How Much Help Will I Need After My Joint Replacement Surgery?

SUMMARY: Some additional comments

Posted on Facebook 4/24/21 for a friend who asked how much additional help she'd need post-surgery if  she already had a resident spouse/companion who's willing and able.

...an addendum to this previous post...

Short answer: 

Unless you need a lot of physical help to sit up, stand up, sit down, lie down, if you spouse is in the building and on-call 24/7, I can't see that you'd need any other assistance. I didn't need anyone during the night, ever, because I was able to get myself to the bathroom and back, set my own alarms for meds, made sure I had enough to drink and some snacks and reading and whatnot within reach from my bed at all times, etc.

I cleverly lifted my walker up over me while in bed to try to keep the dogs from jumping on me. Actually worked pretty well.
When not using this, I also built a pillow barrier (mostly with couch cushions),
which worked... sorta kinda..

Long answer:

I lined up people to stay here full time for the first 2 weeks (friends and relatives) because that's what they require by default. I believe that I got the OK to send them home after about 11 or 12 days because my progress was good. And the *main* reason I needed them was because I wanted to be in my own bedroom upstairs until the PT helped & approved me going up & down on my own; hence, I needed food, drink, ice shuttled up & down for me. Occasionally something else, such as a couple of times when I wanted to change items of clothing and for some reason it was awkward for me to do so. Or fetch another blanket. Or feed the dog. However, even on the same floor, it would've been difficult to get things & carry them around, even with the bag for the walker.

There were a few exercises that I used my assistant (whoever was there) for a few times (with PT's suggestion). I did invite whoever was here when the PT came to sit through the PT session with me to better understand my needs and why we did what we did and to get all of my questions (and my assistant's questions) answered. And so they could help *me* remember! (Although I did take notes during each session. And asked lots of questions.

Tip, keep a notebook and pen by your bed to jot down Qs for the PT, because you'll have a lot between sessions.

The 2nd main reason they were here was in case of medical issues or emergencies in the days after surgery

Note that, until surgery, I was fully capable of walking w/out an aid (cane, etc.), just not for long distances and not painlessly. AND after surgery, when they first asked me to sit up (and, later, stand up, and, later, walk), I could do so easily on my own, although they were right there making sure I didn't collapse. IF you find that you have difficulty going from lying to sitting or sitting to standing--or walking--, THEN you might need physical assistance to be readily available, and you'd need to decide who could best be there to tag-team Mike.

MOSTLY I slept a lot, and they were off entertaining themselves elsewhere in the house.

I suggested that I use my aa-ooo-ga horn to call for assistance, but my assistants pointed out that we all had cell phones, so if the person was out of easy [gentle] yelling distance, I'd just call or text.

I guess my 3rd main reason for having people around was to prevent me from being bored. 😉 We spent a loooootttt of time talking, but then, I didn't live with them full-time already.

Did I mention that you'll likely want an easy place to get to for sitting up to take meals? If you're on the same floor as your kitchen & living room, probably no biggie.

I hope that they do send an in-person PT; would've been much more challenging if it had all had to be done by zoom-equivalence.

You're lucky to have a husband dearest already in residence, so you don't have to explain where everything is to everyone different.

>>  Visit the Wordless Wednesday site; lots of blogs. << >>  Visit Cee's Photo Challenge blog; lots of blogs. <<

New Knee, Five-Day Diary (Was supposed to post Jan 24!)

SUMMARY: Another adventure in artificial human parts.

FYI Some of what follows might have been posted on Facebook first.


Saturday Jan 18: I will be stuck upstairs in my house for probably a couple of weeks. That means: Bedroom, bathroom, hallway.  Then mostly to the house for another couple of weeks. Then slowly more activity outdoors.  On a walker for some number of weeks; then walking with a cane for more numbers of weeks.

Morning before surgery. Standing on a ladder in the corner of my yard.
To my left, Martial Cottle Park. To my right, looking up my yard to my house.
That window below the chimney? That's where I'll be looking out for the next few weeks.
No ladder climbing!

So I need to make sure that my room is ready for me, that my house contains all that I'll need and that my stay-in caretakers will need (food? entertainment? Clean rooms? Clean linens? Etc.).

Bedside table with the necessities;
I'll use the large receptacle for constant ice water.
I'll drink a lot. 
Also Kindle is there; also styrofoam thingie on dresser for PT.

I have 4 days to get it all ready: Go.



P.S. I have already arranged with various relatives to stay with me to cover me 24-7 for 2 weeks, except for one night towards the end. TBD.

Tuesday a.m.: I had decided that I wouldn't board the dogs for the first couple of nights like I did for my hip replacement last year. Turns out that worrying about that kept me up a good portion of last night--because it was very useful to have them out of the way while getting things figured out and recovering initially from the surgery.  Called my agility instructors, who also do boarding, and ask whether they could manage it at the last minute. Oh, and Chip needs eye ointment and pills.  They say, sure, if I can bring them up Wed. morning. I say, sure, 9:00, see you then.

Partial list. VERY partial list.

6 p.m.  I get home from shopping and errands and discover that Kaiser has rescheduled my arrival time for tomorrow to 9 AM instead of 11. I call boarding back and say, uh, how about this evening? They very generously agree, although it means they have to do some prep work in the dark.  And fortunately my morning ride to the hospital is able to manage the 2 hour change, also.


Tuesday evening: Made a lot of progress on my list. I think it's sufficient. It's not ideal; never did sweep the stairs or kitchen or vacuum the guest room, for example.  Didn't help taking 2 hours out of the plan to take the dogs up to boarding.

Wed. a.m.  Didn't sleep all that well again.  I'm fine with the surgery: Can't wait to have the new knee. It's everythng else...

Arrive at 9 a.m.  There's a delay; surgeon had higher priority things come up, etc.

They give me an epidural to numb my right leg--but it turns out to be a challenge. Because of my recently acquired extreme lower-back scoliosis, it appears to have twisted so that injecting into the right side numbs the left leg! After several attempts, the solution is to roll me onto my right side instead of left, and then although left leg numbs first, the numbing agent moves into my right side because of gravity.  Clever.

I get an IV sedative.

Wake up a while later with a new knee.

Post-surgery. Tubes still attached to left arm (I think).
There's this cool thing in the recovery room--every bed has a "skylight"
with some photo looking up. Nice, because we're in the basement.

Physical Therapist wheels in her own step for testing.
(It folds down.) Tricky!

With delays and everything, and with my right leg not wanting to come un-numb, it's not until nearly 6 that the physical therapist can check whether I can stand and walk (with a walker) and go up and down a step. I can. Off home.

Sister #1, who took me to the place in the morning and stuck around nearby
until they released me around 6 that evening.
She came prepared with electronic gadgets for "working" (so she claims).

Mr Fox No. 12 examines the knee brace and the foam elevating wedge
while Human Mom consumes breakfast.

Thurs. a.m. I have a very sturdy velcro brace wrapped around my knee and at least a foot above and below. Expecting to wear it for several days at least to support the knee.  When I took it off midday for a nap, discovered that my initial dressing over the surgery site had filled with blood and was leaking through. Instructions said to replace with sterile gauze if that happened. Taking it off, looked like it was old blood and not still oozing, so no worries.

They sent me home with an ice machine, so I'm icing and elevating and taking pain meds and being subdued, dozy, generally happy.  Home  Physical Therapist calls to set up an appointment for  tomorrow and, wow, it's the same excellent one I had for my hip last year! Yay!

This is the wrap that *I* use over the dressing.

Friday: 

Therapist comes, goes through the first simple set of exercises with me. After the last one, she says, well, that was not just an exercise; it was a test. So your muscles are strong enough that you don't need to wear the brace! Yay!

She replaces the dressing, and there was a small bit of oozing between yesterday and today, but not much. Lookin' good.

Sister #2 and I investigate my emergency supply of tape and dressing.
Apparently for some reason I kept this tape roll. Possible to remember Jake by--
I've always played with my dogs with empty TP and paper towel cardboard tubes.
Then Jake figured out that there were cardboard tubes EVERYwhere if one looked around!

Knee Status 6 Weeks Out

SUMMARY: The new one is very good. But the technology isn't perfect.

From a Facebook post March 9.

!!! TO DO: UPLOAD PHOTOS !!!

Went in for my 6 1/2 week check-up today (March 9) with the surgery department. I'm happy happy happy with my new knee!

Per them: X-rays look perfect. Surgery scar looks perfect. Pain is very minor today. 

Side note: About 3 days ago, the knee started into constant low-level pain.
Icing didn't help, even though it always did til now.
(Multiple tries.) Acetaminophen and NSAID didn't help.
After a day and a half, finally gave up after bedtime and took
one remaining reserved heavy-duty pain pill. Knee has been pretty good since.
That has been the first time in all these weeks that I've had a problem with pain.

Takeaways:

• Walk as much as I want, let pain be my guide. 
• Don’t expect to ever do much running on it. (As in: dog agility..., hmm, we'll see... . Certainly not jogging. But I didn't anyway, so that's OK.)
• Don’t expect to ever be getting down on my knee; maybe briefly if it’s absolutely necessary, but not on a regular basis and not for very long.
  (As in: Gardening. Pulling weeds. Laying brick pathways for which I  have bricks stored up. Getting under desk to where wiring for everything goes. Scrubbing textured kitchen/hallway floors. Cleaning spots on the carpet. Many varieties of household tasks (e.g., I replaced the slide-out drawer in a kitchen cabinet last year. HAD to be on my knees.) Cleaning dog vomit from the back of a large soft crate. So many things I'm used to doing on my knees!)
• Expect that everything should be about as healed and healthy as it’s going to get after a year or so. (A *YEAR* or so?!)

Front of knee. They replaced the ends of my bones with surfaces made of chrome, titanium, and something, cemented in place, then put a pad in between to replace the cartilage that hasn’t been there for a very long time.
Some kind of plasticky stuff.

Side: and, yes, that’s my original patella hanging out at the front of my knee.

And I’m apparently in good hands: Team physicians of the San Jose Sharks? Here at this facility or at a different Kaiser? Those men take a beating, so if they can fix them, they can fix me, is the message.

Advice for Joint Replacement Surgery (Knee or Hip)

SUMMARY: Now I've done both. Some of my tips.

(Someone asked on Facebook, March 9)

Learned a bunch from my total hip replacement (THR) aftermath a year ago, and was able to put it into play before my total knee replacement (TKR) this year--and learned more from that, too. So, off the top of my head, herewith a bunch of tips.

Note: If you're living with someone, like a spouse or good friend as a roommate, etc., who's already familiar with the household and will be the one staying with you 24/7 for the first couple of weeks, some things don't apply. But I had to recruit friends & relatives to each stay for a few days/nights, so my list got pretty long.

• The result feels great! So much better than the previous status.  Both for hip and knee! Such a relief! The down time is worth it.
• Your recovery time may vary. Apparently I did pretty good both times, but also I might be younger and more active than many patients. And I've worked hard (well, struggled) to keep my weight down because of the effect that any extra pounds puts on my joints and back.  Another woman I know who also just had a new knee but is nearly 20 years older says, fuggid, exercises are too miserable, I'm just going to use a walker for the rest of my life. Makes me sad. 
• You won't be driving for probably 4-6 weeks.
• You won't be going up and down stairs for 2-3 weeks (except maybe a very few steps).
• Try to have your room, or wherever you expect to be spending the most time, ready ahead of time: fresh linen on the bed, fresh towels in the bathroom, floor vacuumed, everything cleaned up & put away so you don't have to stare at unfinished tasks, piles of laundry, etc., while you're trying to relax and recover.
• Set up a bedside table with room to put things that you might not normally put there: water to drink, miscellaneous supplies, list of exercises and pointers from  the hospital or physical therapist, etc.
• Set up bedroom: And because for the first 2 weeks I'd be stuck upstairs (no TV, no popping into the kitchen, etc.) I also tried to make sure I had things in the bedroom for me to do (books, crosswords, paperwork to work on although that fell by the wayside). And I set up a chair and tray table so that I could sit up periodically, and have meals brought up to me there.
  AND an extra chair so my assistant and I could chat together when I was up to it and felt like sitting up.
• I put the dogs in boarding so that when I got home from surgery, and for the first couple of days and nights, neither I nor anyone else had to worry about whether the dogs were causing me any problems. Mine sleep on my bed often, although I had been crating them at night for a couple of weeks before surgery, and ever since. But I don’t have anyone living with me; it was friends and relatives who are staying overnight, and I didn’t want them to have to bother with the dogs. BUT I had to arrange to have them brought home. Luckily the boarding places were willing to do so for an extra charge. 
• Get a walker for each level of your house; you'll need it for probably the first 4 weeks. Some insurance covers a walker. BUT I asked on facebook and got offers from 5 or 6 friends for a free walker that they had stashed away.
• Be prepared to carry things while using the walker: My cousin found nifty bags with pockets online that attach to the front of the walker; very handy. And a cup holder that attaches to one of the legs of the walker. Also used that a lot. Also handy to have: a bag with handles that will slip over your shoulder and preferably even across your neck (So that the bag hangs on the opposite side from your neck). And/or clothing with pockets.
• Use leggings or long underpants: I don't usually wear PJs to bed. When I'm dressed, I usually wear jeans. For this, you'll want something that's gentler than jeans (leg will swell up, repeatedly; also, incision will have dressing or tape on it for a while). Can also just wear back to bed OR around the house with a nice top to greet people. AND can easily ice your knee through it.
• And do the exercises! And do what the physical therapist tells you to do! 
• And ask all the questions that you have; some people are hesitant to do that. I found that having a notepad and a pen at hand helped me to remember the questions; I also used a list on my phone for when I wasn’t near my pad. Because questions popped up all the time. And don't be afraid to call the designated number if you have questions that you feel can't wait for your next scheduled visit or appointment! It's your health and comfort!
• Install raised toilet seat: If the bathroom that you'll mainly be using doesn't already have one, get one and install it beforehand! My friend had to do this for me *after* my surgery because I waffled for too long, and she  ended up making about 5 trips to 3 different places, and working very hard indeed to remove the existing seat,  put the riser in place, and put the seat back on--  because not every part is compatible with every other part! What a challenge! And that raised toilet seat has been SO WONDERFUL TO HAVE after the surgery--and wish actually I had installed it at least a couple of months before my hip surgery, because I had been in so much pain sitting and standing up.
• Shop beforehand and get lots of cash. Because no one lives with me, and relatives & friends would be cycling through, I stocked up on groceries to hopefully last 2-4 weeks so no one would have to go shopping for me. I also took out $300 in cash and left it in the kitchen so if anyone did have to buy anything for me (ran out of milk, picked up a prescription, something broke & had to be replaced, etc.), they could just take the $ with them.
• Icing the knee regularly & ice machine: I already had 4 good largish blue-ice packs (the soft ones) in the freezer. I have used them more and more over the last 6 weeks instead of the ice machine, because at least I can still move around. If they give you an ice machine, that's so excellent! And I didn't really *want* to move around much the first couple of weeks. Freeze 6-8 smaller water bottles and use them in water in the machine instead of trying to keep pouring out ice water and replacing with fresh ice.  And you can always use the ice in the ice machine--but trying to keep a good supply of ice in the house is tough. The first day, my sister bought a couple of large bags and we put it into a cooler, but it had melted within 2 days, long befoer we could use it. If they DON'T send you home with an ice machine, find out where you can rent or borrow one (last time I had work on my knee, a friend loaned me hers).
• Make ice: But I also like my drinks cold, so I made as much ice as my ice keeper could hold ahead of time, so I could have ice water by my bed (I have an insulated large cup with a lid and a straw) all the time, and I drank a lot! 

MORE TO COME  I think...  will make a note here if/when I add.

April 26, 2021:  And, here is more!   How Much Help Will I Need After My Joint Replacement Surgery?

Disabilities, Disney, Dissonance, and related musings

SUMMARY: Walt Disney World planning vacation with scooter.

I did Disneyland 2 years ago with a scooter, after two miserable trips to Walt Disney World without one, where I was in agony constantly, making it a challenge to enjoy my dream come true. Seriously--after wanting to go to WDW my entire adult life, I finally got to go, and my body failed me.  It was a weird dissonance between full-on joy at being there and being in so much pain that at times I could barely walk.  Thoroughly having a grand time when sitting, and not so much when trying to move. I did a *lot* of walking those trips, but only a fraction of the miles I used to cover or needed to cover for that park.

I did my best to keep myself functional...

So I finally caved and got the scooter after that for my next trip to DL (see link above). I'd cover the longer stretches in the scooter, then park and walk around a smaller area, stand in line for rides, and so on. Sure wish I could've taken the scooter in some of those lines, but I didn't try. Just learned that at WDW you can take the scooter in many lines! Very happy! The less time standing with bad knees and back, the better.

I still took a lot of photos at that last DL trip, although tougher when managing a scooter.  Like this one of my sis, bro-in-law, and Mr Fox on the train.

Wait... what was sis taking a photo of??

It was good strategy, I think, to get a lot of scooter practice at a park with which I am intimately familiar, before crossing the continent to try at a much larger, much less familiar place.

Earlier this year I got a new hip, and after I get back from my 3rd-ever trip to WDW later this year I'll get 2 new knees.

I just got home from a walk of nearly a mile (on mostly level surfaces, with a couple of brief stops to talk to people) without needing to sit down. By the end, however,  I was wishing that I had taken a shorter route, and I'm not going to do much more walking today. And, BTW, that was to pick up a form from my doc allowing me to get a temporary disabled placard for cars I'm riding in because I can't always walk a long way.  A little dissonance there, too.  Some days are better than others.

But-- "nearly a mile" of walking will hardly get one in the door at any Disney park (historically I think I averaged 10 or more miles a day of walking happily at DL -- good way to burn off all the goodies).

So I'm hoping to be able to do a lot of walking at WDW, but following the same strategy as at DL.  I'm probably the kind of candidate that people might glare at or say something, grumps who don't understand that not all disabilities are full or are visible, but if they do, no worries. I'll be very, very glad to be able to enjoy this trip so much more than the last 2 and not have to cut my days so short and miss things. And then my joy at being there, and delight at doing things with good friends who are also my relatives, shouldn't have to fall into dissonance with my body's other plans. We hope!

Health Update and looking ahead to Tuolumne

SUMMARY: Dogs and humans.

Tika's eye: Three days of ointment and the redness had nearly vanished. After the full week's course of three-times-a-day ointment, not only did her eye look good in general, but that weird lump in the inner corner completely vanished. Interesting.

Boost's itching: Itching itching itching. Still using hydroxyzine after checking with the vet that it's OK to do so. If I stop it, she definitely itches more, but it's not so bad either way that I want to use prednisone to knock it out.

Human mom: What a mess! But in some ways, not so bad!

• Left foot (diagnosed as capsulitis in 2nd metatarsal/phalangeal joint): Got a cortisone shot two weeks ago. Made it worse for a couple of days, seems to be typical. Seeing a massage person to work on that by recommendation from some agility folks. I think that's helping; following it up with homework that he gives me to work on it myself. Didn't bother me all weekend except for the rare turn in certain directions, can't quite pin it down. Whole foot, actually both feet, seem sore to pressure, once we went through and evaluated them more carefully. Interesting.
• Lower back: Not good. Sciatic nerve pain comes and goes down right leg and some in left leg, tells me that the disk problems are definitely acting up. But the muscle pain all across the lower to middle back is what's really getting me. Still not sure about whether that's a side-effect of the disk issues or a separate issue. Had no problem running all weekend, but found myself walking carefully because, again, certain twists or movements really hurt. Didn't lift much of anything, ever, and crated out of the car so didn't have to set up or tear down. Monday and Tuesday were miserable indeed.  (As in 2000/2001, sitting is the most painful thing.) On tuesday, doc put me on a short course of prednisone to try to knock out the worst of the inflammation.  MUCH better on Wednesday, although clearly not fixed. Starting physical therapy next week.
• Knees: Well, ha ha, funny knees have felt fine all through this (as long as I don't try something silly like kneeling). I felt good running all weekend, and in class last night I felt great all over, nothing made painful by running at all, even my cardiovascular endurance seemed good which makes no sense given how little exercise I've been getting. But I'm not complaining. Hope it keeps up through this weekend's CPE trial.

I really miss hiking and long walks, I'm realizing. Really really miss it. It's so tempting to just go do them and the foot pain be hanged. I think the foot is marginally better than when I first went in to see the doc, but not majorly.

And, way down deep, I think that a lot of the issues are aggravated by the fact that my weight is up to the highest it's been since 2001. Harder to tackle it if I'm supposed to be not using my foot.

Oh, and I'm going to Tuolumne** Meadows (Yosemite) in a mere 3 weeks, and had hoped to do some hiking! I'm going to be SO not ready for primetime. But at least it should be beautiful, and going with good friends, so that's all good. Haven't been up there in, wow, maybe 20 years, who ever thought it would be that long? There I am in 1970. Still have the hat, not the shirt, which was a huge favorite and perfect light-weight, quick-drying long-sleeved for backpacking or hiking.

I love this photo from wikipedia, maybe I can get some of my own like that! If my lungs can quickly acclimatize to 9000 feet (2743m) elevation:



Now you can keep images of the gorgeous high Sierras in your mind as you go about your weekend.

---

** Tuolumne, pronounced TWA-lum-ee, or too-Ah-lum-ee.

Independence Weekend USDAA - Saturday

SUMMARY: Thank goodness for Tika.

Pretty much a dull post today. No photos. No humor.  Not too much whining.  No juicy gossip.

Here's how the day went.

Boost:

• Jumpers: 2 bars, a runout, two or three turns the wrong way, spins before jumps--wow.
• Snooker: She did her parts perfectly, but I incorrectly took my eyes off her to look ahead during a turn and she went off course.
• Standard: I front crossed in the wrong place, NOT taking my eyes off her but eyes off the course and so, figures, put her onto the wrong obstacle for an off course. The opposite of Snooker. But obstacles 1-3 and 6-19 were beautiful.
• Gamblers: Beautiful opening for 25 seconds, but the time was 30 seconds and the wheels started to come off as she ran past a tire and then ran under the tire and then we were out of position for the gamble and, bleah.
• Pairs Relay: Just absolutely lovely. But no Q because our partner had issues. That's OK because I knew what I was possibly getting into when I signed up. 
• Steeplechase: Missed her weave entry and I had to go back for it, and a bar down, combining to mean (along with the blazing speeds of the top dogs) no Q. But I felt pretty good about the run otherwise, really tried pushing her and me and releasing early from the Aframe and all that, and we both did well at it.

Tika:

• Jumpers. Lovely. Same course and (I think) handling as for Boost, and WHAT a pleasure it was to run her! She is so good, so forgiving, just GETS it. Q and 1st place (of 3 veteran dogs).
• Snooker: I tried to work the tunnels hard, but she was having trouble getting into them anyway, 3 tunnels. Still, we got through #5 in the closing before I forgot to do a front cross for some stupid reason and she VERY EASILY went into the off-course tunnel (4th on the course). Doesn't that just figure? Still, nice to run her even if it wasn't a Q.

Today, legs are more tired but I still felt able to move comfortably around the courses. Jogging here and there between classes was fine. This is in *such* contrast to the last couple of trials where the knees hurt so much doing even that.  Foot feels mostly OK, just sometimes I step wrong and *ouch*.

Good friends, good times, good judges, interesting courses that flowed reasonably well from all the judges so far, nothing that I felt was too herky-jerky or overly technical. Challenging, yes, but fun to run. Love when that happens.

One more day, just 4 classes for us tomorrow but there are Masters Challenge classes between the 1st and last classes of the day in both Masters rings that we didn't enter, so might not be a super-early end to the weekend.

It's only 7:45--is it too early to go to bed?

And Here's How Saturday Went

SUMMARY: Beautiful day but not so much in the agility ring.

Alarm didn't go off. Actually figured it out this evening--alarm did go off but somehow the volume had been turned to zero.

Barely made it in time for briefing and walkthroughs, thank goodness, but took most of the first class to haul all my stuff and set it up. Didn't get a morning frisbee session in with the Merle Girls.

Jumpers: Boost knocked the first bar, so it was all over for Qing. Ran past 2 other jumps in various places but I kept going and she had actually a really nice time and the rest felt good.

Jumpers still: Tika's only run of the day. Ran PAST the first jump--what was it about the first jump? And it was all over for Qing. Had some other bobbles, but she was very happy, grabbed my foot with great enthusiasm and growling but BEFORE the last jump instead of after it. OK, she was happy.

Steeplechase: Tried to have Boost run with friend Karey whom she knows fairly well. Actually got four trotting jumps out of her before she beelined back to me.

Snooker: Almost everyone crapped out. *Almost* everyone who even Qed got a SuperQ; one superQ in 26" was left unclaimed. We couldn't even do 1-5-1-5-1-5 to the closing successfully -- knocked one of the reds, knocked a bar on one of the 5s, refusal on #2 in the closing so whistled off, oh and several refusals during the opening, too, just wasting a lot of time. We were not alone. Actually anyone who even GOT to the closing was often cheered.

Grand Prix: Wheels fell off. I'm not sure that we  successfully did even half the obstacles.

Standard: A really gorgeous run on an tough course where fewer than 20% qualified... until the very last jump, where the leash runner had dropped Boost's leash off to the side, and she drove forward to the leash, PAST the last jump. The rest of it was just about perfect, dad rat it.

Gamblers: Decent opening although one jump she repeatedly wouldn't go over both times we got to it, so wasted a lot of time and hence points weren't super high. Wouldn't send out to the gamble jump on a wrap around me.

Pairs: Ran UNDER the tire, what the hey?, and hit the dogwalk before I could bring her back, so an E for that, too.

0 for 8 Qs for the day. OK, the weather cooperated beautifully--sunny and shirt sleeves but not too warm. Friends all fun to hang with. Lots of successes among the competitors. But, really, sigh, 0 for 8.

Knee and foot held up OK although I did walk carefully and not too fast most of the day. It didn't *feel* as though running aggravated them. After being home for almost 3 hours and sitting at the computer, they don't seem any worse, not like Thursday night after much less activity.

Soooooooo on we'll go, tomorrow morning, for another full day.

One of our members makes these amazing photo backdrops, a different one for every trial! Here's this weekend's, with you know whozzz. Thanks, Erika, for taking the shot.

If It's Not One Thing, It's Two...or Three...

SUMMARY: Where's that youthful body I had JUST the other day, I'm sure it's around here somewhere.

A few weeks ago, I started having an occasional twinge in my left foot. I'd stop immediately, because that was about how I remember my 1997 stress fracture starting, but then it wouldn't reappear, so I kept going. Before Haute Dawgs (April 5-7), it made itself known more frequently. Seemed OK over the weekend, but Monday morning, walking around the house--quite tender. So, in gradual progression:

• Saw a GP; diagnosis "foot hurts."
• Got x-rays.
• Discussed x-rays, which showed nothing interesting, with my regular GP.  Diagnosis: "foot hurts." Ice, wear stiffer shoes.
• Saw podiatrist yesterday.

Diagnosis is capsulitis of the second metatarsal/phalangeal joint

Short description--there's a membrane (capsule) surrounding the joint between two  bones ( in my case, the metatarsal and phalange (and no, I didn't have to look up either one to know how to spell it) of the 2nd toe). This capsule can become inflamed from overuse or abuse. That's capsulitis.

There's actually an entire article titled Capsulitis of the Second Toe because it's so common.  (The article makes it sound much more dire than the podiatrist did.)

Who knew.

Cure? Six weeks of no use. Practical solution? (Per podiatrist, what my GP said plus more) Stiffer shoes. Better padding (gave me specific recommendation-- Spenco gel something Crosstrainers--and, wow, they do make a difference). Avoid hard or rough surfaces and twisting of foot if possible. Try to reduce activity. NSAID (already taking one--wonder if I'd have noticed it sooner if I hadn't been). Ice.

I mention this because I'm planning on two weekends of USDAA dog agility in a row here, and I'm uninclined to withdraw and lose my entry fees, plus I'm on a team with Boost next weekend so don't want to leave them in the lurch. Plus I'm not too bright sometimes and will run my Human in worse condition than I'd ever run one of my dogs. (But I have a choice and they don't really.)

Before the diagnosis Thursday morning, I went hiking with the Sierra Club Wednesday evening. Didn't bother me much on the uphill, but definitely noticed it on the downhill.

Woke up Thursday morning with one of those sore necks where you can't turn your head to the left without it hurting like crazy. Throb throb throb. Didn't mention that to the podiatrist when I saw him that morning, although it would've been interesting to see what a foot doc had to say about a neck.

To celebrate the capsulitis diagnosis, Thursday evening I went to agility class. Boost and I did mostly OK--I was late as usual on various crosses, more because I'm not moving soon enough. Boost knocked a few bars, refused a couple of incoming jumps on serpentines, missed one weave entry on her *good* side. But the rest felt lovely and fast and pretty smooth.

Knee bothered me a little, foot bothered me a little, but not enough to make it uncomfortable to walk or run as fast as I could manage.

Drove home, sat at the computer for half an hour, stood up, and WHAM both my right knee and my left foot hurt so badly that I could barely move.  Hobbled miserably to bed; so painful I couldn't get comfortable, and the pain in my neck really was...a pain in the neck. Couldn't sleep. Iced all three of them again. Hunted desperately through my cabinets for maybe some Bengay--used to have some around forever that I never used, hmmm, must've gotten rid of it.  Finally fell asleep from exhaustion about 2 a.m.

This morning--remnants of soreness in all three places, but much better than last night.

Do I really want to do this this weekend? Hey, I *am* cutting back on my activity--running only one dog (plus one a day for Tika) instead of 2 dogs.  Guess I won't plan on doing any pole setting or leash running...  and I am scheduled for the score table both weekends, so that involves lots of sitting down, which will be good.

See you all on the other side of Weekend.

Class This Week and Stuff Like That

SUMMARY: Boost: Bars. Tika: What the heck?

Tika is on two weeks' rest per the vet's instructions. No running, no tug of war. Walks are OK. She, of course, wants to run and play and is starting to look dispirited when once again I'm throwing the toy for Boost to chase while distracting Tika with treats tossed into the lawn. Oh, she likes the food, but it's so clear when we go outside and she bounds into position, ears up, eyes bright, and then instead of running, all I'll do is nudge the toy around while she's hanging onto it--she likes that, but not as much as running and tug and is just kind of giving up on me.

Last night was class, so Boost ran all the exercises. Had several bars down. Of course, usually Tika does half the exercises, so Boost had more opportunities to knock bars. After knocking hardly any last weekend.

Maybe the lawn was too damp.

AND she still can't do that entry bearing left into the weaves--you know, the entry that's supposed to be easy because the dog wraps around the first pole? This is the same entry she's always had trouble with. I don't think she ever really got that "the first pole is to your left," but instead thinks it's "go between the first two poles." Well, we have 3 months in which to practice. If I feel like it.

Tried to keep Tika feeling not attention deprived during class. Between runs, did some tricks for treats, trotted her out to the backfield to go over an 8-inch jump a couple of times, practiced some downs on the table. And gave her a lot of rubbing. Still, she went from looking excited about being there to "ok, whatever."

This will be hard on both of us, another week still to go. I'll be glad when we get the ultrasound done on Monday to find out what her heart's strength really is right now.

And my knee suddenly started hurting last night after a few weeks of wonderfulness. Seems OK today so far. Just weird.

Thinking about how/when i want to have a retirement cake for Tika. Well... for me, anyway. I'm sure she'd get some, too. Any excuse for frosting, though.

The emergency vet last weekend said she was busy admiring what great teeth Tika has. Guess we've done something right--and/or she had pretty good teeth genes. Except for that one cracked/abscessed tooth that had to come out a couple of years ago, and a few tips that look like they've broken off (versus worn down), they look pretty good to me, too.

Planning on going for a 4-6 mile walk on the level tomorrow with a friend. Normally I'd take the dogs, but I'm thinking that might not be what the vets had in mind when they talked about a walk to the end of the street. (Actually we've been doing about a mile and a quarter a day, which is less than our "normal" walk, and doing it somewhat more leisurely than usual.) Hm. Maybe I'll just leave them home this time. :-(

Still, generally, I've been pretty lucky with my dogs. Tika has done very well until a pretty good age. And Boost *likes* doing agility, even if we have some issues out there on the field.

Anyway, I think I'm rambling. Off to bed early tonight and hope for another sunrise like yesterday's:

A Good Night At Class

SUMMARY: Boost and Human Mom do well; Tika--well--

It's been two weeks since our last class; the Power Paws instructors were all off at Power Paws camp last week. We didn't do camp this year, so we were on our own for practicing.

We haven't done much in the last couple of weeks. I did set up a straight tunnel in the middle of the yard (usually they're in U shapes around the sides of the yard to give the dogs somewhere to run and keep running back into the yard). This is because, at our last trial, Boost (a) didn't seem to understand about sending to the far end of a tunnel where the opening wasn't facing her, and (b) tends to come out of tunnels and chutes and then turn back to me instead of taking the following jump.

So I set up jumps past either end of the tunnel and practiced a little bit of both of those scenarios.

Did just some random jumps and things with Tika to try to be sure that she stays in shape.

Practiced a few dogwalks and teeters. A few table downs.

Wednesday night and yesterday morning it rained a bit around here. Not a huge amount, but enough to get the ground and the grass wet, and enough so that, when class time rolled around in the evening, when the temperature hit the dew point, everything turned wet wet wet--jump bars, grass, dogs, everything.

Typically in class I alternate runs between Tika and Boost, so they're both getting half a class worth of runs. Two weeks ago, Tika ran well in her first two chances, and then on the third one, she seemed slow and uninterested, so I put her away and ran Boost instead for the rest of the evening.

Last night, Tika ran beautifully in her first run, although it seemed to me that her rear end slewed out from beneath her on many turns. Still, she was bright-eyed, happy, and eager. A break for her while I ran Boost once, then the next time I got Tika out, all she wanted to do was sniff the ground around the start line. I tried to jolly her into paying attention and running, tried restarting her, clapping hands, offering treats. Sniff sniff sniff.

Well, sniffing can be a huge displacement behavior--"I'm stressed and don't want to do this." With Tika, it's sometimes hard to know, as she is SUCH a food hound, and a damp ground probably has even more interesting smells. But when I finally grabbed her collar and almost pushed her over the first jump, she ran with me, but not particularly fast or drivingly. Not droopy or sore looking, just--not all there. So she was done for the night.

She certainly had no issues like that at our last trial. Maybe class isn't exciting enough for her, or the runs are too close together, or,  I think, maybe all that slewing around in the first run made her uncomfortable or nervous, or I dunno--just another sign that she's not going to be doing agility forever.

Boost, meanwhile, ran great! She had two bars down for the evening, and for once I was alert enough to catch her each time before she got to the next obstacle to give her a time out. Everything else was wonderful. Even better, *I* felt great last night--knee didn't bother me at all, I felt like I was hauling butt around the field, getting in what felt like aggressive crosses and such. This doesn't always happen, so it felt good all around. A couple of classmates even commented on it.

If only that all holds up for another week--our last USDAA, and last trial period, for the year next weekend.

THIS weekend, I'm off to a two-day seminar featuring THE Bob Bailey and Dr. Sophia Yin, who is another expert on dog behavior. A sampling of topics:

• "Dog training: Craft or Technology--is there a diffence?"
• "The difference measurement makes: Lessons from the treat and train project"
•  "Your mind's saying one thing, but your body's saying another: The subtle differences in technique that make one handler exceptional and another so-so"

Looking forward to it, even if it is two days of lecture!

USDAA This Weekend

SUMMARY: Out of town in Turlock

Welllll we'll see how the little bit of bar-knocking medicine I've given Boost lately helps at all. For the last month or so, I've been trying to stop her in class and in the yard every time she knocks a bar and give her a time out.

Opinions are mixed on whether this is a good idea. I've read some trainers who believe that this just stresses the dog out more. On the other hand, Boost's sister Tcam, who had a tendency to knock bars and got this same treatment I've been doing, just ran two clean runs at the World Championships and placed third in the Jumpers competition. Tcam never looks stressed out to me when we're in class--she is one happy, eager dog with a happy, eager handler.

In class last night, Boost knocked 4 or 5 bars (I'm supposed to be counting but I lost track). Not a good average. On the other hand, her last run of the evening was super duper.

Tika has been--I dunno, getting older? For the last 3 nights in a row, when she got to the stairs to go up to bed, she put one foot on the step, backed off, put it on again, hesitated--looked like she'd forgotten how to climb stairs. Or maybe something hurts when she does it, but she looks fine running in the yard and I've not seen her looking stiff....

Oh, wait, except last night in class when I tried to get her to stretch out against my chest, she wouldn't extend her front legs fully.

Oh, crap, I forgot about that. Well, too late now to find a chiropractor. Maybe it's time to dig out that How To Massage Your Dog video that I put a ticket in for in a worker raffle and won. She did look good running in class, so maybe we're OK.

My knee has felt good the last couple of weeks--I felt like I was really moving comfortably and quickly around the course last night. Hope it holds up.

Weather, thank goodness, is supposed to be mild this weekend, and although rain is coming, it's not supposed to arrive until Monday. Perfect!

I have no specific goals except to try to relax and enjoy whatever happens. The underlying goals are still, as always, to get Jumpers Qs and Snooker SuperQs with Boost, and just as many Qs as I can with Tika in the hopes of maybe being able to finish her Lifetime Achievement Platinum (500 Qs, and we need only 31 more). Not sure we're going to get there.

This weekend, out of 100 dogs competing, only three are older than Tika. But, well, they're still going, and Jake was still going at 15 (well, one run a day; and I've never known how accurate his age estimate was). So, we'll see. If we get there, that would be nice, but I think I'm done running all over the place weekend after weekend trying to get Qs.

So, here we go! Hope you all have a nice weekend doing whatever you're doing, too.

Catching Up

SUMMARY: Deaf dog training, knee, Tika feet, Stairs from Heck, agility class, movies, titles, online slang.

Deaf dog training: Ummm, not so much. Busy.

Knee: Has been feeling lovely since going up Black Mountain wednesday night.

Stairs from Heck: Did them Friday morning. They're still there. Still tough. Boy, those thigh muscles burn by the time I'm doing the last 50 or so. Wonder whether the Merle Girls get muscle burn like that? What is that, lactic acid? Ooooohhhh, yeah, here's an interesting Scientific American article about that!

Tika foot dragging: Haven't heard that toenail drag again after that one day last week.

Agility class: Boost and I did great in class Thursday night. Another thing giving me hope. Hoping that it isn't, again, false hope. For a while, TCam's Human Mom and I kept talking about switching dogs in class occasionally to see what it was like. Now that T is on the world team, I'm pretty sure Human Mom won't be in a switching place for a while.

Movies: I go to see a lot of movies. Don't often see movies twice. Just saw Avengers for the second time this morning. One can never get too much of a crew of smart, athletic, hunky, active, super-competent, wise-cracking, good-looking men. Er, I mean, I went for the action and the plot.

Titles: Last month Boost completed her Tournament Master Silver!! How could I miss something cool like that? That's 25 grand prix, Steeplechase, and DAM Team Qs, with at least 5 of each. But can't get dang Jumpers or Super-Qs. As always, go figure.

Online slang: "[headdesk]" means to bang your head on the desk as one might if one does or is the victim of something stupid. Don't say I didn't warn you.

'K, gotta go; off for a 4-mile walk with friends along the Guadalupe River Trail and Gardens and dinner (if all goes to plan) at Gordon Biersch. In 90-degree heat. Yah. Ta!

Knee Story

SUMMARY: Not that it's inconsistent or anything. And it gets to do Black Mountain.

So tell me--after two weeks of walking a couple of miles daily plus every other day doing the Stairs From Heck (2300 through last wednesday), a hike last friday up a steep hill, a weekend of agility in which I did fewer runs that the preceding agility weekend--why why WHY did my knee sunday evening decided that it had had enough?

Sunday: By the time I got home from the trial, it was already stiffening up--stiffened more & more & became quite painful. Iced it a lot Sunday afternoon & evening, lost sleep when it woke me repeatedly.

Monday: It didn't feel great, but not really terrible, either, so I decided to go for my planned two miles plus Stairs From Hell (2 passes, 230 steps each pass) after all. About halfway up, I started to think that maybe it was a mistake, but, well, the knee does tend to loosen up and feel better as I use it more, so I finished that flight. Actually went up pretty smoothly without having to stop at all, which is already different from 2 weeks prior. Walked the .75 back to the base and started up again.

Knee felt funny. As in, suddenly realizing that it was swollen! So I turned around, went back down, and went home.

That afternoon and evening, increasing pain, more icing and elevating, another night of interrupted sleep.


Tuesday: Did nothing physical, no walkies, and it still wasn't happy, but a little better. More icing. Did not wake me up Tuesday night, thank goodness.

Wednesday: In the morning, it felt pretty good. But again, I did not go for my 2-mile walk or the stairs, and my big excuse was that my Sierra Club group was doing Black Mountain for the first time this season--about 1000 feet up and 6 miles round trip.

I wasn't sure that was a good idea, either, but I'd been SO looking forward to it. Drove myself rather than carpooling in case I needed to turn around early.

As we started, there were a lot of twinges and ooches, but as usual it loosened up as we went. I still wasn't keeping up with the leaders (you know, the ones who hike up Mt. Whitney ever year the day after doing a 30-mile High Sierra backpack trip, or who backpack 800 miles across Europe every summer). But I wasn't *that* far behind most of the time, and most of that was because I kept stopping for photos and would lose another 40 feet on them.

I think I did pretty well, and again I credit 2 weeks of those Stairs From Heck, or I doubt I'd have been able to manage it. The muscles in my thighs didn't get *nearly* as tight and protesting as they do on the stairs.

The hike up was pretty--so often when we go up, everything has gone brown for the summer, but it was still green.

Plenty of wildflowers, although I proved last week that my little camera sucks at wildflower photos, plus no time with this rampaging crowd to stop and snap the flowers, so I braved only a single hurried lupine shot.

But we also saw owl's clover, blue-eyed grass, bunch of other things I don't remember, and rows of wild iris in one spot (causing one hiker to suggest with a gleam in his eye that that's where the song "My Wild Iris Rows" came from).

At the one moment that I put my camera back into my pocket and opened my water bottle for a drink, three deer appeared abruptly trailside, and I couldn't get my camera out and zoomed until the surprised critters had fled up the far hillside.

Made it to the top!

Hazy day view.

Most of the rest of the group taking a very brief break at the peak.

As for my knee, going down was another matter. Unhappy knee. Taking most of my weight on the steeper bits on my other leg. I was sure I was going to be in trouble that night or the next day.

But--nope. Felt fine that evening and overnight.

Thursday: Felt fine in the morning, too, and all day today. Go figure. Guess it likes the abuse and my mistake over the weekend was not exercising it *enough*. Heh. Well, we'll see about that--On my way to agility class in a few minutes. And tomorrow--the Stairs From Hell!

(There are a few more photos from the hike here--mostly of the hikers going up the mountain.)

Update: May 11, 10:30 a.m. Photo from Kimmy--me descending Black Mountain at sunset (black shirt and teal fleece around waist). Thanks, Kimmy!

Another USDAA Day Two of Two

SUMMARY: Everyone runs well, a surprise Steeplechase, and even a Q or two.

Best part about today: Last dog ran at 1:00! Still took over half an hour to finish up the paperwork and clean up the score table, half an hour to pack up, time to gather my ribbons, check the raffle, and a little time at the end to play frisbee with the dogs. Well--with Boost; Tika was more interested in scouting out the entire site for dropped orts (do you do crossword puzzles? Never seen this word used except there. Now *I've* used it somewhere).

Correction May 7 9:10 a.m: Left there about 2:15-- Home about 3:15, in time for a little yard play with the dogs, water some potted plants, and take a much-needed nap before meeting sister & spouse for dinner.

Tika's day--thought she was entered in only 2 classes--

• Steeplechase Round 2: When we left you yesterday, Tika hadn't qualified in Steeplechase because of a knocked bar (and Boost crapped out completely), so for the first time in a while, we slept in instead of arriving half an hour early on Sunday for Round 2. Pottied and frisbeed the dogs, and as I was walking back towards my set-up, The Voice came over the intercom, "Ellen Finch, are you running Steeplechase?" Doh. Despite being the score table person who is always tracking down nonqualifiers who get to run in Round 2 because a minimum of four dogs each height go even if they don't qualify, to make sure that they know they'll be running, I never bothered checking Tika's score, and sure enough, she got in by that rule as the #4 place.
  So, while someone held my dogs, they let me do a really fast walk through (more like two jog-throughs), then I raced to put on my running shoes, came back, and ran Tika. Another bar down! She's knocked only 4 bars out of 48 Steeplechase rounds 1 and 2 in the last 2 years, so odd to pull a bar both rounds in one weekend.
  But she was running quickly and happily again today. I think less than a second slower than the winner, but the bar dropped us to 3rd. Still, we didn't E, so a whole $9.
• Jumpers: Smooth on a course that stymied a lot of dogs or handlers; Q and I think 3rd place.
• Standard: Smooth ditto ditto ditto. Lots of 3rd places today.Correction: Tika won this class! 1st of 8, not the fastest, but one of only 2 who ran clean.
  Main flaw not wanting to go down on the table. New strategy: Just keep repeating "Down!" in rapid succession with a big arm gesture--funny seeing her go a little lower with each command until she was all the way down. Thank goodness she now needs only one more for her Gold Standard, then I think we're going to be done with Standard.

Boost's day:

• Started with Grand Prix, and OMG it was a totally beautiful run! The only flaw was leaving one contact early and starting to face me, so I had to "down" her for a moment to keep her brain together. Held her on the other two contacts. No refusals, runouts, bars, not even any major hesitations. Ended 8th of 34 dogs and a Q! That's 3 GP Qs in 6 months (out of 8 tries), after a dry spell of  three and a half years! (40 tries.)
• Next was gamblers--oh, what a disaster. Right off the bat in the opening I couldn't get her correctly into the weave poles repeatedly, and we ended up with barely the required opening points, and then wasn't even close to doing the gamble. Bleah.
• Next was Standard--ohhhhhh  my another beautiful run, no runouts or refusals, just a bar down! Feeling really nice running her!
• Last was Jumpers, and it was a tough course--and once again just beautiful; knocked a bar fairly early and at the end I got a little casual and so she ran past one jump that I didn't bother going back for (really, just a foot to her left and she could've gone over it--I *did* say "Hup!" and point to it--), but again it felt really nice.

It's those random rewards and those "Alllllmost"s that keep me coming back for more, I guess.

Boost won a bag of treats in the raffle (oh, and last weekend she won a backpack that I hadn't checked for size first, wayyy to big and so gave it back), so she continues to be my raffle-winning dog.

Me:

• Warming up. In the past, I'd do just a quick little jog to warm myself up, but since I realized 3 or 4 trials ago that that wasn't enough, I run before each run until my knee stops hurting and I can run comfortably. (Funny how that works--knee hurts less when I move it more.) I think that is making a lot of difference with me being able to move on course.
• Exercise program. I've been trying hard to get out every day and walk at least a couple of miles including going up (not down) 460 Stairs From Hell every other day at a nearby location--two weeks now, and maybe it's my imagination, but last weekend and this weekend already it feels like I have more endurance for being on course; my legs haven't felt heavy and droopy as they have so often in the last couple of years.
• Could all of this be why I'm getting some nicer runs out of Boost? I do a little extra Boost-specific training here and there, trying to keep my "new dog, new handler" theme going, but it's not a *lot* of agility training because of her having been sore.

I felt pretty good about today, even though right now my knee is very unhappy with me. Hardly bothered me all weekend, nor after last weekend. I'm sure it'll be fine tomorrow morning when I next face The Stairs From Hell.

But Tika ran well, Boost ran well in 3 of 4 runs. Again, nice weather, great friends, fun but challenging courses. Tomorrow, ah, well, back to Work.

Four-Day Agility Extravadogaganza

SUMMARY: Hopes and fears for the coming weekend.

It's time for the annual four-day insanity of agility. Why anyone wants to schedule multiple-day trials when there isn't a weekend or holiday is beyond me. And yet, I go.

In this case, because I really want to get Tika's last DAM Team Q for her (Performance) Platinum Tournament title, and this time, Team's five events are run across two days--Thursday and Friday.

In several past years, I entered only three of the days, but this time (a) I want to get as many Qs as I can with Tika before we really can't do agility any more and (b) there are additional Jumpers and Snookers on Sunday, and of course I'm hoping against hope that I can pick up Boost's Jumpers Qs and SuperQs.

So, there it is, need to stay all four days.

The weather looks like it'll be good. That's very, very, good, because it was at this 4-day trial in 2006 when it poured for several days before, leaving us walking through ankle-deep mud and ponds on the fields, and my knee swelled up like a grapefruit, and later that year I ended up with knee surgery. We're hoping to avoid a repeat.

Note to self: Need to take lots of ice and ice the knee regularly.

My hopes are:

• Tika's increasing deafness won't be as much of a handicap outdoors.
• Boost and I will somehow click and get Jumpers Qs and Snooker SuperQs. 
• Tika and I and our teammates will all click and get that last Team Q so I can stop fretting about it.
• Tika's body will hold up through 4 days and 22 runs. She's been looking good in the yard here, did some really fast table-downs yesterday that I haven't seen in a while. On the other hand, in class last week, she started out super fast and ended up obviously slower.
• Boost's body will hold up through 4 days and 22 runs. She's been coming up stiff lately after workouts. I can't figure it out myself and I probably ought to have her looked at. But she looks like me: Stiff when she first stands up and for several steps, and then loosens up and is perfectly normal walking and running.
• My knee and energy level will hold up.

I'm now kind of regretting entering everyone in everything. It's too late to scratch and get my money back, but I always have the option of scratching runs while we're there if it looks like it needs to be done. Hate to toss the entry fees like that, though.

Although--I've kinda been tossing entry fees for years trying to get Qs with Boost, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the concept.

Team:

• Tika is teamed with oft-mentioned Chaps this time--also, we're doing both Pairs runs together. So it seemed appropriate to have a team name of "Use Chapstik Every Day".  Are you just so jealous of our creativity?
• Boost is teamed with Jersey (who lives just a few blocks from us and I think we've teamed before) and another dog/person whom I don't know who are coming in from out of state--thus our "Western Alliance" team name.

I'll be sleeping in MUTT MVR for all three nights. So I really do hope the weather holds up. In fact, it might get to be almost too warm on Sunday. Well... 72F, which seems warm compared to, say, winter. If it's bright and sunny, could feel very hot running.

Ennyhoo-- not sure whether I'll post again before I go, and I don't think there's wifi there on site, so this might be it until Sunday night or Monday.

Needy Knee

SUMMARY: A morning at the physical therapy department.

I attended a two-hour knee clinic this morning. The physical therapists evaluated each of us briefly. Both of my knees bend equally well, which is good. The right knee failed another test, though: Lie flat on your back. Tighten the front thigh muscle. This is supposed to make your leg completely straight--result on my good knee was that my heel lifted about an inch off the surface. My bad leg--not a flicker of movement in my foot. So that muscle is very much weaker and/or knee has stiffened into an unstraight position.

Next, they talked about all the various symptoms of various knee problems. I scored well (as in having most of the symptoms) of both arthritis and patella issues. Bah.

And they talked about posture, alignment, and stuff like that.

Lastly came the explanations and testing of the various exercises.

I now have about 10 minutes of exercises to do every day, and an appointment to come back in two weeks to see whether I've improved.

The Knee

SUMMARY: ...is wearing out.

I saw my knee surgeon today for the first time since my surgery in November 2006. Went in because it has been doing two "funny" things: suddenly catching painfully on one side or the other, making it difficult to walk, sometimes for several minutes; or sudden weakness when i'm fatigued, feeling like it's going to buckle--but only sometimes, not with every step, and not all the time.

He looked at the xrays, checked my knee, asked some questions, and said, yup, arthritis very visible, getting pretty intense in that right knee (only a tiny smidgen of maybe arthritis in my other knee, go figure), and symptoms are typical of that. It is on track to becoming a knee-replacement candidate at some time in the future. He said it's possible that the symptoms could also indicate some minor damage to the menisci, although even MRIs are hard to read in that area so impossible to really know without going in and looking..

Meanwhile, anti-inflammatories (do prescription drugs for that all the time and have for years), additional pain meds if I need them (mostly not), cortisone injection into knee if pain gets too bad and persists (I'm nowhere near that at the moment), arthroscopic surgery again if I really want, but not clear whether he'd be able to do much while in there (that doesn't sound promising).

Things to try now:

• Glucosamine/chondroitin: He says about half his patients get some relief with this.
• Lose weight: He notes that every pound of body weight adds about 4 lbs of pressure to the knee joint.
• More physical therapy to find ways to strengthen other parts to support the knee.

Dang arthritis.

USDAA SMART Day 1

SUMMARY: The good, the bad, the inexplicable, and the--erm--Musings upon Top Ten.

Well, another day, another 12 runs--rackin' up that experience, I'm telling ya! Remained foggish and overcasty most of the day, which kept it cool and pleasant.

The Good

Boost had two amazing lovely clean runs today!

• Standard: Well, she did come off the teeter without even going all the way to the end, but it was legal. I made her stop for a few seconds anyway, and we continued, and Qed. This wasn't one of those ugly Qs, either, where you're constantly recovering from this or that almost-error. Nope, a really solid run. 8 seconds slower than the winning dog, but I'll bet 4 of them were that Post Teetermatic Syndrome.
• Steeplechase: I had resigned myself to a disaster, but Lo! It was not! Qed and even placed 6th of 32 22" dogs. Three seconds behind the winner, but there were two Aframes and I held her on both in her nice 2o/2o position and told her "Good dog!"
• Bars: Knocked only 2 in 6 runs, which is pretty darned good for her. 
• Start line-stay: Didn't break once in 6 runs, yeah!

Tika sometimes amazes me for a ten-and-a-half-yr-old:

• Ran very fast, almost over the top with excitement, the first two runs of the day (while the fog was still in). Slowed down a bit when the sun came out, but picked up as it cooled off in the afternoon. So, who knows why she was so slow those couple of trials in june/july. Maybe she just can't run through the heat like she used to.
• Standard: Had a perfectly nice  run, Qed, and placed 2nd, less than a second behind the winner.
• Jumpers: Had a perfectly nice  run, Qed and placed 2nd, although I was late on two consecutive front crosses that slowed her down visibly, and we were only 0.13 seconds behind the first-place dog.
• Steeplechase: Had a perfectly nice run, placing 3rd (just 0.6 behind the 2nd place dog) and Qing. 
• Pairs Relay: Very fast, overran the teeter but didn't get called for jumping on the side, and with our partner's nice, clean run, Qed and placed 3rd, even with my long lead-out as the 2nd dog.
• I don't believe she missed a contact all day, and it wasn't because she was slowing down to get them, so maybe the contact work is paying off a bit. Some were actually really nice running contacts (yes, no, we were not *practicing* running contacts).

Me:

• Knees and hips haven't been this pain-free in I don't know HOW long. I don't know why the change. I am grateful. First time at a trial since I can remember in months or maybe a year or two when trotting, jogging, or running didn't make me alter my stride to try to ease the stress.  (That's not to say that I'm a super runner or didn't get tired, but I felt good out there.) Big win!

The Bad

Tika:

•  Snooker. Knocked the first red, backjumped the second. What can I say? Off the course in about 10 seconds with 1 point.

Boost:

• Relay: Knocked a bar, ran past a jump. All in 11 obstacles. Bad way to start the day, but fortunately our [also] very fast partner was clean and so we eked out a Q even with those 10 fault points and my long lead-out as the 2nd dog.
• Gamble: Well, good and bad: Had a really nice smooth opening. Knocked one bar that we took twice, so that's 2 points that we didn't get, but still was the 4th highest opening points of all 40 22" dogs. Even sent out to a couple of jumps, no refusals or runouts.  The gamble? I swung her around, sent her over the first jump, and she just looped back and looked at me. Even when I finally ran out into the gamble zone and put her on the teeter directly, she hopped off the middle of it.
•  Jumpers: Gah. Don't want to talk about it. Good thing she's cute.

The Inexplicable

Boost:

• Snooker: Well, good and bad again. The first 3 reds and follow-on obstacles were fast and smooth and working at a distance and just perfect, all the bars up. Red, jump-jump, red, Aframe, red, weaves, red, weaves... and in that second set of weaves, she popped out in the middle! I can't figure out why--I wasn't going to veer away or anything, and it was the same weaves she'd just done, in the same direction, with me on the same side. Not even popped at the end, which is her usual thing if she's going to pop. Then took 3 tries to get her back in, for which I was going to get no points anyway, and by then it was all over for a Super-Q and I may have let up a little and over-pulled her off a jump in the closing.

Tika:

• Gamblers: Perfect opening. Actually did everything that Boost did (this was an early run and she was running very fast, even thru the contacts), was in perfect position for the gamble, turned and lined up straight and went right onto the teeter and the rest was a piece of gambling cake--except that she jumped off the teeter's side and came straight over to me!  Of course I forgot my camera and there were no videographers there today, so I have no idea what that might have been. SOOOO atypical of Tika in a gamble.  Sigh.

Day Summary

Both dogs will be in Steeplechase Round 2 first thing tomorrow morning--that doesn't happen often.

Can't complain about many very nice things that Boost did today, with Qs in Pairs, Standard, and Steeplechase--although, really, I wanted a Q in Jumpers and a Snooker Super-Q. :-( Trying not to be greedy, but 3 jumpers and 2 Super-Qs are all that continue to stand between us and our championship.

Tika didn't win all day, but mostly got beaten by different dogs, so it's not like she's getting beaten up by anyone in particular. And it was great to see her really excited and running through her contacts in the morning.

Musings Upon Top Ten Standings

Through continuing inexplicable Snooker happenings with Tika, we remain unable to even buy Top Ten points and continue to not show up even on the Top 25 list.  So much for being #4 in the country last year.

Some comparisons:

	Our points this year before today	Our points at this time last year	Our current placement	Placemt last yr at this time	Ended year at
Gamblers	41	26	3rd	11th	46 pts/ 6th
Jumpers	33	38	2nd	4th	63 pts/ 4th
Snooker	11	30	below 25th	5th	42 pts/ 4th
Standard	19	27	13th	12th	48 pts/ 5th

I'm not sure what it all means. I don't know why Tika seems to be racking up the 0- and 1-point Snooker runs this year. I don't believe that (mostly) I'm doing anything weird or stupid. In the last two years, it has taken 30-31 points to be in the Top Ten, and I'm only planning on 3 more USDAAs this year--if entries run about what they've been running, and even if we won all 3 (unlikely), we'd have maybe 15 more points and still be way out of the running. Funny.

In Gamblers this year, so far we're doing much better, also for no apparent reason (oh, well, until today). Last two years, it has taken 30 or 37 pts to be in the top ten--I'm guessing we're probably safely in there for this year even if we don't get any more gambles, although that would be embarrassing.

In Jumpers, it has taken fewer than 30 points to be in the Top Ten in the last 2 years, so when you add our current 33 to today's 3 more, I'm guessing that we're also probably safely in there as well.

For Standard, funny that our points are very different from last year but our placement's about the same. It has taken 34-36 points in the last 2 years to be in the Top Ten, and we are still a long way away from that--although last year at this time the #10 dog had 28 points, and this year the #10 dog has only 20. So maybe the numbers required will be lower this year.

Whoa, What Happened Here?

SUMMARY: Did Boost's Good Twin finally make an appearance?

In class last night, Boost and I did three runs and three weave-pole follow-the-leader challenges. She was perfect! I was, well,ok, almost perfect. There was one challenge where I suddenly remembered that I was doing it wrong as she was going over a jump and she knocked it as I jumped in her way, but I won't count that against her.

Otherwise, no bars down, no refusal, no runouts, not even any hesitations. Sure, some wide turns when I wasn't quite where I needed to be, but, jeez, clean run after run after run never happens!

Except with Tika! Whose third run last night disintegrated into a complete disaster and I finally just left the field with her. (But I cut her and me a lot of slack because she does so well normally.) (And also, oh, yeah, she found a bag full of another dog's dinner and ate it about 10 or 15 minutes before that, so maybe she was just a little, er, oversated.)

Not only that, but *I* felt good. Knees good, hips good, legs good, didn't get tired or winded. And that's refreshing for a change.

So maybe not practicing is a good thing??

I hope this all keeps up through this weekend! Hope hope hope.