22/08/2023
I know it’s been quiet around here. It has been an incredibly rough few months between my health, surgeries and Runa being attacked a few weeks ago on our walk. It was a week before I had another surgery to try and remove a mass out of my throat. So BAD timing. Thank Gods for two local vets, and Runa’s amazing petsitter HomeBuddy who took care of her while I was in the hospital across the state. We are both recovering though the surgery left me with laryngeal paralysis because of nerve damage.
The short version is that half my larynx is paralyzed and no longer moves independently. Since I am one of the “lucky” ones that the flap has move close to the center. I am working with a permanently halved airway. So with temps over 100 the last few days and continuing through this week. Going outside is not a good option and frankly a crap shoot as to what affects it will have.
Runa had recently been starting a new task when waking me up from night terrors/flashbacks. She would wake me up like she needed to go to the bathroom. I would open the door and she would only go to the top of the stairs and lay down. If I tried to go back to bed she would herd me away from the bed and back out into the hall. And keep doing this til she judged it was ok for me to return to bed. That was before the surgery.
This morning we got out before it got too hot and started on our previously usual walking path ( she and I have been avoiding the site where the attack occurred so that has shortened our walks considerably) . Everything was going pretty well, we made it past the attack site with no issues. I crossed the street because even after leaving her gate I pen and her dog out. Now her fence is broken along the side and doesn’t look like it’s been repaired in weeks. Runa was walking right along and I was handling it ok til we got down by the high school. The temp had increased so I was starting to have problems breathing but this was Runas walk and I wasn’t going to interfere with it. She started sniffing around, looking back at me, sniff, look
Then she looked at me hard and turned around and walked back up the hill VERY fast. And she kept looking back at me til I matched her pace and walked beside her. She was still walking very fast and watching me. I told her “yes, I get it I need to get out of the heat” at which point she looked at me like “finally, you caught on”. She pulled into the drive way and only started slowing down then and then came inside and lay down while we both cooled off.
Proof that when you have a dog that is RIGHT for service dog work it’s the best investment you can make. Even when your disabilities change and expand they pick up on it. Changing up the pic tax cause I don’t have any current ones of runa without her injuries. Soo instead I share this gorgeous Ardennes stallion who is going to be a reference pic for my back piece
