03 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted in Dogs
That moment when the last dog resisting an afternoon nap finally finds a comfy spot that meets his exacting standards and for the first time since 6:30am you now have 4 sound asleep pooches…
And you realize, you have to pee.
How long do you think it will be before they all settle again?
31 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted in Disability, Dogs, Who Knows What Else
Tags
fibromyalgia, intelligence of the dog, relationship, sensory overload, sensory processing disorder, sleep, training humans, Zora
After an exhausting day of agility yesterday, I fell asleep on the couch. Only to wake up, with a corgi snuggled against me, at 2:30am because the kitchen light had been left on. When I hit a certain part of my sleep wake cycle it takes very little to wake me up. Kitchen light on did it this morning.
As such I’ve been up. And zora is annoyed.
She wants to go back to sleeping nestled against me. I am not behaving she says!
I move too much. I shift. I read. I type. I research. I design and plan.
Zora communicates clearly her displeasure. And that she wants me to behave! Corgis need their sleep!
She sighs. She pokes her nose in my face. She shifts. She moves my hand and arm just where is most comfortable for her (which unfortunately is not so for me). She tries the other side of the couch. She groans. She settles in against me once more making sure I know just where she wants to be sleeping and that I need to cooperate!
Zora would like you all to know life is tough when your owner is an insomniac!
04 Wednesday Oct 2017
Posted in Disability, Dog Agility
Tags
agility, fun, my husband is awesome, NADAC, NADAC Championships, relaxing, sensory processing disorder, sleep, Tom, travel, Zora
Today was the second and final day of the pre trial. As I posted very early this morning my day started off a bit rocky. But my husband is a dear and dropped Tom and I off at the trial sit at 5:30am. He and Zora then returned to the hotel to sleep like people who can sleep well in hotels.
Because of his loveliness I was able to get a good 90min nap in my antigravity chair in the nice quiet crating area. 7am people were arriving with dogs so I woke up. Then took a nice near hour walk around the property with Tom. There is a great track that is I’m guessing based in time it took us to walk it and our usual pace near a 1/2 mile around. So we walked that 4 times around. The walk was great, I could feel my body connect to the earth again instead of the free floating feeling I’d been experiencing. After our walk we returned to the crating area and Tom and I both go another nap in.
Tom napping in our crating area after our walk
the rest of my morning was really chill. I volunteered in a class to help. I spent time just sitting in my chair. I spent time sitting in my chair petting Tom. Tom and I walked around some more. I chatted with folks. I got to play with a litter of mini Aussie mix puppies one of which, a really really nice pup is going home with a student of mine. I’m so excited for them! I had a good reconnect with my sensory system kind of a morning and early afternoon. I think Tom enjoyed the 1 on 1 attention as well.
around 2:30pm hubby and Zora arrived. Just in time to run a round of jumpers. I scratched us from the first round of jumpers and the mornings 2 rounds of hoopers. Zora was in crackerjacks, she’d basically been sleeping all morning in peace and quiet. It was a super fun non qualifying round. We practiced our switch cues a lot that round.
Sometime between 3:30 and about 6pm we ran 2 rounds of chances and qualified in both. Our 2nd run was gorgeous, felt very in sync. A great final round of the pre trial.
Zora and I hanging out waiting to go into the ring to run
after feeding the dogs, we were able to pick up our check in bag! Full of some neat stuff! First the bag itself is nice, a convenient keep sake tote bag. Inside of it was a print out listing all of the competitors and judges for the competition as well as the sponsors of it. There was also the commemorative t shirt which I really liked the design and most importantly the feel of and am looking forward to actually wearing. Also included was a dog toy, some coupon cards, a cup, another tote bag, a clicker and some other miscellaneous items donated by sponsors. Usually at every champs nadac gives out a special leash to each competitor. This year instead of the leash we each of a personalized mini jump bar that is really cool and nice. It’s done in the same theme as this year’s champs which is something about outer space which I’m not sure why that theme but it is. I’m glad they switched to these as the leashes were nice but I’m rather particular about leashes and never used the one I got at my last champs all those years ago.
We also picked out our team New England regional group shirt today as well. I think we are all supposed to wear those tomorrow.
Today they also set up both the worker raffle and the state raffle areas. The state raffles are incredible. Competitors from each state or region in attendance come together to donate items for their states raffle basket. Folks can then purchase tickets to try to win the raffle. I made a nice dog bed out of some purple upholstery fabric I had to go in the New England raffle basket.
As we were getting ready to leave some folks we know invited us to join them for a pot luck by their rvs. We didn’t have anything to contribute to the pot luck but they forgave us. Lol. It was nice to be outside with some nice folks eating hamburgers and such. A great way to end today.
Hubby and I at the pot luck dinner
Tomorrow begins bright and early with the general briefing at 7am followed by everyones walk throughs of the course. We are dog number 49 to run tomorrow. Wish us luck!
12 Wednesday Apr 2017
Posted in Disability
Tags
chronic pain, coping skills, Disability, fibromyalgia, season change, sensory processing disorder, sleep
This past weekend a good friend came by for a visit with her sister, who was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I’m going on about 12 years or so post diagnosis, and she’s in the ‘what is happening to me?!’ stage seeking support. I was happy to help. It was nice to feel like my learned life experience could potentially help and benefit someone else during their time of processing and transition.
One of the main things she was interested in and wanted to talk about was my strategies for pain management. Along with how I cope without feeling overwhelmed or hopeless (news flash: some days I do feel overwhelmed and hopeless). She seemed to find these things rather useful to consider so here are some key strategies I’ve learned to practice over the years.
A disclaimer: I’m not a medical professional and don’t claim to be. These are just some things I’ve learned work for me some of to most of the time (or sometimes not at all). Your experience may (and probably will) differ.
One of the top things I’ve learned on this journey through chronic pain: it’s fluid. There is no stable ground. I’ve learned that the only thing to assume is that things will change. So it’s helpful to have a variety of strategies in my tool box. And to not become to firmly entrenched in any of them. Be prepared to wake up one morning, find my body in revolt with none of my usual go to techniques working and it’s back to the drawing board.
Yes, I find this fact (often) (incredibly) frustrating. Especially because I like, I crave stability and a status quo. Yea, not my reality. Chronic pain and an atypical nervous system definitely nudges me more toward the ‘go with the flow’ and be adaptable despite my deep resistance to it at times. The mental “should” voice and the “But I want to!!!!” or the “This is not what I imagined in life!!!!” temper tantrums happen. Which leads me to one of the other things I’ve learned is incredibly important to have: a good support system.
Zora and I sitting in a lawn chair outside in the nice weather
My support system is comprised of beings (people and dogs) who will give me a much needed reality check reminder “yea Katrin, shoulds are a fairy tale. let it go.” Listen to me when I need to scream, cry, vent or celebrate. Often not only listen but emote with me; we laugh together, cry together, scream together, empathize and sympathize together. They remind me to practice self care. They sit on me and don’t let me out of bed Tom and Zora…And essentially remind me to be nicer to myself. More forgiving. More understanding. More empathetic. My support system over the years has become filled with good peoples. For which I am eternally grateful. Along the way to the support system I presently have, I made a number of mistakes (and still do, but hopefully different mistakes). I’ve learned, let some people go, gained some others, learned which folks in my life are good at what times in theirs, learned how I can best support them, and so on. Trial and error. Relationships are always a work in progress. More fluid. It’s a theme.
A 3rd key in this for me is data tracking. I love numbers. I thoroughly enjoy maths. And data. Numbers and data make me feel in control. They make something that often feels so arbitrary and fickle more real. Data tracking helps me find patterns that I likely otherwise would be unaware of. Data tracking helps me to be proactive in my management strategies. And helps make it harder to shift into binary thinking, the “this will never end!” “I’m always in pain!” the all or nothing. The slippery fast slope to overwhelm and hopelessness. It’s hard to say “this will never end!” when you have concrete proof that just 3 days ago you had at least 3 hours where the pain was 3 points less and therefore positively not the same level.
Over the years my data tracking has shifted and changed as the need arises (again: fluid). When I was figuring out how what I ate impacted my health (more on that in a moment), I tracked what I was eating, drinking and how I was feeling. When I was tackling my severe insomnia (more on that too in a few lines), I tracked my sleep habits and patterns and how I was feeling. Currently I track my pain and fatigue levels a few set times a day against a set written out scale. So if I jot down a number 3 it always means the same descriptive symptoms or state of being. If I jot down a number 7 it always means the same descriptive symptoms or state of being. From 1 to 10 each for pain and for fatigue levels (I couldn’t find a fatigue scale I found useful so I created my own descriptions for each number). I then do weekly averages, and monthly averages (which takes the work out of those doctor’s questions of “over the past 2 weeks how would you rate your pain?”). Quarterly I fill out the more comprehensive McGill pain assessment to help over the years better track how season changes affect me. Through this tracking I’ve been able to notice patterns and trends more readily and anticipate more easily how events, weather, seasons and such will affect me. This allows me to be more pro-active and responsive and less reactive to my situations. Data tracking has also enabled me to recognize changes in my symptoms faster (cuz denial ain’t just a river in egypt for me) which has proven useful a number of times. My data tracking is nothing fancy, no computer even. Just a printed out sheet with slots for each day of the month, a pen, and a regular old calculator for the averages, kept on the kitchen table where I don’t forget about it.
When I jot down my data tracking numbers, the other thing I do is write in my joy journal. I began a joy journal a few years ago and have found it incredibly helpful for maintaining positive perspective. At the start of each year I get a small book calendar that has a separate blank page for every day of the coming year. Then every day I write down at least one thing I found joy in that day. It’s incredibly rare, even on my worst pain or fatigue day that I end up with just 1 thing. Sometimes my joy is something simple like sitting with the ducks, or snuggling with the dogs in bed. Sometimes I jot down my joy in the weather, or that I had a nice connection with a friend. Sometimes my joy is that heating pads exist or that we have electricity to power a freezer. Or just even that I’m at a present place in my life where I have the freedom to be sick and not have to worry about paying the mortgage. I’ve found after this practice day after day for a couple of years, I can find a slice of joy no matter how trivial it may seem in every single day. Which I like. It helps remind me to smile.
5th I control my diet a lot. For me, diet and what I’m eating or drinking plays a critical key role in pain management. Migraines are the easiest to control through diet for me. My migraines are triggered by a number of factors, but food is one of the ones I actually have control over. I can’t control the weather, or the barometric pressure, or the sunlight or other things. But I can control what I eat. So I do. For me diet control is the difference between 1-2 migraines a month on average and a migraine cluster only about 2-3 times a year with only as needed migraine medication, and 20-30 migraines a month and daily migraine management medication that would eventually harm my liver. To a lesser degree I manage my fibromyalgia pain through diet, but mostly my food choices are for migraine control.
6th I have over the years found a medical and supplemental health care team that works for me. My body rejects (often severely) most medications and synthetic substances, so I’ve learned (the hard way) to take the often attitude of “the cure is worse than the disease” when it comes to medications. It took me years to just find a multivitamin that my body could and would tolerate. The medical team I currently have has been through enough of my body’s rejections of modern medical medication advances to be just as hesitant as I am (because apparently they too have embraced that things like grandmal seizures, tremors or hives aren’t a placebo either). It’s been trial and error over the years to figure out how my body responds to alternative modalities like massage, chiropractic and acupuncture too. And I now use those approaches as necessary.
Practicing good sleep hygiene is also a key for me. It’s not a cure all. I mean I still laugh every time a doctor asks me if I wake up rested after a night of sleep. Rested? What’s that feel like? Hahahahaha. Yea, no. But at least I now and for the past few years (fingers crossed) at least sleep pretty regular hours. And have figured out some workable strategies. Such as: I cannot allow myself to fall asleep before 9:30pm routinely. If I find myself falling asleep at 7 or 8pm for 2 nights in a row, I have to start forcing myself through whatever means it takes to stay up until 9pm. Otherwise my sleep schedule will become royally screwed up and insomnia will quickly rear it’s head once more. Or my husband cannot come to bed on an even hour if I’ve fallen asleep before him (which is nearly always, he’s a night owl). If he comes to bed at 12 or 2am, I will wake up and then be unable to fall back to sleep for hours. But if he comes to bed at say 12:20am or 1:45am or 2:17am, even if I rouse a little, I’ll pretty immediately fall back to sleep. I also follow the routinely recommended sleepy hygiene practices of things like when to eat or not eat before bed, temperature regulation in the bedroom, minimizing technology and light, etc. For a while I also kept a strict pre-sleep routine but I’ve been able to relax on that one the past couple of years. During the cooler months, our heated mattress pad is amazing. I definitely toss and turn and need to shift a lot less if it’s on for a bit as I fall asleep. And central air was the best investment upgrade in the house I have ever done. Since that was installed I actually can sleep in the warmer months rather consistently.
8th I live a rather (ok really) structured life. The structure of this has shifted and changed sometimes drastically at various points in my chronic pain life. Currently if you asked me what any given day of my week arbitrarily looks like I can give you a moment to moment break down simply because my day to day is very routine. That routine may differ depending on what day of the week it is, but Tuesdays always look the way my structured routine is for Tuesdays, and Wednesdays always look the way my structured routine for Wednesdays is. This routine and fine balance is what allows me what I term wiggle room. Room for some spontaneity. Room to do things that aren’t routine but I really want to do. Room to plan and make space in my life for living not just managing. My routines involve parts on exercise, rest, meeting the needs of the dogs and animals in my care, social time with others, getting out of the house, meals, water, and everything else in between that many people don’t give second thought to. Some people call this managing their spoons. Another part in my structured routine life is the flexibility to abandon it all at a moment’s notice should my body demand.
And lastly for today, one of the most important management and coping strategies I’ve found: doing something I enjoy every single day. 4 days a week this is walking with my dogs. Other days a week that might be enjoying some quality time with my ducks. Or just being outside in the yard. It might be practicing agility with Zora. Or petting and snuggling on the floor with Tom. It might be catching up on some of the TV shows I enjoy. Reading a book, or taking an online learning course. It might be concocting a new recipe. Or day dreaming about changes I’d like to make to our house someday. It might be sharing jokes and laughing with my husband. Every day, even on the extremely challenging days, I try to find a way to do something that I enjoy even if for a few moments.
Practicing something I enjoy immensely: walking with the dogs and friends in the woods
27 Monday Feb 2017
Posted in Disability, Dog Training, Guide Dog
Every so often someone asks me “On an airplane, you have to buy Tom his own seat right?”
And they express skepticism when I shrug and respond, “No, he fits under the seat in front of me. He sleeps the entire flight at my feet.” They think I’m joking when I mention the cross country flights I’ve taken where the person sitting next to me expresses shock and surprise as we stand to disembark, “That dog was there the entire time?! I had no idea!” True story. Has happened multiple times.
Because I guess unless you’ve experienced the Amazing Shrinking Tom, you wouldn’t believe it? Sure he’s a 63# lab cross, and yea he’s rather large I guess, but he curls up very small.
Well, for those disbelievers, this is where Tom chose to sleep this weekend. On his own. Simply because.
Tom curled up in a small corgi sized dog bed sleeping soundly
And let me tell you that corgi sized dog bed he decided to curl himself into and snooze in for a couple of hours is definitely smaller than the area he gets at my feet on an airplane.
04 Thursday Aug 2016
Posted in Dog Behavior, Dogs
What the heck is that sound?
I softly chuckle. Oh, it’s a zonked tired corgi snoring into the door.
Hirgh schnooosh. Hirgh schnooosh. Snort. Hirgh schnooosh.
Zora sleeping with her head pressed up against the door
I think it’s safe to say this morning’s walk was a success. 2 tired, happy dogs. 1 of which is snoring into a door. Cute silly pup.
22 Wednesday Jun 2016
Posted in Dog Behavior, Dogs
Wednesday is Nap Day. The dogs all know this, even the visitors. And the rare visitor that doesn’t realize Wednesday’s are Nap Day, well gets dirty looks from all the rest and figures it out.
Ted giving me a dirty look for disturbing his beauty sleep to take a silly photo
Yup, things around here are pretty routine. While the rest of our week can be pretty busy and active for the dogs, Wednesday’s are quiet time Nap Days. Which by Wednesday every week, we all seem to need. I mean, who doesn’t need a Nap Day by Wednesday?
Zora, Tom, Ted and Dulce snoozing
Do you have a weekly routine? And does your dog know it well?
24 Sunday Apr 2016
Posted in Dog Behavior, Dog Training, Dogs
Tags
a well rested dog is a good dog, barking, barking and lunging, crate training, Dog Training, Dogs, nap time, reactivity, sensory overload, sleep, Tom, Zora
Some dogs (generally adults) are really good at self regulating and getting the sleep they
Tom & Zora snoozing in the sun
really require to stay mentally fresh and with good stress tolerances and coping skills. Others not so much.
This is a topic I frequently found myself discussing with puppy and adolescent dog owners, and sometimes with adult dogs who came to me for behavioral concerns. In order to be mentally able to handle the stressful world at large, you dog needs to have enough down time and sleep. Which for adult dogs on average is somewhere between 14-18 hours per day, and puppies closer to 18+ hours. It’s one of the many reason I’m a big fan of dogs being comfortable in crates, not just puppies, but all dogs. Since while dog beds are nice, in a crate your dog really learns to stop and rest since getting up to follow you isn’t really an option.
A very relaxed Zora sleeping on her back
While there is some truth to the old adage, “a tired dog is a good dog,” it all has to be in balance. As an over tired dog or puppy is less likely to well tolerate stress, excitement, environmental changes, arousal, and so much more. And more likely to be socially inappropriate and reactive to their environment. Just as a dog with excess energy and not enough exercise will display similar behaviors. When I see a new puppy with owners concerned about the level of mouthy biting the puppy is doing to them, 98+% of the time the culprit is the puppy is over tired and needs more rest time. Once the owner starts putting the puppy in a quiet space for scheduled naps multiple times per day, the mouthy bities start to decrease to more normal levels. So my ideal new adage is, “Enough exercise + enough rest = a good dog.”
Tom is and seems to always have been really really good at self regulating for sleep. Right now as I type he is in his usual position at my feet completely relaxed and sleeping. If I were to get up, he might rouse slightly and watch where I am going but then likely fall back to sleep. If I am out of the room long enough or open a door, then yes he’d get up and come check on what I am doing (and if it’s nothing much, then again he’ll pretty quickly go find the nearest comfy spot and snooze), for the most part he’s a very relaxed, chill old soul of a dog who is the epitome of ‘conservation of energy’. When it’s truly go time then he’s all there and ready to roll, but until go time happens then he’ll probably be taking a nap.
Tom lying on a mat wondering why I woke him up to take a photo
Zora, on the other hand, often needs a bit more help. While she has overall in her young life been better at self regulating than many adolescent dogs that have come through my doors with their owners, a large reason she is good as good at it as she is, is such behaviors get a lot of support from the humans in the house. I keep a fairly accurate running tally in my head of activity levels and how much our life as been go-go-go. As after about 3 days, she starts to get into her super intense so wound she can’t even blink mode. Which many would say ‘oh she needs more exercise! She’s got so much energy!’ but really what she desperately needs is some quiet down time and a really long nap. She’s at that point, over tired, and more exercise will simply exacerbate the crazies that come out. Which for Zora are generally expressed with lots of barking at every little thing in the environment. Which drives me kind of nuts. And I’m sure my neighborhood loves it too. Right… And lots of really really intense inability to stop. Even when asked to lie down she is still in high drive.
The past couple of days in our life have included a lot of out door time. With me doing yard work or gardening. Which for Tom means lots of naps on the porch or wherever I happen to be in the yard, but for Zora means lots of running around the back yard, following me, sniffing, chewing sticks, playing with her toys, searching out the chipmunks, watching the ducks, and generally lots of up, down, up, down and very little actual taking a good long nap. And because our life also includes our nearly daily walk either in the woods, or on the street, or in the park, and we’ve had some friend and family over to visit meaning more excitement and activity, and we had the agility trial about a week ago, and it’s just plain spring meaning more going on in the world as a whole, Zora has reached the over tired stage. I generally know I’m correct in this when I make the executive decision that despite that we are home and doing things (which she usually wants to be a part of and out of her crate for), she is going to spend a good chunk of time in her crate and she not only willingly goes there but then indeed zonks out for hours ignoring all sorts of household movements, noise and activity. I am very much looking forward to her levels of sanity returning to more regulated normal levels when she finally wakes up (and the barking to decrease, oh yes I cannot wait for the barking to decrease once again.)
