Today has been a great potty day for Sydney - so far (and it's currently 8:30 pm), we haven't had any accidents! Sydney did soak her right leg, foot bootie, and wheelchair straps when she did her business around dinner time, but it was outside, and that's all that really matters!
I spoke to one of Sydney's therapists today about her prognosis, and made appointments for some therapy sessions, starting this Thursday (I can't wait!). Her therapist explained that there is a chance Sydney won't walk again, but that they are hopeful. The fact that she had her surgery in January and still isn't walking may be cause for concern. As I explained before, she hasn't had therapy consistently since January, so we are hoping now that she is having consistent therapy both at TheraVet and at home, she will make more progress. My goal is to have her walking by the end of the summer. It was a little hard getting that reality check about her prognosis, but it is important to know the truth about her situation, of course. We are going to use it as motivation. It just breaks my heart to think she might never walk again.
Peter and I have been positioning Sydney's little back feet on the ground when she is in her wheelchair or if we are holding her up in her sling, to remind her what it feels like to have her feet in the standing position and what the ground feels like under her paws. I think she wants to stand - sometimes it looks like she is trying to - so we will just keep doing everything we can to encourage it, safely, of course.
Syd continues to make new friends on every walk we take. Everyone is amazed by her and comment on how sweet she is when they meet her. Only once has someone not had a kind reaction. Take a guess about this person's demographic - yup, an immature college boy. Looked like freshman or sophomore age. But it also takes a certain kind of person, whatever age or gender they may be, to react unkindly to a handicapped dog. This boy was with one of his buddies - the buddy saw Sydney and I walking down the street, quickly went inside, and when he came back out, his friend was with him. The buddy did a decent job not reacting to us at all, but the other boy started laughing. He acted like he was trying to hide it a little bit, but not much. It is hard to explain how I knew it wasn't a kind laugh, but I bet most of you who are reading this blog can imagine what it was like. Needless to say, I was annoyed and saddened by his behavior.
I picked up a few toys for Sydney today - fluffy, squeaky toys. I gave her one this evening - it was a duck that made a noise that sounded more like a quack than a squeak, and she LOVED it. I accidentally made it quack when I was taking the tags off in the kitchen, and Sydney, who was comfortably sprawled out on her bed on the far side of the living room, was up and zooming over as fast as possible when she heard that quack. She de-squeaked the duck faster than the last toy! :)
Stay tuned for an account of our first visit to TheraVet together this Thursday afternoon!
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