Mr. Frodo is home! Healthy and acting completely normal. On a regimen of three different medications, though, and the possibility of a sedative if needed.

Because, you see, we have to keep him quiet. On leash. No running or playing for…OMG…fourteen days.

This is a German Shepherd puppy, just over a year old, who is used to chasing the frisbee for hours each day. How in the world are we going to manage that?

I foresee many bags of dog chewies in our future, to keep him occupied and happy.

Wish me luck.

(I would post a picture of him but he’s suddenly terrified of the camera. Literally running away if I lift up my phone to take a pic.)

The news is good. Looks like he’s going to be coming home tomorrow. Everything’s looking really good right now, so cross your fingers and say prayers that nothing changes in the next 24 hours.

Thanks again to everyone who’s emailed or commented about the little mutt. We all appreciate it!

I’m speaking of our dog, Mr. Frodo. Not the hobbit.

Yeah. So this morning, I’m sitting in my office, which adjoins our bedroom, working on the computer. Music Man was still lolling in bed, and suddenly we both hear this…odd sound. Like a really hard panting.

At first, we thought it was our older dog, Tilly, dreaming and chasing something in her sleep, as dogs often do. But it sounded weird. Wrong.

Mr. Frodo (left) and Tilly on our boat last Saturday.

Suddenly, Music Man’s out of bed calling for me and I come running in and there’s Mr. Frodo, in a serious looking seizure on the floor. MM had pulled an electrical cord (from our fan) out of his mouth (getting accidentally scored with a fang in the process) and Frodo was still lying there, completely seizing up.

I’m running to get the vet’s phone number and then I come back upstairs to find Frodo lying there, eyes wide open, pupils dilated, tongue hanging out. Unmoving. He looked dead, or at least paralyzed–although we could hear him breathing.

Music Man and I got him down to the van and by that time, thank goodness, Mr. Frodo was trying to stand. But he was still totally out of it.

Anyway, long story short, he’s at the vet. Hospitalized for at least another day or two. We’ve been to visit him several times, and he seems completely fine, believe it or not. But apparently, he’s beginning to get lung edema (lungs filling with water) and all we can do is see how it develops and treat it.

So, I’ll keep you up to date on the status of Mr. Frodo. It’s hard to believe that even though he’s acting completely normal that he might yet take a bad turn.

Thanks in advance for the good thoughts and wishes I know you’ll give. More to come.

And I mean that in the most affectionate way.

Yeah. Right.

So I took the kids to the library the other night and found a couple books and DVDs…including a brand-new middle grade novel that I thought my son would like. It was squeaky-clean new, sitting on the New shelf and it was beautiful and pristine.

(You know where this is going, don’t you?)

So we’ve just gotten to where we’ll block Mr. Frodo in the kitchen/dining area when we go somewhere, instead of in his kennel. I’m careful to put everything away, to arrange the chairs and table to block the shelves where the kids’ school supplies are, etc. I pick everything off the floor. I move all counter items to a far corner.

But yesterday, I made a serious mistake. I didn’t block our other German Shepherd, Tilly, who is a mature 7 and who runs the house, in with Mr. Frodo.

Which meant he had to find his own amusements. Even though I had left him two bones and a chew toy. The little shit.

So he amused himself with The 13th Reality.

This is what was left.

I told Pirate Boy he had to read it, now that we owned it!

Okay, so…what has your puppy destroyed? Worst experience ever?

Colleen Unleashed word count update: 3,769, goal of 30,000. 10% of the way, even though the last days were like pulling teeth when it came to writing.

Fund-raising update: $250. Goal: $1,000. YESS!!!!!! 25% of the way there this first week!

Thanks to all the generous people who have already donated toward my efforts to fight against Cystic Fibrosis! You’ve helped me get the week off to a great start, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I’m really hoping to blow this goal out of the water. Can you help? If 100 people donated $10, or if 50 people donated $20, I’d be over my goal! Go here to help young CF patients like my Pirate Boy. Thank you.

~~~~~

So did you watch McCain last night? How about Palin on Wed? What did you think?

My biggest thing about all of these speakers…regardless of party…is that they’re delivering a speech written by someone else. So their ability as am orator is one thing, but I’m looking for substance–not necessarily delivery.

Yes, I enjoy getting riled up and feeling patriotic, and cheering for my country–there’s nothing like it.

But at the end of the day, it’s substance that I’m looking for: specifics. Plans. Acknowledgement of all of the issues.

Of course the details can’t be given in hour-long speeches, but I want to see/hear that the issues are being addressed, that there is a plan.

And so after I listen to the speech, and hear all the stuff the commenters say, the blog posts, etc., I go to this site: FactCheck.org.

I clicked over there and spent an hour reading up on stuff. Do it–it really helps to put things into perspective.

And here’s a new pic of Mr. Frodo and our other GSD, Tilly. Of course Mr. Frodo had to get up and find out what I was doing….