Quick Update

Just a quick update about Chloe. She didn't end up having surgery! A few days before we were due to take her in, we decided to schedule a consultation with the surgeon since Chloe seemed to be doing better. The surgeon examined her and said that Chloe probably had a partial ACL tear, but they would prefer to wait until it was fully torn before operating. Since then, Chloe has gotten to the point that you'd never know anything was wrong. We've taken her on a couple walks, and she bounds around the house with her old playful spirit. What a relief! There's still a chance that her ACL will tear, in which case the vets recommend surgery. But now that we've had a little more time to look into things, we're thinking that we would try to either fit her with a leg brace, treat her with meds and physical therapy, or find another alternative to surgery. In addition to being expensive, it's apparently quite traumatic for the animal and has a long healing process. We've had a number of people tell us that we shouldn't do the surgery, but we're still exploring all our options.

In other good news, Chloe and I attended our first North Star Therapy Animals meeting, where Chloe received her official new leash and bandanna! We are going to the Minnesota Veterans Home this Tuesday for a tour and interview and, if all goes well, we'll be volunteering there twice a month. Much of my previous volunteer work has been in nursing homes, and I like the idea of combining that with visiting veterans. My grandfather fought in WWII, and this seems like a nice way of honoring his memory.

Tomkin is starting to get busy with weddings again. He's got one this weekend and another one next weekend. And work is picking up for me as well. I had made a New Year's resolution to have more unscheduled time, and it's been going well so far...but I can already see February and March booking up. I really have to make a concerted effort not to fill all my available time. But I sure appreciate when I have a few free hours to read, work on a project, or just relax with Tomkin and Chloe.

Anyway, now back to my regularly scheduled Hawaii blogging!