Sunday, May 20, 2007

Doing her job



8:28 a.m. A big, black paw hitting my shoulder awakes me. It hits me a few times. I reach out and pet the paw, and close my eyes--trying to get back in my dream.

The paw hits again, only this time on my face. I reach out and pet and attempt to coerce the dog to lie down and snuggle.

“Come on buddy. I’ll pet you. Lay down.”

Now the dog is standing over me, digging with her paws near my face.

8:32 am “FINE! I’M UP. O.K. I’ll TEST!”

Grab the testing kit next to my bed. The dog gives a heavy sigh and curls into a ball and rests on the bed. No more pawing me.

Fumble it open and slide a strip into the machine. Turn the light on so I can see where to put the blood.

Pick a finger to poke. Push the button. No blood.

“Dam, I need to put a new lancet in here.” It’s probably been a month since that lancet was changed.

After three pokes, I finally pierce a finger and squeeze blood on the strip.

The light goes out- sample was accepted.

Beep. 55.

Grab a juice box and slurp the whole thing down.

I reach over and pull the dog close to me. I kiss her head.

“Thanks. Good low. Good dog.”

The dog sighs and rolls over so that I can rub her belly.

We both fall back to sleep for 20 minutes.

She’s content.

I’m safe.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Honestly, I'm so jealous.

Minnesota Nice said...

I know before you said that sometimes when someone is visiting Dixie will go into another room and "sleep really hard".
Do you think she stays awake all night? Or just dozes lightly?
Or, is her radar so sensitive that she would be wakened by a signal?

Molly said...

MN Nice-
I don't think that she stays awake all night. I think that she wakes several times per night and that's when she does her check ins.
She has come in from outside to alert me, so I think that her radar is very sensitive.

Chris said...

I looove reading these posts.
And yes we are jelous too. We looked into this for emma but it definatly doensnt look promissing....either does my spelling. I am s-m-r-t.

Scott K. Johnson said...

What a special relationship you two have! Very cool.

Anonymous said...

I just love this dog. She is great to have around and she is so darn cute!!!!!!