The New Guy

There is a new guy in our newly married lives, and his name is Sirius Black. 

He is just about the sweetest thing there ever was. 

This is his story: 

Back in July, my favorite bakery in the whole world (Muddy's Bake Shop- what what!) posted on their blog that a sweet dog had walked up to their off site bakery (where they make their big orders and such). A sweet lady working there had taken him home and to vet and they had named him Sirius Black-- and did anyone want to adopt him?!?! My husband (!!!) and I had been talking about adopting a new dog post wedding and naming him Sirius Black. We saw this blog post, and though- THAT'S OUR DOG! However, I was going out of town that week, and we just kinda figured someone would adopt him right away- he was just so cute!

Cut to my bachelorette weekend- Muddy's posted ANOTHER blog post that Sirius still hadn't been adopted. Nate and I texted and agreed that we should contact the lady who was taking care of him. I sent her an email, but she said that he was going to an adoption event that weekend. She told me that she would let me know how the event went and get back to me. 

Of course, about 4 different people put in an application for him. He quickly went off to the home of the first lady who put in an application. We were sad, but just figured we would adopt a dog after the wedding- after all, adopting a dog right before a wedding and a honeymoon is just a stupid idea.

BUT- a few weeks later, we got an email from the Muddy's lady that the trial period hadn't worked out and the other families who put in applications had adopted other dogs--- were we still interested?!?!

The answer was YES- of course we are still interested- but we are getting married in a few weeks SO can we figure this out?

Well turns out Sirius had heartworms (I have learned WAY too much about heartworms but the skinny of it is- DONT EVER MISS A MONTH WITH YOUR DOG'S HEARTWORM TREATMENT), and he was due for his first round of treatment on August 15th. Well apparently when she took him in to get treatment, the vet asked if she could come back at the end of August. The adoption group (yeah Streetdog Foundation) wanted to make sure he did okay through that first round of treatment which happened to be over RIGHT WHEN WE GOT BACK FROM THE HONEYMOON!

I arranged with the adoption group and the Muddy's lady to pick him up the day we flew back from the honeymoon.

My husband (!!!) had to fly to Chicago to go on tour (Life as  Musician's Wife, by Me) so I flew into Memphis to complete the adoption and drive him to Nashville to live FOREVER!!!!!

We stopped by my dads house to grab Luna (she was partying with Dad's puppies while we were on the honeymoon).

So after a few minutes of butt sniffing and meeting Uncle Milton- Luna took up the back seat and Sirius curled up in the front with me.

The drive was totally easy- no problems. I even shared some of my turkey sandwich with him.

When we got back to Nashville, I took him on a short walk around the block like Cesar says to do, and then I walked him around the house on the leash --- rules, boundaries, and limitations people.

He and Luna are just the oddest set of siblings. They are pretty much opposite in every way. Sirius is a snuggle bug, super calm and easy going. We all know Luna is high energy, only snuggles when she is tired, and a little bit neurotic. But here are they- fast friends.

Sirius had to go through another round of heartworm treatment in early October. He has to keep quiet and calm- no exercise, has to go out to the bathroom on a leash, no playing with Luna, you get the picture. So when we leave the house- he has to stay in his kennel. (Don't worry he gets to play after Thanksgiving!)

I have discovered, through the evidence of disheveled bedspreads, that Luna sleeps in the bedroom with Sirius while we are out of the house. SO SWEET. I CANT HANDLE IT.

They really are precious together.

And they both love peanut butter!!!!!!!!

The truth is that we both have fallen in love with this guy. He is cuddling with me while I write this blog post. Nate fell in love the minute he walked through the door. Sirius and I had a moment- a special moment. 

See, it took me a little while to know what to do with a second dog. I have raised Luna since she was a month old. I know everything about her - I know her barks. I know her quirks. I know what she might do and when and why. When I got Sirius home that first week, I felt uncomfortable. I didn't know him. Everything he did was new to me. It just felt so awkward. How on earth was I going to love him like I love my Luna? 

Well turns out, all it took was a trip to the vet. 

Sirius had to stay overnight at the vet for his heartworm treatment. As I was paying, I felt a little nudge on the back of my legs. THERE WAS MY LITTLE BUDDY! The vet tech had brought him out, and he was so excited to see me that he he was waggling his little tail and giving me a big smile just like this one.  

 I fell in love with his little face right then and there. The vet tech said it was the happiest they had seen him during his visit. He loved me and I loved him- plain and simple.

Everyone who comes to visit loves our sweet little man. He is the perfect fit for our family. He and Luna are just dying to play together. They will get to do that very soon.


But until then- it is just snuggles on the couch. I think I can handle that for a little while longer.

ALL KINDS OF ULTRA LOVE,

Elise

How long's it been?

To any Georgetown Hoya, the appropriate response to the questions is to begin singing our fight song... "It's been so long since last we met, lie down forever lie down!" Etc...

But for my blog people out there, the answer is over 6  months. Sorry folks.

Much has happened since Luna's injury.

I spend most of January and February rehabing my girl. First week- 5 min walk. Next week- 10 min walk. Third week- 15 minute walk. 4th week- add in 5 minutes of running. You get the idea.

We finally seemed to be totally healed and got the clear to play moderate fetch (hah- as if Luna is capable of this) but then I noticed she had this tumor type thing on her bad knee. the vet looked at it and said it was an inflammation spot. What does that mean? Well, it meant that we had to start rehab all over again. But really- we just had to stick with 10-15 minute walks until the spot was gone. We have an appointment next week, and I think we will get the clear to play again. Poor Luna- even dogs get injuries and have to rehab it up.

But Luna isn't the only injury prone Addington. I tore a disc in my back. It's the very last disc in my spine- between L5 and S1 for all you medical folks out there. I have no clue how it happened- I just noticed that my back was hurting more than it should have been and the pain wasn't going away. At first, my new back specialist thought it was a stress fracture or arthritis (what?!) but an MRI confirmed a disc tear. The pain is a result of my disc touching my nerves.

I opted for the trifecta attack on the pain- anti-imflammatories, physical therapy, and a steroid injection. (My handsome fiance wants me to do acupuncture... any thoughts?
So Luna and I have been PT buddies. My physical therapist informed me that my legs are disproportionately strong for the rest of my body. My body then defaults to using leg muscles when I should be using core muscles, thereby causing strain on my lower back. My PT thus includes crazy amounts of core strengthening exercises. Next entry will be a run down- they are pretty fun.

On top of that- I had to quit the yoga for about three months while we figured out what was wrong. I am back in the game though, but it is a totally different class when you have to spend the whole time focusing on tightening your lower abs. I also have to sit out all back bends and spine twists. My doc says I can probably do those again in about a YEAR. Yes, discs can take almost a YEAR to heal. Ugh.

In addition to all those things, I have been:
- aggressively wedding planning
-putting on 7 Youth in Government Conferences
- buying a house!!!
- taking 3 students to Colombia, South America for two weeks
- taking 25 students to a conference in North Carolina

and generally going a mile a minute. Perhaps I can get back on the blogging wagon- it might be therapeutic.

Ultra Love,

Elise

A Birthday Disaster

Friday was January 11- the day Luna entered this world (Praise Jesus!)

That morning I woke up with grand plans- we were going to play TWICE just for Luna's birthday. We marched down to our field, and I threw the ball. Off she went. After a couple throws, I thought her run looked funny, but I wasn't sure. So I threw the ball one more time- and she ran back on only three legs. I just knew something was wrong, so we headed back home.

Once back home, I kept an eye on her, and she started to limp even more after about 20 minutes. I called the vet and scheduled a 10:15 appointment. My handsome fiance took her because I was a mess. And by mess I mean I just cried and cried all morning.

Our vet thought that she might have partially torn her ACL and directed us to see a specialist. In the mean time, we were supposed to keep Luna fairly sedentary (HA) and make sure she didn't jump on or off anything.

Today, we had our appointment with the specialist who was AMAZING. I can't say enough good things about this guy. He checked out her joints, reviewed her x-rays, and told us that he didn't think she would need surgery. THANK GOODNESS. He said if she tore her ACL, it was probably a very small tear, and she had a good chance of healing just fine over the next few months.

However, he said that in all likelihood, she would eventually fully tear her ACL. The surgery they do to fix this is crazy. They basically cut out a chunk of Luna's bone and reposition it so that there is no need for an ACL to stabilize the joint. Apparently, dogs recover about 95% of their previous activity capacity after that. Impressive.

The solution to all this is that Lu has to be eased back into activity- aka- no fetch for about 3 months. She will be miserable. We have to take her on slow, short, easy walks for about 1 months before maybe adding in jogging. It will be rough around these parts with an active lab who will want to run and play, but I am so glad that she isn't badly injured.

Ultra love,

Elise