Yesterday morning I went to pick up my new boot for my tendonitis. It is giant and black and ugly! Worst of all, it hurts my ankle joint because normally I walk on the side of my foot and this forces me to walk on my flat foot. The doctor said that if I needed to be on my feet a lot, it would be good to use the old manual wheelchair we have.
Unfortunately I had to be on my feet a lot yesterday! I had to load up everything for the convention into the van, and into my friend Christi’s trailer! Well, Christi helped, too!
That part wasn’t too bad because the distance was short. Luckily we have a foldable wagon that I was able to use to reduce the number of trips.
Then we drove to the hotel where Karin and Ileana met us to help us unload. I was counting on the hotel having a nice luggage cart, but they had horrible ones that were worse than using no cart!!! So I let Christi use the wagon (since she only has one good shoulder) and I loaded things onto my wheelchair and walked them up to Christi and Karin’s rooms. Karin and Ileana helped bring things, too. It was a long distance! I walked much more than I should have, and my joints were screaming when I was done.
I pouched Alice, and left Hestia on Brad’s lap so he could supervise unloading and watch the van and trailer when we were moving things into the hotel. Alice did so well! Hestia wasn’t quite as good, she was dancing around on Brad’s lap when she was alone with him and scratched his legs all up.
After we got everything into Christi’s and Karin’s rooms, we hung out in the lobby and chatted for a while. That was fun! Then Ileana had to go to an appointment, so the rest of us went out to dinner.
We went to Don Pedro’s, a Mexican place very close by with an outdoor patio. We got the nicest server, Ryan— if you go there in Pineville, NC, I highly recommend asking for him!!! He was so awesome and really helpful.
I had Alice on my lap and Hestia on the floor. Hestia did a pretty good job until I spilled a forkful of rice on the floor underneath me. She tried about 4 times to go eat the rice… Ugh. It’s my fault—I have never worked with her on restaurant-floor behavior really, since I need a dog in my lap when I’m eating to help with my anxiety when eating. Alice was great! She hung out under my napkin and didn’t make a peep.
The waiter brought out a surprise free dessert for us—we each got a tortilla chip with whipped cream and strawberry sauce on it. I was so excited to eat mine that I forgot to put the napkin back in my lap. Wouldn’t you know it, I dropped it right on Alice’s back! She didn’t seem to notice much as I wiped whipped cream and strawberry sauce off of her fur LOLOL!
Gabby and Callie Mae (Christi’s and Karin’s dogs) were really good!!! We had a great time talking and eating and hanging out. I think we’ll definitely be back during the convention!
After dinner, we needed to go to the Food Lion where we’ll be giving the Public Access Test to scout it out for a good aisle to go to for the test. Plus Brad needed to get some sunflower butter since it’s a nut free convention and he can’t bring his PB&Js. Everyone was really excited and happy to see the pups in the store. That’s good, because it means that we probably won’t have a problem when it comes time for the PAT.
I used my wheelchair in the store because my joints were so sort from the boot. Karin was nice enough to push me a little, and Christi, too. It was awesome!
Then we finally headed home, where we collapsed in exhaustion on the couch!
Below is a picture we got on Christi’s cell phone of me in a wheelchair with Alice in a rainbow pouch and Hestia on my lap. Alice and Hestia are Japanese Chin. Next to me is Karin with her Brussels Griffon named Callie Mae. And laughing next to her is Christi with her black labradoodle Gabby. Brad was too tired to take pictures on his camera yesterday.
