POST # 484
Say hello to the latest furball that I have the pleasure to care for. Archie is one of the most gentle and affectionate furballs that I have ever come to know. And he is competing with a very long list at this point.
Last week at this time, he was still at the vet having his splint replaced for this new one with the Christmas looking logos on it. I made the long drive out to Burnaby to the vet's office. Once there, I spent a while with a lady named Christine, as she went over all of the details that I needed to know, especially regarding all of the medications that I would have to administer to him each day. I loaded him into the car to make the journey back home.
He seemed to be very happy to be back on familiar ground, and the house sitter was happy to have him back. That was on December 24th.
Archie is on four different medications. He has to take all four once per day, and one of the medications twice per day. To administer these, I had one of two options. The preferred option was to tuck the pills into a bit of food in the hope that he would happily gobble them down. That unfortunately proved unsuccessful after a few attempts. The other option was to load each pill into a device that shoots the pill down his throat. I would have to force open his mouth with my left hand, and with the pill shooter in my right, I would insert it part way down his throat, then push the handle which would cause the pill to release, and hopefully go down his throat. It sounds pretty easy, but it sure isn't. And even gentle Archie became shall we say, less gentle during this procedure. That's putting it mildly. In spite of all of this, somehow I managed to give him his medications right up to and including this morning. However, last night and this morning's pill popping session were the worst of all. I think that Archie had finally worked out what was coming, and he was none too happy about it. In addition, yesterday he ate almost nothing, and it was the same this morning. I was concerned, so even though I was meant to take him to the vet on December 30th for his next splint change, I decided to drive out there this morning and explain what was happening. The result is that he will now be staying there until December 31st, at which time I will return one more time and bring him home.
It was stressful for the both of us, and I feel that I have made the correct decision. If he is not eating because he is ill, the vet will have the best resources to nurse him back to health. I look forward to seeing him again this coming Friday. He can be back home and start relaxing like before.
2021 IS ALMOST A WRAP
And what a year it has been. I've certainly had better years, but I suppose that there are plenty of people around the world that could make the exact same statement. I really miss spending time with Mary and Dora-dog, and I miss the fact that my house sit calendar is mostly empty these days, and as far as I can tell, it quite possibly will remain that way.
In my opinion, this whole Covid business could have been handled very differently, and not have caused the amount of disruption that it has caused. I get reminded of this each and every day when I am mandated to use a face mask. I've come to loath that word, mandate. We seem to have become a society of us versus them, and my guess is that if you took a survey, I imagine that there are plenty of people out there who feel the same way. I'd like to think that one day in the not too distant future, we could go back to the way things were pre-Covid. But that is probably being way too hopeful.
To quote Sir Roger Scruton when asked, "Are you hopeful." His reply was as follows:
"I've never in my life been hopeful. I take the view that pessimism is the wise position to adopt, because you're always agreeably surprised."
Well I don't know if Sir Roger is correct, or whether I am correct, but this is where my head is at, late in the year 2021. But hey, at least I've made it this far, so that's got to be something to celebrate. And as I've mentioned before on this blog, there are plenty of people around the world that are doing it a lot tougher than The Thoughtful Wanderer. As always, I do try to count my blessings.
Here is a meme I saw the other day.
Finally, if you are a scrabble player, here's a good mix of letters for you to play with:
A L M C N O D E T O R I.
Two words that these letters can spell are DELTA and OMICRON.
Rearrange them another way and they can spell MEDIA CONTROL.
What a very strange coincidence.
grateful for every breath,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer
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