Ruby & Me - Part 1
The featured image for today’s blog post is called ‘3 Sisters’. It is a photo I took of our three dogs a couple of years ago, but one of my favorites. The dogs are, from left to right, Annie, Gail and Ruby. On July 16, we had to say ‘good-bye’, until we meet again to Ruby, our eldest dog. I will surely miss you. I thought I would celebrate her life by writing about three specific times that were special between Ruby and myself.
It was around the middle of June, 14 years ago, when I first met Ruby. I had my second total knee replacement on Monday, and now it was Saturday. I was still pretty sore and had trouble getting around, but my wife had told me about a miniature Aussie that was up for adoption and we needed to act fast if we were interested. So, we ended up meeting on a neutral spot so that we could see this dog and the breeders could evaluate how compatible we would be with her. Ruby had already been adopted once before, but she was returned because the older couple who had adopted her could not take on a dog with her enthusiasm and playfulness. She needed more attention than they could give her.
Ruby cautiously approached both Nancy and I. She gave us the once over sniff test, then sniffed me again. I probably had retained some of the odors of my hospital stay on me, but I must have been okay. After we decided that we would like to take this puppy home with us, we opened the car door and she hopped right in. She was already house broken and she seemed to like her new home right away.
On Monday, Nancy went to work and I began part of my rehab at home. I was to put my leg in a CPM machine that would continually bend my knee so that I would be able to regain my mobility after the surgery. I had to do this for three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon everyday for two weeks. As I strapped my leg into the CPM machine as I laid in bed, Ruby jumped up on the bed and decided to keep me company. She would lay there with me for all three hours as I had my leg strapped into that machine.
After finishing my morning routine I used my walker to go out to the kitchen, retrieve my lunch from the refrigerator and plop myself on the living room sofa so I could eat my lunch. Ruby would then lay on the rug next to the sofa and keep me company. I do think that getting some small portion of my lunch might have helped motivate her in staying with me. When I returned to the bedroom and strapped my leg back into the CPM machine in the afternoon, there was Ruby laying there next to me. This was the routine for our first two weeks together.
This was the beginning of a great friendship, two best buddies. This was the time that we bonded together, and I will never forget it. She kept me company and helped make my time in that CPM machine move along much faster.