Category: Foot

What to Wear

7/13/2014

So mommy is sad over at her blog because she has to wear normal shoes now that she has plantar fasciitis. I am sorry that her foot is hurt, and hope it heals soon. That would certainly be a huge problem for a bird to have a hurt foot. I remember poor Ollie squiggling around his cage as that tumor pressed on his little spine. She ensures me that this is a tissue inflammation that will heal, and the better she takes care of it, the faster it will heal. I certainly want her to do anything that makes her better faster. I have to admit that after Ollie, I'm glad it's not serious, too. I hear it's a common thing in humans too. I'm just sorry she's sad over her shoes.

Daddy is the one that got on to her about that. He had to have "the talk" with her about how those strappy sandals aren't helping her feet, and she needs more practical shoes. He even took her out yesterday to get some shoes (she says they cost so much that those suckers should give her free Wi-Fi access everywhere she wears them). The shoes help her feet but the problem, she says, is that they look just like what everybody else wears.

Mommy likes to be different. She's the only person I know that will count out something because "everybody else is doing it." There's not a single pair of capris or thong flip-flops in her closet for that very reason. But now, alas, her feet will look like everybody elses. I love mommy, but I have to admit that this is strange. She's worried about fitting in? Most people ... oh never mind, this is mommy we're talking about. Most people she is NOT. So she has one less wardrobe decision to make in the mornings. It's the white shoes or the black ones, period. She'll learn to embrace the simplicity soon, and may even come to appreciate having one less thing on her mind.

Well heck, I'm glad I don't have that problem. Zack and I wear the same feather coat every day. Same colors, same size. The only difference is whether it's the thin summer coat or the thick winter coat, and that difference is grown discretely by the down feathers under our colored feathers. No shoes for us, either. Its up to the parronts to keep the house cool or warm enough for our feet. I have to admit, that makes life easier. And you have to admit, we birds look awesome every day, don't we?

Mommy will be ok, and if you see her blog, then you know that she has many other ways to express what makes her unique. She adapts to things pretty well. Most of the time :)

That's all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Luv,

Chloe

Surprises

2/16/2014

It's been a weekend full of surprises here at our nest. It started Friday, when daddy's hand started hurting from a spider bite. They went to the local doc-in-a-box, but after waiting two and a half hours they called B.S. on the whole thing and left without seeing the doctor. They let 2 people go in front of daddy that came in after he did, so he figured it must not be bad. And sure enough, he's progressively improved the past couple of days. Sorry they wasted the time, but glad they didn't spend the money, at least, especially if it was going to be a "stop whining and get the you-know-what out of my face" diagnosis. Which I think the doctor was trying to communicate with that ridiculous wait anyway.

After that, grandmomma told daddy she was having computer problems. He got it yesterday, and the darn thing is deader than mommy's last parakeets. (Sorry Sammy, Delilah and Petesy but, you are, in fact, dead - and have been since 1996). This was followed up with the admission that the files were not backed up. He's pondering options on what to do with it now, but the prognosis of those files coming back may not be good. As mommy said, it's not Easter and I doubt we'll see much of a Resurrection here. But she said that from experience, as she's had 3 hard drives die on her (1 at home and 2 at work, and back up files saved her hide every time). But we'll hope mommy is wrong on that an something can be preserved. We shall see. He and mommy are tag-teaming the problem: he's looking at fix/recovery options, and she's looking into replacement options (as in, new computers and what would work best for what it's used for).

Then today, Chloe surprised us all when she flew off mommy's shoulder. She got startled while they put groceries in the pantry. So surprise, mommy and daddy! Our wings grew out and we can fly again! Then Ollie started picking at his left foot - the one that's been lame with the nerve damage since October. Is he getting some feeling in it again? Is this a sign? I suppose we'll see.

A few minutes ago mommy got the news from her parents that she thought she'd never hear: her daddy is retiring on February 28. There have been bets on whether or not he'd really do it, and by golly he is. But he still plans to do some consulting soooo ..... we'll see! Granddaddy is a workaholic (that's where mommy gets it from), so we'll see how it works out. She's happy for him, because he's worked hard his whole life. She's just concerned that he doesn't get suckered in to more than he wants.

Here's a big surprise: the University of South Carolina won their basketball game last night. They beat Alabama 67-66. Their men's basketball team sucks, so I was pretty sure we had crossed over into The Twilight Zone when I heard that. The parronts like college football and baseball. Mommy kind of likes basketball. They follow the scores, anyway.
And finally, mommy dropped it on us that she's off tomorrow. Her office is closed for Presidents' Day. What? That's going to be what, a week off with weather and all? Geeze! When are we getting our regularly scheduled nap times back?

Well, at least the parronts got us another pan of Jiffy Pop for tonight. They figured we could use a treat after ice, earthquakes, and all of these "surprises" of late.

So that's all today - quite a weekend, we've had! I hope you've had a good one. Take care and have a great week.

Luv,

Zack

Ollie Recovery Update

12/27/2013

Frankly, it's going much slower than I like, but it is going. I had a rough weekend - didn't eat much, and frankly I looked like I was at death's door, but I did perk up Tuesday and Wednesday. Mommy reconfigured my cage (again) to put my perches lower and to make it easier for me to get to my food and water. She and daddy got me a high protein food mix yesterday, and I really like it. My energy has been up and I'm more alert than I have been in a while.

It's going to be a long road. Nerve injury in one leg and a strained muscle in the other adds up to a whole lot of suck, but mommy and daddy are helping me through. It's going to take several months to recover, but we aren't giving up. We have a goal for me to be back in my big cage and getting around by the summer (hopefully), and focusing on that helps. In fact, mommy's collecting her notes so she can write something to help others that have 'keets suffering leg injuries. There's very little out there. After 4 trips to the vet and 2 rounds of antibiotics, my diagnosis was to keep me comfortable. Translation: they don't have a friggin clue. There's not much online to help either. But mommy's preparing to get something out there that will be helpful. Of course, she needs for me to be fully healed and to have a healthy 'keet to show for these efforts before she puts it out there. So there's more motivation for me to recover. I'll be a star! I'll be a miracle! I can help others with my tale of recovery. Hooray!

Yes, it will take a while, but I'm not giving up. I'll get better. I'll be back in that big cage, singing and playing and chasing Zack and Chloe around, someday. I will. Just you wait and see. I'm a strong 'keet and I can defeat this!

That's all today. I hope you're all doing well. Have a Happy Friday and a great weekend.

Luv,

Ollie

An Ollie Update

12/8/2013

Hi everybody, thanks for your care and concern here of late. Yes, mommy did have to take me back to the vet on Thursday. I fell several times and was overall just icky. She took me to see a different vet from the one I saw before - you know, the one that blew her off when she called on Veteran's Day and now she's extremely pissed at. (She's shared a number of colorful adjectives to describe him these last few days). I am improving, with rest and medication. The medication is really a "preventative" measure, as the vet suspected that there might still be some bacteria from the kidney infection lurking around. I got a lot of rest this weekend, and perked up a lot. I was awake all day yesterday, and today I'm trying to work that foot and climb around my cage some. I'm eating better and more active now.

The foot still troubles me, and probably will for a long time. Nerve inflammation and damage takes a long time to heal, so I just have to wait it out. We're taking a day at a time. But I am doing better - MUCH better than I was on Thursday.

I would ask you one favor. Please keep mommy and daddy in your prayers. Daddy has to have a root canal redone Tuesday. Remember that infection he had in October? Well, it came back and turned out to be a dental problem rather than a sinus or tissue problem. They're going in Tuesday morning to clean that up and get him fixed up. And mommy is just overwhelmed. She's been super busy between the book release and her job going into it's "peak season" now. She's asked several people for help over the past week, and the answer is always "no." She said we'll probably be Santa's only stop this Christmas, the way people are acting. They aren't at their best. As daddy so eloquently put it, "if you want holiday cheer, get your head out of your rear."

That's all today. Just wanted to let you know myself that I'm OK and hanging in there. Thanks so much for your prayers, care, and concern. You're such outstanding friends, and we luv all of you.

Luv,

Ollie

Injuries and Paranoid Parronts

11/24/2013

So I have this nerve inflammation in my leg, and it's causing me to hobble a bit. What a pain in the vent this is, but the bigger pain is the parronts hovering over me ALL THE TIME! They're absolutely paranoid, especially after what happened to Uncle Stephen's cat. Well, it turns out that cat DID have a problem. The vet called the day after Macy died and said the bloodwork they ran a few weeks ago showed she had leukemia. Uncle Stephen thought that would have been good information to have, like, several months ago - not the day after the cat died.

Talk about crappy timing. He should have told them that mess doesn't cut the cheese. Or mustard - or whatever decent stuff is supposed to cut. Rock, paper, scissors? Heck if I know. Humans are so crazy. I'm a parakeet. We don't complicate things with nonsense sayings. We don't have time for that.

But back to my leg. This weather isn't helping. It was 65 degrees yesterday and 45 degrees today. Crazy South Carolina weather. You watch and I'll bet they humans are back in T-Shirts by week's end. It's just insane. And how are you supposed to heal when the earth itself can't make up it's mind?

That's just it. The whole world is crazy. But I am still here, and I'm getting along. Nerve stuff takes a long time to heal from, and I'm afraid that, according to the vet, there's nothing to be done but wait it out. I know, it sucks for me most, because I'm the one hobbling around! But I'll survive. I'm a tough 'keet.

Thanks to all of you for checking in and for your care and concern. It's a long healing process, but if the humans can heal from their variety of ailments and injuries, then I'm sure I can too.

Have a great week all, and I'll see you later.

Luv,

Ollie

Ollie Update

10/22/2013

Hi all, it’s Sherri (mommy) here. I’m blogging for the birds to give you an update on Ollie. I was getting ready to leave for work this morning and noticed that he was dragging his left foot behind him, and seemed to be in pain. I called the vet, and they said to bring him in, as they’re booked all week but wanted to see him.

I’m glad I went. The vet weighed him, and he lost 5 grams since his check up. That alarmed the vet more than the leg. He checked Ollie out and said that there’s no leg or foot injury at all. It turns out that the kidney sits on the nerve to the left leg, and it’s infected.

Of course, I freaked out, but the vet assured me that I caught it early. There’s no tumor or physical damage, and he said this can be cleared up with antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory medication. He gave Ollie a shot and put him on 0.06 cc’s of Baytril for 10 days, starting tomorrow. He also recommended helping Ollie stay still as much as possible to avoid discomfort. We’ve reconfigured his perches so he won’t need to move around so much until he feels better.

I sure am glad I noticed Ollie limping this morning, because an infection never crossed my mind! So friends, please be sure to keep a close eye on your birds. If they seem to be sleeping more, injured, not as active, or just acting out of sorts, get it checked out ASAP. Don’t wait! Birds hide illness, and by the time you notice they’re sick, they could have been ill for days. They’re so small that illness can hit hard and fast. But being small means that the treatment works pretty quick, too.

We’ll certainly keep you posted on Ollie’s progress, here and through Twitter. He’s getting great treatment and right now, we just want him to get plenty of rest. I’ve had a kidney infection – those suckers hurt and wear you out!

Thanks for being such great friends, and for your care and concern.

Luv,

Sherri (mommy)

Thanks Friends!

5/10/2013

Hi everybody; I wanted to thank you for your kind tweets on my foot injury earlier this week. I'm much better and in fact, recovered quickly. I had a slip and fall when mommy took me out of my cage Sunday afternoon. It was an accident but fortunately, I was all better Monday morning. I just needed to rest my footsie. I've been doing very well since then.

Really, it's a little embarrassing, but mommy says it happens to us all. In fact, she said she took a bad step while shopping at Walmart on her lunch break Tuesday, and her foot's been sore for a few days too. Today is the first day it hasn't hurt her.

I know, we hens need to be more careful with our feet, right?

But thanks for your concern and kind words. We're both doing better and getting around quite well now.

I'm sorry to take a while to post this. Mommy's working on another writing project, and she's been spending most of her free time on that. It's a sci-fi novella (a short novel) that she's titled Incursion. You can see her blog for more on that. We're helping, of course. She says she plans for it to be 10 chapters and she's written 5 chapters so far, so the rough draft is half done. Unfortunately, she tends to fall behind on things like blogging and social media when she gets into these writing projects. I had a talk with her about it last night, but I'm not sure if she got anything out of it because I was speaking conure and I'm pretty sure she doesn't understand conure (or parakeet for that matter, because she gives Ollie the same "I don't get it" look when he tries to speak to her in keet). But maybe she did get something out of it because she is, after all, typing this blog for me today :)

Mommy's off today for Confederate Memorial Day. I know, that's an odd holiday, but a day off is a day off, and we're glad to have the extra time with her. I think the state is required to give them so many days off each year and they ran out of other holidays, so they had to move on to obscure ones to get in the extra required day.

That's all for today. I hope you have a Happy Friday and that all of you mommies out there have a good Mother's Day.

Luv,

Chloe

Health and Healing

12/20/2012

Hi everybody, I hope you're gearing up for a very Merry Christmas. I know I'm excited. Santa will be coming in T-minus 4 days. Whoo hoo!

I'm glad to be all better from my foot injury. I am all healed up now. Thanks to all of you for your concern. It's good to feel good again!

Mommy and daddy have been struggling with some sort of virus going around lately. Daddy had it last week and mommy got it Sunday. She thought it was over it, but it hit her again yesterday and she's home sick today. I sure hope she feels better soon! She did alright eating lunch - she got up and did a few little things. Maybe she just needs to build her strength back up. Her work has been extremely stressful, and I feel sure that might be why she's taking a little longer to recover. She has to go in tomorrow, then she's off until January 2. I know some time off will do her some good.

Daddy has been off all week, but he's been busy taking care of his own "to do" list. He's got a lot done. The best news is that Santa brought their new TV stand early, so he was able to put it together so they can enjoy it without having to worry about assembling it at Christmas. It's nice too. Yay! Daddy will also be off until January 2.

I'm glad both of our parents will be off to celebrate Christmas, my birthday, and New Year with us. That's always nice. We love it when they're home.

That's all today. Take care. I hope you have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a good weekend.

Luv,

Zack

I'm Alright!

12/6/2012

Hi everybody! Thanks so much for your well wishes and support this week as I dealt with my hurt foot. I went to the vet for a follow up visit today, and he said I'm healing well. In fact, he said the medication I was on was too strong and I don't have to take it any more. The foot is still bruised, but it's healing up well and overall I'm doing great.

What a wild few days it's been! I am feeling much better, though. I've been chattering with Chloe and Ollie, playing with my toys, making the rounds in my (now happy hut free) cage, and hanging out with mommy and daddy. Yes, I'm healing up nicely, and I'm so happy to be recovering!

Not only that, but mommy put presents under the Christmas tree for me, Chloe and Ollie and said we could listen to the radio station that plays all Christmas music all the time tomorrow while she and daddy are at work. Oh boy! I love this time of year. Christmas is so exciting, and my birthday is soon after. Lots of goodies are on the way.

So I'm fine, friends. I'm healing up well and I'm alright. Thanks again for your prayers, concern, and well wishes. You guys are the best! I hope you're sweetness is rewarded with a lot of great loot this holiday season!

That's all today. Take care and have a Happy Friday tomorrow.

Luv,

Zack

Zack's Injury

12/2/2012

Hi everybody, it's Zack's mommy, SherritheWriter, here. I wanted to give you an update on a scare we had today.

Rick (Zack's daddy) and I came home from church to find Zack hanging out of his happy hut. His leg was tangled in a thread, and he was thrashing around trying to get free. It was a small thread, but the harder he pulled, the more tangled it got. And in his struggle to free himself, he broke a blood feather in one of his wings.

Fortunately, there's an emergency vet nearby, and we took him there. They looked over Zack and said that his foot was swollen and bruised, but he was ok. His foot strength is still good and he can move around, but it's obviously injured. They said there may be some minor tissue damage, but they weren't sure and said the speed of his healing would reveal that. His fever was also a bit high, so they put him on a pain reliever, an antiboitic, and an anti-inflammatory medication. We're going to have to give him these medications by syrenge every day for a week. The emergency vet also sent a report to Zack's regular vet, and I'm supposed to call them tomorrow to make an appointment for a follow up later in the week. Zack is supposed to rest and try to stay off that foot. That's going to be a trick, considering how active Zack is. But he seems ok to settle in on Rick's shoulder or on his favorite perch.

I want to thank everybody on Twitter that supported us today. That was a scary ordeal, and you don't know how much your tweets meant to us. We weren't in that room alone with your support and encouragement coming in. Thank you so much. You guys were our blessing today! I saw once again today that online friends ARE real friends, and you're just as valuable to us as everybody personally interact with. I do hope that your graciousness and kindness are rewarded with a holiday season of abundance and joy and a new year filled with happiness and properity.

I also want to tell you bird owners out there: If you have a Happy Hut for your parrot, GET RID OF IT! Zack had chewed on his and although I monitor his toys, it seems he was able to free a threat too small to catch my eye but just big enough to cause trouble. A great deal of the blame for his injury falls to me for not being more attentive to the state of that toy and realizing that it had become dangerous. Thank God he will be ok. I learned a hard (and scary) lesson today, and I want to pass it along to you so you won't have to go through what we did today. Plus, many people on Twitter mentioned that a lot of birds have been hurt and killed by similar accidents with Happy Huts. So if you have a Happy Hut, get rid of it. And always keep a sharp eye on the condition of your birds' toys. When it starts to wear, replace it.

Yes, we had quite a scare today, and I feel bad every time I see him holding up that poor, swollen foot. I pray he heals quickly. And as for the Happy Huts - they've all been disposed of and are no longer allowed in our home.

As for Chloe and Ollie, they're ok. They were worried about their "big brother," of course, but they sure were happy to see him come home. They're keeping an eye on him.

Thanks again to all of you that were there for us. We appreciate your friendship and support. Take care. We'll keep you up to date on Zack's progress.

Best regards,

Sherri