Well on our way...

It's the end of February and, despite the fact that we had a few post-surgery days when Maiki wasn't able to walk at all, we've still managed to clock up a pretty respectable running total for the first two months of the year. 650 km is just over 30% of the way towards this year's target of walking 2022 km.

I've been aware of a fair bit of arthritis pain this winter and have sometimes got frustrated at the stiffness in my back or the lack of strength in my fingers and thumbs. So it was encouraging to see that I and the dogs are still managing to keep mobile and accumulate kilometres that we can donate to medical research (to a charity that raises money to fund research into a cure for multiple sclerosis.)

No longer corazoncito...

Maiki is 13 months old, and I made arrangements to have her spayed last week. I thought it would be a straightforward matter, but the pre-surgical tests turned up something rather unexpected. An electrocardiogram (EKG) revealed that she has bradycardia - a much slower than normal heartbeat - and the chest x-rays showed a heart that was double the normal size. These two things may have been caused by the rabies vaccination she had at seven months (I've been a bit suspicious of that since noticing breathing and heartbeat changes last August) but there's no way of proving it. The vet didn't want to risk putting her under anaesthetic (and slowing the heart down even more) until the cardiologist had checked her over first.

So yesterday we had a (slightly traumatic) series of tests with the cardiologist, including an echocardiogram (ultrasound). Maiki was heroic, despite being flipped from side to side, having electrodes pinned to her legs and cold alcohol and gel put on her chest. Some heart measurements still need to be done before the final report is made but the bottom line is that she has a double heart murmur - with slight defects in two different heart valves.

"You're not going to tell me she has mitral valve prolapse, are you?" I asked the cardiologist.

"Well, yes, she has," he said. "The problems are with the mitral valve and the tricuspid valve, but they're fairly mild. But how do you know about MVP ?"

The reason I knew is that I have exactly the same heart murmur. Back in 2002, I was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse - which we think was caused by a bout of rheumatic fever some thirteen years previously. There's a strange irony in the fact that my dog and I have the same heart condition!

Anyway, the good news is that the cardiologist doesn't think that any of the issues - the bradycardia, the enlarged heart or the valve problems - need to have a major impact on normal life for this little dog. The main implication is just that I'll need to watch she doesn't do too much exercise in the hot summer weather and put undue strain on her heart. (Border collies would run and play non stop if given half a chance.) 

So, if everything else is okay when the report comes back next week, her surgery is rescheduled for next Thursday, and there will be no need for any short term or long term medication.

A big thank you to all my dog-loving friends who prayed for her and asked me to let you know how things went.

My neighbour Matilde commented, "I'll no longer be able to call her Corazoncito!" When she greets Maiki in the mornings, she always pets her and says, "Hola, corazoncito" which means, "Hallo, darling," but corazoncito literally means "little heart."

Now we know that her heart is far from little; it's twice the size of a normal heart in a dog. Somehow, I think that Matilde will still keep making a fuss of her and saying, "Hola, corazoncito."

A good start to the year...

As in previous years, I'm counting my kilometres this year and donating them to a charity that funds research into multiple sclerosis. Our year got off to a really good start. Not too many rainy days, and we managed to walk 350 km during January. That's already about 17% of our annual target, which is to walk 2022 km in 2022.

 

Happy New Year

It's the first day of February, but it's also my first blog post of this year. For a variety of reasons, there were no posts during January Even though it's late, Maiki, Teddi and I wish you happy new year and many blessings in 2022.

Christmas outreach in Alhaurīn...

Christmas is just around the corner but, as we all know, not everyone remembers the real meaning of this special time of year. That's what prompted us here in Alhaurín to plan a special outreach concert in one of the town's main squares, the Plaza de España.

It was a joint venture between our church, CCA (Centro Cristiano de Alhaurín) and the local Catholic church, San Sebastien, with musicians and singers from both congregations taking part in the celebration. It's only relatively recently that evangelical churches have been recognised as legitimate here in Spain, and so this "ecumenical" celebration caught people's attention and won the support of the Ayuntamiento (the town council).

A couple of hundred people turned out on Saturday night, some sitting on benches around the square, some on the chairs that had been provided, some standing at the back... some wearing masks and others "socially distanced" as covid regulations require.

Members of our CCA worship teams presented Christmas songs in a variety of styles, while some from the Catholic church presented Christmas songs in a flamenco style, which added a real Spanish flavour to the evening. Scripture readings were given by people from both congregations, our pastor preached a short message, and a group from San Sebastian performed a short drama about the link between Christmas and Easter.

As the celebration drew to an end, it was very moving to see so many people, both church members and passers by, holding candles and singing, "Silent Night" together.

Videos of the whole concert have appeared on various web pages, including that of the town council and one of the local newspapers. The newspaper,  Diario Alhaurín, also published lots of photos of the event.

I had gone to the celebration with my neighbour Matilde and the dogs, so we had to laugh when we discovered ourselves, together with Buba, Bonnie and Maiki, among the newspaper's photographs.

Perhaps the most exciting thing, though, was to see those words, "Dios con Nosotros" (God with us) as the backdrop to the stage, as we proclaimed God's presence and peace over our town of Alhaurín de la Torre.

Mission impossible ...

 

You might remember that I usually set myself an exercise goal at the beginning of each new year. Over the past few years, it has been to walk (with the dogs) the same number of kilometres as the year. I can then "donate" those kilometres to a charity that helps fund research into multiple sclerosis.

So, this year, 2021, our goal was to walk 2021 kilometres. We managed to keep up our kilometre tally over the summer, even when Maiki had a broken knee and wasn't allowed to walk or run for three months, because I could do the walking and push Maiki in her "invalid buggy." I was thrilled when we reached our 2021 target during August, so I decided to see if we could clock up another thousand, and reach 3021 km by the end of the year.

We were pretty much on track until the beginning of November, when I returned from a trip to France (for the KKI Europe regional conference) and discovered that it was incredibly painful for me to walk. Turned out that I had "shin splints" or medial tibial stress syndrome (here in Spain they usually call it tibial periostitis) and the doctor prescribed complete rest for the whole month of November. Friends and neighbours had to help out by taking Maiki for walks and play dates while I was on house rest for five whole weeks. Our end of November total remained at 2844 km and our 3021 km target entered the realm of Mission Impossible.

Finally, in the second week of December, the physiotherapist said it was good for me to begin walking again... but no more than one or two kilometres at a time. I'm walking with a stick, but I can drive the car to a starting point where I can walk a short circuit of no more than 2 km and the dogs can still get a good run.

So, we're not going to walk 3021 km this year, and we're probably not even going to reach last year's record of 3005 km... but I'm very thankful that both Maiki and myself seem to be healing well from this year's misadventures, and we're thoroughly enjoying our winter walks across the fields. When my leg gets stronger and the pain has faded, we'll be able to go for walks in the forest again.

All grown up...

Back in October, I wrote a blog post about Maiki's growth, with a photo taken when she was nine months old. For a variety of reasons during October, it never got posted and just remained in my drafts folder. I only discovered it this week when I decided to post this latest photo - taken yesterday on Maiki's first birthday. 

Yes, it's now official: I no longer have a puppy in the house, as she's theoretically now an "adult" dog (though border collies are notorious for having puppy energy right through the first few years of life.)

She hasn't grown in size over the past couple of months (apart from gaining one last kilo and filling out a little), but we've continued to commemorate each new month of growth, together with her littermates, as you'll see below. These were their photos when they reached ten months, and then eleven months of age.

So, now they're all grown up - three beautiful little border collies, born this time last year... rescued and adopted in early 2021.

As for Maiki's DNA testing - which you can read about in the post below - all the tests came back normal. No sign of any of the genetic diseases that can sometimes be found in the breed. It means that anaesthetic doesn't present a risk, and I'll be able to get her spayed at the beginning of the new year.