side of the house and spied Boris about 20 feet deep inside the brush. He looked scared and wasn't moving (or even making any noises). When I called out to him and he saw me, he started forcing his way through the brush and made his was out!
The lost dog was found! It was a Christmas Miracle! ;-)

He was dirty and appeared a little scared, but he was in good shape!

But he really needed a bath!

Winter 2009

The sweet gum is almost fully turned!
And the puppy is growing fast!

Boris at 5 months

Boris is 5 months today. He has doubled in weight since if first got him (at 2.5 months).

Here is his picture at 12 weeks, for comparison.

Security Lighting

I finally got around to adding a security light to the front of the house. The house has always been a bit too dark at night, so I added a dual-mode light, which will provide a dim light from dusk till dawn, but go to full brightness when the motion detector senses motion.

Smells like rotten fish...

I am talking about Boris' breath! What a change in just a few days. It's awful!

I hope he pushes out the new teeth fast!


http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?threadid=3220

Puppy breath no more....

What happened to the cute little puppy with the nice puppy breath?
I think someone at the daycare switched him out.

In the car on the way home, I detected dog breath (and pretty bad at that) coming from his general direction.

I guess the teething is about to begin.

Boris goes to Daycare

Today, I took Boris for his first visit to daycare. This was more for him than for me.
He has been really energetic lately and I have not been able to run him due to my arm, so I decided to try this route - sort of like an indoor dog park all day.
I took him to a place right around the corner, called "Classy Canine Daycare" - a perfect name for North Dallas. The place is pretty cool - there are indoor dog areas for the dogs to play, so they are not simply stuffed into kennels. Plus, they have webcams so you can watch your child over the internet. Unfortunately, our firewall blocked the site (bummer).

But he had a great day, as you can tell by the picture below - he was whupped!
And, of course, everyone at the place just loved him! The girl at the counter said that she did not want to give him back.

Good day at the office!

From Pudding to Tootsie Rolls

The battle against puppy diarrhea continues.

After making a rather sizeable pudding deposit on the Persian rug on Monday evening, I ramped up the battle. I went to PetSmart immediately and bought some "probiotics" - good bacteria in capsule form. I gave him one that evening and one with breakfast the next morning.

By Tuesday evening, he was producing tootsie rolls. But still not ready to claim victory until I see repeated results.

Wednesday, he is still producing logs, so things are looking up.

Stay tuned..... or maybe not!

Boris at the dog park

Wagging Tail Dog Park

Yesterday, a new dog park opened in Far North Dallas. Conveniently for me, this park is only a few miles from home.
And it is SOOOOO North Dallas... very nicely built. A beautiful park for the beautiful people!

The large dog area...

From the platform overlooking White Rock Creek - more for humans than dogs.

Sadly, the creek is not accessible for the dogs.

More Rotator Cuff References

I am trying to research other possibilities for post-surgery therapy. In particular, whether massage and/or heat will help.

By help, I mean help to alleviate the pain I am starting to feel in some of the muscles. I believe this is due to the muscle starting to atrophy due to non-USE.

While researching, I found a few good online references that nicely breakdown rotator cuff injury and repair.


http://www.orthogate.org/patient-education/shoulder/rotator-cuff-tears.html

Doggie toilet paper

OK, so there is no such thing (or not that I have seen yet). But the equivalent is the bags we carry around to pick up the poop after puppy has done his business.

There are the bargain bags - the plastic bags we get from the grocery store.
Now I save every bag and have a "bag of bags" for picking up stuff. It's definitely cost effective, but the holes in the bag make it less than sanitary. But I can usually live with that.

However, recently I have had to invest in pricey little plastic bags that are made and sold specifically for picking up poop. When bought in quantity, they still cost about 90 cents a piece.

But the real advantage to these bags is that they are "sealed", that is, no little holes for poo to leak out of. Plus, they can be tied shut to completely seal in the poo and ths stink.

Works great when picking up "pudding poo".

Happiness is a solid poo log

FINALLY! A solid, well-formed poo log!

Simple things for simple minds!

After a hearty breakfast of the bland rice/turkey/pumpkin mix, I took Boris out for business this morning and he produced the first solid log that I have seen in at least a month.

It was a thing of beauty! (relatively speaking, of course)

Lets hope this continues!

Desperate times call for desperate measures

Enough is enough! This poo problem has been going on for a month with several different attempts at resolution. Here is a final try before I turen him over to the vet for a more serious look at the issue.


Step 1 : fasting for 24 hours. Already ahead of the game, since he barfed up his entire dinner last night. So I decided not to give him breakfast this morning. And nothing else until dinner (no treats). Also, no going outside alone to prevent him from eating whatever crap he finds outside

Step 2 : Pepto Bismol before dinner. Recommended by several web postings. I gave him 2 tablets, covered in peanut butter, which he quickly gobbled down. Even though the tablets were whole, I hope that this will help to quiet whatever has been upsetting his system.

Step 3 : Prepare bland meals. I cooked up 2 cups of white rice with some ground turkey. Does not get much blander than that. Plus, its fresh and no chemicals.

Step 4 : Feeding. 1.5 cups of the bland meal mixture plus a half cup of canned pumpkin (for some added fiber)

Step 5 : Wait....

Grounded.... for LIFE!

Boris is SO GROUNDED!

It has finally happened - he pooped on the Persian rug!

I figured it was just a matter of time that an accident would happen. At least, in this case, it was just a tiny accident (related to aforementioned condition) and it does not appear to have damaged the rug. WHEW!

From the start, I had been very strict about not letting him peruse around the middle section of the house (the great room) in order to protect the persian rug, which cannot me moved due to the pool table on top of it. However, recently I had been leaving the gates opened, primarily since I am short one fully functional arm.

The sad thing is, he seems to like to hang out on the persian rug. Whenever he would sneak away from me (which is rare), he often ends up in that room, probably because he appreciates a nice rug! ;-)

So the gates are back up!

Hump Day

It came late this week. Boris' hump day, that is.

Yes, it has begun! Boris started humping this evening, albeit half-hearted and unknowing attempts. But humping nonetheless.

He was in a hyper mood and kept bringing his toy around my feet, running in and out. When I used my foot to push him out of the way, he made the obvious motion for a few beats.

A few minutes later, while standing near his bowl, he started the motions again, with nothing mounted. Pretty funny to see.

The little puppy is growing up.

Major Eruption

Tonight was the big one! Major! Catastrophic! Disgusting.....
Boris not only tossed his cookies, but he did it twice! The first time was just a small sampler, which he quickly devoured within a few minutes. Then, several minutes later, his entire dinner came up. That, and bits of yarn, various vegetation, and who knows what else!

OK, so I was wrong in my previous post. Sort of. I got the directionality completely wrong by 180 degrees. I was expecting it from the wrong end.

Poor Boris! After the second upchucking, he had this look on his face that said "Do I really have to eat all that stuff AGAIN???". I immediately put him outside to resolve that question.

And I thought cleaning up poo was disgusting!

Pumpkin Logs

I am sitting at my computer taking care of some things and Boris is lying on the floor quitely next to me. OK, not all that quietly.... his stomach is gurgling something fierce. Every 10 seconds or so.... like pressure is building and something is gonna blow... and there is little I can do about it!

This story actually goes back 1 month, when Boris stopped producing nice solid logs (of poo) and began producing "pudding poo" (as several web references describe it). Anyway, after almost a week of this, I took him to the vet for an exam - little was done except to send me home with a bill, giardia medication, and some pricey canned dog food (with high fiber). OK, so this seemed to work(back to semi-solid logs), but I would be damned before I started "serving" him canned dog food. So I went back to the basic kibbles I was feeding him. ans Boris want back to pudding production.

Long story short - here we are, a full month later, and he is still producing pudding. This is after a couple of apparent recoveries and a second course of antibiotics.

I also tried some home remedies. One was to feed him canned pumpkin, which is very high in fiver. That did the trick, and he produced "pumpkin logs" = perfect logs of a perfect pumpkin color. Once I stopped the canned pumpkin, he went back to his pudding. It must be the food, but I dread the experimenting to find a food that works (ie, logs). I have also fed him white rice and yogurt, but still no resolution.

So here we are, a gurgling belly, just waiting to explode. UGH!

BTW - I gave him a tablet of Immodium AD (anti-diarrheal), which several web sites recommended to make things easier on the pup (even though it will not cure the problem).
We shall see...

Shoulder Surgery : Starting the Physical Therapy

Today I received instructions for starting physical therapy - self administered.

2 exercises:

1) pendulums

2) pulleys

At this point, all movement MUST be passive (ie, not using the shoulder muscles). Basically, I am trying to prevent further loss of range of motion while allowing the surgery to fuly heal.

Its going to be an exciting 4 weeks!

Shoulder Surgery : Post-Op Checkup

It's now a week after the surgery.... went for a checkup. Got the sutures out. Now I can take a shower.

Also, was told that I should wear the sling mainly as a reminder NOT to use the shoulder muscles (using hand and lower arm is OK), but I do NOT need the pillow. Hooray! That pillow held my arm out about 6 inches from my body, making it difficult to do a lot of things.

Here is the rundown:

- Internally, my shoulder was pretty well used (ie, beat up)

- The labrum (lip of cartilage that helps define the shoulder socket) was frayed in front and back.

- The humeral head ( top of arm bone) was missing some cartilage (area size of nickel/quarter)

- The tendon of the supraspinatus was hanging on by threads.

- Bone spur on bottom of acromium (bone at top of shoulder)

Surgery summary:

1) clean up loose pieces of cartilage from the labrum and the humeral head

2) re-attach the torn part of the tendon - put screw into humeral head and use 2 stitches to attach. Sort of like "hemming" a torn seam in cloth.

3) acromial decompression - shave off the bottom side of the acromium (bone) to allow more room for the tendon to move

4) rough up (scrape/drill) the area of the humeral head that is missing the cartilage. This is to promote blood to flow and, hopefully, "scar cartilage" (new cartilage growth)

Pictures from the surgery

Last Home Repairs for several months

Just before the surgery was decided, I had a "handyman" friend (Mark) help me out on a few minor home repairs:

1) put new rollers on the sliding glass doors.

This turned out to be harder than it seems. To get the door off, you must first remove the adjacent glass panel. Two of the doors were 8-footers, so they were bulky and heavy.

Once this was done, the doors slid much more smoothly and required less effort. Well worth the time spent.

One of the larger doors.

2) Overhead storage in garage

Over the last year, I have accumulated many sections of wood and materials which were starting to pile up on the garage floor.

3) move storage cabinet back into garage

When I moved in, I wanted to store my bicycles in the garage, so I had to move a large storage cabinet to make room along one wall. I put the storage cabinet in the dining room, where it has taken space for the past year. Finally, I decided to reverse the move and just store my bicycles in the dining room, since it acts more as a "gear room". This gives me more storage space in the garage. Now I need to by some good bike wall racks so I can hand my "sports art" in the dining room.

Romeo and Juliet?

Boris and Lucy - his "girl next door"!

My new Body Art

Waddayathink?


OK, so its not a tattoo. Just the ink markings and the sutures. Five holes in and around my shoulder.

View from front and rear.

Check out all the padding!

Post-Surgery Recovery: Night 2

Got to love the drugs! I slept pretty well, considering I was in an easy chair with a bulky sling attaching my bum arm to my body! ;-)

It went much better than I expected. Still the pain was not all that bad.

This morning, I was hankering donuts, so I decided to try driving to the local donut shop. My head was clear of the drugs, so I felt competent. Once I got myself into the truck, I noticed that there was no way to attach the seat belt due to the bulkiness of the sling. Since this was a really short trip, very early in the morning, and only a small piece was on a major road, I went without seat belt. It was arkward getting in and out, but the driving itself was no problem. Nonetheless, I do not plan to be driving much for the next several days.

Post-Surgery Recovery: First Day

About 4:30 in the morning, I woke up and discovered that I could finally feel my right hand again, with a lot tingling sensations, but still no pain in the shoulder. Relief!!! I was getting a little worried. ;-) So I went back to sleep.
About 5:30, I awoke again and started to notice a little disconfort in the shoulder area. Still not too bad.
So, its time to let Boris out for his morning business. And its FREEZING outside. What really sucks about this bulky sling is that I cannot completely cover myself from the cold even with my largest jacket. And, I have no clothing under the sling right now. So, when I go outside, I get a nice blast of arctic chill on my belly!

I actually worked from home in the morning, after converting my computer to a LEFT-handed mouse and stumbling through the transition to using it. (Still stumbling).

A little later, my friend Mark was here helping me finish up a few handy-man tasks that I had contracted him to do, so I had someone around to help me with Boris and refilling the cooling system with ice.

All-in-all, still not too bad. The pain was never more than a dull ache. I resisted drugs for the morning, but took some in the afternoon so that I could nap.

The greatest problem so far has been this massive sling which always seems to be in the way.

Hopefully, thats the worst it will be! Yeah, right... wait till physical therapy begins

Post-Surgery Recovery: First Night

Last night was not so bad, thanks to the nerve "block" that was still in effect. I did not feel any pain in the shoulder all night. I also did not feel my arm and hand for most of the night!


As recommended by my friend Sandy (who went through this 8 months ago), I spent the night in my big fat lazyboy recliner (think: Frazier's Dad's chair). Ugly, but comfortable. I am so glad I did not throw it away when I moved. Anyway, this worked out well for me since I have always been able to nap well in this chair. I pretty much napped on and off all night, which was all I could expect with the bulky sling on my arm.

Also, I was "chillin" some of the time ... literally. I was attached to a PolarCare 500, which circulates ice water around the shoulder. Basically, its a small Igloo cooler with a water pump into a custom-made ice pack for the shoulder.

The blue is the cooler device.

Shoulder Surgery

Rotator Cuff Repair - cut, cleanup, and re-attach the tendon to the bone
Subacromial decompression - shave off underside of acromium (shoulder bone) to make more room for tendon

Checked in at 7:15. In pre-op by 8:00. Got the run-down from the anesthesiologist.

He would inject something in the IV to knock me out, then intubate me so that he can administer gas to keep me unconscious through the surgery. He would also give me a shot of lidocaine at a specific location in my neck which would be a local anesthetic to deaden the entire arm. He said that "block" should last 12 - 24 hours.

At 8:45, I was moved into surgery and strapped into this table with my arms stretched out at right angles to my body. I was making jokes about it as I saw the anesthesiologist inject something into the IV. He told me to turn my head to the left, presumably to inject the block.....

Next thing I know, I am waking up in recovery. I have no recollection of drifting off or being gassed or anything. Very strange....

In recovery, I felt no pain. I felt pretty lucid, but VERY sleepy, like after finishing a 24 hour race. After a while, the sleepiness subsided and I felt really good. And HUNGRY. So they gave me some crackers and water.

By about 1:30 or so, I was back at home, feeling surprisingly good.

OK, not true.... I could NOT feel my right arm, AT ALL!

It's snowing

Seemed like nice weather just the other day. Note the plants were still flowering.

The ferns were still full.

Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair

Explained
http://www.ehealthmd.com/library/Rotator-Cuff-Tear/RCI_howsurg.html

Interesting videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64VhamtSdss

http://www.drgartsman.com/rotator_cuff_repair/rotator_cuff_video.asp

Shouldering the Pain

I just found out late yesterday that I need surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff (shoulder).

My right shoulder has been bugging me for over a year and a recent arthrogram (MRI with injected dye) revealed the extent of the damage - the tendon attaching the supraspinatus muscle to the top of my shoulder is frayed to about 10% of normal. It appears to have gotten that way due to a bone spur that slowly cut away at it over time. All those years of volleyball, water skiing, rock climbing, and everything else have finally caught up to me. Bummer!

There was an opening this coming Thursday so I took it, since the next opening is not until next year. The surgery is arthoscopic and is a 2-hour outpatient procedure. Allowing for some prep and recovery time, I should only be in the hospital for 4-5 hours

I will most likely have to wear a sling for the next 6 weeks, so my keyboard efficiency will be affected, and I will have to train myself to use a lefthanded mouse.

The long term estimate for regaining "full" mobility is 3 – 6 months.

Arthrogram images:

Rotten Woodwork

There is a lot of rotten and rotting wood on the house! A lot more than meets the eye. The moronic (or clever) previous owner simply painted over everything rather than fix the problem.

There were a few spots that were especially bad and presented potential problems for critter or insect entry into the house. Since these were in high places, I decided to hire someone to get it fixed before winter set in.

1) facia at northwest corner (2 stories up) - the corner pieces do not meet up, leaving a half inch void that wasps use as entrance into attic area

2) east gable vent - the facia around this was chewed up by some critter, most likely a possum

3) overhang woodwork on north face - rotting badly, due to poor construction and lack of caulking

4) section of badly painted woodwork that is high up (and hard to access) - the paint is peeling and the wood is exposed

Final bill: $655

Boris: Playing with the big dogs

Today I took Boris to the dog park at White Rock Lake. Unfortunately, due to recent rains, the park was closed (locked). However, the "little dog" park was pretty dry, so people were hopping the fence to get their dogs in there. So I let Boris join them. He had a blast, but it was pretty confusing to him - so many dogs to choose from!!! He was all over the place, never really sticking with any dog for more than several seconds.

Next, I took him to the lake access, which was a real muddy mess. It was all big dogs... and then there was Boris. A great dane, a giant poodle-looking thing, a big german shepherd, a couple of lab mixes, and a malamute-looking thing. Boris tried to run with the big dogs, but got a little lost (trampled) in the mix. He got knocked off the edge into the lake at one point.
By the end, he was a minor mess.

Bath time!

Boris at 4 Months

Boris is 4 months of age today.

Looking more like a dog these days, but still very much a puppy.

Comparison: At 4 months and at 2 months.

Boris : Stay/Come (in park)

Boris Listens to Tchaikovsky

I thought I would try to get Boris acustomed to loud noises, to prepare him for thunder.

The closest thing I had was the 1812 Overture, by Tchaikovsky.

Boris: Upstairs / Downstairs

Until now, Boris has been petrified of the stairs in the house. I suppose a staircase is a bit daunting to a little puppy dog. Everytime I tried to get him to go either up or down, he would avoid the issue.

Last week, I finally got him to go down stairs (after coaxing with a treat).

Today, I got him to go upstairs (with no treat involved).

Now that he has done it once, he is no longer scared and scampers up and down (following me, of course).

Boris : First visit to the lake

Took Boris to Huntsville State Park, since I was doing an adventure race there on Saturday. Auntie Dianna came along to entertain him while I raced (12-hour race).

On Sunday, we checked out the swimming area...

And, of course, he fell into the lake...

House Arrest Lifted!

Boris got hit final shots today! Hooray! Now he can go out and safely see the rest of the world.

Boris: Separation Anxiety (Still)

Little shit! Just when I think he has gotten over sleeping alone at night, he spent most of the night crying and barking.

That's it! I have had it. About 3:00am, I moved him into the garage, where he will reside for the next several nights (or more). His noise does not make it up to my bedroom from the garage.

Poor little baby - he is so tired today. I wonder why?