Quality of life

We're getting used to yet another new normal. Roc has exercise restrictions now-with his pulmonary hypertension, too much excitement, stress, or activity can lead to another "cardiac incident." I'm still deciding whether I think that sounds better than "heart attack." Not so much.
So some of his favorite things are out of the question. His favorite television show (America's Funniest Home Videos) is off limits. He just gets too excited. Likewise any dog shows, cartoons or Fancy Feast commercials. I have no idea why those are his favorite things to watch, but they are and he gets way too riled up to watch them now.
Fortunately, our favorite sport season is about to start and baseball, much as we love it, isn't really very exciting. It's the only sport that packs fifteen minutes of action into three hours. We love it and it's still allowed.
One change I haven't quite figured out is how to deal with housecleaning. Roc's absolute arch-enemy is the vacuum cleaner. I've crated him for years when using it, but he still barks up a storm and goes into attack mode whenever he sees it, even if it's just passing by his crate. I'm hoping the weather will warm up soon so he can lounge in the yard. In the meantime, either the dust bunnies will proliferate or he'll go in to work on cleaning days. I'm leaning toward the bunny population explosion - but that's mostly for me. Any excuse to avoid the housework.

Cranky Ceilidh

Recent late nights have been making Ceilidh cranky. I've been glued to Olympics coverage for the last two weeks. The prime time broadcasts have lasted until 10:30 or 11:00 each night, when before I was snoozing in my chair at 9. Ceilidh glares at me with her bloodshot eyes, and I tell her that she can go to bed without me, but that doesn't work. Well, only a couple more days and then we can all catch up on our sleep. - Fran

Heartbroken

We've had our trio of bad news lately.
The worst is that our much-loved friend, Jayne Shannon Rodriguez, one of the founders of the Dolphin Research Center, died this week. DRC is our "home away from home" and we know Jayne's work and legacy will live forever. But she will be missed.
Jayne's heart failed her and hearts are at the center of our concerns. Another dear friend, Kenny, had to have a stent in his heart after experiencing "discomfort" last week. Thank goodness Ken is recuperating and we expect him to recover completely. How can such a mild word as "discomfort" begin to predict the subsequent worry for his family and friends?
And my wonderful Roc, it turns out, experienced a "cardiac incident" last Saturday when he collapsed. He has pulmonary hypertension. It's not "high blood pressure" that you think of when you hear "hypertension." We're hoping that medication will help, but we're frightened.
Hearts aren't really supposed to break, but they do.

Easy, dude!

I've mentioned more than once how much Roc enjoys watching TV. And he's one of those guys who talks back to it. Saturday afternoon and evening he managed to scare me spitless when he charged to the TV barking at some skier/luger/curler on the Olympics and then suddenly collapsed. Then popped right back up and continued barking, like nothing ever happened. A visit to the vet this morning has him scheduled for a cardiac workup tomorrow. We have high hopes that whatever it is isn't too serious. But a friend, wanting to lighten the mood, asked me if perhaps he was part-Fainting Goat. I know it's not really funny - but it is.

Just a sap

Okay, I know it's sappy and most dog people have already seen it about a kadjillion times. But it gets me every time and I like it. So there.

I Confess ...

... I'm an Olympic addict. There - I've said it! No matter the sport this winter - hockey, speed skating (long- and short-track!), skiing, luge - you name it, I'm glued to the TV. I now know what channels CNBC and MSNBC are on our cable system. I get updates on the internet. I follow local athletes on twitter. Yeah, Evan Lysacek! So sorry Kat :(

Biathlon - amazing! Nordic combined? Crazy! And curling is strangely addictive. You wouldn't think that a sport that consists of gliding a 42-pound rock down a stretch of ice with other people sweeping the ice ahead of it would be at all interesting to watch, but on my day off Roc (my little TV-watching buddy) and I were transfixed for hours. It didn't matter which teams were playing - it was kind of like watching a chess match.

Gotta check today's schedule - I think Ice Dancing starts today! - Fran

Tango loves the snow!

Lorene emailed me these pictures of Tango enjoying the latest snowfall in Michigan. Tango is the black rough Brussels Griffon with snow all over his face! - Fran

Cutest ever!

There was some sun coming in the living room yesterday afternoon landing on the dogs' bed. I managerd to take the cutest ever picture of Roc. I think it's the paw. Paws next to faces are adorable.

Quirky Ceilich

Ceilidh is a quirky dog. Every dog has quirks, but the more I hear of other dogs' eccentricities, I truly believe that Ceilidh is "extra-special!" I've written about many of Ceilidh's quirks - my lovable ADHD, obsessive-compulsive dog. I recently told Hope about one of these quirks and she burst out laughing, "And you haven't blogged about this!?!" OK, so here goes. Ceilidh gets her breakfast in a crate in the kitchen every day. And she gets a pill after she eats her breakfast every day. She has to come out of the crate for me to give her the pill, and I don't like to force her out - it has to be her idea. But she won't leave the crate until she burps. Not a little, lady-like hiccup. No - a huge, football-player-sized belch! Then she's happy, she gets her pill, and we get on with our day... - Fran