Favorite Things Friday (early)

Hi all.  Here's the thing. Tonight is about comfort food for me.  It could be called a Slack Tea Thursday (made famous by Mrs. Pyjamas) since it's Thursday but I think it's better posted as a Favorite Things Friday given this story will seep into tomorrow.

So what am I talking about?  I decided that Weight Watchers be damned today, I'm allowing myself some comfort eating to calm my nerves. Lunch was McDonald's cheeseburger and small fries and a small berry smoothie.  Dinner (don't laugh or get grossed out) a peanut butter and american cheese sandwich with 2 Pumpkin Spice Ales.  There's my Slack Tea Thursday.

Now, for the why.  My favorite thing Friday.

These 3. An 8 year old cocker spaniel, a 2.6 year old male vizsla (off to hunt training right now) and a 2.5 month old vizsla lab mix (recovering from surgery right now).

Ms. Surgery, Sasha, is the subject of these posts and a couple others here and there but basically. She's my baby girl. I've said it before and I'll probably say it for the rest of my life, a dog is a dog is always how I viewed things. I never understood some of those special owner/dog relationships but this girl came along and I now understand.

She's got personality like no one's business.

I read her and she me like no other dog I've ever had before.  She's too smart for her own good and too stubborn for probably anyone who loved her less to live with.  Did you know, I became interested in hunting and the addition of the vizsla to our family because of that is a direct result of her?  She needed a job and I thought it might be a nice way to go out with my husband when he hunted if I was training and "handling" the dog.  I figured, while I had no great interest, it would be nice to share in something my husband loved doing.

Lo and behold, I've got a bit if interest and maybe a tiny bit if the hunting fever.  My baby girl definately has the outdoor fever. She wants to be in the field and run. The problem is, she can't do it regularly. She's been having recurring leg issues. We thought she might need a full hip replacement but 3 consults later and 2 confirmations we learned she needed what's called a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO). In short, she had a partial ligament tear in one of her rear right knees.   She's a tough girl and is handling this better than mama, I think.

Today, however, she knew something was up. (I told you she was smart.) We went to the third Dr. she growled, was tense and stressed, only trusting me to not steer her wrong.  For the first time in all her appointments, etc. she had to be slightly sedated for the exam to take place. She was too tense for a good read. Then she needed more x-Rays.  So she was removed to be sedated. She came back and they gave the exam. Then, in her drugged state, had to be carried back to be x-Rayed and then back to go over the results with Mom. Mom authorized the surgery right then and she had it this afternoon.

However, even though Mom had a brave face, calm demeanor and even allowed herself to focus on everything except her baby girl's prognosis and next steps, baby girl picked up on that deep down hidden thread of nerves.  Poor girl was reading me and all I could do was take a few deep breaths, tell her she was a good girl and walk away from the pathetically sad, drug induced eyes as she was getting ready to be stuck again for blood work.

Tonight, I'm without her and I miss her. God help me... I'm not a crier. I hate crying.  However, I want to cry over this. I know she will be okay but that doesn't change that Momma feels she needs her baby girl back home. So I get comfort food and instead of Baby Girl having a beer, I'm having two! (-It's sarcasm, people, she's just licking the empty bottle! hehe)

So that's why Slack Tea Thursday and Favorite Friday seeped into each other this week. I'll post how she's doing post-operatively this weekend, I'm sure, but all I really know is a minimum of 8 weeks restriction for the girl who loves to run. At least knowing it's good for her in the long run will keep me true to her recovery requirements! Here's to seeing her do this again in 3 months.

Have a good one, y'all! Check out everyone else's favorites with the link at the top right of my blog.

Beck