Happy Halloween!

This might be a Halloween costume or it might be subtle commentary on all the pooping I've been doing in the kitchen (on old towels) after breakfast. I'm feeling a lot better so I'm more mobile, and that can create trouble in a hurry!

We thought it could be fun to have a large fin and be LandShark for Halloween, but I plan to be tucked in my bed come Trick or Treat time. Got to get my beauty/shell-healing sleep.

Just think, this BioHazard label is about the size that bladder stone took up in my body. I'm sure glad that thing is just a hard-earned souvenir now. Even Ripley's Believe It or Not would be amazed.

Let's Get Physical (Therapy)

To get my hind legs moving again after surgery and hauling around that bladder stone for so long, I had physical therapy twice a day for 10 days. See, I told you I've been very busy! I thought this was pretty cool for about a week but as I started feeling better, I decided to assert my independence. Before that, my hind legs were pretty limp and I could only lurch around my tub. But once I got some of my strength back, look out! I can pull my legs in tight and then push them out hard to break free. And when I've had enough, that's IT! But now I get to do more fun things for exercise, like doing laps in the kitchen. Of course I always remember to "set my core" and "move as a unit."

Here's a short video of the Range of Motion therapy on my hind legs. I do have to wonder: Does this make my butt look big?

It's a very good thing that PT helped me so much because I don't know how Dr. QiLing Lu would have given me acupuncture instead. I'm not sure I would sit still for all those baby fine needles but I would like her heat lamp and Chinese music. Since I'm better now, I guess we'll just never know.

Here's another video of PT, but from the tortoise-eye view. You can see why it can get boring so that's why I started listening to the tv so I could be a more patient patient.

As I was saying....

Sorry for the long break in posting but I've been one busy gal. Recovery is a lot of work! First I had to start pooping again, so I had to take new "motility" medicine plus antibiotics and get extra feedings to get things moving again after the surgery. I have finished all my medicines and I can now safely report: Mission Accomplished. I am pooping really well. In fact, my tortoise dad declared a Poop-mergency just yesterday as I outdid myself. What can I say, I'm an overachiever like my tortoise mom.

I also had physical therapy twice a day to get the nerves to my back legs working again (stay tuned, there's a video). But I think what helped me most was getting to walk around the kitchen. Wow, that sure perked me up! There are new places to explore and barricade boxes to examine. I still can't figure out why I can't climb through this one box that has a dark label on it, a la Roadrunner cartoons. Some things are just fascinating at tortoise eye view.

I get questions about what I'm eating and what the set-up looks like where I spend 90% of my time. So here's the scoop: For now I stay in the bathtub of the guest bathroom. I have a little box at one end of the tub, away from the basking light so I can cool down when I need to. Plus I like my privacy when I'm getting a little shut-eye. The lights are on a timer and hang from an extra shower rod at a height that keeps the warm end of the tub in the low to 90s and the cool end in the mid 80s. I have to move around to manage my body temperature--there's no thermostat under my shell!

I have pesticide-free timothy hay in my tub so I don't have to slip and slide on newspapers when I walk. I guess I could try eating some but I haven't been interested in that. I do get Oxbow Critical Care powdered timothy hay and vitamins in my feeding tube. Then they flush the tube with water after. Talk about fine dining! Sometimes it was all a bit too much and I would open my mouth with the overflow, so they had to cut back on the amount. Lately I've been getting 20ml of the Oxbow hay with a 20ml water chaser twice a day. I was getting 15ml of water midday but yesterday my tortoise mom decided I needed to cut back.

I'll write more soon. The World Series is on and I'm a big Derek Jeter fan. You might think this is funny, but the tv really gets my attention. I don't like it when the dog next door barks, so I always cringe, but I listen to the tv. I might watch if they'd let me but so far I'm limited to easy to clean places--something about poop-mergencies.