Why Dogs Rule

    I know my dear friend Chris and a few others have mentioned that they are starting to promote my blog a bit more and I can't thank them enough.  For a little while, my blogs will be a little all over the place as I learn to process my new diagnosis of MCTD, start treatments, adjust to life with this, and everything that goes with it.  I tend to be funny, sarcastic, positive (most of the time), find humor among the chaotic and insane (which is just about everything lately), but it's going to be a bit of a mixed bag for a little while.
     Usually my morning routine is the same.. My alarm goes off, it takes me at least an hour to get out of bed because my joints are in pain and very stiff, so I have to kind of work everything loose before I can get up.  Some mornings take longer than others.  On the mornings my mother has dialysis, my dog is usually either asleep on the living room couch or in my closet, waits until I pour my coffee, sit back on the bed, then comes to join me.  Unless it's really cold.  Then I'll find her curled up at the bottom of my bed in the blankets.  On higher pain days, she'll usually try to stick close to me because she senses something isn't quite right.  This morning was a bit different.  I woke up to her curled up against me when the alarm went off.  My jaw (along with everything else) hurt more than usual and moving felt almost impossible.  I have a tendency to clench my jaw in my sleep if my pain level reaches a certain point, so it's not unusual to wake up feeling like I smashed my face into something, but this morning was pretty bad.
   I started my usual routine (after, of course, scratching her nose a bit)... trying to move my fingers, toes, wrists, ankles.. working my way through my joints.  As I fought my way through the pain and each joint, I noticed she would lick the area I was trying to move, and nuzzle her nose against it.  As I tried to lift my arms a bit, she'd stick her nose under it and help me lift it.  She'd do the same for my legs and my head.  She was actually trying to help me move and get out of bed!  Once I was able to sit up, she calmly laid down next to me, head in my lap and waited until I tried to stand up.  Not once did she leave my side as I slowly got ready to head out the door.  When I did get home, I went back down to my room, took my other pain medication and she spent most of the afternoon laying at the bottom of my bed, sharing my pink fuzzy blanket.
   It is said that dogs can sense when their owners are in pain or don't feel well.  I've noticed in the past that when my mother or I are having rough days, she'll stick closer to us than usual, when we're feeling down, she'll pull out her cute pet tricks or act goofy to try to cheer us up.  But after this morning, there's no doubt that a dog needs to be trained to sense when something is really off to help its owner.  And that is why dogs rule.