Poor Aggie—!

I just scanned this from Adam's sketchbook. I had drawn this in February to explain the horrific event of the morning.

Aggie, now 11, starting tripping and falling casually in the past year. However, in February, she took two nasty spills.

The first, I was taking her outside, and she was was a bit excited, and missed a step, ultimately "sliding" down the small flight of steps to my building. I felt really awful.

Later that week, she was bounding inside my apartment, eagerly seeking her toy, Person. Twisting awkwardly, she slipped and landed hard on her left hind hip. In the days that followed, she would yelp in pain if I touched her, or even at random moments.

Not sure if it was the first fall, second, or combination, but she ruptured a knee ligament. Fortunately, she did not need surgery, and recovered just by me making sure she stayed calm and not playful. That was a challenge as she started to feel better.

Kick ahead 6 months, and she'd basically fine...though less and less playful. She is having an increasingly difficult time getting up and laying down. If she's not laying on a rug, I have to help her up. And, I must limit moving about my loftspace too much: being a sheepdog, she's hard-wired to make sure she keeps close track of me. If I move too far from her, she compulsively follows. Sometimes, if I am not mindful and move around a lot, I catch her laying down only to struggle to get up less than a minute later. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Until I make her stay in a spot that she can monitor me without getting up.

When I saw this sketch hanging out with Adam this morning, I blurted out "Poor Aggie—!" before I was consciously aware that I had titled the sketch that.