What about Bob?

Tonight was quite the night. The weather outside was absolutely gorgeous, and Chelsie was very excited to get her jacket on and get in the car. Mom put all the windows down for her, and she was in pure dog heaven - sitting in the middle of the back seat with the breeze blowing on her. Sometime over the past three days she ate a bee - or at least tried to. I have seen her trying to snag a bee out of the air, and told her she would be sorry if she ever did. A few days ago, I noticed her right lip was fat and swollen. It appears the damage was minimal and confined to her lip, and that she is on the mend.

We were 15 minutes late getting up to the 4th floor. We encountered a patient outside who wanted to pet Chel, and she obliged him. He was a floor 3 patient - it was obvious he had some sort of back injury because he was wearing a rather large back brace, but he was able to walk with a walker and get around. While not in great shape, he was in good enough shape to be walking on his own. Anyway, he was somewhat disappointed we would not be coming to three, but I explained to him that the brain injury patients were sometimes impulsive and yelled, which was not a good situation for the dog. He seemed OK with that and thought he was rather lucky to be downstairs when we came in. We also saw someone else from the 3rd floor (family) and they wanted to pet Chel also. So we were 15 min late.

We got to three and Chelsie gave the nurse coordinator her standard greeting - by scrounging through her trash. The house was pretty full tonight, with only three patients in isolation. Sadly, one of the isolation patients was one of the ones who really enjoyed Chelsie's visit last week. Thankfully, the curtain was pulled in her room, so hopefully she did not see or hear Chelsie, I know she would have been disappointed. Maybe next week.

Upon our arrival, one of the floor nurses told me she thought she had someone who would really like a visit. His name was Bob, and it turns out he has a 2 year old golden retriever named Buddy at home, who he misses dearly. Bob was probably in his late forties, and had a stroke; he had been at Dodd since last Friday. Apparently he had a stroke 5 years ago as well. Bob was divorced 2 years ago, and got Buddy after his divorce. As the nurse was unsure if Bob would want to see the dog, I had her go in there and ask him; the answer was yes, please bring her in here. Off we trooped to Bob's room, and within the first few seconds we were in there, I knew that Chelsie had done her job for the night, regardless of whether or not anyone else wanted to see us. He lit up when we walked in - said hi to Chel, told her she was a pretty girl, a good girl and asked her to shake. For the first time in her life, Chelsie held up her paw while she was standing up. At that point, he just teared and told me how much he missed his dog Buddy - told me all about what a good dog he was, how energetic he was and that his daughters were going to bring Buddy down to see him this weekend. (He will be visiting Buddy in the courtyard - there is a pretty nice courtyard in back of Dodd, between the University hospital and Dodd) Bob was waiting for us in his wheelchair, and thanks to the class we had, Chel had no fear of the wheelchair and walked right up to him. I was eternally grateful for that training tonight - I think if he could have, Bob would have invited her on to his lap. As it was, she sat on his bed for a few minutes so she could be eye level with him. I know our visit to Bob did him a world of good. I think we will see him next week - he was there for 3 weeks when he had his previous stroke, and he is hoping to be in for only 2 weeks this time. Let's hope so, so that he can get home to Buddy.

We also saw the lady who had the baby and lost her hearing. She was quite glad to see Chelsie also. I pulled her bed table away and got the chair as close to the bed as I could. I think she is seriously lacking some sort of touch - human, animal, anything. I think she wanted Chelsie to jump on the bed and sit with her, but she is too frail for that and can't hear. Chelsie did stand up and got face to face (with a few kisses in there I think - which mommy does NOT like) so that was good. I wish she had been a little more interactive with this lady, because I think it would be really good for her. But she was glad to see Belle and I tonight.

Our old man whose grandsons had drawn him the pictures was still there - causing trouble in the halls, raising a ruckus and picking on his nurses. He is a nice old man, I hope he goes home soon.

It took us over an hour to get down one side of Dodd 4, which turned out to be OK. Two of the isolation rooms were in the other side of the hall, and by the time we got there, many had drifted off and others did not want to see us. I guess that is further proof that everything works out OK.

On our way out to the car, we encountered 2 year old John, out wandering around with his dad (and had on these bright blue Nike shoes!). He was quite interested in the doggie, who laid down nicely for him to pet her. In the end, John decided he was not into petting the doggie - apparently, the neighbors have a border collie who jumps on him and knocks him down.

I was a bad mommy and did not feed the little angel before we went tonight. For all her hard work, she was rewarded with dinner and lots of praise from mom. She is resting comfortably on the couch next to me, after dispensing email advice to her 10 week old friend, black lab puppy Shelby (she was telling Shelby to oblige her humans when they want to hold her and only chew on what they give her).

On a final note, my softball Buckeyes will be hosting a regional this weekend here in Columbus. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, and they have been playing well as of late. So...on that note, have a great week and of course, GO BUCKS!

Love, Nicole and the Chelsie Belle