(A welcome home gift given to Henry from my mom’s boss!)

After a luxating patella surgery and 2 days in the hospital, Henry the Maltese is back at home! I was given some instructions, medicine and subsequent dates that Henry must be back at the vet for x-rays and bandage removal. After paying the balance of his surgery, they brought him out and as soon as he saw me, his head tilted completely to the side, as if to say, “Where did you go and why did you leave me here.” The next few moments were very bitter sweet, as I felt so relieved to finally have him in my arms, but so upset that he had to experience surgery. As soon as I saw his two little bandaged legs, my heart melted.

He is no longer a Maltese, but a Chinese Crested Dog, as his whole backside was shaved. He’s so fashionable in his turquoise star-studded bandages, don’t you think? The surgery was a success! I saw the x-rays and his patella is in the right place. He also has pins in both legs, but that’s ok. The doctor said that if down the line, he experiences discomfort, the pins can be removed.

This surgery is usually done one leg at a time, but Henry’s were quite bad, so they both had to be done at the same time. He’s on crate rest for many weeks and will be back at the vet next week to remove his bandages. The minute we brought him home, I put him in his crate, where he proceeded to pee for about 2 minutes. When you gotta, go, you gotta go.

I fed him a bit, and must give him some antibiotics later tonight, but now he is resting comfortably with his toys.

Apparently, Henry was such a good dog while he was at the hospital. He ate all the food he was given, was fine with the other dogs, waiting for his breakfast in the mornings and didn’t even need an Elizabethan collar during his stay. I raised him right.

It really surprised me that he ate while he was in their care, because he is a notoriously picky eater, but the vet told me that he suspects he never ate properly because he was in pain from his knees. He said animals have a funny way of showing they’re in pain and that’s usually by not eating, so this entire time, that we’ve thought he is just so picky, was because of the fact that his knees hurt him. As soon as I brought him home, he ate his wet and dry food – amazing!

Yesterday, I got him a couple presents from Three Dog Bakery and the minute he saw that fish toy below, I think his entire life became complete. It was as if he hadn’t had surgery. Henry is a very possessive dog when it comes to his toys. If you even so much as touch the toys he’s scattered all over the living room floor, you’re in trouble. If you clean them up and put them back in his crate, he’ll make sure he scatters them all over the place again. It’s funny, because when I was really young, I was the same way with my toys.

This weekend is going to be full of a lot of resting, helping and loving and I can’t wait until he gets better. So many people kept him in their prayers and thought of him, so I think he definitely got by with a little help from his friends. Thanks to everyone that wished him well, it means more than you know! More updates as he gets better, but for now, some well needed sleep.

As I previously mentioned, Henry was scheduled to have surgery on his knee for a luxating patella, a nasty condition that usually affects small breed dogs and results in dislocation of the knee cap. Well, today was the day that I woke up, got dressed, put him in my lap in the car and drove to the vet to drop him off for his surgery. I looked calm and acted calm, but inside I was so horribly terrified. I still am. After filling out paper work, I had to hand him over to the nurse. I knew that he knew something was going on. How could he not? I left the vet’s office to go to work, but all I wanted to do was go and take him back.

I couldn’t concentrate on work the entire day and when I finally called the vet at 3 p.m., they informed me that they hadn’t even started the surgery because they were waiting for the orthopedic surgeon to arrive. I was told to call back at 5, which I did and I spoke to the surgeon who told me the surgery went well and that he was stable and recovering. He also informed me that both his legs were operated on.

This came as a shock to me, because I was previously told that they would both be done separately, but his condition was so bad that they decided to do both at once. There are pros and cons that come along with that, with the obvious con being that he can’t walk at all and needs more help. However, this means he won’t have to go through another surgery, which is great.

He’s at the hospital right now overnight, however since the hospital does not have a 24-hour staff, he’s there with no people in sight. This is so worrying to me and although they assured me that he would be fine and that they make sure he’s comfortable and stable before they leave, I can’t help but be upset that no one is there with him. I don’t even know how I’m going to go to bed tonight, as Henry sleeps with me either on the edge or under the bed. When he gets uncomfortable or misses me, he comes and plops himself right in my arms, lets out a sigh and then snuggles me to sleep.

Without fail, he will be waiting outside the door every time I step foot in the bathroom, whether it’s to wash my hands or take a shower. He is the perpetual waiter. On hot Summer nights, he lays by the screen door and just looks outside. I don’t know what he’s looking at, since it’s so dark, but he seems to like it, so we let him lounge and let him be.

He’s also fiercely overprotective. This morning while we were sitting at a traffic light, he caught a glimpse of the passenger in the car next to us and proceeded to bark up a storm. So here I am, trying to control a lunging dog while keeping both hands on the wheel, WHILE trying to turn left, all because someone looked at Henry the wrong way.

I am going to pick him up tomorrow and I suspect we’re going to have a long 8 weeks ahead of us for recovery, but it’s ok. I cannot imagine my life without him.

Henry will be having his first knee surgery (for a luxated patella) 2 days from now, on Thursday. It all happened really quickly, as I thought he would be having it a month from now, so I haven’t had a chance to process it fully until today. The surgery is quite costly, about 2 months of rent to some people, but it really doesn’t matter, because he has to get it done and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m really terrified, if I’m being honest. The thoughts that have been running through my head since I found out have been disturbing and I’m thinking of the worst, which is usually what I tend to do. The worst part is that he might have to stay a day at the hospital. It kills me knowing he won’t be near me. The recovery time is about 6 to 8 weeks and I’m just trying to prepare myself mentally to be able to take care of him. All I have to say is, thank God I have my sister and parents who can watch over him when I can’t be there. Thursday is going to be incredibly draining for me, as are the next 2 months, while I watch over him and make sure he’s ok. He’s going to have to repeat it again afterwards for the other knee, unfortunately. It’s funny, before I got him, I researched breeders for about 1 year. I read all about Maltese and went through numerous email exchanges with breeders all over California. I got him from a reputable breeder. And still, despite all of this, he has a problem (that’s very common in Maltese) that needs to be fixed. This just goes to show you that health is never a guarantee, whether it be for animals or humans.

Except for this major upset above, things in life are normal in many ways and weird in others. I’m looking for more freelance writing work and developing a couple website ideas I’ve had. I am thinking more and more about graduate school every day, but I’d like to save some money before I start applying and also get some more freelance writing jobs like I mentioned above.

To be honest with you, I’d love to do what few have attempted successfully: making a comfortable living off of a blog, that would subsequently and eventually lead to some sort of book deal, so I could spend my time at home, baking, knitting and taking care of Henry. Look at me, I sound like an old woman. I don’t really care, if you could be at home, doing all the things you dream about doing while sitting in your cube while making money off a website that more or less runs itself, wouldn’t you? I would in a heartbeat.

What else can I tell you, internet? I wish I had more enticing things to tell you, but I don’t. I’m pretty much going to be a Debbie Downer all week because my 6 lb polar bear needs surgery.

I talk to him when I’m lonesome like; and I’m sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that. ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

He coils himself asleep next to me and licks my ears every chance he gets. In the mornings and evenings, he patrols the house, like a senior member of an elite canine military, looking for the slightest sound of any disturbance outside. At 6 lbs, with a coat of white polar bear-like fur, he’s more a lover, than a fighter. He’s the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning and the last thing when I go to sleep. I never get bored of snuggling him and he never gets bored of snuggling me.

Though I hate to admit it, Henry is more like my child, than my dog. We spend almost every waking and sleeping moment together and I would not have it any other way. He’s everything I had been waiting for my whole life, as for one reason or another, I was denied a pet by my parents throughout my entire childhood. Looking back, I was upset, but now, I realize that not letting me own a dog was a really good thing. Because now, I don’t have school, social situations or homework distracting me from Henry. The only time we’re apart, is when I’m at work and sometimes that’s even too much to bare. I can’t imagine what my life was like before him. A lot of people scoff at the idea of ‘romanticizing’ a pet like I have just now, but I don’t really care. They are the type of people who either have never owned a pet, don’t like animals or treated their animals like crap, and I don’t associate myself with the latter two types.

Being a Maltese, Henry is not only rambunctious, fiercely loyal and loving, but he’s also very delicate. Like many small dogs, Maltese are susceptable to a problem known was luxating patella (or trick knee) in which the kneecap dislocates or moves out of its normal location. This is a common condition and also happens in humans as well.

When he was almost a year old, Henry begin limping while running. He wouldn’t do it very often, so I didn’t give much though to it immediately and hoped it would go away. Unfortunately, it only got worse. I did some research and suspected a luxating patella, but took him to the vet to make sure, who only confirmed my worries and said there was nothing that could be done until he was about a year and a half. We would have to wait until he was done growing. During the past 6 months, I’ve tried to minimize pressure to his knees by buying pet stairs and supplementing his diet with glucosamine and chondroitin. Well, the time to revisit this case came this weekend. He’s a year and a half now and I thought that the sooner we get this over with, the better it is for all of us, especially him.

After having x-rays done, it was confirmed that he needed surgery on both knees to correct his kneecaps. I had prepared myself for this, but for the first time, I realized what a parent must feel when told their child needs some kind of medical care. It is absolutely heart wrenching. Each leg has a recovery time of 6 weeks, however they’re going to be done separately. So, after 12 weeks of his life being miserable, he’ll be able to have almost 100 percent mobility without any pain. No pain, no gain, as the saying goes.

If you could only see him now. He’s nestled next to me, on his back, with his little white paws in the sky. He has no idea what I know. He has no idea that in about a month’s time, he’ll be back at the vet, in surgery. It breaks my heart thinking that this little 6 lb fluffball of mine is going to be operated on.

I’m praying every day that things go well when the time comes.

Sometimes, it becomes quite evident in my thought process that Henry isn’t going to be around forever. I think of this quite frequently, although I’m not sure why. I mean, everyone’s life is finite, but dogs don’t live very long and I am dreading the day when I’ll have to say goodbye to him. I know it’s unnecessary and a bit morbid to have thoughts like this, but I can’t help it. I don’t how I will ever deal with life after him. I’m just so glad he’s around. I’m so glad he picked me and I’m so glad I picked him and I don’t even want to imagine what his life would be like if someone else had gotten him. They’d probably give him up, knowing they had to pay for his surgery.

I’m trying to be strong and looking at this entire situation as something that has to be done. I’m trying to concentrate on how much his quality of life will improve after the surgery and I’m thanking God that veterinary medicine exists. I’m trying to stay positive, but I know that when he’s in surgery and I have to possibly spend a night away from him, I’ll cry. And he won’t be there to lick my tears away.

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. – Josh Billings

It was so hot today in Los Angeles that we decided it was time to put our pool and backyard to use. So we ventured outside, with towels, sun tanning lotion and two vegetarian pizzas from Trader Joe’s. I gave Henry a bath just before we went outside, but as a trade off for not being able to get wet in the pool, I let him dry off naturally in the sun. I think he enjoyed himself.