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I haven’t really done much since I got back from Hawaii.  It’s been nice to be live a lazy and boring life.

A couple of weeks after I got back from Hawaii, I came home to find that Reese wasn’t his normal energetic self.  After a couple of trips to the emergency vet and a visit to the doctor that performed his surgery back in March (she works at a different place now), we figured that it was a return of his back problems, which will be a lifelong problem.  Although I was prepared to take him in for surgery again, it looks like bed rest has help greatly.  I started taking him on increasingly longer walks each week as the doctor instructed, but this week he started limping a little bit.  I started shortening his walks and he’s doing better.  He seems like his normal self most of the time.

I entered a weight loss competition at my gym and it started right before I left for Hawaii.  I used my 4 complimentary personal training sessions to learn a new workout routine.  Even though I had been working out, I was still very much out of shape.  My old workout wasn’t cutting it. My new workout was a “basic” workout, but it was very tough.  My trainer is honest and told me beforehand it wouldn’t be easy.  Over the next 4-5 weeks, I saw made some good progress, but it was getting too easy and I wasn’t loosing weight anymore.  I paid for 8 more sessions and I’m learning a more long-term workout routine.  It’s much much harder than what I was doing before.  Also, I’ve been eating better.  I’ve done pretty well with sticking to my food plan over the past couple of weeks.  So far, I’ve lost about 17 lbs.  I’m in 8th place in the weight loss competition.  At this point, I don’t really care about the competition anymore.  I just want to be healthier.

I’ve been trying to play video games as much as possible.  There are way too many games and not enough time to play them.  I’ve also been catching up on a lot of movies that missed.  Everyone should go see Birdman.

I went to “An Evening with Patrick Rothfuss” here in Portland about a month ago.  The Doubleclicks opened for him.  Most of it was a repeat of what I saw at P.A.X., but it was still fun.  I got an autographed copy of his new book.  I was too tired to stand in a long line to get a personalized autograph.  Maybe next time.

Work is the main thing that’s bothering me these days.  I’m just very bored and frustrated.  I’ve talked to the people that I need to talk to, but no one seems to want to change anything except me.  Hopefully, things will turn around soon.

That’s it for now.  I have to get a few things ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

As many of you know, it’s been a tough week for my little dog Reese. Today is Tuesday and it started last Tuesday when I noticed that his tail was hanging limp during our morning walk. He also hesitated to climb up on his steps to get on the couch. I left work early and took him to see the vet. The vet figured it might be a back problem that dachshunds tend to have and recommended rest and medicine.

Wednesday morning he seemed to be feeling better, but when I got home that night he was doing worse.

Thursday morning he was having trouble getting up, so I took him back to the vet’s office. His normal vet was doing procedures all morning so we saw a different vet. When we got to the vet, he was almost normal again. The doctor thinks it was adrenaline making him feel better. She prescribed more medicine. When I got home from work that night he was once again not wanting to get up. I think at this point I had to bring food to him and squirt water in his mouse. I took him to the emergency vet. They took x-rays, but didn’t see anything that warranted surgery. The doctor upped the dosage on his pain meds. That night he was up all night whining. Neither of us got much sleep. I carried him outside to do his business, but he couldn’t because he couldn’t stand up.

Friday morning I gave him his medicine and went to work even though he was whining. I called my vet and left him message. When he called back, he recommended I take Reese to see a surgeon. I left work immediately and took him to see one. She did a more thorough examination and did a CAT scan. The CAT scan showed that he had a herniated disc and that it was pretty bad. She performed surgery on him that day. He could come home the next day or the day after that.

On Saturday, I spent some time getting the place ready for him to come back. He needs to have his movement restricted for the next 8 weeks. He doesn’t need to do a lot of waling and he doesn’t need to be on the furniture.

On Sunday, I brought him home. It’s so hard to look at the incision on his back. He whined all day, but finally got a little sleep at night. The doctor thinks the whininess might be a side effect the pouch he’s wearing to help with the pain. Since I took half the patch off, he hasn’t been whining nearly as much. I’ve been so nervous about him doing something to hurt himself, but he’s been fine so far.

He seems to be doing much better now physically. He doesn’t have trouble getting up and laying down like he did when I brought him home. He starts to run after me sometimes like he normally does and I always make him stay where he is. He walks slightly differently and arches his back when he’s peeing. He has a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on Friday. Here’s hoping the rest of his recovery is as easy. I’m finally starting to relax a little today.

If you’re a pet owner, I highly recommend getting pet insurance if you can. I pay $30 a month for mine. I got it a couple of years ago. I’ve heard many stories about people going broke when something happens to their pets. I should have to pay hardly any of the cost of his surgery.

I found out last week that Reese had bilateral patellar luxation, grade II.  It means that his knees pop out of place.

After I got back from Austin, he was acting a little weird, sleeping a lot, not following like he normally does, and going off on his own to lay down.  I figured things would go back to normal after he had rested.  After a couple of days, things hadn’t changed much.  One day at lunch I tried to get him to jump up on my like he normally does.  He hesitated, but eventually he tried.  As soon as he did, he started hollering and moving around in a weird way.  He was obviously in a lot of pain.  I took him to the vet and they examined him and determined what was wrong.

From what the doctor said and what I’ve read, patellar luxation is a common defect in his breed.  It’s not unusual for symptoms to show at his age.  A girl that works in the vet’s office said that her 1-year-old had been recently diagnosed with the same thing.  He has grade II out of IV, so it’s not as bad as it could be.   The doctor prescribed medicine that should help with the pain and with the cartilage in his knees.  Eventually, he’s going to need surgery, which is $600 per knee.  After a couple of days on his medicine, he’s back to his normal hyper self.  I don’t let him jump on me, even though I can tell that he wants to.

This is him still groggy after they sedated him for his x-ray.

A week ago today I adopted a puppy that I found through Petfinder.com from the animal shelter in Aberdeen. He’s a mini-dachshund/feist mix. He’s gonna be inside so I didn’t want a huge dog. I was having a lot of trouble coming up with a name, so I called him Puppy for days. A few times I accidentally called him Bailey. I came up with Reese when I was watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Yeah, I know that’s crazy but I like the name.

He gets along well with everybody. He learns quickly and hasn’t been that mischievous yet *knocks on wood*. I wish I could work at home so I could hang out with him all day, but I can’t do that.