She was perhaps five months old then, very sick, and had been sick for over three months at that point with reoccurring pneumonia and a collapsed lung, living in the medical kennels of an animal shelter.
It had been almost four years by that time since Suki had died, and I'd gone out to the shelter that day to put my name on a list to be called if border collie mixes came in. For some reason I happened to ask if they could use someone to take in dogs short-term, and I was sent next door to the medical kennels to meet with the foster dog coordinator, who quite atypically was willing to place Cieli with me even though I was a stranger off the street (she did contact my references first!).
First night: October 21, 2008
The shelter hoped that a foster home placement might break the cycle of reinfection, and I agreed to keep her for two weeks to two months, and take her in for checkups as needed (usually every two weeks). We walked around the block at the shelter, and she was curious about a leaf blower and kids skateboarding, not frightened of them. Despite her life so far - in the medical kennel, Cieli seemed...well, happy!
Time passed, but her pneumonia continued, her lung remained collapsed. Eventually the shelter agreed to pay for surgery to remove the collapsed lung (close to $4,000 at NYC prices). In January 2009 she had the operation, survived the operation (!), and came home with a giant red bandage and instructions not to let her run or jump for about a month, which crated or confined in a small area.
After lung surgery: January 10, 2009
After the bandage came off, the angel puppy - who by then had lived with me for 2 1/2 months never crated, never destructive, was feeling a lot better. It took me a day or two to realize that puppy mischief was now a factor. In the meantime...
Sealy fished this off the desk (inside a plastic case). No harm done to her, thank goodness!
(She also ate through my gig bag!)
Sealy was cleared for adoption and on March 19. 2009 to no one's surprise (except mine) she became mine. I changed the spelling of her name to Sealy since she reminded me of a little black seal, and I love the sea ("Sea-lee" or maybe "See-lee" was one of the three ways people pronounced the Cieli spelling - the others were "kay-lee" and "chay-lee").
Happy Sealy (happier Monique) with fur growing back: April 9, 2009
In the year and a half since that adoption, Sealy's presence has brought joy and happiness into my life each day. Thank you, Sealy.
