Dearest Sue,
I'm blaming it all on Alex because he had the wild youth-I'm sad to say our daughter has taken up a life of crime. In addition to destruction of private property (it took over two weeks to get my new glasses in), Bailey Glory has added breaking and entering and petty larceny to her rap sheet. She has figured out how to open doors that aren't completely shut and has figured out which doors in the building don't completely shut-like the front door to the apartment across the hall...Fortunately, the guy that lives there is great and loves dogs and, more importantly, Bailey. He lost his oldest, a black lab named Enubis, in November, so now Wilhemina, a little furry mix of a thing, is all alone. Early last week, Bailey, Curley and I ran into the two of them as they were on their way out for their evening walk and we were on our way in from ours. Bailey and Wilhemina were doing laps around the hall and through his apartment, with Bailey emerging with a mouth full of Wil's toys. It was so cute and fun to watch them. They go over to the dog park a lot and now that Bailey's bigger, I might ask him if we can join them. I think the kids would have a great time. A few days later, as Bailey, Curley and I were heading out for our afternoon walk, Bailey entered the hall first while I was struggling to get Curley out while keeping Chica in, and I heard Bailey pounce on Wil's door...and the door give. I turned around in time to see her little silver butt go tearing through the kitchen before the door closed behind her. I went right over and knocked and Wil's Daddy did NOT come to the door. I had no idea if he was sleeping or out somewhere, so I did the only thing I could...I opened the door a crack and whisper screamed Bailey's name. I didn't see Bails, just a bewildered looking Wil. I called her again and this time she came whipping around the family room corner and into the hall at 90 mph...because she had Wil's favorite toy hidden in her mouth...sigh... After I fished it out, I opened the door, tossed it back into Wil, who was waiting for it by the front door, and ran. I swear you're going to see her or me on the 6:00 news before she's a year old...
But, actually, as you'll see with the photos, she's been AMAZING with Chica while she recovers from the surgery to remove the skin cancer tumor on the side of her toe. She came home on the 26th with a bandage up to the pad on the back of her leg that completely encased her paw. Because of this, Bailey felt it was her job to assist Chica with her grooming rituals. She has also barely let Chica out of her sight and insists on sharing her bed. And Chica hasn't minded all the attention one little bit. The biggest challenge with this has been keeping the bandage dry in the terrible weather we've had the last few weeks. Thankfully, Mom sent me home with a bunch of newspaper bags at Christmas-they're the perfect length. Bailey instantly recognized that Chica couldn't play with her as she usually does and most of the time is understanding that I have to take Chica out separately-MOST of the time! And the first week we were going out A LOT! The night after her surgery, Chica came down with diarrhea. They thought it was a reaction to the Rimadyl, so they stopped that, but when it continued they had me try small frequent meals, then boiled chicken, then two anti-diarrheal meds. When it hadn't stopped by Monday, I had her at our regular vet's office. He diagnosed her with Colitis and gave her a shot of penicillin. He also put her on Flagyl, the same meds Alex takes when his Crohn's flares up. Well, we went from everything coming out of her butt to nothing coming out of her butt until four days later. I was beginning to wonder if things would ever get back to normal and if she'd ever get back to eating her own food. In a week's time I made 30 pieces of chicken, noodles (which she hated), mashed potatoes (which she also hated), and cottage cheese (nope!). The only thing I could get into her besides the boiled chicken was some plain yogurt mixed with peanut butter. Typically I'm a once-a-week grocery shopper, but this turned me into my Mom and had me at Wegman's daily! I was truly grateful I took the rest of the week following her surgery off. She and I were only sleeping a few hours at a time since she had to go out so frequently and I would have been a total zombie staring at a computer screen all day. I did try to get some stuff done around the house at first, but she kept following me from room to room and since she needed to rest, I parked it on the couch, burned through a bunch of stuff on my NetFlix list and got a lot done on my Christmas crafts. In addition to the Bucilla Mary Engelbreit Advent Calendar I'm working on, which is coming out SO cute!, I've also started a stocking for Chris to take with him when he deploys in the Fall and another little cross-stitch project. Chica goes back to the vet tomorrow and I'm praying she'll have healed enough to have the sutures out and the bandage removed. On the plus side, the biopsy results came back pretty good. It's on the low end of a Grade 2 and all her margins were clear, so now we wait and see.
I hope and pray that Mike is well on the mend by this point and that the remainder of your family is healthy and happy, too. You all are never far from our thoughts and hearts.
Much Love,
Sarah & Bailey Glory (or prisoner # 1328K75 as she's now known...)
