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 goodbook, 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
Well one month into 2021 already. Its just turned February. For some its a dark month and many folks find it a lonely difficult time, with thoughts and reflections going through our minds. This year we are still in restrictions, a great deal of people have jumped from one personal crisis to another. There has been so many difficult situations for our fellow human bean to cope with over the last year; we have been tested in more ways than one. I have known a fair number of family and friends who have over the last year fought life threatening coronavirus. During this pandemic many people have faced fear, anxiety, poverty, hardship, social isolation, unemployment, etc. Now is the time to take notice of who has been helping who, and most importantly does anyone need help. Remember when we used to pop in for a quick chat, or go out for that drink, meet up at lunch time, or a run on the bikes. That person is possibly lonely a missing seeing everyone and could do with a jolly good chat. Do yourself a favour and as the scout or girl guide leader would say do your good deed for the day; Pick up the phone – its good to talk
I think we can all agree that this has been an unusual year. It has been a difficult time for everyone at some time and we have all be faced some sort of challenge and uncertainty. I don’t think anyone thought we would still be facing these kind of restrictions in 2021. Covid-19 has dominated our lives and health. The NHS and the care staff have taken good care of us since the start. They are dedicated and like true troopers put patients before themselves, work long hours; doing their best to make us feel as comfortable and secure in these strange and difficult circumstances.
From my personal experience my team of medics all the way through this pandemic have been ultimate superstars. My net specialist emails in between appointments to check up on me, make sure how I am doing. My nurses come in to my home changing my dressings, changing the water in my gastrostomy tube weekly, administer my octreotide treatment at home fortnightly, change my entire gastrostomy tube every 8 weeks (however due to problems such as infections, burst balloons, etc its been happening after 5 weeks, 1 week, 3 weeks). My nurses will also come to my home if I have any problems. They are wonderful; my net specialist telephoned me last week when he was on the phone he commended the nurses and said the work they did and how well they looked after me, helping keep the amount of infections down and most certainly assisted in keeping me out of the hospital. The amazing supportive Community Enteral Nutrition Team (CENT) call me regularly. Usually Kat or Marion visit me every two months. They weigh me, check on my peg feed and we discuss how my feeding regime is going. We talk about my quality of life, what is going on with my appointments, my body and everything thats going on in my life. They are very supportive and always at the end of a phone. I can pick up the phone and give them a call any day, if they can’t pick it up and talk to me when I call. Their secretary June will answer, take a message and one of them will call me back, chat with me and sort out any problem that may be going on. They report to my dedicated Net specialist (The Prof), my hard working GI consultant, who works hand in hand with the Prof, and my GP. Letting them know if anything needs changed, such as my frequency of feed, etc. Remember my GI consultant, he is the chap who did the creative drawing when he kindly saw me bang in the middle of covid restrictions and did a wee procedure when my gastrostomy tube fell further into my intestines than it should have. He has to have sense he has labradors.
For some people this will have been a long and lonely year. For others it will have gone quickly and nothing much will have changed other than the physical restrictions, such as supermarkets, going from one district to another, closure of shops, establishments, etc. This time last year I was looking forward to going to Dunedin Chapter’s AGM meeting and annual dance; this is the Harley-Davidson® club that my husband and I belong to. The AGM was actually the last meeting we all got together for an official meeting. Now that the vaccine is getting rolled out, you never know…………. I miss the blether, the friendships, get togethers. However, right now its for our own good, and we have to wait until the appropriate time. A while longer to make sure we are safe is better in the long run. So in the meantime be content with sharing a conversation on social media or a text, email and most definitely a natter on the phone. When director of Dunedin Chapter Scotland HOG® #9083, Stewart Willox phones me and says I won’t keep you Elizabeth, and we are still blethering 20 minutes later. I’m sure the poor chap’s ears are bleeding.
I have been very fortunate over the last year and would like to says thanks to the folks that have kept me going, I wrote an earlier post on being thankful for my smartphone and posts being grateful of support during this pandemic. However, I would like to echo this and let everyone know I more than appreciate the texts (yes minister friend Janice, even the early morning Prayers), WhatsApp’s, emails, social media messages; every piece of contact helps prevent the feeling of loneliness, it makes me appreciate what I have – a circle of human beings around me that care. I so love the photos I receive in texts of my grandchildren, it brightens my life and lightens my heart. Marion and Tony send me the most beautiful photos of Luna, she was born in lockdown, we were privileged to see her Christmas Day and have only seen her via technology since, thank goodness for gadgets. We have round robin texts between Tony, Stuart, Marion, Laura and Myself; all checking in, keeping up with the news and sharing photographs. Pre lockdown both my sons were at our house regularly and our home filled with laughter and cheer. Now our lads call regularly, they FaceTime with the kids which is fabulous, I get time to talk to the boys and chat away with the babes. Nearly 5 year old granddaughter Alexandra loves chatting away at anytime. See how they are developing, here all their news. Never tire of hearing their news, listening to Tony telling of his uni work, and whats going on in the world of government policy at Edinburgh University , or chatting with Stuart as he drives home from a hard shift at the hospital where we talk about all sorts. My sister Hazel and I text message each other every day just to check in. We blether on the phone often, and its never a short phone call. My friend, Jen, we met on the first day at university in Edinburgh when we were both 18. We’ve been firm friends since. We chat every Friday morning at length. I so enjoy these calls and have to admit they help keep me sane.
The last year for me has been difficult I won’t deny it. I have been over the threshold approximately half a dozen times and most of those occasions have been sheer necessity. I so miss being able to ask Steve to drive me over to visit my Dad. I miss going to my support meetings with The Ann Edgar Trust; so miss seeing the friends I’ve made and the support I get out of going. So for now I’m still content with my calls and other means of communications. My daily WhatsApp messages from Louise lets me know I have a loving caring friend, Stephen cracks me up with his comical wit on WhatsApp, he sends me not only messages to ask how we are doing but jokes, photos to make me laugh; he arranges online quizzes that we take part in on zoom. Lindsay Lou messages me with photos of the kids and tales, I so miss seeing them, suddenly Glasgow feels like the other side of the world.
I’m sure you have been affected this passed year in some way. Whether its physically or mentally, we have all been touched one way or another. Family and friends are important, keeping that line of contact is much more beneficial to some than others. What I have taken from this year is, yes it has been trying, but we have to remember restrictions are put in place for our own good and to save lives. During this pandemic a great deal of people have been diagnosed with this awful virus and sadly numerous folks around the world have died from it. Receiving messages, seeing familiar faces on my silver screen, receiving cards from my sister regularly by post, chatting on the phone, sharing news or a problem or five. I realise how lucky I am to know I am loved and cared for. Next time you pick up your phone to look up your social media pages or online shop, why don’t you give your family or friend a text or better still a phone call. It is so lovely to hear a friendly voice, share a chat; find out whats been going on in YOUR family/friend’s life. If you are going to do something nice today and think of others; do a good turn, please don’t say you don’t have time, life is good and far too short. Share something nice that happened today with someone. Please Pick up the phone – Its good to talk
smile each and every day 