Mom has been bad, and hasn’t let me bark in a long time!! I am going to try to convince her to do a better job. I hope you are staying warm this January – I know I am!! If mom and dad didn’t force me outside once in a while I’d be happy as a clam under my blankets. I suppose all good doxies have to go outside once in a while though!
What a difference a year makes. In my first December (2007) mom and dad took me somewhere to make it so I wouldn’t have any puppies (which is fine with me because I’ll be honest, puppies bother me a little). The man they called Dr. W. called said I was special because of funny levels of something in my blood. Mom says they suspected a liver shunt (whatever that is!). Mom and dad said they’d do anything to give me the best life ever, which sounded splendid to me! Dr. W. said we needed to go to the University of Minnesota – how fun I thought!! I will fit right in, because I am a good learner. We made a trip to the University, and everyone was so nice to me…everyone just loved me. We made plans to come back, and that was OK with me because I had fun.
On January 24th, 2008 I was very excited because instead of going to work, mom and dad said I could travel with them in the car. We were back at the University! All the nice people we met wanted to pet me, and said how wonderful I was. And Grandma Matson arrived too! I thought it must be a party and I must be the star! Then mom and dad explained that they would be waiting for me, and said to stay sassy and strong. I’m not confused very often because doxies are naturally very smart of course…but I’ll admit I was a little confused at that comment, and then a guy in a blue clothes with a funny hat and mask took me. I looked back at mom and dad and grandma and wondered why they weren’t coming too…
I woke up later and didn’t feel very well at all. I guess the man in the blue clothes was talking to mom and dad. He told them that I did very good (well of course!). He said it wasn’t a liver shunt, it was micro-vascular dysplasia (…whatever that is!). He said my blood would always be a little bit different (hello! Because I’m special!), but that it was a good thing that I wasn’t yet displaying symptoms, and so it might never affect me. The worst part is though, they said I couldn’t go home. I had to stay at the University overnight.
After I got home, I refused to eat and drink and do my outside job. Once we even had to make another trip to the University (which was no longer exciting). I had some shots which made me puff up a little, but solved the problem of me not drinking water. After that mom and dad said they were sure we must have funded the building of a new part of the University. Lovely! My belly had a really large cut on it, and I had a cone to wear on my head, but I hated it. Mom found that my winter coat served the same purpose, and I liked that much better. It felt like forever that I was under the weather.
About 2 weeks later, mom was holding me close…and I was staring at her hooded sweatshirt. I couldn’t help but snatch her hood string and start chewing it. She let me chew it until I didn’t want to chew it anymore. That’s when mom said she knew I was back. Sassy was back!
What a difference a year makes!!
