"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others." Ayn Rand

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Verklempt

The sun shone today and provided central Florida with warmth; most of the "ghosts" were gone today. After a cool start, we hit the high 60's, almost 70 degrees. It was divine. I'm really starting to think that I did bring them this cold snap...it's leaving almost at the same time I do.

Took Dad to the hospital early; Mom had a doctor's appointment early afternoon. We had a quiet day, doing house stuff, trying to accomplish everything we wanted to accomplish at the beginning of this visit. Walked the dogs. Had lunch. Mom went out to the backyard and surveyed the frost damage. I took that opportunity to take my camera, and get some nice photos of Augie; spent some time doing puppy massage on him. He ate it up, laying in his yard, his mom there, all the mulch he could munch on (and nobody saying no), and his "sister" there giving him a massage. It was a good and peaceful time with him.

Mom's doctor visit went well; he checked her Coumadin level, and it looked very good. I loved this doctor, who I had the opportunity to meet while she was in the hospital. This is my parents' GP, the "good" Dr. Reynolds, as one of the surgeons referred to him. He is a doctor who will not schedule more patients than he can see in a day; he actually spends time with each patient. He seems to have very old-fashioned values that you don't see in the medical field too much these days....almost worth moving south to find such an unusual M.D. :)

Picked up Dad then and went back home. Dad put Augie in the back of the car, and I took my bag of very stinky, very tasty dog treats and as many tissues I could stuff in my purse.

Dad couldn't come into the room. He looked so torn as we went in. We had a few minutes with Augie, and then the doctor and two of the vet techs came in. It was a five tissue farewell; it was also such a blessing to see all of these people feeling as we did. They were all crying right along with us. We were all down on the floor, and it happened so very peacefully. He truly just went to sleep, with his head in my mom's hands. She was the last person he saw, and he went over the bridge surrounded by people that loved him. Watching all that happened today, I felt sure of what I said to Mom and Dad, that it had been his time. As sad as we all were, when we finally left the room, I saw my dad hug my mom so tight. He took her hand, and then he took my hand, and we walked out together.

Getting back to the house, we all appeared to have been run over by some kind of truck...even Cassie. She was unusually quiet. We ordered a pizza, and surprisingly, ate it all up. We then sat together, looked for funny things on television (settled on two old Seinfelds) and all went to bed early. I've finished packing, and can just enjoy a bowl of cereal and coffee before it's time to leave for the (1) doctor and (2) airport.

It's been a long ten days; not the trip we had all planned (the plan? two hours in the surgery center and home); but I'm so thankful that I was here for everything. Dad said before "oh no, we're going to have to cook and clean ourselves". Ha! I baked more than I cooked (not that there's anything wrong with that), and my cleaning skills are less than stellar. But I'm ready to get home to my house, my family and my pups. I'm ready to get back to my life; it's been suspended since the middle of December with Maggie's graduation coinciding with Mom and Dad's visit and going straight through until now. Been a great break.

It's a new year, with new things happening. A wedding :). Max starts training for the fire department on the 28th. Richard's company will be moving to Delaware perhaps by the middle of spring. We have a new class starting pre-puppy classes, four pups are ready to head back to New York, and Mr. Anthony is going for his jacket in the next few weeks.

Godspeed, Augie Doggie.

Onward and upward, people.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hard Decisions

When my dad picked me up at the airport last Tuesday, we had a good hour to talk on the way home. We talked about lots of things, the upcoming surgery, the past "house flood", the new carpets, new toilets, new ceiling in the garage.


Also Augie. He asked me to just look, and to tell them what I thought about how Augie was doing. I guess to have an "outsiders" look at him. I think that our hearts and minds can be clouded by love, especially when it comes to our animals. I told him that I would, and I would keep my own feelings out of it (good luck, right?)


I spent all Thursday and Friday with Augie, as Mom and Dad were at the hospital all day, both days. All the rest of the days, I walked him, I let him out and in, I took him to the woods for short walks in the afternoons. He had bad days, and better days; but honestly, he had no good days. Poor Augie doesn't live anymore. He sleeps, he eats. He goes outside, and has a terrible time going back up the stairs. I told my mom what I thought yesterday, and she said that she'd call the vet next week and go in a speak with her; ask her if she thought it was time to say good-bye.

This morning, she had to call the vet to get more painkillers for him...I listened to her speaking to these wonderful people at the vet, and all of a sudden she was saying that she thought it was time, she wanted to bring him in. She broke down on the phone, and my mom doesn't ever do that. She's private, and kept apologizing for crying. All of this made me start crying (you all know I have NO problem with tears in public, and am very demonstrative of such)...Augie's been around for so very long, 13 years.


I told Mom and Dad that I wanted them to do it while I was here; they have always been there for me, and I'd like to be there for them this time. My dad didn't understand at first, and kind of second-guessed doing this, but after a few minutes, realized that it was the right thing to do. I remember that feeling when it got to be the time to take Roxy for that final vet appointment; it was a panic-filled feeling, thinking that there had to be something else we could do instead of this.


My eyes are filling as I'm even thinking about doing this tomorrow. We all know it's the right thing at the right time. But it's just so damned hard.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Beautiful Day in Florida...almost 56 degrees today!

It actually was a really beautiful day, sunny, crisp and a bit chilly. Nothing wrong with that.

Mom is coming along slowly; she's walking more than I thought she would at this point, which is great. She's leaning more on tylenol than the pain medication, and really is only taking the tylenol at night. Dad and I took down all the Christmas decorations outside, and got all the blanket "ghosts" off the plants.

Mom and Dad head off to bed around 8, so I'm sitting here watching The Office, and laughing all by myself. I love this show.

It's been a rather slow day around here, so I had to keep myself occupied. :)


Sunday, January 10, 2010

From Balmy Florida....24 degrees and falling....

Oh my. It's so cold :) I actually feel for these poor people down here, so unused to the cold weather. Their bodies are acclimated to much more temperate weather. I actually saw snow flurries last night. If you are here on vacation, you picked a very bad week. On the way back from the airport, we saw someone water skiing; I figured it was a vacationer who was determined to get a little water skiing in....in a wetsuit.

Mr. Murphy has followed me here...and brought his law with him. Wednesday morning, my mom shakes me awake around 6:30 a.m. She had been bitten by a tick the previous week, and woke up to find a red ring around the bite mark. She had remembered that Max had had the same thing happen to him, and wanted to know if it looked the same to me. It did, albeit much smaller than Max's....much earlier noticed, I think. We all had the same thought at the same time. "Is this going to screw up the surgery?" I voiced my opinion that I didn't think that it would affect it; inwardly, I wasn't so sure. Off they went to the "doc in the box".

They returned a few hours later, with a prescription for penicillin, and a green light on the surgery.

Thursday comes, and off they go, first thing in the morning. Hours passed; around 9 a.m. Cassie and I set out on a long walk. We walked all the way to town, and down to Lake Dora. It was kind of nice; downtown was deserted (too cold for anyone to be walking the streets), and it was pretty much me, Cassie, the loons and an egret that was perched on the trunk of someone's car. We walked for awhile, and got back at 11:30 a.m. Spoke to my dad, and the surgery on my mom's ankle and knee had been a success; however, after the surgery, her heart went into atrial fibrillation. They took her from the surgery center over to the emergency room at the hospital, hooked her up to monitors, and said that they might keep her overnight for observation. They put her on coumadin, and started watching her. Unfortunately, it's a pretty small hospital, and they were filled...no beds. She and my dad were in the emergency room until almost 11 pm. STRESSFUL, to say the least. But she finally got a room. At this point, everyone is just concentrating on her heart...she was in a bit of pain in her ankle, but not too bad, she said.

Saturday morning, I went with my dad to the hospital early, and got to meet the osteo surgeon, and then her regular doctor, who informed us that my mom would be coming home that day. Hooray! It was 11:15 a.m. when we got the news. Figured it would take awhile to get out of there. "Awhile" is not quite the word. The hospital is small, and being Saturday, had a skeleton staff. We actually wheeled her out of there at 4:45 p.m. It was a long day for all, but the result was worth the wait. :) Bonus...the Jets won their playoff game last night. Yes!

Today was routine; some housework (vacuuming, laundry, dusting), taking care of the patient with my dad, headed into town to see what's new in Mt. Dora (I could have spent more time down there, but may head back before I go home), walking the dogs in the woods, and then back to lay on my mom's bed with her, and watch movies (We Were Soldiers and Gladiator), with my dad keeping us apprised of the score on the game.

Tomorrow we schedule doctor visits for the surgeon, the cardiologist and the regular doctor.

I miss home; the hubby and the kids. Two days away is kind of like running away to vacation, not being responsible for anything that you usually do at home. When day three came, I was really missing Maryland. Today Richard told me that it was kind of boring around there without me. I really did think that he was going to enjoy the peace and quiet....maybe he just misses Anthony.

Speaking of Anthony, he doesn't really miss us at all. Debbie is watching him, and she sent this picture today. Looks like Ink has replaced us in Anthonys heart... :) Miss that little guy.