Night At Dodd

Our night at Dodd started out with some SERIOUS attention from the nursing staff - all Chelsie's favorites were gathered at the main nurses station on the 4th floor, just telling her how cute she was, what a good dog she was, scratching her butt...she was groaning and leaning into the one that really found the right spot, and everyone got a kick out of that.

Tonight, we saw some new patients, saw some ones we had seen before and said goodbye to a few. We have seen one older lady who had a brain tumor for 4 weeks now, and she will be going home on Thursday. I told her I better not see her in here again! She promised me she would continue to get better. She is very excited about going home.

Angel, the stroke patient, continues to progress. Next week is the last week we will see her. Her mom and 2 of her friends were there tonight when we came in, and Angel was in a wheelchair sitting up. She continues to improve every week from a mobility perspective, and used both arms real well tonight. Her speech, although still difficult to understand, is getting better. It was good enough for me to understand her telling me that I should take Chelsie to go see other patients, that they needed her more than she did. I told Angel it was her turn and I would get to all the other people. I mean, how unselfish is that? She and her family are such nice people - she has pictures of her pets and I know she is ready to go home and see them. The doctors decided to keep her an extra week so she could get therapy sessions multiple times daily to make it easier on her when she went home, and her mom thinks this was the best thing for her. I may cry when we say goodbye to them next week.

I am still amazed how much my 4 legged furball does for the staff and patients. The staff seemed to need a little therapy tonight, and she was so good while they loved all over her. She was so good in her chair for the patients, so good for mom at class...she is just one great puppy. She still continues to scratch more than I would like her to, but I am doing what I can for her. She has been on a diet that includes 6 tablets of Benadryl a day (at the instruction of the vet) and got a bath in medicated shampoo tonight. Between the hospital, class and Benadryl, it is not any wonder she is dead to the world on the floor of the bedroom...

We hope this finds everyone well!