Lily and I had a great night’s sleep- we went to bed at midnight, woke up at around 7:30, and she was comfortable and happy. She went outside and got some sun, pooped and peed, had her meds and some food and water, and is doing well.
So far the hardest thing has been mother hen here cluck-clucking over the patient. I’m so intent on monitoring everything that I keep having to remind myself that she isn’t being abnormally lethargic, she normally never really did anything but sit on my lap or follow me from room to room to sleep in the doggie bed when I am in that room, every now and then opening an eye to check on me, and then going back to sleep. When I get up and leave a room, she follows, and then lies down in the bed in whatever room I end up in.
She’s never caught a frisbee, she’s never cared about toys. She’s not doing anything different, I’m the one being a weirdo freak.
geg6
You’re not being a weirdo freak in this instance. If it was Koda or Lovey, I’d be doing the same thing. Now, I’m sure there are other instances where I’d happily label you a weirdo freak, but not this one.
Lily is so adorable.
danielx
More simply, you’re being John Cole. Don’t ever change.
Ian G.
Great news!
Elizabelle
Lily’s never cared for toys. That’s different. But she is a divinely cute little sleeper. Happy Monday.
SiubhanDuinne
All quite understandable, John. Sounds like Lily slipped right back into her comfortable and well-worn routine. She will let you know if she needs a different level of attention.
So happy for both of you.
Quinerly
?
Gin & Tonic
You put your overalls on hangers?
John Cole
@Gin & Tonic: Only my good ones.
LAO
Pretty much every pet owner, everywhere. Glad for the continued good news.
Nell
@Gin & Tonic: 35?
Steeplejack
Sounds like the housecat. She is very disciplined about getting her 18-20 hours of sleep every day, but it has to be in the same room with me. If I go back to the bedroom to read on the bed or take a siesta, within 15 minutes or so she will appear there, even if she was in a deep sleep in the living room.
Miss Bianca
Hooray for Lily! I totally understand the impulse toward helicopter dog parenting. So glad to hear you all had a good night!
Ella in New Mexico
Don’t do anything different than what you’re doing. She deserves it. And you’ve got all of it and more to give, cuz that’s you, John. If only all the pets out there had a John Cole to mother hen them…
Ohio Mom
Nice news, things are definitely going in the right direction. But I won’t rest completely easy until we are at the point where Cole goes back to skipping the comment threads. THEN I will know for sure everything is back to normal.
raven
Lil Bit is just like that, she’s never cared about any toys or playing fetch. I know some of it is her visual impairment but I think if she had 20-20 she’d still just as soon sleep.
NY Robbin
So basically she’s your chaperone. . . .
I’m so glad she’s doing well – one day at a time. Lily just has the SWEETEST face!
LAO
@Miss Bianca: I just saw this morning that Stella passed, I’m so very sorry for your loss.
zhena gogolia
I know that anxiety. You have to just say at some point that you’re doing all you can, and you can’t control everything. Her body is going to do what it’s going to do. She looks great right now.
Manyakitty
My heart is not big enough. Love love love.
The Moar You Know
This is a very succinct description of my relationship with my wonderful doggie. Glad I’m not the only helicopter dog dad out there.
Brachiator
Great news!
Keep on keeping on.
zhena gogolia
@Miss Bianca:
I’m very sorry about your loss of Stella. Having gone through it with two cats in January, I know how it hurts. We only got rid of the litter boxes last week.
pnwjmk
Great news!
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I noticed something very strange in that picture. Why did you buy 30 more hangers than you really need?
skyweaver
Cannot have enough Lily pics. Even sleeping she looks like a sweetheart. And she loves you being a weirdo freak, it’s helping her heal knowing you have matters well in hand.
bluefish
Good morning update. And not at all on the weirdo freak thing — When my own little guy is under the weather, I hover and fret like any other helicopter mom. Sometimes, he’ll lift his head up, and look at me as if to say, Hey, I’m okay … Let me get some sleep here, please!
Enjoy the day and being under the same roof.
Mary G
You know every moment is a gift you didn’t expect to get, so hover away while you can. So happy to hear she is back to her routine. Love the pics and that she has a bed in every room. You are both adorable.
JPL
@Miss Bianca: Thinking of you.
trollhattan
Our Gracie (r.i.p.) never learned to play or play with toys, a vast difference from her predecessor Dalmatian who was the most fixated fetcher there ever was. We never could figure out why, but as she’d been a passaround pooch her first two or three years I suspect she’d been a puppy mill dog taken too soon from mom and never nurtured when young. Like Lily she just wanted to be around us, which comprised a good deal of her charm, as she clearly appreciated the first stable environment she had ever experienced.
Whatever Lily wants, Lily gets! As it should be.
rikyrah
Morning Lily. Sending you positive thoughts and prayers.
Thanks for the Update, Cole.
You’re not a wierdo.
You’re good people, Cole.
Tinare
I completely understand. My dog was diagnosed with Laryngeal Paralysis and I am listening to every breath, every pant obsessively trying to detect any slight sign of worsening. He’s doing well so far and I need to relax a little, but it’s hard. You don’t want to miss anything.
AndyG
Lily sounds like she could have been a greyhound in another life. Sometimes we have to check on our two hounds to make sure they’re actually breathing. Glad she’s still doing OK!
Ramalama
My neighbor’s dog had cancer (not sure if it was lymphoma or something else), and her humans gave her the cancer treatment that made the dog look as if she had cancer. She looked awful. But they stayed with the treatments, and afterwards she started looking less and less like death. 5 years later, she’s still alive, and to look at her you’d never know this dog had cancer. She’s perky, alert, and happy. In the space of that time, my own dog died. In summary, you never know.
opiejeanne
I’m so happy for you both.
dlwchico
Good news.
Also, Lily must be a relative of my boy Dino. https://i.imgur.com/lb3KM8n.jpg
ruemara
Cole, that instinct to protect is what makes you, you. And frankly, being aware of your pet mean you catch things early, so keep helicoptering until she’s out of the woods. Just scale it back so you’re not that annoying. Glad she’s home and back to normal.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
Helicopter Dad is a good approach. If anything’s even the slightest bit out of whack you’ll catch it immediately. (Assuming the paranoia doesn’t give you a heart attack first.)
Then again, if Muppet throws up at 4AM, I run her to the emergency vet rather than wait three hours for her regular vet’s office to open. I swear if my dogs were kids they’d be completely non-functional.
stinger
Her hobby is you, John.
“You’re her soul and her highest inspiration…”
Edited to correct lyrics.
scuffletuffle
SNAFU then, per usual
Hooray!
Comrade Nikolita
My younger cat Tac (guess what my older cat is named, haha) is showing signs of mega colon again. That was my pet drama last summer, and it cost me 2k to get him back to normal. Money I don’t have this time around. He’s still having small bowel movements and I’ve reintroduced one of his old medications to try to help get things going again. so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Also both my cats hate toys now that they’re older (15.5 & 10), and I miss seeing them play with things. I have to keep reminding myself that they’re older and they probably won’t get excited over toys much anymore.
wenchacha
You are doing fine, Doggy Daddy. I would be tempted to load Lily in some baby-carrying device and wear her all day long. But don’t.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: @John Cole: Bot the question and the reply made me laugh!
Garbo
Your attentiveness to her behavior was what alerted you to her illness in the first place. Being vigilant isn’t surprising. Set a timer to check on her periodically so you and she can relax.
Planetpundit
Thx for the update, John. glad you and sweet Lily are doing great.
Sebastien
You are a good man caring for a good dog. If that’s being a weirdo, then open the asylums !
Joy in FL
Lily is so perfect and wonderful. <3
satby
Keep the good news coming, we love it!
I just wanted to check for Lily news before I go take a nap. My own oldster epileptic dog, Rosie, had a seizure last night as I was going to bed, so I was up with her past midnight. Then they woke me at 4 to go out (I suspect a critter was in the yard) and then she had a couple more seizures. Now I’m beat, so taking a siesta for an hour and hoping it gives me the energy to tackle the chores I really wanted to get done today.
Irony Abounds
@John Cole: Seeing as though you’ve had a rough week I won’t mention that good overalls is an oxymoron.
kingweasil
feel better lily
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@WaterGirl: That was a great exchange indeed.
Happy to read the good Lily news, Cole.
Aleta
It would be understandable if she did need a couple days of deep sleep to help her bod adjust to what she’s been through and heal better.
I myself would sleep (or even pretend to), just to avoid the expectation that I should look happy about helping some human find their precious “getitgogetit!” only to see it immediately thrown over my head, no matter how politely I’d handed it back one second earlier.
Barbara
I can’t remember how old Lily is — I also can’t believe it’s been nine years since you adopted her, a milestone that makes me a little sad, because nine years ago we were in the dawn of the Obama presidency. You just can’t really know what the course of her condition will be. My little dog was diagnosed when he was nine years old with a condition that was most likely the effect of a tumor on his pituitary gland and it was hard to watch him grow old before his time, but things are going to unfold as they are, and all you can do is to enjoy her company and be attentive and caring.
The Moar You Know
@stinger: This. Dogs have hobbies, but their one great fixation, their religion (save that it’s far more all-encompassing to their lives than religion is to humans) is The Pack. In my case, it’s me, my wife, and The Dog. In Lily’s’s case, it’s John, Thurston, Steve…but mostly John. He’s her everything and it shows, just as, if you spent five minutes around my little family, you’d realize that as far as The Dog is concerned, the sun rises and sets on me.
It’s a welcome responsibility but kind of a heavy one! No days off from that kind of love, not that you’d want it anyway.
debit
I’m so happy to see Lily at home, in her rightful place in the world.
Miss Bianca
@satby: yow! That sounds really scary!
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
My last dog was like that, whatever room I was in, he had to be there. Didn’t matter if he could see me from where he was, he had to be in the same room. He stayed out from under but followed me everywhere. And no 15 minutes later either. If I walked out of a room he was sleeping in I wouldn’t make 10 ft without him following.
Steeplejack
@Ruckus:
The housecat allows some lag time in case I’m just going to get something and will be coming back in a few minutes. Conservation of energy.
Culture of Truth
She follows you from room to room? That’s so cute.
Leslie
Nothing weird about it; it’s all but impossible not to fret under circumstances like these. Just keep breathing, and staying in the moment with her as best you can. Sending you both all good thoughts.
Bill
Very happy and grateful to see her at home, where she belongs, with you. May you have a large number of happy days with each other. Good man, good dog.