Day 10: Hallaluha we’ve found the Lord and he’s rewarded us with progress…well.

Oh ‘praise the lord’ (yes I have suddenly found religion for this can only be a punishment for the ‘dodgy’ passes we blag at theme parks - must make amends with karma and the big guy in the sky!) … BUT this mornings routine we nailed! - well, kind of.

Todays mornings antics have not been so much ‘pee related’ like yesterday… but a no.2 has made an appearance at an inappropriate time!

So he stirs about 7.30am having slept through from about 10pm like a snuffle snoring little piglet. His Pig Pen is all clean still, the nappy firmly in place. The size swap to a medium from yesterdays large is clearly key here!

So we pop on his sling that holds his legs up and he darts to the back door.

Hallelujah he’s standing! Is he???? or maybe it’s just a balance?? Not long enough to decide as a second and a half later his legs have folded under him. I whip off the nappy in hope of a morning wee. The nappy only has a little dribble in it (good sign, he’s had it on all night!) but he’s only up for a little outdoor piddle this morning. From yesterdays experience, I know there is more in there!

Time for breakfast and medication. Having learnt my lesson from yesterday, the nappy goes straight back on and I go about the back breaking task of carrying him over to his food bowl. He hangs down kinda like a ferret. The lift and carry technique needs more work!

Slight break through here, maybe a quarter of a notch of the long road to recovery … he is slightly pushing on his back legs to get down to his food bowl. Ok so I positioned the legs. But he’s doing the pressure - I think?, isn’t he??

Breakfast goes without a hitch!

Sponge bath goes without a hitch!

Physio time. Damn it that nappy needs to come off for this bit but I’m prepared. Puppy pad goes down and we’re all set for physio. (And yes the puppy pad was needed 💦 )

An ok session, still more interested in the treats than focusing on the exercises. I can’t decide if it’s him doing marginally better at it or me getting the hang of it! Either way, we still do not have a pup that can stand.

A slight distraction mid therapy was the poop he squeezed out on my lap during the - ‘I sit behind him and hold him into a stand position’ excercise.

Note to self: do not wear nice clothes for physio time!

Now for a bit of relaxing spa music on whilst he sleeps off the morning.

Well I never … this time I am definitely wide awake and not dreaming it.

It’s 11am I have been up for hours on nursing duty and hes crying like he wants to go out! Brilliant he must be starting to sense when a pee is coming! Off we go in his sling walking thing to the garden. Yep his piddling. I put him in the sit position and sit back on the step whilst I watch him.

He‘s sniffing the fresh air. Ears alert, head stretching up in the air with his eyes close … I see him take a happy deep breath and sigh. If that’s not enough to spur us both on for another impromptu physio session right here, right now then nothing is!

I move him from sitting to stand, over and over again … and hang on …. We can get to 4 seconds with him balancing in a stand! He most definitely did it! At least 3 times!.

Maybe outside is where the physio needs to happen. He wants to walk when he’s out here. His feet grip the floor better, I can feel him wanting it! Another tiny notch on our long road to recovery.

Outside is where he wants to be - we’ll get you back to this!

I find myself asking Alexa to play Will Smith - ‘Just the Two of Us’ and singing it two him whilst I make endless promises that if he can really try and walk I promise we will walk in the woods every day and make the long drive to the beach more often! … I quickly find myself adding … “or I will find someone to take you! But you will go!”

So far its a promising day!