[nagdu] attachment or anxiety separation

[Tami Kinney]

Bibi,

Wow. You sure have beeen through a lot recently. That alone, or so it
seems to me, would make anyone more prone to anxiety in general. As
would being without a white cane! I did once go for a time without a
white cane after I lost my very first one somehow, so now I have a
zillion canes and need to get to ordering a spare straight cane, as well
as a new pocket cane, whether it's a telescoping nfb cane or a light
foldup ambutech. /lol/ I trust my guide now and use her exclusively for
nearly everything, but I don't want to get stuck without a dog or cane
ever again! /lol/

I haven't yet had to find out how I will cope with my guide's
retirement, and I plan not to for another 5 or 6 years at the very
least. Still... I feel very sad and get a twinge of separation anxiety
just thinking about it. Heck, I get separation anxiety just leaving her
at the groomers. Sad, but true. /smile/

Hope your new cane arrives soon, and good on Dale for being your eyes in
the meantime. My then-husband was, well, useless and also made a big
deal about expressing the extent to which he just didn't know what my
problem was and that I should just not go to work until a new cane
arrived, but it was no hurry, there was some reason he was interfering
with my attempts to acquire a new one, I can't even remember what it
was. Thus, he is now the ex-husband. Argh! I did manage to get my hands
on a support cane, which was better than nothing but not at all the same
and it was too short, so it actually made life more difficult,
especially since there was snow on the ground at the time, all nicely
packed down even on the sidewalks and all icy and limpy, so... Well,
having friends with brains around helped many times but I am glad you
also have a cooperative , even helpful partner to assit in covering the
gap. /smile/

Best to you both, and to Odie as well.

Tami

On Tue, 2011-07-12 at 07:55 -0600, Criminal Justice Major Extraordinaire
wrote:
> Hi, all,
> Have any of you felt that big attachment toward your retired guide dog and 
> experienced anxiety separation?
> It seems like I've been experiencing that lately and was hoping I wouldn't 
> be the only one.
> I've found myself feeling all of that, especially when Odie is left at home.
> On Saturday, Dale and I went to see a Cinderrella play live that my step 
> sister Sarah was in.
> It was held in the theater inside the King Center on Auraria campus and 
> total amount of people was probably four hundred.
> There was no way that Odie was probably going to handle it, so the hard 
> decision was to leave him at home for me at least.
> While Dale and I were out with family, that's when it all hit me.
> Yesterday was a different story however.
> Odie was in his medical alert service dog vest walking with my husband.
> I was using my support cane and walking ahead of the two men slowly and 
> carefully.
> Odie began to move faster upon trying to bolt out in front of me.
> I think he still felt that he needed to be my eyes and was concerned that I 
> was going to get hurt.
> I'm in the process of getting a new fold up white cane through Ambutech.
> unfortunately I had lost my current one, especially after the convulsive 
> grandmal seizures I dealt with two months in a row.
> Thankfully, my husband told me he'd happily be my eyes until I can get my 
> replacement folding cane and be matched with a successor partner.
> Bibi 
> 
> 
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