Up The Farway Tree

More Training and ENT

I have been quite busy organising things for Team Jac and trying to get sponsor sheets out to everyone. I sent an email to everyone with the Just Giving link - however I know some people have not received this as some work places filter out email with URL's in them....so if you didn't get it please let me know, or just click on the link to the right and you will get the address. It's all coming together nicely though and we are now approaching 80 members of Team Jac :-)

Seb also had another dog training session last night. He was a little more confident this week but was still quite nervous of the other dogs. He didn't bark however, so that must have been a lesson learned! We started off by showing the trainers how we were getting on with walking to heel - she was impressed with Seb and said there had been a big improvement. That's my boy! We just need to work on our 'turns' as normally when I am walking him we don't randomly turn round so he wanted to just keep going in a straight line. We then had to practice a 'sit and stay' - he was good at this as I get him to sit and stay when I answer the front door, so he does know what the command means. In fact he looked rather bored throughout, as if it were all beneath him!! Then we did the first practice of recall - one at time in front of everyone. The trainer held the dog and then you had to call them. Most of the dogs flew down the hall at high speed, although many of them went past the owners and headed for the front door!! Seb however, wandered casually down the hall, stopping every so often to sniff the skirting boards, and I am at the other end waving maniacally and shouting his name. When he does recall at home he either ignores you completely because he is too busy barking in the garden, or he flies in at top speed and stops right at your feet. I was hoping he would do the latter in class, but I suppose as least he did come to me...albeit at his own pace ;-) I did also tell them that since I have been doing the training he has been more disobedient in other areas, for example, refusing to sit or come when asked. She said he is just trying to re exert his place as 'boss' but that I need to just be consistent and he will soon learn that this is not the case. They also came round with tit bits for the dogs and Seb was so cute - he sat down and then took it ever so gently from the trainer - she thought he was adorable! In reality, he is actually very suspicious of people giving him food so tend to carefully investigate it first, haha.

Other news is that I had my ENT appointment this week. I drove over to the hospital on Tuesday, eventually got parked and was pleased to have arrived 10 minutes early. I soon found out however that I was in fact 24 hours and 10 minutes early! My appointment was on Wednesday. What a numpty! So I went back on Wednesday and there was good and bad news. The good news is that the MRI scan did not show any major infection or anything worrying. It did show sinuses that have had far to much surgery and are completely abnormal. There were pockets of fluid in places and a few other things they could offer surgery for, however, he said that it was unlikely to help and would more likely make matters worse. So the bad news is that nothing can really be done. I did emphasise how much pain I was getting and how much this is bothering me, so he has referred me to the facial pain doctors to see if they have any suggestions. I am hoping they can find something that controls the pain a bit better. I could cope with it if it wasn't on a daily basis...it's the chronicity of it that gets me down, so fingers crossed I get some kind of answer soon.

Also on the medical front is the joint pain -my knees have been better but now my ankles are sore! I woke up during the night and could hardly move one of them, although it had eased off when I woke up. Very odd. I have also come out with the rash on my arm again, which I used to get before the transplant associated with joint pain, so there is definitely something odd going on. Hopefully it will just ease off in time though and being my knees and ankles, it must surely be related to using the joints more. I need to get it sorted though - I have a 10mile walk to train for!!

I am away this weekend up North - a wee tour to see some friends. We are heading up to Inverness tomorrow and then Elgin tomorrow night, before coming back via Aberdeen. Busy weekend ahead! I am looking forward to seeing my friends though and it will be a nice break away for us. Wee Seb is going to his granny's though - I hope they keep up his training ;-)