So since this is the first post in our blog, it's going to have to be a long one. See..cause I have to explain why I am doing this blog in the first place, what brought Teeka to me and bring everything up to date with today's progress. Just warning you now haha.
So, to avoid having to tell a complete background history, we'll start at this. I am a 20 year old Cystic Fibrosis patient. Up until recently I have managed to avoid hospitals for years. Between the ages of 10 and 18 I had only been hospitalized twice.
For the past year I have been fighting an ongoing battle with pneumonia. It's been a rough go. I've been on home IV antibiotics twice, and hospitalized once (so far). For awhile, I started to give up..as..dramatic as that sounds. I felt like I would never get better. It seemed that whenever I was given a step forward, I ended up falling two steps back. I was constantly sick, and some days couldn't even drag myself out of bed. I was told I needed to get out, and exercise. Bring my lung function back up. Some days,however, I just didn't see the point.
Right around the time I got taken off my home IV in May, my parents started moving into a new house. They have three dogs. The two younger boys would have no issue staying in a kennel for a day or two while they did the move; Their older girl Teeka, on the other hand, would have gotten to stressed out in a kennel. So I agreed to take her while they did the move.
I ended up keeping Teeka for a few weeks. During that time, a seemed to have developed a small improvement. And Teeka seemed to be enjoying her stay here and didn't wish to leave. We started developing a close bond. When I lived with my parents her and I had been pretty close, but after I moved out, she seemed to ignore me anytime I went to visit. I am pretty sure she was mad at me for leaving.
It was then decided that Teeka would stay with me permanently, becoming my dog.
Being an older dog, Teeka has no problem walking a slow and steady pace. This was perfect for me, as I now had a reason to go for a walk every day. We discovered a few nice clearings in the woods nearby, and we typically take a walk up there and I let her run. She used to play with my parents two dogs, but they where much larger, younger and a bit rougher than her. Now she seems perfectly content to run and run, and play "chase me" with my boyfriend.
Having her here as put me on a schedule; I need to get up early to feed her breakfast and take her out. I need to take her out to use the bathroom, I need to walk her, I need to feed her supper and I need to go to bed early..because she gets cranky if we don't go to bed on time XD She starts sighing haha.
So that's basically the beginning. Since her arrival here, we've formed a tight bond. If I go somewhere, she's right behind me. Kitchen, bathroom, bed. Even if I try to sneak, she still follows me everywhere. Almost like she feels she has to keep an eye on me all the time haha.
To be honest, I am starting to think of her more as an "untrained" therapy dog, my companion. She's helping me recover, and teaching me the responsibilities of being a dog owner.
I made it as short as I could without leaving anything out. This blog is going to follow our progress as a team as we work together and I hopefully recover.
Because together...nothing can stop us.
