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My dog will soon be 16. He’s my boy. I’ve taken him to a lot of places and spent hours with him so he is very loyal and very protective. The poor guy has had it rough for the past 7 years. He’s got allergies and a messed up immune system. We have been through a lot of crap with this dog. In order for my dad to come to TN and get my trailer we were fortunate that my vet office broke their own rule and kept him for the night. I’m sure this was stressful for my boy. As I was arranging this from my hospital bed in TN I felt like I had let him down. This was the first time I cried after my crash. To this point I think I was in survival mode, but feeling like I failed my dog tore me up. When I got home Sergei was hoarse from barking so much and he totally didn’t understand what was wrong with me. The walker immediately became his enemy and he barked and barked at it. He tried to bite the wheels as I tried to move about the house. Of course I was afraid of falling and this just made things worse. If we moved the walker away from the recliner he would calm down but as long as I was using it he followed along often times between my feet and the wheels. This time proved very stressful for the dog because I couldn’t sleep in my bed and he likewise wouldn’t sleep on his bed which is beside my bed. What he did do every night was pace. Back and forth and around in laps around the house. He also started peeing in the floor. Almost nightly. This was not characteristic of him. In retrospect and talking with the vet we believe the whole event of my getting hurt and his routine being totally turned upside down caused him to have an over production of cortisol and adrenaline which In turn messed up his entire system. He’s old and couldn’t cope. For the most part and with the help of some meds he’s back to as normal as an almost 16 year old can be. We wound up calling the time of trying to extricate from the bathroom with his lumpiness in the way American Walker Warrior.

Speaking of bathroom olympics. I have a small bathroom. I had to go sideways with the walker just to get to the toilet. When I first came home and because I have long legs I had to sit so my leg was at about 10 o’clock. I would shuffle to the toilet all the awhile screeching the walker on the floor or banging it into the closet or tub.

There was no sitting in the bathtub or standing in the shower either. Couldn’t raise my leg up enough to get over the side of the tub so showers were performed sitting on the transfer bench as far across the tub as I could get while keeping my stupid leg up. This was painful to say the least. Remember me mentioning that the back of my leg hurt if it was on something for extended amounts of time.

It wasn’t long after being home that I started having a lot of left lower leg pain after about 5 minutes of being up. Excruciating pain. Sort of like a leg cramp or felt like someone was slicing through my leg. 


We also noticed my foot was turning this horrific shade of reddish-purple. Hmmmm. As it turns out these were the signs of the dvt’s I was ultimately diagnosed with.

Being a prisoner in your own home is about the only way I can describe this period of time. I had no way of getting in and out without acrobatics. My parents were great about bringing me food and drinks in my chair. Mom was the best nurse and wouldn’t allow me to be in the bathroom by myself. You have to love parents!!!! But for someone who is very independent and likes to be outside this was horrible.

The next trip I would make outside would be on 5/31 when I’d meet Jesse for the first time.

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