A Slow Night...sort of

Well, it was a close one, but we managed to make it to the hospital tonight. Instead of eating a bee this week, she overdid it at Barkpark in the pond on Saturday and had a sore tail. When I got home on Sunday from the ball game, she was running around with her tail between her legs and could not sit down. All signs of a sore tail. She managed to recover yesterday and today, and I decided she was OK to go. She has to be able to sit to go to the hospital - "Sit" is the command I use to regain control of her if necessary.

Tonight was sort of a slow night at the hospital, but it did manage to take us an hour to get up and down the halls of the 4th floor. We did see our friend Bob again, he was not feeling so great tonight. He did not get to see Buddy this weekend, apparently his daughters had a soccer tourney and they kept winning, and were not able to bring him up. He does have a D-date though, which is June 5th and he is very excited about that. Apparently he saw 2 other therapy dogs after Chelsie last week, so it was a decent dog week for him. He was looking a little sad until we walked in, and perked up when Chelsie sat in the chair next to his bed. He was one of our last visits of the night, so we spent a little more time with him.

We did not get to see our lady that lost her hearing, she had gone off to have an MRI shortly before we got there. This was incredibly disappointing - she really likes Chelsie, all the nurses walking around her room tell me that when they see us. Sort of a bummer, but on a good note, I think she has been given a D-Date too of 5/31. She is probably one of those people I will never forget. Everyone has a story, and I just wonder how her story will go on. I can hardly stand being away from Chelsie, can you all imagine what it will be like when I have to leave my kid somewhere??

The west wing of Dodd is where our old man whose grandsons drew pictures for him is. I don't think he was having a particularly good night tonight either. I was not sure he was still here because the pictures were off the door. Apparently, he had some sort of relapse - he was supposed to go home, but was unable to. I know Chelsie lifted his spirits, and I think I might have too. I was teasing him about causing trouble and raising a ruckus in the halls, and he told Chelsie not to talk to me. His grandsons were up yesterday and one of them dug through this stuff to find the pictures they drew and put them back up - this time they are on the bathroom door so he can see them at all times. He is quite and old character. I will miss him when he is gone - hopefully tonight was the last night we saw him.

Our last patient of the night was yet another old man. This guy was 81, and his wife and daughter were there with him. He wanted to know if Chelsie brought him any chewing tobacco and whether or not she had a bottle of brandy around her neck. I said no to both, and laughed. They were a very nice family - he asked me if she was a bird dog and told me he could undo 5 years of training in 2 days. Funny thing, there is no doubt in my mind he could, and would enjoy every minute of it. I told him he and his buddy across the hall were quite the pair, that if that side of the hall went up in flames, I would know who did it. If all goes well, we will not see him again either, he is scheduled to go home on Thursday.

I hope this entry finds everyone well, we are doing quite well. After a hard day's work of kong chasing, supervising some yard work , working at the hospital and going on her walk with Truth the guide dog (who was NOT a good dog tonight because she ate the cat food) Chelsie is relaxed and ready for bed. How do I know she is relaxed, you ask? Well, when she is relaxed she is very....flatulent. And it is killing me right now. On that note, take care and we hope to see and hear from everyone soon!

Love,

Nicole and the Chelsie Belle