September 2010 Update

Addie playing with a stick with Grandma and Grandpa Key watching out for her.


We appreciate everyone's kind words, support, and suggestions regarding Addie and her post-vestibular experiences. We did wish to update everyone as to her status.

Since our last posting, Addie has now gone back to her old eating habits. Our holistic vet recommend putting her on bio-sponge which helps to sooth her GI tract. This combined with time I think, has her eating liker her old self. She now eats 90% of her meals in one sitting with no issues. We tried the raised bowls, but that just freaked her out too, so she is back to her normal bowl on the floor routine. She definitely is a creature of habit and does not like change! We are very happy that she is eating normally and no issues with the neoplasene.

As to her physical side, her head still tilts most of the time - especially when she is tired. She also is not as stable as she used to be on her legs. She falls down much more often than prior, but Addie seems to be adapting well enough to it. She will be walking along, fall down, and act as if she meant to do that. She is resilient!

We don't push her on hikes and such, but do take her out on shorter jaunts in the woods. She still loves going for rides and for hikes, but does wear out much sooner than before. But that's ok, we just slow down and enjoy nature and go back when she is ready.

The past 2 weeks she has had some really good days. Two weekends ago we were out on the mountain side taking down some dead trees and she played with her tennis ball going up and down the mountain for hours. We had to drag her back in when we were done! We did take her and Finigan to the pond this past weekend, but she no longer trusts herself to swim, so she just played on the edge of the water with her stick. It amazes me how she just knows that she should not try to swim.

She definitely has great days and some "ok" days, but the good days far outweigh the no-so-good ones. I wouldn't say she has any "bad" days really. Some days she seems more tired, and sleeps mostly, but she still has that sparkle in her eye, so I know she is still enjoying life. And when she can still go over and take away a toy from Finigan the pup, I know she still has it! :-)