The good news: Well, her personality is fully back! 😀💃🏻 

The not-so-good-news: Her personality is fully back, yet she still has a sliced abdomen with ~80 staples, and is drugged.

So Macie's usual "I can do that!" attitude is mixed in with the reality of "oh shit, I shouldn't have done that – help!!!".

I may be dipping into her drug stash before the week is over... (Hoping it's obvious that this is a joke, but since this is the humourless interwebs, THIS IS A JOKE, I'm not raiding my dog's meds.)

When we woke up this morning, she was fussing a little, but very quietly. I opened her crate, but she didn't seem to want to come out, so I figured I'd better get some pain meds in quickly. Took a saucer of pumpkin with her pill into the bedroom, and she came out of the crate eagerly to eat it all down.

Since she had had a TON of water last night, and hadn't wanted to go outside before bed, I took her (with coaxing) out the back door for a pee. She sniffed around the patio, then decided she wanted to go along the back railing (behind the Muskoka chairs, because she doesn't like going close to the edge), so I followed her, attempting to squeeze through the same places she was going (!) so she wasn't pulling on the leash. We got to the other side, which is her favourite pee place, but she was having none of it. She made me follow her down the hill to the "bowling green" which is her favourite poop place. But as we got to the bottom of the hill, she started to shiver, and sat down, realizing she'd over-exerted herself. I can't imagine how the deep snow feels on her staples, ugh – taller than my boots, which I hadn't tied properly, of course, so that I could more easily get in and out with her. THESE ARE THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE.

She wouldn't budge, and was just sitting there, shivering. There was no way I could carry her up that damned hill she'd just pulled me down (super-slippery). So I tried reverse psychology. I gave her a "wait!" command, then backed my way up the hill until the leash was fully extended, and then yelled a happy "okay!". Fortunately, she fell for it, and came trotting back up the hill with me.

She still hasn't peed or pooped today, though…

Once inside, she happily snorkelled down a full breakfast, as well as giving her usual inspection of Jasper's dishes, to make sure he hadn't left anything behind.

I put her cone back on and started up the stairs with the cats' food bowls. As I got to the top of the stairs, I heard Jasper follow me (no no bad dog). And then I heard click click thump, click click thump, click click thump (the thump being the sound of a cone hitting a step), as Macie followed, trying to stop her stinky brother from being a no no bad dog. 🤦‍♀️  She made it all the way to the very top, before getting her cone stuck on the very last step and giving up.

Fed the damned cats.

Came out of the Catpulets' room, and Macie had made her way back to the landing. Inspected her staples, and everything looks okay (there are no inside stitches, which is a relief I don't have to worry about internal bleeding, at least!).

But she realized she'd overdone it, and didn't want to come back down (and I didn't want to force her). I took off her cone to see if she wanted to try it, obstacle-free, but she just wanted to lay down, so I put her cone on and am currently keeping an eye on her from the living room couch.

I figure waiting to let her come down when she's feeling up to it is safer than me trying to lift her and carry her down a full flight of stairs.

I'd say send wine, but I think at least one of us needs to be sober to manage it all. So good thoughts only for now. Or vices that don't impair body or mind.

***UPDATE - 1:05pm – I managed to get her down safely, holding her in my arms while I butt-scooted down the stairs. She immediately wanted to go back up. I said fuck no, and put one of the long boxes in front of the stairway to dissuade her 

***UPDATE - 2:05pm – she finally peed