Waah

I don't want to be a cry baby but... WAAAAHHH! My back still hurts! I think it is worse today than it has been the last few days. I really hate being sick or injured and it has been 10 days!! 10 DAYS. Way too long. As I was lying around trying to recover last week I saw an amazing number of back pain commercials. Apparently sitting on your ass (like I was) was not the way to a healthy back. I'm not really sure I had a choice last week but this week I've tried hard to do little things to loosen it up yet not strain it.

I'm really expecting miracles in the acupuncture. My appointment is tomorrow at 8:30 and I better feel better by 9:30. Think it will happen?

Lacey has suggested chewing more bones will make me feel better.

Coulee thinks I just need more sleep.

Birthday Girl

I can't believe my littlest one is a year old today!

Amanda blogged about all the big changes that Boone has gone through in the past year so I thought I'd do the same about Lacey....

1. She no longer pees or poops in the house (well almost - she did just poop in a hotel room a few weeks ago). She took forever to housetrain!


2. She knows how to sit and down. She is the kind of dog that has no idea that words mean something. I think the only other words she knows is "Outside", "Touch" and "Let's go!". She is the complete opposite of Coulee in this respect.



3. She is still cute as ever. It isn't just her looks, she has a very sweet personality that is snuggly and sassy all at once. She loves to nibble on your fingers and toes and chase you around the house.


4. She loves Coulee most of all. She gets so excited whenever they've been a part for an hour or more. It is how she got her nickname "Wiggles" because she just puts her whole body into her tail wag when she is excited.



5. She loves to play with Lu. I think Lu has actually lost weight this past year thanks to Lacey.


6. She is pretty shy. She is happiest when strangers just ignore her and gets all weird when they try and touch her - unless of course they are giving her a treat at the same time. I'm hoping this will change by next year. She'll be coming with me to the indoor dog park a lot this winter to help bring her out of her shell.

No More Starbucks?

Do you want to hear the worst news about the whole back pain/pretend heart attack episode? One of the paramedics told me I should cut back on my Starbucks! Oh no! My heart had some irregular heart beats and these can sometimes increase with caffeine. I'm not sure what made him think I drink so much. It could be that whenever I was asked what I last had to eat I said "A Starbucks and a Cookie". And they seemed to ask me that a few times, so I'm sure it was ingrained in his mind.

So I looked to see how much caffeine actually was in a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte which is what I normally drink and to my relief it isn't nearly as much as a coffee. Chai's have 100 miligrams of caffeine per 16 oz (a Grande/Medium) and Coffee has 320! A coffee latte has less - 150 but a Chai is even less than that. You have no idea how happy that makes me!

That being said, I still have irregular heart beats so I should probably cut down but maybe I can get away with just switching to Talls.

Bored

Wow, am I bored.  I am slowly getting better but still have to make every movement pretty carefully and can only sit for short periods of time.  I've watched a tonne of movies and bad daytime TV and am officially bored.  I feel bad that everyone else is working extra hard, and I'm not working at all.  I won't even be going to the party tomorrow. :(  Sigh.  I hate being sick.

Weekend and More

Where should I start? This will probably be pretty long....

So Coulee and I had a great weekend at the Training Troop agility trial. It was amazingly well run - so well run, I was late for an event and may have missed it all together if Amanda hadn't tracked me down. We got off to a pretty rocky start. I fell in our Gambler's run and then our next run was a Standard run. I can't remember exactly what happened except that it was bad and that Coulee decided to bark "unfriendly-like" at numerous pole setters on the course. Thankfully it got better from there. Our second standard run was flawless - except for the weaves which she still can't do. And then it was Jumpers and Coulee got a Q! It was a pretty straightforward course so unless she knocked a bar, I was pretty confident that we could do it. She didn't let me down.

The next day all had courses with weaves so I knew we wouldn't Q, but we worked pretty good together. Our team run was a bit of a disaster as she got freaked out on the teeter and I couldn't get her to go over it despite a few tries. Our last run was Snooker and she did exactly what I asked but we couldn't Q without going through the weaves so we ended it right before. I was pretty proud of her.

The most stressful part of the whole weekend was the hotel - apparently they have a 2 dog rule... we had 5. No problem, we can smuggle them in. Wait. Our room is right next to the front desk. Luckily Amanda's are small so they all fit in one crate which we just dragged into the room. They didn't make a peep. Good pups! Coulee on the other hand felt she needed to bark at every strange noise (and as I'm sure you know, there are lots of strange noises in a hotel). Between her and Boone hacking up a lung, Amanda and I didn't get much sleep. Don't even get me started about the Starbucks we tried to visit that morning - that is a whole other blog post.

And then Monday came. And my back went. It got worse and worse as the day went on. By the time I went to bed, I didn't think I'd make it. Even with Marlin's help. I collapsed in tears at the top of the stairs and spent some time just recovering. Once in bed things were better, but the next morning was just as bad. We decided I should go to the Dr. I waited until 8 to call and they told me I could get in after 3.... I asked for something earlier and they suggested I call back at 9 to talk to his assistant. I called back at 9 and booked a 11:30 appointment. They called back an hour or so later and moved it to 1:30. I should have just gone to the ER. Marlin had to get a wheelchair to get me into the Dr.'s office. I had a major spasm during the exam as he asked me to stand and my shoelace had gotten caught on the chair. I laughed... bad move. Laughing hurts! After watching that pathetic display he prescribed 120 Tylenol 3, with codeine. 120!!! Yikes. So on the way home, we drove through Starbucks for some happy juice and a cookie and took some pain killers and anti-inflamatories. Soon after we got home, I was feeling much better. My spirits were up, I could move a little more than before and I was feeling optimistic. Then I started feeling nauseous. I called for Marlin to bring me a bowl... then the nausea progressed to pain. Quite a bit of pain. I told Marlin to call the Dr. to find out if it should hurt. Then I was having trouble breathing so while he was on hold, he hung up and called 911. I was freaking out. My hands and legs were feeling tingly and I was really straining to get air.

The ambulance was amazingly quick and the guys were very nice and very soothing. I actually knew 2 of them which helped. My pain disappeared and my breathing became easier. So the good news is, it was just a reaction to the meds. Thank god. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack. We hung out in emergency for quite a while so they could run some tests on my back. They didn't find a thing. The ER Dr. suggested acupuncture which I guess I will try and track down tomorrow. I'm still in much more pain than I thought I'd be but the pain pills help.

Amanda, Jolene, Tara and Sandy have been holding down the fort at the daycare. I owe them big for this! It is such a relief not to worry about work. Marlin has been the best nurse ever! He brings me food, pills and drinks. He's been shuttling dogs when needed and helping me roll over, sit up and make it to the bathroom. I'm going to owe him big too. Although he admits he didn't mind missing work to stay home and watch movies with me all afternoon. :)

Anyway, I'm really not comfortable sitting her so I should probably go. I think I've rambled enough but not really having anyone to talk to for 3 days will do that to a girl! Please excuse all the typos and spelling errors, I don't have the stamina to proof-read.

Riding Shotgun

When the van is full of clients, little Lacey gets to ride in the front seat. She usually rides in a smaller crate that I wiggle into the front seat but she really doesn't seem to like it. It might be because I have to wiggle it in to the seat - it can't be a particularly pleasant experience for her. So today I thought I would try the seatbelt harness that Marlin uses in the car. She seemed a little happier but still wasn't thrilled with the idea. She is much more comfortable curled up in a crate on the floor. Maybe Coulee can ride shotgun next time.

I Must be Grumpy

So I went to the Optometrist this morning. I had never been there before so I thought I should go early in case there was paperwork to fill out. Turns out they didn't open until my appointment so I spent 10 minutes standing in the cold wind trying not to shiver.

So once I was finally let in, things went smoothly. I met with the tech, she did some tests and then I was left in the exam room. I sat there, and sat there, and sat there. 45 minutes after I started my appointment the actual Optometrist showed up. I think he had just arrived. I was definitely the first appointment so I'm assuming I'm the first patient he saw. So the exam went okay - my eyes have actually improved. Like a lot! We are both surprised I'm not getting headaches every night.

When I was done they took me back downstairs to pay and set up an appointment for a contact fitting. They could only offer me time slots from 4:30 - 5:00. Those don't work for me - EVER. I told her that. She came back with, "That is all we have". So I told them again "That doesn't work for me". They seemed to think things would have changed in the last two seconds. So they are going to check with the Dr. and get back to me. So then, anticipating a problem, I asked for my prescription so I could go elsewhere. "The Dr. needs to sign it and he is with another patient..." Sigh. Why that isn't a standard item to take with you after an eye appointment I don't know. Scratch that, I do know - they want to make more money off me. Don't most people shop around for different glasses frames? So now I have to go back and pick up my prescription. Goody.

A Great Big Glass

This is what I'm doing tonight. To find out why, read my work blog. Cheers!

Another Q!

Coulee did great today at the one day agility trial and actually got a Q in Gamblers. Scarily enough we are now halfway to our first title - Starters Games (or something like that - I'm not really sure what it is called.

Her first run was gamblers and we had a bit of a rough start. She didn't want to do what I wanted her to. Instead she thought she knew the best path. So after trying to call her back a few times I just went with the flow. After the first few obstacles we were back in sync and things went very smoothly. I didn't send her through any mini gambles but she got enough points in the opening round and nailed her main gamble and earned her Q. I think she had 52 points.

Her second run was Standard. You know how last post I was talking about her lightbulb moment? Well she had it last night and actually weaved around a dozen times (don't worry Amanda, it was in two separate sessions...) I had to keep sending her through to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. So I was excited to try the weave poles in the standard run. The only problem is that it was 12 poles, not 6. Coulee has never laid eyes on 12. Amanda suggested I didn't push my luck so we just ran past them. The only other little bobble was when she decided the judge looked friendly, and possibly a little lonely so she went over to say hi. She came back when I called but her entry onto the teeter was awkward and she ended up missing her contact. Other than that, the run was smooth and flawless.

The last run was another Gamblers. Coulee was shockingly unfocused and apparently so was I. I started before anyone was ready so we started again. I should mention that twice today she left her start line and ran out of the ring. Nice. She thought Amanda also looked lonely and needed someone to visit. So after she was back in the ring and everyone was ready for us to start, we started - badly. I was on the wrong side. Regardless, we tried to regroup and weave (Even though I had technically moved up to Advance, we stayed in Starters because we weren't ready for Advanced - those damn weave poles again!). She tried a few times to weave and never quite got it (yes Amanda, you were right) so we moved on. She ran the rest great - got two mini gambles and the final gambles. As I wasn't trying to rack up points in the opening, I'm not sure we made the minimum or not but regardless it was a great run.

Coulee was definitely a superstar this weekend and I don't think I felt like strangling her once - now that is something to celebrate!

Agility Trial

Coulee is entered in her first ever out of town agility trial. It is just a one day thing and she is entered in all three events - 2 gamblers and 1 standard run.  She still isn't weaving (although she did do 4 the other day) which is fine for the gamblers courses.  I guess we'll just run past the weave poles again.  Sigh!  One day she'll get it.  We've been practicing like crazy but she hasn't had her lightbulb moment yet.

Marlin took the girls for a walk yesterday.  He had the day off and they spent the day with him. Much to my horror, I arrived home to a burr covered Coulee.  And I mean burr covered.  I had to either hack them out with scissors or spend two hours torturing her.  I chose to hack them out with scissor - no mean feat.  It took close to 30 minutes and we still didn't get them all.  We even had to get 4 from between her toes - that couldn't have felt good.  But the good news is, Amanda finally got to shave her ears. They aren't as pretty as she'd like them because I had done such a brutal job last night but she definitely has lab ears now!  Her tail is also more lab than retriever!  Poor girl.  She is going to look funny for her out of town agility debut.  Coulee was too embarrassed to pose for a picture but I'm sure I'll get some this weekend.