Poor Harper!

Harper's new look!

Harper visited the vet yesterday to be 'tutored'.  We sat him down and explained to him what was going to happen.  I don't think he was listening.  It would have been easier if I had had a picture book, but they just don't make those.  Go figure!  :)  Anyway, we dropped him off yesterday morning and picked him up yesterday afternoon.  After the drugs wore off and he realized 'part of him was gone', he starting licking....and licking....and licking....  That just would not do.  So, off to the vet for some snazzy neckwear!  Doesn't he look dapper?  Bless his heart, he can't judge distance and keeps ramming into furniture.  I know this is one look he'll be glad to be rid of!

Little Did We Know.....

Somebody was needing a home.  R has wanted a puppy since she was little.  However, the first puppy episode was disastrous!  Maybe since she was no longer 7 but 23 she could handle it a little better!  But were we ready?  NO!  RL and I were not.  L was indifferent.  After begging us to at least go to the rescue shelter, we couldn't stand it anymore relented and went.  We met so many puppies!  A litter of ten puppies caught our attention.  All of them had names of bears.  Boo-Boo worked his way into Rs heart.  Then the little stinker worked his way into our car! 

Harper on the way home from the rescue shelter.

Passed out in 'his' LazyBoy!

 

His tongue out after playing with his 'stick'

Pooped puppy!

His new leash

It's been a rough day!

Harper has been with us for a couple of months now.  What a sweetie he is.  He wears us out, but he's still sweet.  Any advice to make him stop biting?  This family is probably anemic due to the blood he's cost us!  Friday he was five months old.  The ear is no longer droopy - I wanted him to keep that!  He could never take Ginger's place in our hearts, but who knew we had room for a puppy in there too!?!

Ginger

While all this was going on with the broken elbow, our hearts were breaking.  Ginger turned 16 in May.  She was just not being herself.  The vet suggested blood work to determine what was wrong.  It was not good news.  Her kidneys were failing.  We decided to just love her while we could, but if she was starting to make a rapid decline, we would consider putting her to sleep.  She had been such a huge part of our lives for so long, especially R.  She had her since she was seven and we were worried about her just as much as we were Ginger.  Finally the day came and July 2nd we had to say our good-byes.  Our lives felt very empty.

I Forgot....

And that was the reason I couldn't knit from May until late September.

Elbow Surgery

So, I had to have elbow surgery.  I got a call from the surgeon who told me that I had two options.  1) I could make an appointment to meet him and we could schedule surgery from there.  2) I needed the surgery SOON and he could go ahead and schedule it without an office meeting.  I opted for #2.  The last surgery I had was when I had my last baby - 21 years ago!  I was awake for that and had no idea what it was going to be like to be put out.  The morning of surgery was stressful, to say the least!  I was told I could go home that afternoon.  I wasn't too concerned about the kids as a result.  The chaplain who had helped us when Daddy died came by to see me and was able to calm me down with kind words and prayer, so I was ready to go.  No counting backwards from 100, nothing to let me know I was going under.  Just talking one second and getting yelled at the next to wake up.  Such a strange experience!

My bionic left arm.

Different view of bionic left arm.

I didn't get to go home that night.  They made me stay in the hospital.  What does a knitter do when stressed?  Well, she knits!  What does a one handed knitter do when stressed?  Stays stressed!  We watched a lot of lousy television and slept when the pain subsided enough to allow it.  I was so proud of our kids/adults!  They managed all by themselves and reminded me that they are both in their early 20s so they are not totally helpless!  I was now the helpless one and they both kicked in to take excellent care of me.  Whew!  And talk about helpless.  You just don't realize how much you do for yourself until you can't anymore.  No more brushing my hair, no more contacts, no dressing or bathing myself and no driving.  But, the #1 thing, no knitting!  ARGH!

The funny thing about all of this - I didn't want to go on that bike ride.  I was almost finished with a pair of socks I had been working on for a while.  I told RL that I needed to finish them.  She said that if I was unable to finish them, she would do it for me!  Well, what do you know - I wasn't able to and she was true to her word.  Sweetest pair of socks I own!

IsThis Thing On?

Did you miss me?  I missed you guys.  I guess I should explain where I've been lately.  Like I said in the last post, I broke my elbow.  I don't know how I do the things I do.  When I was in first grade I broke my shin playing miniature golf.  So when I say I broke my elbow bike riding, you really shouldn't be surprised! 

Those bikes that were supposed to get our family on the move kind of landed us on the couch for a few months!  We were going out every evening for a bike ride and walk.  L and I would ride while R and RL would walk.  Having been on the bikes for a while, we got a little too comfortable.  L and I would go on ahead of the walkers and weave in and out of each other - we joked that we were practicing for the Christmas parade!  There we were just pedalling along and I decided to turn to the left.  I didn't realize that L was turning to the right.  He saw that I was turning into him and yelled at the top of his lungs.  Man, I wish I had listened in time to brake!  We ran right into one another.  Down he went and down I went on top of him.  Bless his heart, he broke my fall.  I thought I had broken his leg!  He was able to get up and 'walk it off'.  I wasn't so lucky.  When I went down, I landed on my elbow as well as him.  R and RL heard the crash, but didn't think it was us.  When they crested the hill, they saw us.  I don't know if I've seen them run that fast in ages!  The bikes were mangled and we were about a mile from home.  Apparently I was a lovely shade of green/gray and just couldn't stand.  A good Samaritan saw us and drove us home.  Off to the emergency room and two hours later we had a pretty firm diagnosis that it was broken. 

Here's the x-ray.  I circled the broken part.  Notice the part at the top right of the oval that kind of juts out - it's not supposed to do that!  Every move I made felt like I would pass out. 

Stick around and next time I'll share how surgery went.  Gee, it sure is great to be able to type with two hands again!