Tag: blogging

Buddy our amazing fox red Labrador

by Lizbeth, posted in Nets/carcinoid Syndrome, Uncategorized

When my 20 year old son walked in the door with a cat box and said surprise I was not expecting to see a little fox red Labrador puppy. First instinct oh my goodness he is beautiful but going to be a lot of work. How wrong I was. Stuart and I tossed and turned for an hour or so deciding on a name for this absolutely stunning little boy. And finally it was decided Buddy was his name. From the beginning he followed me around, no matter where I went he was there; whether it was the sitting room, kitchen or bathroom he was by my side. One day my blood sugar dropped like a stone so quickly, he seemed to know, he tapped my leg and started whining. I most certainly wasn’t feeling too good. Checked the old glucose level and it was sitting at 3.1. This little guy was onto something. He carried my clothes, giving sets for my feed, he became my assistant. Very soon he was my “Buddy’ our amazing fox red Labrador.

Buddy was a gentle lab. Despite being of a big frame he cuddled me softly. Walked at my pace. Super with children and other animals. So much so with other animals we got him a wife. A stunning yellow Labrador called Bella. They became inseparable; very much husband and wife. I bread them and had two litters. Buddy was at the birth of both sets and very hands on the the puppies. A very modern parent. We keep in touch with several of the owners and they have visited and brought the labradors back to visit.

Buddy as an assistance dog was so amazing. He always knew what made me tick. Tended to know I needed to sit down before I did. Such a clever clogs. He always knew best, would jump up on the sofa beside me and snuggle in and we would fall asleep in the afternoon. Or reading a good book, or listening to music; any track, just ask my Alexa to play it or listen on my phone using my Amazon music app . So calming and most definitely make me feel at ease. One day my nurses were in to give me my treatment, there were two of them. One nurse took a seat to read the notes whilst the other was drawing up the meds, etc. Buddy walked over to the nurse that had the notes and gently tapped her on the leg with his paw. I asked her if she had ate breakfast. Bearing in mind it was 11.45am. She said no I skipped it this morning. Buddy tapped her again and again. I asked if she would take her blood sugar level with my machine. Which she did. Her level was sitting at 3.6 – Buddy knew it was below 4 and she was hungry. She ate something and immediately her levels increased. Buddy was happy and the nurse felt better.

Did this dog complain about anything? Heck no. One day he had really sore pads on his feet and I rubbed in balm. You could see he was in pain – he never pulled away, barked or winced. He trusted me implicitly, if I said this is what we should do he would let me do it.

What he loved was to cuddle in, go for a ride in the car and most of all walk in the back field. He was a home bird, right to the end. Buddy was only feeling poorly for a couple of days and died in my arms at home with Bella and my hubby Steve by his side. Just what he would have wanted.

It Has been a whole week now without my beloved boy. Bella and I are helping each other through it. Bella has never been a dog on her own. She will miss having him here as much as I will. Although he was a placid quiet dog, the house is eerily quiet without him. Yes I am very upset and could cry a river at the thought of him no longer being at my side but what I have to remember is all the wonderful happy times we had together. The great many years and joy he brought not only to me but to us as a family. Thank you my beautiful Buddy our amazing fox red Labrador for being part of our lives. I love you.

If you enjoyed reading this post please feel free to read further posts on my blog page. Or you can read some medical based posts at my other site EJY Medical Writing.

My Buddy boy loved to help with carrying my socks. I loved to buy quality socks for all the family at The Socks Box

NC500 Virtual walk

by Lizbeth, posted in Uncategorized

Since March we have had lockdown, restrictions, a new way of life. And I do believe we need to get used to it. This coronavirus isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Some of my normal life still happens; my nurses come in and look after me. I get my awful needles injected into me for my treatment. I still enjoy writing very much, , making up stories and doing charcoal drawings, taking photographs, snuggling into my beautiful labradors. Trying my best to live life with a half full glass. I do miss getting out on the harley with Steve, going to see our friends at the Dunedin Chapter http://www.dunedinhog.com, and I miss my meetings at The Ann Edgar Charitable Trust http://www.taect.scot. Ive been inspired by walkers, and triers in life, so when Jean ann from The Dunedin Chapter set up a virtual walk for charity I decided to take part. This little piggy is donating money and taking part in the NC500 Virtual walk.

The idea is members of our chapter can register to take part in the event, we walk on our own, walk as little or as much as we want and are able. Basically it is a virtual north coast 500. We take note of our mileage, pay £1 for each mile walked. Someone like my sister, Hazel who has registered is very fit, walks many miles per week, she will clock in the miles. I’m proud of my sister she will do well. As my hubby Steve, he walks many miles in a day, he thinks nothing of walking 8 miles. Me, I love walking, its just a struggle. Imagine carrying a rucksack on your back filled with sand, you are walking up a steady incline and it gradually gets steeper and you begin to feel the strain. This is many a day for me. You can feel your heart beating and the thumping in your ears is getting louder. The beads of sweat appear on your forehead and you know its time to take a breather. Its all about pacing oneself and knowing my limits.

I have my sidekick most of the time. Buddy the fox red Labrador. He knows when the nets/carcinoid syndrome are playing up. He is clever enough to work out when the blood sugar is dropping below 3, or when my heart rate is beating too fast or going so slow it needs some intervention. He is my knight in shining armour. Buddy and our other Labrador Bella will be walking with me.

Buddy and me

Dunedin Chapter do a lot for charity, as members we raise a lot of money for charity throughout the year. This walk will raise money and it will go in the charity pot. Me personally, as well as doing the walk, I will put £1 in every day until the end of the event. I intend to walk 1 mile every day. There are 50 days left, which means I will put £50 in. My reasoning we have been given the privilege of one year free membership to Dunedin, so this is my contribution, giving £50 to the charity pot.

I got a delightful message from a Dunedin member and friend Scott Anderson. Scott and his wife Shirley, both members, both ride Harleys. The message asked how I am and noted that I am doing the virtual walk and they would like to sponsor me. They said the reason they chose me is because they have absolute respect for me doing it and they know that it will be a huge effort for me.

When I read this I could have cried. We have only known Scott and Shirley this riding season, but already they have become firm friends. You know when you get that feeling about folk.

Buddy in training

Sometimes we choose to sit on our bums and complain, do nothing with our lives. I prefer, the hard life, the trying. That thought when I’m out doing something and I need to stop for a rest and I think why the hell am I putting myself through this, oh yes that great feeling of reward and friendship.

Life is a journey; mine is wonderful folks; be all you can be xx

Bagged his first munro

by Lizbeth, posted in Uncategorized

Several months in since Covid first hit us. Our way of life has changed and we have began to look for a new normal. Living life at a different pace. Shopping, working, educating; finding a way that works for us to go about our business safely and hopefully happy. Social distancing – meeting with others safely. Trying our best to get that balance of seeing others, getting out in the outdoors but making sure that we are safe at the same time. We live in the country in our delightful detached cottage, no neighbours, not a street light on our little single track road, not even a cats eye. However, what we have noticed is an increase in people walking passed the house. Obviously they must be taking their daily exercise and what a lovely place to do it. There has been a lot of awful news since covid hit the headlines. Since the middle of March and the big lockdown happened, I feel there has been a lot of heartache and we have had many sad and tragic events to deal with. Couple of weeks into September and I got a message which made me smile from ear to ear, it was to let Auntie Lizzie know that 10 year old Louis Bagged his first munro.

I was beaming, a very proud great auntie. Louis had climbed Ben Chonzie with his Dad Stephen. Lindsay, my niece, and Stephen are fabulous parents. Okay I am biased, but they are. The three children all have handled the situation with coronavirus very well, they very much missed school and the youngest one Patrick started primary one and eldest Sophie started high school. Big year. For some time they could not attend church and that was another blow to the family. Louis is my son, Tony’s God son. All three children normally attend some sort of activities. Louis in particular loves to go to the football and support Celtic with his Grandad and Dad, he enjoys boxing and training at the local club. All this has been taken away. Lindsay and Stephen have not been down trodden. I have been sent the funniest videos. They have set up assault courses in their garden. The children ran round the course and one of the parents would set the stop watch. Their dog Lubo would join in. Fantastic family fun, while gaining exercise, stopping the boredom and learning a few things at the same time – pulse rate, etc. The children soon got the exercise bug and they began family walks, cycles and adventures. Until one day Stephen asked Louis if he would like to train to climb a munro. He explained what a munro was. He told him that a munro is a mountain that is over 3000 foot tall and that there are 282 across Scotland. They decided to attempt to climb Ben Chonzie together. Which they did. They took the dog, had an amazing day. I am so proud of Louis, to climb a munro is difficult, it takes stamina, this young chap was 10 years of age when he bagged his first munro.

Louis and Lubo at the summit of Ben Chonzie

And so the munro bagging continued. My son Stuart and fiancé Laura climbed Ben Chonzie. They had a wonderful time, it was unusual for them to be without the children and only have Hudson, the fox red Labrador with them. You can normally see them out cycling the bikes with the children in tow. Or all of them walking in the forrest all set for an adventure. How I love to get FaceTime calls telling me of the adventures they have had cycling along the forrest track or taking the dog a walk. So young and full of energy. I’m sure when 4 year old Alexandra’s legs are up to it she will be mad keen to get up a Scottish mountain. Get the camera out and take the most superb photographs of our beautiful country and amazing scenery.

Ben Chonzie

Stuart & Laura – Ben Chonzie

Laura & Hudson

A wee bit about Ben Chonzie. Gaelic name Beinn a’ Choinnich – meaning mossy mountain. Situated near Crieff in Perthshire. The great Scottish solitary mountain reaches a height of 3054 feet and rises between Strathearn and Loch Tay. Its a super first climb with a fairly straight forward heather clad route of 9 miles, which tends not to be steep but with rather more moderate inclines and leads to beautiful open country, which is ideal for this current situation when we are needing to social distance. Plenty of space for everyone, even the dogs.

All this talking of climbing has taken me back to pre neuroendocrine cancer days. Life before carcinoid syndrome and days with super duper energy when running up a mountain was Childs play. In the year of 2000 my husband Steve, my brother in law Alan, my sister Hazel (Louis’s gran) and quite a few of our friends were led up Ben Lawers by our friend Gordon Macleod. We raised quite a few quid for cancer charity that weekend. Great fun was had by all. It was the first May bank holiday weekend, I can remember sliding on the snow, what great fun we had. Lovely evening at the Kilin Hotel that night too, the Irish whisky after dinner I can recommend. https://www.killinhotel.com

Alan, Hazel, Steve & Me at the summit of Ben Lawers Year 2000

Louis loving his first climb