In Need of Encouragement

Peeps: today I am in need of encouragement, so imagine the smile that came upon my face when I opened my inbox and saw my Real Simple Daily Thought for today:

"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Arthur Baldwin

I had a life change yesterday, and today I start my journey into the unknown. In my mind, I've been a mother for 5 years - since the first day I got my beautiful furbaby CiCi.



As any parent will tell you, the last thing you want to see is your child in pain. When they're little, you feel for them when they fall down and scrape their knee. You pull yourself together, patch it up for them, and send them on their way.

When they're in school, you feel for them when they didn't quite pass the big test they studied so hard for. You pull yourself together, give them the "we'll get 'em next time" speech, and then you help them study harder or do an extra credit project.

When they're teenagers, you feel for them when they seem to get their hearts broken every five minutes because someone treated them rotten, or the one person they thought they would love for the rest of their lives just won't love them back. You pull yourself together, talk them through it, and give them the encouragement they need to go on.

Throughout their lives, you do your very best to take care of them, pulling yourself together beforehand each time.

Long story short, I had to pull myself together yesterday. My little CiCi had been having some sort of trouble for the past week, and neither I nor the first vet I took her to could figure out what exactly was going on. She was having episodes of extreme pain and discomfort, and it seemed like nothing I did made it better - not the medicine she was prescribed, nor petting her, nor trying to distract her.

After a few days of no episodes, I thought we were getting back to good. I was wrong. After a pain episode on Sunday, and another yesterday morning, I took her to another vet. It was there that I was given the news that she has a bulging disc in her back, and that was what was causing her the pain episodes and loss of feeling in her back legs. I started to cry for her.

After a few minutes of using up the veterinarian's tissues, I pulled myself together and we formulated a plan of action. CiCi is on a new medicine schedule for a few weeks, and I have to keep her sequestered from MuChi and Wilkie for seven weeks. Yes, you read that correctly - SEVEN weeks. There is to be no playtime, no running, no jumping, and she must be physically carried both up and downstairs at all times.

I set up a "CiCi area" in the kitchen using one of the taller metal perimeter gates that you would use to contain a pet outside. I pulled out her puppy couch and put that in there, added a puppy pad (just in case), gave her one toy (since that's all she's supposed to have), and put her food and water dishes in with her.

Every night from here through the seven week mark, I will carry CiCi up the stairs, and then block said stairs with a baby gate, so she can't go back down by herself. I will let her lay beside me while I get ready for bed, and then I will pick her up and put her in the bed. I will then remove the puppy stairs so she can't go up or down by herself.

Every morning, I will say good morning to her and the boys, and I will pick her up out of the bed, and place her on the floor. Then when it's time to go downstairs and go outside, I will carry her down the stairs, and put her in her "CiCi area" in the kitchen. The boys get leashed and go outside first, then I put them back in the house, and it's CiCi's turn. I'll carry her out and put her down in the yard, and then carry her back inside to her "CiCi area" for the morning while her mom goes to work. After I give her the morning dosage of her medicine, she gets to hang out in her space while the boys roam around, and they'll wait for me to get home for lunch. Lunch will happen, and then basically the same process of going outside, and back to their areas.

It's definitely added time to my daily routine, so I am adjusting to this new schedule. It's also going to force me to attack each day with eagle eyes and extreme focus to make sure I don't make a mistake where CiCi is concerned. If I were to slip even just once, the results could be disastrous.

But, I think that's what being a mom is all about - you feel what you feel, then pull yourself together, and do what you have to do to insure your child (be it human or pet) is the best they can be. And, that's what I'll do. It won't be easy, so I'll be in need of encouragement, but I know I can do it.

I have to do it...for her.

Until next time,
Miss Chicken Wing