I Did It!

Last night I changed my bandaging. Bruce stood behind me to help keep me steady while my head was spinning. But I did it! There was apparently no fresh bleeding from the handling of the dogs. We did our homework assignment with them and invited our friends Bassett Hound, Aden to come over for a visit. Now Aden is the sweetest, mild mannered dog I've ever met. He can become a little nervous at times but it shows up as him wanting more affection/attention. His worst times ever are with thunder storms and yes, we had some thunder towards the end of the visit. Our friend Preston who owns Aden was amazed at the difference in our dog's attitudes. Yes, we did have corrections to make but for the most part they laid on their beds while Aden had free roam of the house. Add in 3 war whooping boys to the mix and there were plenty of distractions to tempt the dogs. Sneakers seemed most tempted by the sound of the boys having a grand old time without him, but eventually he settled in with an occasional attempt of pushing his boundaries. After almost 3 hours of "visiting" our dogs had reached their max and needed their crates to just chill and sleep and not be required to do anything. The next test is having an enery filled English Bulldog named Butterbean come over tomorrow night. This will be a challenge because Sneakers LOVES to romp around our backyard with Butterbean. Reccee has not met Butterbean and she seems a bit protective of Sneakers. Last night with Aden was the first time we had another dog besides Esox and Moses in our house. Her hair raised up at first sight of Aden and she was anxious to get to him but didn't.
Training is looming faster and I keep hoping maybe that call will come and training not be needed. With each of the last 2 calls, I had appointments scheduled within 2 days on the first call and 9 days the second. My next scheduled appointment with the kidney doctor is Feb 21 and I keep wondering on whether I'll get the call close to then. When I didn't receive the first kidney everytime the phone rang my heart would skip a beat thinking this was it. After 6 weeks of it not being it and realizing that I was becoming depressed, I made myself think of things other than my health. Praise God I haven't had that issue with the 2nd call. I guess part of that was that I got the emotional dump of emotions when I was turned down. People who interact with our family have offered help in many ways and I always say that I might take them up on their offers. It's hard for me to ask for help though. Part of it is because I don't know what's down the road and that I don't want to wear out people's generosity and kindness at this stage. But truth be told, I don't know when I would. The plan at the moment is for one or both of my sisters to come here and stay with the kids while I'm having the transplant. After being released from the hospital I will go into what they call the Townhouse where I'll need someone with me 24/7 for about 3 weeks depending on my progress. In my mind, that's when the help will be needed. The Lord is dealing with me on accepting people's help and showing me that the bottom line of the issue is pride. OUCH! I've never thought of myself as being a prideful person but I actually had pride in NOT being a prideful person. Circular logic eh?