Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and packages coming in the mail lovers! OMG! Emma was so excited today when a package that smelled really good came for her today in the mail!

Dear Cindy, Jethro, Rugby, Ozzie and Harriet Doyle we cannot thank you enough and you will soon read why!

Here is Emma reading her card.

How cute are these hounds? This card was made just for Emma!

Then Emma checked out her package.

Hurry Grandma, Hurry…….open my gift!

The first thing we saw was this totally terrific toy! As Grandma pulled it out of the box Emma went wild!

Grandma squeaked the toy for Emma and this is where a gift for Emma turned into the best gift ever for us!

EMMA STOOD UP AND WALKED A FEW STEPS, FOR THE FIRST TIME, TOWARDS THE TOY!

The crowd went wild and tears were flowing as Emma did it again. She walked a few more steps! Grandma was not holding her up!

Our girl got turned around but we made sure she got her new toy and the YUMMY TREAT that came along with the miracle toy!

One for Emma and one for Chaps. A girl never was more deserving of a homemade potato and carrot ball from Auntie Cindy and company!

Yes please – I will have another!

Hey we can’t forget the Mayor of potato hound town! LOL

I hear by proclaim 3-31-09, Emma day in basset hound town. Potato balls for all!

Cindy, can you believe it? We cannot thank you enough. We are jumping for joy and Emma is very proud of herself. We love you guys very much.

Hey are those magic potato balls? LOL

More potato balls later…….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Shift Change Lovers! LOL!

Nurse Grandma has just started her second shift with patient Emma. We have an entire schedule set up so I can maximize my work load in my office. It is working out great. I am the night nurse.

I just wanted to pop a few more pictures up of Emma for you to kind of see her set up better. I call this picture, GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!

When I woke up this morning this is the face I saw. Emma was ready to start her day. I had just put her sling under her belly for our potty outing. For those of you that are reading this for information and education I am using a beach towel folded twice long ways for a sling. I ordered a sling but it was on back order so I canceled it. One Mom sent us the link (thank you my dear). It is the same sling that our physical therapist uses. However, the towel sling is very sturdy and free!

Here is a picture of me behind Emma so you can see how close we are to the potty area!

I have not been able to get a good sling picture of Emma, but when I do I will post it. You want a sling that you don’t have to bend over with too much so the beach towel works great. Also, it is good therapy for Emma to practice walking.

Sorry to go on and on but I want to make sure this blog posting is beneficial for others in the future. I will also be posting Emma’s bill shortly so everyone can see what this type of surgery costs in this region of the country. I am glad I had my emergency fund along with cool damp rags for my forehead! LOL

More cool damp rags later…………..hehehehehe, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Sweet Dream Lovers: Last night was a good night for our Emmers. She slept very sound and finally stretched out in her new bed. She really wants to get on the couch, but HELLO! No Way. That is never going to happen again. I just cannot risk it. Anyway, I think she looks pretty comfortable, what do you think?

First Grandma kisses her good night.

And then it’s off to dream land.

More Sweet Dreams Later……..Love, Cat, Chaps and the little dreamer! (hopefully she is not dreaming of the couch!) LOL

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and LOVE STORY lovers: Well, I cannot tell you how incredibly great Emma is doing. We cannot let Chaps around her yet and we agree with the doctor’s orders. I am so pleased with how my home is set up for such a situation. It makes an extremely difficult situation manageable. I could not have done this without my Mom.

It maybe weeks before Emma walks on her own and I cannot let her by herself. It is almost scary to think of someone having to go through this without help or the set up I have. I guess you could kennel a hound if you have to, but for a basset hound to turn around in a kennel only stresses the spine more.

We have to do physical therapy on Emma 3 times a day for 10 minutes each time. She is doing three different exercises. She is fantastic and we have no problem with that.

I guess the big news is that she poo poo pottied yesterday. She had not had a PPP since last Tuesday evening and I was told not to worry about it for a few more days but she is back on track 100%. Every time she goes potty I have to walk her out the sliding glass door with a rear end sling. I have learned how to let her position herself. Wow, I felt so proud of myself.

I know all of this information is going to be helpful to someone else in the future when they google a similar situation. As soon as she is better I am going to place all of these blogs in their own category for ease of reading.

Oh, wanna know why I call this blog Our LOVE STORY – no it is not the obvious, that we love Emma, but I watched LOVE STORY last night in the recovery room (sun room) with Emma. OMG – I remember the first time I saw it. OK, did I dose off or did I miss what Jenny died of? She went in for a pregnancy assessment, the Dr. did a blood test, told Ryan O’neal she was dying and not to tell her. HUH?

More love is never having to say you are sorry later….Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Emma finally home lovers: OMG – I wonder if it’s OK if I take an extra blood pressure pill? LOL – Oh Dear Lord, that was stressful. Thank goodness that part is over and Emma is sleeping with Grandma. Here are a few pictures of our day so far.

This is Chaps as I was pulling out of the back parking area. I can tell every expression that he has and folks, this is pure worry.

We got to the hospital and sitting across from Grandma and I was a 170 pound American Bull Dog. It did not help my stress at all. The big boy was wild and was named Chaos and that made me even more nervous. Just as an aside, if you don’t know what they look like, here is a picture of him, walking past our car on the way in.

After they took Chaos back, they brought Emma out and loaded her in the Element.

She was crying so hard and licking and crying. She was so happy to get into that car that she was shaking all over. She was so afraid we were going to leave her there. We sat with her until she settled down and then it was off to our home! Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

When we got home my dear friend Lisa was waiting with Chris, another friend to help carry Emma in. I was so frantic, I did not get a picture of that. Chris is a very big strong guy and scooped Emma up and whisked her into her recover area without a single problem. Wow, what would I do without friends? What a blessing.

Here is Emma in her recovery room. I will get better pictures later.

She won’t get in her sick bed yet but she is just getting used to being home. She finally laid down and has her head on the step. You can see Chaps on the the other other side of the gate. He went nuts as soon as he saw her and went into a howling fit. It was so touching. Grandpa is on the other side of the gate with Chaps so he does not feel left off.

I will be back later with another update if at all possible. Thank you for your comments and drool. We are soaking everyone and every bit in.

I have to go check on Emma and Grandma and one more thing. Verna the Robin has not stopped building her nest all day. She must be EXHAUSTED!

More wing flapping news later….Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and EXCITEMENT Lovers! Grandma has proclaimed today as E Day!

EMMMA
EXCITEMENT

And all of the the E Words you can think of! I am too EXCITED to list many more because I am getting the ELEMENT ready to go get her. I also have a friend lined up to carry her in the house and into her recovery room. She is not allowed to do steps yet!!!!!

I just got off the phone with the clinic and she is not walking yet but getting stronger every day. I will take pictures of her set up later so you can see her in recovery action. We will have to use a sling for our potty breaks.

More recovery news later today. Can you think of any E words? Come on! IT’S E DAY!

P.S. Verna – My Robin started making her next today. She got up EARLY with me and is so busy. The EARLY bird gets the worm and the EMMA! LOL

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and never late for breakfast lovers!!!!!

This morning I was making Chaps breakfast and he is always right by my side, I call him my large glue stick. So, I was stirring, stirring and calling and calling. I thought maybe he was outside which would have been a bit strange given I was in the kitchen! Anyway, I went to look for him and I found him in my bedroom/junk area (LOL)

He was smelling the pile of clothes and shoes I had on yesterday when I was visiting Emma. You really can’t see them very well because it was still darkish. I was able to sneak past him and grab my camera. I should just wear it around my neck. He looked up at me with such a quizzical look. So, we took a few minutes and had a talk about Emma and she would be back tomorrow. I said a few key words about Emma and “Emma be back” and it seemed to work. He followed me into the kitchen and ate, but it’s just not the same without his buddy. Food always tastes better when someone wants your portion.

I really have to watch it with him because he has got such a delicate soul.

Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.

More delicate stories later……Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Doing Well After Surgery Lovers!!!!!!

Today Grandma and I went to visit Emma and participate in her first physical therapy session. Her rehabilitation specialist is very pleased with Emma’s surgical result so far. Emma is wagging her tail even more than before the surgery and has feeling in her back legs. She is even working hard to stand for a few seconds on her own, with watchful eyes upon her. I am so proud of her. Her therapist told me that she loves Emma and was so impressed with her ability to trust others due to her blindness. This is her first bind dog doing rehab and she is thrilled that Emma is doing so well. Here is Emma getting laser therapy. It is supposed to stimulate the healing process. We are participating in several more sessions and then it will be on to water therapy.

Here is Emma on the red rubber ball. This is used to support her mid section as she practices standing. She seemed to like that.

Here is Mommy kissing the patient. She has a pain patch on her back and our Emma was a bit disoriented but she is doing so good. I really think she is very inspirational to all of the staff and they keep gushing over getting to know her.

Grandma was petting her the entire time!

Emma has such a strong spirit and a will to succeed and I am very certain she will be walking soon. I am totally dedicated to her rehab and Grandma and I will be doing 3 sessions at minimum per day. I will make sure to document this journey along the way. Emma deserves the best treatment and care love can give. Talk about overcoming obstacles. Our girl is the champion.

More champion tails later……..Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and bonded pair lovers:

I just love hounds that are bonded. The way they interact is fascinating to watch. Chaps has adapted fantastically to Emma being blind. I think he enjoys helping her out of tight spots. Recently she was apprehensive about crossing over a baby gate rail. I had it set up for Oscar and Enzo, my sister’s dogs spending spring break with us. I kept encouraging Emma to step over it by tapping my foot on it and telling her good girl, good girl. It didn’t work. Chaps was watching the whole thing. Finally, he decided that it was time to get her over the rail and he went in, turned in her direction, pressed his body up against her, and guided her over the rail. He actually turned her in the direction, away from the open gate. He was so proud of himself and boy oh boy was I proud of him. Talk about a few extra treats! LOL

This is a picture I took of them the day we got home from TX. Emma was just a baby. Look how much she loves him already. Chaps was thrilled to have a friend at last. He was very ready to start his bond. Emma was born ready!

More bonding stories later……Love, Cat, Chaps and Emma

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Howllo Fellow Basset Hound and Emma out of surgery update lovers: Emma did great during surgery and is resting in the recovery crate. The surgeon said that the rupture was large and he had to remove a lot of disc material. Intially, he thought it could be a mass, when he saw it on the CT scan but the good news was it was not a mass, just a blood clot. I did not tell my dear readers about the mass because I did not want you all to worry, but now I can say that she is mass free!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I am just so glad that she is in a safe place. Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments and well wishes for our gal. I bet that drool really helped glue her back together.

Here is a picture of our Emma as a young pup. I thought it was so cute and I just had to share. I had only had her for about a week. Who knew what we were in store for when I snapped this picture. I actually remember thinking that I had to get as many pictures of her as possible during this time period because she will never look like this again.

How precious the pup Emma was and still is. I cannot wait to get her home and back to normal. Life is just not the same without our girl.

We love you dear readers……..

More updates from the recovery crate later……….Cat, Chaps and Emma

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