Update on Phoebe (because I know you're dying to hear :D)

Today I accompanied my dad and Phoebe to the veterinary opthamologist; yes, there are specialty eye doctors for poodles (and other animals, I suppose). I was hoping for some great answer to all of Phoebe’s health problems. Perhaps a declaration that she wasn’t going blind after all and maybe she was just constipated or moody. This was not the case but I did make some very interesting discoveries while there still.

First of all, a veterinary eye doctor’s office is not all that different from the office you and I may visit. There is a waiting room and little patient rooms with examination tables and eye drops and machines. However, they have linoleum floors for…accidents…and also there are no eye charts on the walls. Go figure. Even the smartest of dogs won’t be covering her eye with her paw and reciting letters anytime soon. Another difference I noticed. Most people who go to the eye doctor also don’t have to be muzzled so that they don’t snap at the doctor who is poking and prodding at their eyeball. Although I wouldn’t blame any poor soul for growling a little bit when being bothered by the bright lights and odd instruments.

So, now for Phoebe’s prognosis. The word “blind” was never used in reference to Phoebe though her cataracts were referred to quite often as being problematic and no doubt uncomfortable. As I stated before, Phoebe’s glassy black little eyeballs were examined quite closely and she was muzzled. Apparently ever since her first visit to the eye doctor, a few years ago, she has gained the reputation of needing her mouth clamped shut. They are all terrified of her ferocious face; and who wouldn’t be scared by all that cashmere-like fur? Upon finding that the pressure in her eyes was fine but the cataracts were clearly a problem, the vet began talking surgery. Without much explanation on the nature or implications of this surgery (or other important matters, such as the cost), we were warned that Phoebe wasn’t perhaps the best candidate for cataract surgery. Not due to her age or overall health or the necessity of the surgery. Because of her temperament. I repeat, as the doctor said, “Phoebe isn’t the best candidate for cataract surgery because of her temperament” and then she made a couple jokes about making sure everyone’s fingers were intact after surgery and during post-care. In other words, they don’t like my poodle’s personality! Highly offensive. But I have a feeling that people don’t like Phoebe for very similar reasons that they feel confused about how much they like me and my parents and maybe even my sister. I feel bad that we brought this poor little creature into our family of bad personalities.

Maybe the entire vet staff is more keen on the temperament of the other animals around the clinic. Like the hound who is howling two doors down. Or the cat in the cardboard box with renal failure. (Okay that one I feel bad about because the owner was crying and it made me thankful that Phoebe was just blind and not much worse.) There was another dog laying in its bed in the waiting room just before we were called back. In the examination room I said to my dad, “Did you see that dog out there in its bed; it sure didn’t look well.” My dad asked, “What looked wrong with it?” And I said, “It just looked weak and sickly” and he replied, “Oh no, it was just a Chihuahua.” Good one. Wait a second, is this the disagreeable temperament people are talking about? Because Phoebe definitely barked at the sick Chihuahua when it first walked…er, was carried in on its deathbed. Poor animals; I really do feel for all the owners of sick pets because it’s not always easy to deal.

The final concern about Phoebe was that she may have diabetes; our first clue into this is her incessant water drinking and panting thereafter. So they wanted to do a blood work explaining it would be easy to tell immediately if that was her problem. Well, Phoebe’s health is apparently never black and white. Her glucose levels were a little high but not irrationally high. Still, they thought it may be a concern to look further into. Thus, it would be really helpful for us to catch a urine sample. I repeat those exact words from the doctor’s mouth: “Try to catch a urine sample.” I wanted to ask if there was a specific procedure for this task. I’ll probably leave that up to the poodle’s master.

Anyway, it became quite clear that the veterinarian had a complex about how much Phoebe’s temperament affected their relationship. The final time she entered the room she commented on the fact that Phoebe was avoiding eye contact with her. I wanted to yell, “That’s because she is blind now!” But I figured this was politically incorrect or something, considering the B-word hadn’t been used a single time in the examination room, and the woman in the room with the Dr. on her badge made a very distasteful joke about my dog’s temperament/eyesight.

Dog clinics are clearly quite the hang-out. Phoebe was panting pretty hard the whole time we were waiting; she stopped only when she heard the bark of another dog or the clink of a chain-leash on the floor outside our room. But she was given a treat before we departed and once back in the car, she settled again very calmly into the crook of my arm for the drive home. In the meantime, send up a prayer for my precious-crazy-little-idiot-dog and her cataracts and blindness or possible diabetes and obvious bad personality.

Our Sister Phoebe

I am a HUGE dog lover. My dog is (one of) my best friends for sure :D My favorite thing about the beach is the dogs; the best television commercials use dogs; books or movies about dogs make me cry way harder than any other sob story. In my lifetime so far, I have had two dogs as pets. The first was Duncan, a mutt mix of Sheltie and Cocker Spaniel. He was a sheepdog and my earliest memories are of him herding my sister and me from one end of the house to the other. He was a medium-sized dog and had a lot of fur that shed, and smelled rather oily especially in the wintertime. He was part indoor and part outdoor dog…if it was too hot or too cold we brought him inside to sleep. One time Duncan bit me in the arm; I was playing with his tail and so I deserved it. Otherwise he was so friendly; he would open his mouth and pant and I would see him smiling. I cried so hard as a 6 year old when we had to leave him behind for 2 years while we were in Michigan; I remember sitting on the steps outside and making him sit in front of me, crying in his fur and telling him how much I loved and would miss him. And we came back for him! And he was with us another couple of years. But when we moved to a new house, it was too hard to handle and a few months later, he got some strange blood disease and was gone one day when I got home from school. Now that’s a sob story.
So a few years later we got a new dog. TaDa! Enter the new love of my life: Phoebe Byrne, white miniature poodle.

There is no way you can ignore that face or say it ain’t adorable. Her little face with those puffy bangs and soft floppy ears is just too much for me to resist. The black eyes, black nose, black mouth are so distinct against her cream fur. We say to her: oh Phoebe never forgets to put on her black lipstick every morning!

Phoebe has had her fair share of…well, medical problems. Poor thing broke her right hind leg when she was only about 12 weeks old, after jumping off my dad’s lap. It was in a cast for a good long time and when that was off, it turned out she had some hip problems. So she had hip surgery, still just a puppy. Then the eye problems began…some glaucoma and the possibility of cataracts. Her medical bills were way beyond any my sister or me have ever had. The poor poodle takes drops in her eyes multiple times a day.

She is such a joyful dog though and loves to play with her tennis balls and squeaky toys and plastic bones that she gnaws at and shapes into scary pointy dagger-like objects. No joke. She is cuddly sometimes. Just a couple months ago she finally figured out how to jump up on the couch…if there’s food to be had. She is a terrible begger, but what else is a dog to do? She likes to find the sun spots around the house and “tan” her white fur. She has other adorable mannerisms, as all dogs do, that are unique to her. My favorite is when she lays down and drops her head all the way down to the floor; she looks like two or three little piles of snow starting with her head, then her body, and her little tail.

I was away for the weekend but when I came back my parents told me that they were worried she was going blind. She went to the vet and the fears were confirmed: she has cataracts in both eyes and can barely see a thing. I cried and cried when I realized what was happening to my lover poodle. She is 7 years old and like a little old woman now. Poor thing has to sniff her way around the house and has run into chair legs and walls and tripped over shoes on the floor multiple times. It’s so hard to watch because she used to have the run of the house and now depends on us a lot more than she used to. I think it’s freaking her out a little bit, and I can tell she feels insecure about moving from place to place. It mainly takes her longer to find her usual lounging spots; she listens carefully to the sound of our voices calling her, and walks with her nose close to the ground.

Phoebe has a couple spots in the house where she likes to take naps, mostly in corners and behind chairs or under tables. We like to call these her “prayer corners” because she stays there for hours at a time with her eyes closed and her head bowed. And so even though I’ve heard that dogs can handle blindness and learn to depend on their other senses more, I am heading to my own prayer corner (or wherever) to pray that her sight will improve at least a little bit in one of her eyes. Any little bit would help; I want my sprite little dog back, playing with her toys, running up and down the stairs, etc. We named her Phoebe because Romans 16 says, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe...I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me." I know she’s just a dog, but she has become such a part of our family, and we're going to help her, eyesight or not! She is practically our other sister. She is devastatingly cute, her personality fits our family so closely. But for all the times I got mad at her for not wanting to sit on my lap, I now just get excited every time she finds her way back to me.

Happy Birthday Martha (Wright Johnson)

In a recent job interview, the interviewer ended by saying to me, “Well, I have to admit, when I saw your name was Martha, I assumed you would be older.” This wasn’t anything I’ve never heard before so I blurted my default response: “Yes, I was named after my grandmother.” Time after time I am reminded that I must “grow into” my name, for some reason. Because I was named Martha in 1987 when other babies were being named Jessica and Megan and Rachel (my sister’s name). And yet I’m proud of my name because 70-some years ago, my grandmother was born on August 4 (today) and given the name Martha as well. I often wonder if she had to “grow into” her name as well, or if it’s a sign of the times. But either way, I know she has had a life of growing…growing in trusting her Savior, his plan for her life and her family, and the hope that she will spend eternity with him.

The amount I have learned from my grandmother (whom I call Grandmommy) is uncountable. She is a woman of many passions and talents and skills. She has a love for music, beauty and style, food and family, a sharp mind and a creative spirit; perhaps more than that, I learned from her what it means to work hard, to be a servant, and to live a life of faith. My grandmother is the most devoted pray-er I know; she prays for me and her other family and friends daily (maybe even 2 or 3 times a day!) because she believes that it works! And I can attest to the fact that others are blessed by her faithful prayers and she sees the fruition of her prayful trusting in God. I can almost hear her saying herself: “In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles. For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 34: 6-8).

I have watched and observed and talked to my grandmother so many times about the ups and downs of life, the joys and trials, the turns that life takes. Yet I know that she believes that God blesses his children and is faithful to guide them no matter what happens. She also understands how we are all created differently, with a specific purpose in mind for our work, our talents, our passions. As an encourager, she would speak just as Paul did and believe this truth deep down in her heart: “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6).

I am fairly certain that my grandmother isn’t thrilled by the fact that she shares a birthday with Barack Obama. But this doesn’t have to be the biggest worry of her life. After all, she knows that God is faithful to protect his children. She knows there is nothing to fear because our Savior lives and holds his world and his children in his hands. “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, Your Savior…Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:1-4).

My grandmother is a testimony to the fact that the oftentimes jolting nature of life doesn't have to overcome you, especially not when you have the hope of eternity. So maybe I have growing yet to do, in trusting and believing as fully as my grandmother does. To grow into the name Martha, not because it’s from a decade other than my own, but because of its other faithful namesake. To remember that my Creator knows me by name, that He is growing me more into the person I was created to be (regardless of my name), that he loves me through this whole process, and that he places people in my life to encourage me. Happy Birthday Grandmommy! As a grandmother, wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, friend, and faithful child of God, you are a blessing that God has put in my life to be an example, constantly trusting in his purpose and plan, and letting God guide and develop you into the Martha that he created you to be.

Love, Martha (Grace Byrne)