Zeus and other updates

We're now 2 weeks into the arm restraints at home. The good news: Caleb has really taken to them. Sometimes, he doesn't even want to take them off for a skin/circulation check. He has even accepted being fed his meals. The bad news: we found out yesterday that he has to wear them an extra week.

Saturday morning, we woke up and he was bleeding out of his mouth and nose. It was strange to me because, at the time, he was 10 days post surgery. If he was going to bleed, wouldn't it have been sooner? All kinds of thoughts were racing through my brain as I contacted the surgeon on-call. Maybe he'll have to go to the hospital? Maybe go back into surgery? His first surgery is totally ruined and we have to start over? We ended up taking him to the ER, where he was diagnosed with "oozing" from his stitches. Then we came home. Since then, it's back to the liquid diet, eat cold foods, and call if it gets worse. It has since happened again on Monday, but nothing since. Yesterday, we went to our post-op check up with the surgeon. I was expecting a few more answers. He looked in Caleb's mouth. I told him about the bleeding. He didn't know that it happened, but it's no big deal. I told him about food still coming out of his nose sometimes. He said that happens sometimes, but it's no big deal. How much longer until he can go back to a soft diet? A couple more days. Then, he told us we needed to come back in two more weeks for another check and he has to wear his arm restraints until then (making it an extra week). Then, my five minutes were up, and he was gone. Well, as most everything else is in life, we're still at a "wait and see". Fortunately, aside from everything I have mentioned, he really is doing well.

In the midst of everything else, we also decided to get another dog. When we were considering it, the responses to this idea ranged anywhere from "that's a great idea" (only heard once) to "you are insane" (heard a little more frequently). It would seem that we have our hands full, and getting another dog would only add to the stress. But, actually, that wasn't my theory. I do love dogs, and, not that I want a house full of them, two are not that bad. Also, when I go back to work in August, Owen will be home alone for long periods of time, so we wanted a friend for him. Does that mean I coddle Owen too much? Oh well, maybe I do. We wanted to make sure that we found the "right" dog, and we certainly did! His name is Zeus, and he is a rottweiler/beagle mix who we adopted from the humane society. He is such a good dog! He's four years old, so he's a little more calm and quiet. It's a great influence on Owen, actually. He never barks, he recalls to his name very quickly, he sits/lays down/shakes/heels/stays on command. Since Owen is our first dog, we really didn't have anyone to compare him to. He is, many times, very naughty, but we love him. But we are so happy to have Zeus because he keeps Owen in line a little more. So, maybe we are insane, but I don't care. I think he's worth it.