Bailey's back surgery update AND a little sightseeing pics of Karen and Larry

Bailey came home from the hospital on Sunday morning. Her back surgery was complete on Friday night at about 11:45 p.m. They operated on 2 slipped discs. One probably happened on Tuesday last week and the other was chronic and the doctor thinks it could be up to a year old. Makes sense since Bailey had some unexplained injury last year that couldn't be diagnosed with x-rays and a whole team of doctors. We checked it up to old age and arthritis but now, I'm thinking it was the slipped disc.

The doctor said the surgery was successful and Bailey should be back to normal, or even better than normal after she recovers. It's hard to say right now because she's still acting paralyzed on her hind quarters. She just sits or lies down and can't even roll over with her bottom half. She has some strength in her legs, but not much. We'll let her heal and hope for the best. You'll notice in the pictures they had to shave her whole back and her scar is about 10 inches long. Hope her beautiful soft coat grows back.




Peterson Family Vacation
Since Bailey couldn't come home on Saturday, I had to get out of the house to distract myself. We actually had a great time on a sightseeing tour through the New Territories of Hong Kong. (The New Territories is part of Hong Kong, but it's the part that connects Hong Kong to mainland China. Just like New York has an area called New York City, Hong Kong has Hong Kong island where the big city and most of the people are located, but Hong Kong itself is much larger.)

The tour lasted 6 hours and it took us to a Buddhist monestary, one of the last walled cities in Hong Kong where the old ladies still dress up in traditional clothes (mostly just for photo ops with tourists) and we also stopped at the border between Hong Kong and mainland China where there was a good lookout to Shenzhen, the border town between Hong Kong and the China. After seeing the Shenzhen lookout, we stopped a a 500 year old Banyan wishing tree. There, they sell wishing paper for the equivalent of 75 cents U.S. and you write down your wishes and hang them on the board underneath your astrological sign. At the end of the day, someone comes by and burns them all so your wishes can be granted. Bet you know what I wished for (a hint, she's lying on my couch right now wimpering and farting.)

For anybody who wonders what Shenzhen is like, the answer is "it's just like Hong Kong", but a few less buildings. There's 7 million people there which is the same as Hong Kong! They both are pretty much like Chinese New York cities, so some people are surprised at how modern it all is.

I've also included a picture of a sign I've never seen before in Hong Kong... "DOG IS ALLOWED". Everywhere you go there's signs saying "No Dogs" but up by Shenzhen, we saw this sign. Wonder if it's a translation error.