A Day Of Thanks Molly Style

The real meaning of Thanksgiving gets lost in the shuffle of everything else going on in the world. It is a day to be thankful of the things you have but not necessarily material possessions. I am thankful that my family, as dysfunctional that they are, is together for one more year. I don't think I could ever sit down and make out a list of all of the people I need to thank and I am hoping at least one person could say I have helped them out in some way. I have also found that it is not easy to write through a painkiller haze but maybe I should be more thankful for those.

I am thankful that Molly is still here with me although she is currently hogging the bed and refuses to share my pillows. I don't know if I would have made it through the past year without her.

I have next to nothing but I have more than most. I have family and friends that love me, as dysfunctional as I am, and I could not want or ask for anything more.

Life After.....

It has been almost a full three weeks after my foot surgery but I am really not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have eight screws, a bone graft, and two plates in my foot that they had to screw together just to hold the mess that is my right foot together. The doctor has given me a "bone stimulator" (although I think I would have preferred a "boner stimulator") to help speed up the bone graft coming together and a wing and a prayer and I am supposed to be as good as new in a year. A year. A fucking year!

I turn 50 years old in another month. I get to sit back and let life pass me by for a year. There is a ton of things I could be doing, should be doing, but will I be in the right frame of mind to do them? I spent a night in the hospital, I have had two post-op visits with my doctor, and I have heard "we had to do a lot of work on your foot" more times than I care to count. They make it sound like a car that has been in a wreck. What I have not heard is a prognosis of any kind or a game plan for what happens now or within that year. All I have is a bucket full of painkillers and antibiotics that really only dull the sensation I am feeling physically and emotionally.

A Walk In The Dark

Molly's eyesight is going fast and I can tell that more and more everyday by the way she compensates for her lack of vision. She uses her nose the way a blind man uses a can. She feels her way around the house with her nose as a cane and her sense of smell. A dog's ability to adapt has always amazed me. Dogs do not have the capability to complain so they just play the hand they are dealt and do what they have to do to survive. A man can learn a lot just by watching his dog.

The Immovable Object

When Molly plants herself somewhere now, she is not moving unless the urge seriously strikes her. The only motivation she seems to have any more is when she needs outside to go to the bathroom and when she needs to eat or get a drink of water. I have to be honest, that is a lot of my motivation now too and I suppose we both have legitimate excuses but at least I will get up and move out of her way. I have to try to navigate my crutches around her, crawl across the top of her to get in the bed, scoot her over six inches so I will have some bed to lay in, and generally accommodate her every whim. Yes that is my fault but she is an old dog and she is the diva.

The Remains Of The Day

Molly likes it when I am having to recuperate from surgery because we both end up spending about 20 hours a day in bed. If I thought Molly would sleep on it, I would buy her a bed she could have all to herself but she likes that comforting feeling of knowing she can take up all the space in my bed. There is a certain beauty in being a dog owner.

The Home Stretch

Molly and I are both really staggering down the home stretch. Me with my foot and Molly with her health issues that come with being a "mature" dog (she hates the term "old" dog. In fact, she hates the term dog, too). It seems that every day presents new obstacles and every day, Molly and I have to fight through the pain and I cannot think of "anyone" else I would rather have by my side. She has been here for 13 1/2 years now and it saddens me to think that she won't be here much longer. My foot surgery has been a blessing because now I get to spend most of my day with Molly.

That's My Spot

Molly needs help getting up on the bed now but I believe Molly has figured that while I am distracted with helping her get up on the bed, the race is on to steal the spot I just vacated. It is a race she usually wins but with Molly and I, it is all about the competition. Since I now have a cast on my right foot, it makes it that much harder for me to jockey for position.

Last night was one of those instances. I helped her up on the bed and she immediately threw a body block as she dove for my pillows. I countered that move as I dove and cut her legs out from under her and knocked her off balance. Molly congratulated me on a good move and I was awarded the position. We are all about fair play.

The Gods Are Not Smiling On Us

I am really struggling with my latest surgery and I may even have to check in to hiring a professional dog walker in order for Molly to get her walking time in. Since my surgery, it has pretty much rained every day, making the struggle that much greater and a whole lot wetter. I have to bundle my foot up in a garbage bag so my cast doesn't get wet, try to figure out which walking device won't sink down into the mud so I can get her outside and then have to deal with Molly's un happiness at me trying to do the best I can. My girlfriend has helped out a ton and Molly's eyes light up every time she sees her, but being punctual is not my girlfriend's strong suit. It is going to be a long six months.

The Daily Struggle

The daily struggle to walk Molly is going to be much worse than I thought it was. I have tried various methods- a cane (really not working), an old person's four-legged walker (only works slightly better and will now be known as just a walker), and a pair of crutches (and I haven't figured out how well they work yet). I usually try to limp over to the grassy field up above my house, park whatever device I happen to be attempting to use, and crawl through the grass from there. Molly is not really understanding any of my futile attempts to walk her so she usually waits on my girlfriend to come over so she can be "properly" walked. And we have six more months of this?

Home Alone

I had to leave Molly home alone during my hospital "visit" a lot longer than I wanted to but I did not have a lot of options. She made it through until I made it back home and then she settled right back into her routine of making sure that everyone knew that the bed was hers no matter how much space I needed for my foot. Every time I bumped her in the middle of the night I got a growl in return and my girlfriend had to wedge herself into the bed. Molly graciously allowed her a small sliver of space to sleep in but we all made it in there. It never ceases to amaze me that between us, me and my girlfriend probably weigh 450 pounds but we let a 55 pound dog have however bed space she wants which usually covers about one-third of the bed.

A Little Help From My Friends

"I get by with a little help from my friends." Joe Cocker

We all need help from our friends once in a while and Molly is no exception. She has a hard time getting up on the bed because she has arthritic hips so I have to give her a boost from time-to-time. Molly is not exactly a light dog (I always say she keeps her winter weight on even during the summer) so I am able to boost her up well enough to get on the bed and that makes her happy and I am happy that I can help her out.

"Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends." Joe Cocker

This is the second line to the Joe Cocker song and Molly did get high that one time in the kennel but she did so without me. Maybe Molly never understood the second line that song.

Heading Into November

As Molly and I head into November, we are facing many obstacles that will take some maneuvering and some perseverance to get by. We cannot get around Father Time and he is catching up real fast but we can make our lives more comfortable but trying to live a little bit healthier and by doing whatever it is we need to do to make this happen. After my foot surgery on Tuesday, even our simple walk outside that Molly and I enjoy so much will become an obstacle but I will do whatever it is I have to do even if it is to crawl on the ground, to make sure that Molly and I still get to take these walks. Molly and I will approach these obstacles together as we have done from the beginning.