Monday, August 20, 2012

The Blahs

Sorry for the unannounced blogging break. It was unintentional, but I couldn't seem to get up the motivation to actually write. Even though I have taken some pictures, none of them are edited and ready to post. I'm just going to call it the blahs.

Pallo is still being all weird. He is lackluster at home. He has been having bouts of puking and diarrhea, which come, then go away again quickly. No fever, and since his full workup at the vet just happened, I am at a bit of a loss. I don't want to go in and spend even more money on being told that he is still perfectly fine. And, though he is a bit off his food, sometimes leaving some of it behind and occasionally not wanting to eat at all, he is perfectly spunky when taken out to the yard or anywhere else like the park to play.

Koira has pad burns. Again. Or still. I'm not really sure any more. It seems like she has either burned or cut her pads about once a week all summer. Flyball? Pad burns. Lure coursing? Big slice across her pad. Play at the river? Limping for a week from burns on all four feet. Play ball at the park? Nasty road rash on her stop pads. And, while it may or may not have anything to do with her paws being total crap lately, her flyball box turn is bad, and showing no signs of improvement.

And, as a nice big looming shadow over the whole summer, I am still having some serious neck issues from being injured back in June. It is hard to go out and enjoy summer when moving causes pain. And pain killers have cut up my stomach enough that I can't even take them with food anymore without getting sick. Oh, and for the record, when someone gets injured, asking "wow, you are still hurt" every time you see them is really not encouraging. I've started debating how to answer when someone asks how I'm doing, because really, how many times can you answer "hurting" before people just stop listening or stop believing you. Believe me, I would much rather be spending my summer hiking, swimming, competing in dock diving, going to flyball tournaments and practice, and just enjoying myself, than laying at home watching movies on Netflix. Nifty to do for a few hours or even a day at the end of a long week. Not so much fun for months on end.

In any case, I'm experiencing a bit of the blahs over here at the house of flyball dogs. (Can I even call them flyball dogs if neither is successfully doing flyball and we don't get a chance to compete?) I will try to keep posting as I can, but I don't like posting stuff like this. Life isn't always awesome and amazing or even just pleasant, but it isn't really fun to hear about all the bad stuff either. I'd rather leave the blog blank than post an endless number of depressed posts about how me and my dogs are injured or sick with no diagnosis.

Hope every one else is having an awesome summer. Go out there and have fun whenever you get the chance.

7 comments:

  1. You needs a happy day! Have you considered getting booties for dem feets? Have you fed pallo on mashed tatoes n scrembled eggs for a few days? The vet suggested that for me when I got that same sickies.

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  2. I completely understand your frustrations! I did something to my knee back in June at an agility trial. I never even felt it happen, but by the time I got home, my leg was sore and stiff. I figured I'd rest it a bit, and all would be good. Well, here it is 2 months later and it still hurts. Guess I'll have to break down and have a doctor check it out. Sigh. And then add to that, Jimmy pulled his iliopsoas muscle, and that ended agility competitions for us for the rest of the summer. So a different sport, but I am sitting it out just like you! I feel like the world went on without me!

    I hope things look up for you very soon!

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  3. This makes me so sad! What an awful summer for you.

    I was in a car accident in June and ended up super-spraining the muscles along my neck/spine/shoulder area. I had to go in for trigger-point massage therapy several times before it completely disappeared. The guy who rear-ended me had to pay... I'm not sure if that applies to you at all considering yours is a work-related injury. But you might consider it, maybe?

    And your dogs! D: How weird that he is spunky sometimes and not other times. I wouldn't take him to the vet again, if I were you. You know him better than anyone, trust in that.

    I'm planning to try out Musher's Secret in Elli's upcoming coursing tests. She really only had minor burns on two of her paws last time.
    Have you considered it at all? I've also heard interesting things about Tuf-Foot balm-stuff. Supposedly to toughen the pads.

    Hope you feel better very soon. <3

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  4. Eek, that's no good :(

    It really frustrates me when people ask what's wrong, and are then surprised that the answer is the same. I guess the people around us are far more resilient, physically and emotionally, than everybody else?

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  5. Man you have a lot on your plate. Being in pain is a horrible thing. You may have already posted this but have you already tried PT. When I went for my back, they would do electrical stimulation on the muscles (TENS I think) and put the wonderful moist heat packs on at the same time. So first excercise to increase the muscle strenght and then the heat and TENS. It made a big difference. I hope things get better soon.
    Also someone told me to sprinkle Knox plain gelitin on Miley's food to increase pad strenght.

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  6. Sorry you're having such a rough go of it at the moment. All that stuff just piles up and piles up and gets overwhelming.

    Steve wears skid boots on his front feet and I have to wrap his hind feet in vet wrap to keep them relatively intact at tournaments. We went one summer (last year maybe?) where he was burning footpads on all his feet just playing ball in the grass. It was maddening. I started using his old skid boots to protect his stop pads during frisbee and ball play. I also started using Tuf-foot on him, and that did seem to make a difference. We just have trouble at flyball now, not in Real Life. Thank goodness.

    I hope whatever is going on with Pallo straightens out soon. It's stressful having a dog that's Just Not Right.

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  7. So sorry things have been rough lately. =( With the issue about the paw pads have your tried Musher's Secret? It's a balm (not your normal paw wax) that absorbs into the pad. It's help protect the pad and condition it. Other paw wax sits on top of the pad in a waxy layer....and gets all over your car after a hike....it's no bueno. I love Musher's Secret though.

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