![\"Ella\"](\"http:\/\/www.charmedlife.co.nz\/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Ella-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>The\u00a0old dog.<\/p><\/div>\n
The vet concluded\u00a0that\u00a0Ella’s brain had been compromised. She had impaired\u00a0motor function on\u00a0her\u00a0left side, and was unable\u00a0to\u00a0control her eyes (this was what was causing the drunken gait). Most likely diagnosis: a stroke.\u00a0He prescribed prednisone and said he’d review her in a week. Even as\u00a0he talked\u00a0about the gains some dogs can make post-stroke, we could both tell\u00a0he was preparing us for the worst.<\/p>\n
The second thing was staggeringly more awful.<\/p>\n
A family friend died suddenly and unexpectedly. This was a kid our children had\u00a0grown up with, battled in\u00a0multiple games of Buzz<\/a>, and eaten those ‘all you can eat’ Pizza Hut meals alongside. He was the boy\u00a0who took extreme close up photographs of his nose\u00a0with\u00a0our family’s first digital camera, and whose growth is\u00a0recorded on our family height chart alongside the measurements\u00a0of his siblings and our own children. He was 20 when he checked out. The sadness of\u00a0his death, and grief for his parents and brothers has coloured my thinking\u00a0over the past few weeks. I want to say more, but there’s really nothing else I can find to tell you that doesn’t sound like a clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n Damn neighbourhood kids, January 2006.<\/p><\/div>\n After 5 weeks Ella is on what we think of as her ‘bonus round’.\u00a0She has regained most of her motor and ocular function and, more importantly to us, seems happy. She has a plethora of daily medications now. So many in fact that I\u00a0bought a pill organiser to keep it all straight. Pills\u00a0are administered in half squares of Whittakers peanut butter chocolate. Both chocolate and peanut butter are poisonous to dogs, but at this stage\u00a0we figure what the hell. One pill specifies it is to be\u00a0\u00a0‘taken with a snack\u00a0at bedtime’. A snack at bedtime! We assume\u00a0this instruction is\u00a0due to that old dog briefly but efficiently hyponotising her vet, Jules.<\/p>\n Our friend is still dead.<\/p>\n Why am I telling you all this? Well, because no\u00a0life\u00a0is\u00a0all happy\u00a0adventures and funny stories, and if this blog is to reflect my experiences it can’t be, either. The Forbearing Husband and I are\u00a0taking more time these days to hug each other, our children and our animals. Especially that old dog. In the end it’s anticipation of death which\u00a0motivates us humans to\u00a0squeeze the juice out of life. We\u00a0are all dying. Don’t forget it.<\/p>\n Off you go. Search out\u00a0someone you love and hug them. Don’t wait another day.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been a bit harder than usual to come up with blog posts recently. Especially posts that are lighthearted and entertaining. Maybe you’ve noticed the change. The reason is\u00a0a\u00a0couple of scary and sad events that happened in April and which… Continue Reading ![\"Kids](\"http:\/\/www.charmedlife.co.nz\/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Laingholm-kids-1024x681.jpg\")
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