Reyna's Baby

At the hospital last week, Reyna met her absolutely all-time favorite patient, Baby. Baby's grandmother actually saw us in the hall and asked us to come into his room. Baby was a 15-week-old who'd been in and out of the hospital since birth. He has a big dog at home, so he wasn't the least bit worried about Reyna. After greeting Mom and Grandma, Reyna was totally focused on Baby. She was very careful with him, clearly aware of the various tubes attached to him. She would stare at him for a bit, then pat him with her paw. When he smiled, Reyna would lean up and give him a few delicate little kisses, and then she'd settle back and stare some more. It was all really sweet.

Reyna was acting fairly peppy today, so we headed to the hospital despite the heat. Since we started in Pediatrics last week, we started in Cardiology today. After we finished that floor, one of the nurses checked to see if Baby was still registered. He was, so off to Peds we went. When we got off the elevator from Cardio, I asked Reyna if she wanted to go see Baby. She grabbed her leash and started trotting down the hall towards the elevator for Peds (the hospital is a bit confusing regarding which elevators actually go to which floors, but Reyna knows her way around pretty well). After making nice with some of the staff, we checked in with Child Life Services and got a list of kids to visit. I made sure they knew we were going to see Baby, since they generally don't have us visit infants. We visited with a kid who was heading to Surgery shortly, and then I started in the direction of Baby's room. As soon as Reyna saw the doorway, she bolted for the room. We were past the door before I got her stopped and could ask Grandma if we could come in - a bit of a moot point, since we were already in there.

Reyna saw Baby and started wiggling and whining. Happily, Baby was free of tubes and bandages today. Grandma tried to pet Reyna, but Reyna wasn't having anything to do with that. Mom brought Baby over, and Reyna just lost it. She was vibrating and licking and whining while trying to sit politely (that's harder to do than you might think). It was so wonderful to see Rena's utter joy in being with her Baby again.

It turns out that we got there just in time - they were getting ready to take Baby out for some tests. Just a few minutes later and we'd have missed him entirely. Mom sat in the wheelchair with Baby while they waited on the orderly who was going to push them. Reyna planted herself directly in front of the wheelchair, ears forward, eyes focused on Baby. She completely ignored the various people who came up to pet her. The orderly commented that Reyna thought Baby had food (he was gumming his fingers) and then he asked if she'd watch him like that if he started chewing on his fingers. My response? Not unless you suddenly turn into a 16-week-old infant.

When they were finally ready to go, I told Reyna to say bye to Baby. She put her paw on his foot, he grinned, and she bounced up to kiss him a few times. Multiple "awwwws" from the folks standing around. Then she sat directly in front of the wheelchair again. I told the orderly he'd need to back it up and turn around - there was no way Reyna was going to let that chair move forward. He pulled the chair backwards, turned it around, and started down the hall. Reyna popped up and started trotting along beside it - until she got to the end of the leash. Let me tell you, Reyna was not happy that I wouldn't let her accompany Baby.

Mom said there was a good chance they would be going home on Monday. For their sakes, I hope that's true. I have a feeling that Reyna will miss seeing Baby next week, though. They took a bunch of pictures last week and today, and I asked if they'd be willing to send me some for Reyna's scrapbook. Mom said she would, so I left her my email address. I hope she does - I'm sure some of those photos are absolutely adorable.

She's A Good Girl

Reyna didn't get to go to the hospital Thursday because of the rain, so we went Saturday afternoon instead. We got there at 1pm and had to sign in at the Critical Care waiting room. It took us almost 20 minutes to get out of there because several people wanted to pet Reyna. We spent our shift on the Pediatrics floor this time. We were given a list of 10 patients, and in over 2 hours, we only managed to get to 7 of them. Some of the patients (and their parents) just didn't want to let Reyna leave. One of the parents said Reyna is a hero - Reyna's visit was the first time her child had smiled since she'd been admitted to the hospital. Its really hard to tell a parent and patient that we have to go after hearing that. Reyna was a good girl, tolerating lots of hugs and pets, and even doing a few tricks (until I ran out of treats). We finally made our way off of Peds and back to Critical Care, where she was mobbed again. 1pm to 3:45pm is a long time (for both of us) to be socializing with a bunch of strangers, but Reyna did a wonderful job - and she was one pooped pup after all that. Its a good thing she doesn't have class tomorrow, because she's still worn out!

Big Ol' Mishmash

First, THANK YOU, JOHN! After much pulsing, grinding and thwaping (the truck, not me), John came over Sunday and replaced the brake pads and rotors. Once the grinding started, John told me to just keep driving the truck until he had time to work on it. But, as he said, he forgot what an over-achiever I am. One of the brake pads still had a little bit of pad left, but on the other three I'd gone through the pad, past the rivets, and down to the backing plate. At least no one can say we got rid of perfectly good brakes...

Second, Reyna had her Hospitality Pet training session at WakeMed today. Reyna is officially a therapy dog, complete with her own photo ID. We've been assigned to the cardiac floor and the pediatric floor, and we'll be going once a week for two hours (currently Thursday mornings). One thing I noticed today is that the sicker the patient appears to be, the more worried Reyna is. I'm sure she'll start to relax as she becomes accustomed to her new job.


Third, since Reyna had to have a bath in preparation for her hospital visit, everyone else got baths, too. Reyna was not enthused, but she was a good girl.


Duncan was even less enthused, but hey, its Duncan.


(My camera started fogging up here....) Kodiak either enjoyed the bath or was just too petrified to move. Either way, he was the easiest of the three.


They were all much happier once they were outside in the sunshine.


Reyna and Duncan took hours to dry. Those darn undercoats may protect them from the elements, but they also hold the water like you wouldn't believe.



For a little bit, Kodiak reminded me of those dogs that look like they have dreadlocks. He was dry in less than an hour - no undercoat at all on that pup.


Fourth, some cuteness. A few days ago, Duncan inserted himself on the couch between me and Kodiak. Kodiak wasn't too sure how to handle that. He tried resting his head on Duncan, but that didn't work.


He kept popping up and shifting around to try new positions.


Kodiak was also worried about Reyna, because I was fussing at her about chewing on her tail. That didn't help him settle down any, either.


He finally tried to go to sleep leaning against the back of the couch. No joy there.


After a while, Reyna got tired of the whole thing and kicked both boys off the couch so she could take a nap.


Fifth, group herding, which will be posted later...