In out, in out, shake it all about … no, forget that last part, that’s what got me into my latest little spot of bother! It sort of went like this … Having got my new hip all bandaged up on Friday all was going relatively well. I spent Friday evening with Richard and had a lovely cuddle. The bandage is definitely annoying, but I know it is doing me good. I have found that walking on three legs is possible and I can get up the odd step too. The good news is that I can go out for a very short walk with my hip all strapped up. The bad news is it is knackering! On Friday I did make it to the entrance to the allotments and back, but I have to say that hopping along on only one back leg is unbelievably tiring! My personal surgeon, Bonito de la Puerta, says that I am allowed 3 walks a day of no more than 5 minutes so I don’t think I’ll be going very far anytime soon. Still, it was nice to go out and see what is happening in the world again!
Saturday was a day of adventure. We went out again and I had to spend absolutely ages reading all the messages on my short walks. Fortunately the weather was reasonable and it was lovely being out. OK, the bandage does annoy me, I can’t deny that. I didn’t even pull too much because I wanted to ensure that I got to sniff as much as possible. It was all going so well and I was having a lovely time! We even made it to sniff central where I managed to produce the most amazing poo. It was a good two bagger and I was very pleased with it! Richard was less pleased as he had to carry it home. When we got home, I had a lovely surprise … Angela came to see me! I haven’t seen her for ages and I haven’t left her any presents for months! It was so lovely to see her and she was very nice to me (as she always is). She made a lot of fuss of me and I really enjoyed it. I may not be looking my best from my chest backwards, but I am still amazingly handsome!
You may be wondering at this point where he was during all of this. He was about but he had bought them a new TV so he was far more interested in that. He did come out for our walks and he was there when Angela came to see me, but quite honestly, putting his new TV in seemed to more interesting to him than I was (which is completely unfathomable to me!). I did have a lovely time at Sniff Central – it was so nice picking up messages from my friends. We walked back down Salisbury Road and do you know what he went and said? He only went and called me ‘Hop Along’! How dare he? How very dare he?! The cheek of it. In fact, it wasn’t just him that was rather rude either. Richard suggested that I was stopping to sniff things on the way back just like Bren and him do when they are visiting gardens and want a rest! Honestly, there I am, doing my best to maintain my dognity and they just undermine me all the time! Oh well, I’ll get my own back once I’m fit again. I have to admit that by the time we got home I was ready to push out a few ????s. Actually, if I were to be totally honest, I have pushed out an awful lot of ????s over the last few days.
I am not sure if it is something to do with the bandage, or the mind games he plays with me, but I have pushed out a lot of ????s recently. He has done his best to try and find mind games for me to play. The trouble is that so many of them involve moving around which is not all that easy at the moment. Sunday passed pretty much without incident. We had a lovely walk through the allotments where we met a lovely couple with a dog called ‘Snoop’ as in ‘Snoop Dog’. He was a bit lively, but he was friendly with me. They watched yet another TV program about food which led to him cooking steak with pepper sauce on Sunday evening. Pepper sauce is Richard’s favourite, so I suppose that was ok, but all I could smell was lovely steak! Did I get any? Not a blinkin’ morsel!
Ah yes, now back to my latest spot of bother. On Monday morning he took me back to see my personal surgeon, Bonito, who had said he just wanted to check my bandage after the weekend. When we got there Bonito had just arrived – he rides in on his bike and he was in reception in his socks and lycra cycling outfit – although Bonito wasn’t really ready for a 27 kilo lump of hair hurtling towards him, that’s what he got! I spotted Bonito and realised it was a chance to get away from him so I ran over to him and nearly knocked him over – it is amazing what speed I can get to even on three legs! When he examined me Bonito was a bit concerned that my toes were swollen – the bandage is very tight and there is always a risk that it will cut off circulation to my toes, so they need checking regularly. (In fairness, he didn’t know about the toes – he checks the temperature regularly which is what he had been told to do.) Anyway, Bonito decided that I should have another sleep whilst he changed my bandage so I stayed with him for the day. Bonito had a very busy day with a couple of emergency operations so he didn’t get to do my bandage until late in the afternoon. He decided he would like me to stay overnight so that he could check my bandage in the morning before I went home. Apparently, he phoned him and told him so that was OK.
He turned up on Tuesday morning to pick me up and we went home. That is really when it went a bit wrong again. You see, I hate that flamin’ lampshade that they keep sticking round my neck! I think I may have mentioned in the past that he isn’t very bright … has an IQ of room temperature, if you get my gist. Well he had one of his conference calls shortly after we got home and left me on my own in the lounge, so I took my opportunity – I hooked the back of the lampshade around the corner of the coffee table and after a bit of shaking it about, I managed to pull it off! That was great because it now gave me unfettered access to the bandage. It was short work to rip that off too! Would you believe it, he moaned at me about that! How would he like it if I strapped his leg up like mine is? He dropped off his conference call telling them “there is something I have to deal with urgently”. How dare he refer to me as ‘something’! Anyway, off we went back to see my personal surgeon, Bonito! He was muttering all the way with comments like, “3 hours, that’s all he was home, 3 hours!” and “Why? Why can’t he just behave and heal properly?!” Another sleep and another bandage, I stayed the night again at North Downs Referral Centre.
So, here I am again. Back home again now, but with a renewed bandage, a lampshade round my neck and him keeping a very close eye on me. When he picked me up this morning I heard him say to the receptionist “All being well you won’t see us again until Friday, you’ll get a whole day without seeing us tomorrow!” I am not sure that was all that nice, but although I like my personal surgeon, Bonito, and the nurses at North Downs Referral Centre, it will be nice not to have to to there again tomorrow! He is checking my leg very regularly. It is a bit swollen on the heel at the moment, but he knew it was when we left the hospital. My toes are OK, so that seems to be the main concern and that is OK. I don’t think either of us are enjoying this very much and we’ll both be glad when its over! My next appointment (assuming we don’t have another incident) is on Friday. I don’t think much will change, but I am due for a bandage change, so that means another sleep at North Downs Referral Centre. I’m getting really bored with this now! The only good thing is that he says that Amanda from Happy Buddies might pop in on Saturday, so that’s something to look forward to! For now though, I think a few more ????s are in order, so must paws … ????
