Tag: Wookie

Wookie’s 8th Birthday

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Today would have been Wookie’s 8th birthday.

Two years ago when she was diagnosed with kidney disease, I happened to notice a chart on the wall showing small dogs’ lifespan in human years. According to it, Wookie would have been 48 years old when she turned 8. I am 48 years old right now, so I hoped we could be 48 together. When she passed I was extremely sad that we’d never be the same age.

Less than a week ago I came across a video discussing something called a Lap Day, which marks the moment when you and your dog match in age, measured in dog years. I put our info into one of the calculators online and got the below result.

It makes me happy to know we synced up in age after all, and on Joe’s birthday, no less.

I still miss her so much.

Olive the Schnoodle

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We recently had a new dog… for 24 hours. Lest you think we’re impulsive people who don’t think through our decisions, let me explain.

We saw Olive, a 5 month old Schnoodle (Schnauzer Poodle mix) at an adoption event at the Plainfield Pet Supplies Plus on July 6th.

She was the sweetest little thing – we were able to pick her up and she cuddled with us immediately. The rescue had us take her for a little walk around the store but we ultimately decided not to adopt. I was worried her bark might bother my ear* (there was a blurb about her on their website stating she had an unusual high-pitched bark).

* Ever since my sickness in 2019-2020 my right ear has been sensitive to certain frequencies, usually in the high-pitch range, which is ironic since supposedly I’ve lost hearing in the higher frequencies which is why I have high-frequency tinnitus in that ear. When something triggers it, I feel a fluttering in that ear and then if it continues the ear will start crackling and popping. It’s not painful, per se, but very uncomfortable and it’s not something I want to experience day in and day out. It has limited my ability to work, even from home, as talking on the phone is quite often a trigger. It sucks. But anyway…

I kept thinking about Olive all week and looking at her pictures. I really liked how friendly and cuddly she was which is what I’d like in our next dog. I found out she would be at the next adoption event in Tinley Park on the 13th so we went out to see her again. We also took a look at the other dogs up for adoption through other rescues but they were all big breeds and we definitely want a small non-shedding dog.

So anyway, she was there and as cute and friendly as ever. I explained to her foster my interest and how before heading out to the event I had filled out an application just in case, but I was hesitant due to my ear condition. It should be noted at this point I’d heard her bark but within the confines of the pet store at the first event, and outside at the second one, and nothing was triggered in my ear. I thought maybe I was worrying for nothing.

That being said, I asked the foster if they would consider letting us foster her to see if her bark would bother me and she said they don’t transfer dogs from one foster to another. I was disappointed, but understood. In fact, we were getting ready to leave when the woman in charge of the rescue came by and recognized us. She thought it was a great sign we were back and was excited thinking we were going to adopt. I explained my ear condition and she offered us the ability to take her for a week to see how she’d work out. She explained she rarely did such a thing, but had a good feeling about us. She asked me to fill out their foster application (I had filled out an adoption one previously), which I did on my phone.

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May Recap

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May wasn’t a good month since it began with us losing Wookie.

We kept busy by visiting a lot of forest preserves since spring migration was happening and we didn’t want to sit around at home moping. We even went on a guided bird walk one morning which was nice. It was the most socialization with strangers we’ve had in a long time. And I did see, and photograph, some new to me birds which was nice.

The month included lots of visits to the arboretum too. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten as much value out of our membership as we have since signing back up (after a few years reprieve) in September. We even went there immediately after saying goodbye to Wookie since we couldn’t bear the thought of coming home to an empty house. So it’s become our peaceful retreat. I wish it was a bit closer to home, though.

We also worked on making our patio area look nice. With everything going on with Wookie the zinnias I had started growing inside in April didn’t take when I haphazardly planted them outside, so we bought some dwarf zinnias and other flowers at a gardening club sale, and additional zinnas, misc flowers, and tomato plants from a local farm. We also got some cute fencing and new solar lights from Walmart, so the patio is really coming along.

It’s too bad the new landscapers our association hired suck. They’ve been in the area twice and have overlooked trimming our bush and a neighbor’s bushes both times even though they’ve done everyone else’s in the vicinity. I can tell they have far fewer workers than the last company so I think they took on a larger project than they can reasonably handle. One week they cut 1/4th of our backyard and didn’t do the rest until the following week. They can’t seem to focus on making one entire area look good before moving onto the next, so there are areas that are only halfway landscaped. It’s really aggravating!

In other news, my ability to concentrate on tv shows, movies, and books has been awful the past few months. We’ve hardly watched anything new and have been sticking to re-watching shows like Mom and The Big Bang Theory. I had to lower my book reading challenge on Goodreads from 52 to 24 since I was falling way behind. I’ve only read 14 books this year, most of which were read prior to April. I’ve lost count of how many books I’ve started and given up on since then. Nothing can hold my attention.

It’s ironic that I have more free time than ever but am not utilizing it, at least on the entertainment front. I have been working on decluttering the house, donating unused items, and performing a digital decluttering of my computer (and digital storage spaces like Dropbox and Google Drive). The latter was spurred by me needing to make sure I had every single photo and video of Wookie backed up in several places, which required me to find them all and merge them first. I’m still not entirely done (I still need to compare what’s on my phone to what I have backed up to make sure I didn’t miss anything), but things are much more organized now.

One thing I’ve remained consistent with is exercise. I walk 30-60 minutes daily, some of that on the treadmill and the rest either at a park, forest preserve, or around the neighborhood in the evenings. I think it’s helped keep me from having a complete breakdown. Between losing Wookie and dwelling on how disappointed I am in the lack of closeness with most of my family members (and trust me, I’ve tried, but I can’t make people give a crap about me so I’ve stopped making the effort), I’ve been feeling really down.

Saying Goodbye To Wookie

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Wookie 9/21/16 – 5/7/24

There won’t be an April recap post because nothing worth talking about happened that month except Wookie’s health declining.

By the beginning of May she had stopped eating. Her regular vet gave us anti-nausea meds and an appetite stimulant which we tried all weekend without any improvements. On Sunday evening, May 5th, she started having diarrhea which looked like blood, so we rushed her to the ER vet. Not her specialist one, but a different place which lets people stay with their pets in a private room because there was no way in hell I was leaving her alone.

After multiple tests it was determined that she was in kidney failure. They put her on IV fluids and I stayed with her overnight but her numbers didn’t improve. Despite everything they tried she still wouldn’t eat either. Plus she started trembling and was very lethargic. I had multiple conversations with our vet that Monday morning and it was determined her kidneys had just had enough. I knew her kidneys could go from slowly declining to outright failure, but it was still hard to come to terms with.

It was heartbreaking, to say the least, but we made the decision to give her pain meds, bring her home for one last night with us, and say goodbye to her in the morning at her regular vet. (I am having a hard time writing out the word that starts with E, but you get the drift).

Joe and I are devastated. We’ve lost pets before (fish, hamsters, rats), but nothing compares to this. She was our baby, part of our little family, and now she’s just gone. The house feels so lifeless and empty without her here. I feel very lost right now and have been trying to keep myself busy so I don’t wallow in sadness. I cannot believe it’s been three weeks since she passed. On one hand it feels so much longer and on the other it’s like she was just here yesterday. It’s hard to cope knowing I can never kiss her forehead again or cuddle her against her will (she loved being near us but was not a cuddler). It’s just surreal.

March Recap

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03/01 (Fri) – The kids came over for dinner. We got takeout from our favorite Mexican place and played a new version of UNO they gifted us (it was our belated Christmas gift exchange) – UNO No Mercy, which was brutal, but fun. I’m now the proud owner of the Funko Pop 5-pack of The Cure. Joe received a Nightmare Before Christmas vinyl LP and a Jack Skellington Funko Pop.

03/02 (Sat) – I finally got an eye exam, at LensCrafters, which I had been putting off until I was told by my allergist that my daily Flonase use could cause eye issues and to have my retinas examined. They try to upsell this digital retina imaging where you don’t have to get your eyes dilated so it’s quicker (but you have to pay out of pocket for), but after some quick googling I learned they see less of your retinas that way, so I opted for the old school method which insurance covers. Sure, it requires you to spend more time at the exam, and then wait a few hours for your eyes to return to normal, but it’s free. Also, my eyes are perfectly healthy, so that’s good.

03/03 (Sun) – Visited the baby owls and on the way back visited Armstrong Park to see what it’s looking like since they started restoring the creek bed. It’s awful now! All the trees that housed the northern flickers and attracted migrating birds are gone. I understand the need to repair the erosion but it’s really disappointing. It was one of our favorite places to visit, not to mention closest to home, and I don’t think it’s going to attract many birds now. Total bummer.

03/04 (Mon) – Spotted some mourning doves hanging out on the abandoned robin’s nest on my neighbor’s light outside their door and called the association to ask them to remove the nest. I debated asking the neighbor directly, but we’ve never spoken and I didn’t want to chance her refusing, so it was better this way as they sent out a pest control person the next day to remove it. Neighbor has a video doorbell or I would have done it myself, honestly. Neighbor rarely uses their front door but we use ours often to walk Wookie and it was not fun getting dive-bombed by the mother robin last year. Not sure if mourning doves are less aggressive, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

03/09 (Sat) – Joe filed our taxes (refund small, but better than having to pay) and we tried out a new to us Polish deli that’s been around for years. While we didn’t like everything we tried, we like enough (pierogis & stuffed cabbage) that we’ll definitely get food from them again.

03/16 (Sat) – So there we were, driving along the west side of the Morton Arboretum with the windows open, taking in the sights and listening for birds, when we heard what we thought was hooting in the distance. It was too faint for the Merlin app to identify, so we pulled over and decided to investigate on foot because it didn’t sound familiar like a great horned owl. Luckily the hooting continued and we were able to track it to a group of pine trees where this barred owl was perched.

Talk about exciting! Neither of us has ever seen one in the wild before. The funny thing is just minutes before we heard it, I was thinking about how we should look for a barred owl, but I didn’t say anything to Joe because I don’t know why that thought even popped into my head. It’s not as if anyone had mentioned seeing one there recently. So strange.

Also, I’m shocked at how well the photo came out considering just how overcast it was on this day, not to mention windy, and how high up the owl was.

03/19 (Tue) – Finished the black oil sunflower seed and started feeding safflower seeds to the birds. While it has lessened the pesky squirrels trying to climb the feeder, it’s just as messy as the other seed. The bag is only 8 lbs, so I’m sure we’ll be out of it quickly. We also bought a small bag of sunflower hearts, which I suspect the birds will tear through in a matter of a week, maybe two. Which is fine, because by the end of April I plan to remove the seed feeder and put up the hummingbird one. Moving forward, I will be using the suet feeder only in the late fall and winter months. I hate how messy the seeds make the patio. Luckily my favorite birds – chickadees and woodpeckers – are the ones who primarily use the suet feeder.

03/30 (Sat) – I had heard there was a common loon hanging out at West Branch forest preserve recently, but hadn’t had the opportunity to look for it until this day. I texted my birding friend who just so happened to be going there and she was kind enough to text me back when she saw it, so we decided to look for it despite the overcast weather.

Sure enough, it was there, but it was so far across the lake that the best photo I could get of it is not so great. I’ve never seen one before, though, so that was exciting.

On top of that, while walking around the lake to see if we could get a better vantage point (spoiler alert – we couldn’t), we saw two more water birds we’ve never seen before – buffleheads and horned grebes. The buffleheads were in a group of three, and there were 7-8 grebes, although the one I got the best photo of was off by itself not too far from the shoreline.

So that’s three more birds added to the life list. I’m at 78 and hoping to hit 100 this year.

03/31 (Sun) – We had a low-key Easter this year. We didn’t go anywhere or invite anyone over. Heck, I completely forgot to decorate until three days beforehand! We made the last of the ham from Christmas in the crockpot, and had mashed potatoes and green beans with it.

Wookie

Throughout the month we’ve been taking Wookie to her internal medicine specialist & local vet for her chronic kidney disease. She’s not doing well, unfortunately, although after starting her on subcutaneous fluids she did perk up. Her decline in energy was rather slow so we didn’t realize she was acting differently until she started feeling better. It’s been super stressful trying to figure out ways to help her and come to terms with the fact that she might not be around come this time next year if things keep progressing the way they have.

I think I was in denial when she was first diagnosed back in mid 2022, because even with knowing this would shorten her lifespan, I didn’t think about it too much because she was acting perfectly normal. Now that things have changed, it’s becoming too real and I’m already suffering from pre-emptive grief.

To make matters more stressful, she fights us when we try to give fluids at home (we’ve tried multiple times), so I’ve been taking her to our local vet daily (except Sundays since they are closed) to have them administered, and will continue to do so until her next follow-up appointment with her specialist in mid April.

I’ve joined a couple of Facebook groups about her condition but all the information is overwhelming. She’s on a special kidney friendly prescription food that she doesn’t like so I keep having to add stuff to it to encourage her to eat and I worry I’m harming her kidneys further in the process. Logically, I know that ultimately she needs to eat, even if her diet isn’t exactly the best possible thing for her condition, but I feel guilty anyway. I just hope the new medication the internal medicine specialist started her on helps.