Setback

Sierra has an infection in her foot and will be unable to swim until her foot is healed. She is on antibiotics in addition to all her other supplements. The antibiotics smell very horrible and will giver her a sick stomach if not taken with food- she must have them three times a day. She's not very happy with me right now.

She had a good time at the farm this weekend, minus the foot infection. She had some trouble navigating the stairs to the second floor, even with close supervision. She did enjoy running around and even met an older golden retriever. I think it might take a few days for her to recover.

She is now getting MORE supplements including lysine, lechithin, spirulina, kelp, nutritional yeast and some wheat grass. The co-Q10 and the evening primrose oil also came in with the herbal supplements. Luckily, she seems to like the herbs better then I do.

On a sad note, my co-worker had a great dane that was 2.5years old and passed away suddenly today from kidney failure. I have hugged Sierra a few extra times today for sharing over 8 years with me.

Time passes

Sierra is getting use to the routine of swimming and now gets herself into the pool on the second step. If I tell her the night before that we are going swimming, she gets me up in the morning.

DM still is taking it's toll with some days being good and some days being tough. DM is something you want to fight against and win over, but being a degenerative disease it won't go away no matter how perfect I am.

Updates

Sierra's swimming is coming along nicely. Her ears perked up when I mentioned swimming on Thursday morning- that's a good sign. She is still having a little trouble getting into the pool, but okay overall. She is really wiped out for the rest of the day and having two days off in between seems like it's pretty necessary at this point. I still don't have a stopwatch or video of her swimming, but hopefully soon. This time she actually let me suspend her in the water while she rested for a bit.

We will not be doing the Eddie's Wheel cart at this time. The used one from CA will cost almost the same as a new one. It's a really big expenditure at this time since she is still ambulatory. I figure I can wait until she is having more difficulty and order a new one if the cost is going to be basically the same anyway. Leslie at Eddie's Wheels had been very helpful throughout the process.

I have an herbal order ready to go through for Sierra and my horses. There were a few things I was missing off the Clemmons protocol. I am not sure how many more pill I can get her to eat though, as many days she doesn't want to finish what she's getting now. I am thinking about starting to grind the hard pills into powder and mixing them with her yogurt. Of course she might just then refuse her yogurt all together.

I have noticed that these warm/hot days have been tough on her. We spend more time in the basement together.

Progress

Sierra went swimming again on Monday. She was a little reluctant to get into the pool, but swam pretty good in the pool. She still gravitates towards the steps. I am teaching her to wait while standing on the steps. This will allow her a break as she is able to swim longer- take a break then do "more". I use a lot of the same cues with Sierra that I use with the developmentally delayed children that I work with. Short phrases or one word cues help her understand what is expected, "go swimming", "car ride", "up", "step", "wait", "more" and "all done" are her swimming words. I figure in 6-8 swims I will know if she is happy swimming or it she doesn't like it. If I say, "go swimming" and her ears perk up- then all is good, if I say it and she goes and hides or starts shaking then no more swimming for us.

I FINALLY got that last Eddies' Wheels measurement and called it in this week. The lady was very nice in taking the measurement and told me they just had a call about a great dane cart that was being returned. It was for a dog that almost matches Sierra's size perfectly, there are two measurements that are different by 1/2 inch. The dog in CA was an amputee, but got strong enough to not need her cart anymore. I don't know what the cost will be yet, but it's worth a try and it will be less then ordering a brand new cart. I think that the cart will allow her to walk further.

I have been slacking off on her exercises since starting swimming. As a caregiver I find that I can devote "X" amount of energy to her DM. I am 100% more careful and compassionate to Sierra since finding out about her DM. Shortly before her diagnosis I was getting pretty annoyed at her stepping on me and walking into me, she wouldn't "back up" or "move" when asked. This meant there was 115lbs of dog in my way and it seemed as though she was ignoring me. Now I understand that she is unable to "get out of the way" quickly and when she steps or falls on me it's because of the DM, not clumsiness. However, I have added the swimming, but lost some of the exercises. She is still on the nutritional diet, but I ran out of carrots last week and haven't replaced them. It's like a gain ground in one area only to lose some in another area. I have been working on tips for owner of dogs with DM and have a section about coping/caregiving. It brings the skills and emotions involved to the forefront. Caregiver is an emotionally and psychologically complicated job.

Swimming

Sierra went swimming on Thursday and the family seemed to love her. She wanted to play with their dog, but I was worried about the exertion of playing and swimming. Wise, as she was very fatigued after swimming. She swam about three circles in each direction around me before we got out of the pool. I was very thankful to have her lifevest on as it helped me direct her. Her plan as to swim in and back to the steps to get out. I am working on teaching her some words to association with swimming, so she will understand the process and feel less stressed. She was pretty tired after her short swim. She will go back on Monday (tomorrow). After swimming she had some trouble getting up/down the outside steps. She also threw up her dinner at 11pm that night. I am not sure if the vomiting was from drinking some pool water or from being fatigued. Luckily, she'll now swim in the morning and get fed in the evening, so hopefully no more vomiting. I need to get a battery for my stopwatch so I can measure her initial endurance and build her up from there. We're just going to do two days per week to start.

Pool

I have a lead on a local neighbor that may allow me to use their pool. We are going to meet them on Thursday. I bought Sierra a new doggie lifejacket as she has not been swimming in awhile and she is pretty deconditioned. I wanted to give her some extra buoyancy to start with. If we get the "all clear" from the neighbor then I will work out a program to built strength and endurance throughout the summer. I think that walking her in the fall and winter will work out okay, since it's cooler, but the hot weather is killing her. I really need someone to remind me to take the last measurement and send it to Eddie's Wheels to see if they have anything refurbished for her. Wish us luck for Thursday.