Dog. Dog. Shoulder. Dog…

My brain has been running in endless circles.

Dog. Dog. Shoulder. Dog. Dog. Ouch that shoulder really hurts! Dog. Dog. I have GOT to see a doctor. What doctor? Dog. Dog… you get the idea.

Our new family member is still up in the air. There have been hours of discussion. Both dogs have been debated, behavior analyzed, debated again, over and over. There really is no debate anymore.

If Loki is available, he is the dog we wish to add to our family.

On one hand, we have Loki, who Rhiannon & I both fell in love with. But Maggie is a bit uncertain about giving him up. As well she should be – when someone offers to take your dog from you at a Petco, I would be awfully suspicious, too – especially when you really love that dog.

On the other hand, we have Keegan, who I liked, based on his picture, but who was not interested in us. Rhiannon felt no interest in Keegan at all. She’s willing to give him a second look, a second chance, because she loves me a lot.

We were supposed to be seeing Keegan again today, but we’re not. I spoke with our adoption counselor & explained our situation, and she was very understanding & supportive of our desire to help another dog if possible. I need to talk to Maggie, see if she is willing to bring Loki up, let him meet Dusty-Cat, see where we live, see how Loki responds. If it goes well, I hope she’ll let us give Loki a try, see if he likes it here. She can always come visit him to check up on him, and if it doesn’t go well for some reason, she’s local, and we can just give her a call.

We haven’t passed Keegan up entirely, though – he does need a home, and if things don’t work out with Loki, we would give him a home.

Loki’s pros/cons: We both adore him. He allowed us to touch him & pet him & scratch his chest & offer him love, although he is usually very shy. His body language said he was nervous about being in the store, and he didn’t care for the vaccine the vets put up his nose. He’s amazingly gorgeous. He triggers us to want to care for him:  he’s very thin; his lack of confidence makes me feel like I should help him; and knowing that he’s had a tough life so far does, too.

Kasha also loves Loki – she even kissed him! (And she was very entertaining at Petco when she was put in a “down” and then tried to crawl towards Loki – she really showed a lot of interest in him.)

There is not a lack of love & care in Loki’s life right now: Margaret is clearly deeply in love with Loki, very attached, and wants the best for him. But right now, he has to be crated when she’s gone sometimes, is in very tight living quarters, and she’s not really at a place in her life where she can provide the best surroundings for him, no matter how much she loves him. That’s hard – I’ve been there. I know how hard it is.

Oddly enough, even though Loki is a German Shepherd, he never once reminded me too much of Shunka. We saw another dog previously who was a black GSD-mix, and that dog was too much a reminder – his face was too similar, and made my heart hurt for missing Shunka. But Loki is very differently proportioned, and has beautiful silver highlights, whereas Shunka was all black.

Keegan Pros/Cons: Most importantly, Rhia didn’t feel any connection to him at all – in fact, she makes faces when I mention him. There have been arguments, stress, and tears shed as a result of that – and we hardly ever argue about anything. I liked him from his picture – there’s a look in his eyes that makes me feel for him. But when he came in to meet us, he wasn’t interested in us at all. The adoption counselor said he was nervous about being up front in the “showing” room, especially as there was a lot of noise coming from the room next door. She gave us a pretty steady supply of treats, and he took them, very politely, but never looked at us. I was only able to touch his back briefly by holding his lead. The counselor says everyone there loves him, and he is affectionate with people he knows. That’s about all we know about him.

Every dog deserves a home, a yard, a bed to sleep on, people to love them. Keegan has been transferred at least twice, and is in a no-kill shelter – and a very nice place at that! Kind of like a dog & cat country club! If we don’t take him, they will keep him until he finds his fur-ever home.

Then there’s my shoulder. Which is driving me out of my friggin’ mind. It hurts. A lot. Still. After 10 weeks. And it’s become very weather-reactive; if there’s rain within 100 miles, I know it. There’s been a lot of rain. It seems to be getting worse, instead of better.

I decided yesterday I can’t wait any longer – I’ve lost patience with the “see if it heals on it’s own” business. I’m going to my PCP tomorrow, and requesting an MRI. If there’s a full-thickness tear of the ligament, it will need surgery. Not at all thrilled with that idea. But if it stops the constant pain that the pain meds aren’t covering, I’m all for getting it figured out & moving forward with it. It’s making me very irritable.

Part of the problem could be the meds I’m on, and especially the Valcyte which is helping so much, but may be causing slow healing from my low platelets. They aren’t that bad, 135,000 two weeks ago, which is below the normal range of 150,000 to 450,000. It’s up to my PCP to decide.

That’s what’s up in my neck of the woods. More than you wanted to know, probably, but part of the purpose of this blog is to keep my family updated, and they tend to want all the “gory details.”

What’s up in your neck of the woods?