Broken Wing
My partner has an injured foot. I wish I could be more specific than that (and I’m sure she does too), but that’s almost all I can tell you. One day she noticed she was having pain in her foot. It got worse over the course of a few days, and then there was swelling. Obviously, we now needed a professional opinion.
My partner’s fear was that the doctor would just shrug and tell her to wear a boot. I was worried she had somehow developed a hairline fracture in her foot. My best friend had this a couple of years ago, and he soldiered on in his typically stoic and determined fashion. This, unfortunately, lengthened his recovery time, so I was anxious to keep my partner from making this error. The swelling finally convinced her, so off we went to discover the cause of her mysterious malady.
First we went to the urgent care clinic attached to where my GP practices. The attending sawbones shrugged and offered to x-ray her foot. Then we waited. There was no fracture, so it was suggested we go to the orthopedic urgent care facility. We did, and they shrugged and suggested, in their professional and probably expensive opinion, that she wear a boot.
This naturally galled my partner and made me appear like the hand-wringing worry wart I am. What was even more annoying (mostly to her) was that the boot actually worked. This his not been an easy time for her. She is a very active person, something she learned from her admirably inexhaustible parents. Her father once said to me “Every <family name redacted>’s middle name is ‘hard work.’” I have no reason to doubt this.
Naturally this has cramped her style enormously. Fewer, shorter dog walks, no yoga. Even her ability to cook and clean was hampered at first. Probably the worst consequence has been our absence from Cardio For Canines. We both love walking the shelter dogs, but to be fair, she loves it way more than me. It’s a genuine source of childlike joy for her, and it has hurt to be away. Last weekend, though, we decided to return, even though she is still booted.
P.S.I. (paws per square inch)
My one worry was that we would have a dog that would be extra difficult. My partner loves big, doofy dogs, and because some of the walkers at Cardio are a bit leery of those dogs, we usually take them. Sometimes they even save those dogs for her, because she likes them and is good with them. This time, however, we needed something a little more low-key, and we said so.
“Oh, no problem,” the coordinator told us. “We have one, her name’s Xena, and she is a kind of medium sized maybe pit-mix? But she’s really sweet. One person said she pulls, but you’ll probably be okay, because she’s so small.”
Something I’ve noticed about true dog lovers is they do not seem to have a real bead on terms that can be extremely relative, like “medium” and “small.” Thankfully, this time that was not a problem. Xena was indeed on the small end of medium, and she did pull, but not that hard. Unfortunately, she did pull with all the strength at her command, and she also never stopped. It was a constant pulling. I don’t know how my partner managed, because I had a few tough moments with her.
Not that any of that really mattered, because she was a very charming dog. Xena still had puppy brain, so she was very excited and wanted to explore everything. Like basically all the Cardio dogs, she had an extremely sweet disposition, and was incredibly happy to be outdoors and with some people. It was one of the better Saturday mornings we have had in a long time.
My partner likes to take pictures of every dog we walk. Sometimes it’s difficult, because they don’t want to hold still or view the sight of a crouching human as an invitation to tackle. Xena did not present this difficulty because she was extremely motivated by treats. This is a lovely quality in a dog. It means it’s not hard to get their attention and usually indicates they are very easily trained. To her credit, Xena may have loved to pull, but she did have an excellent response to the “sit” command.
I’m really happy we finally got back to Cardio. It was nice to see that smile on my partner’s face that only really happens when we leave the Humane Society on Saturdays. I’m pretty sure she forgot the boot for a minute there, and that probably put the same smile on my face.
BTW: below is a link to the humane society and their adoptable dogs. They’re all good boys and girls, so check them out!
https://www.vhslifesaver.org/adopt/adoptable-dogs
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