Emotions running high

I'm not sure if I blogged about our family dog, Buddy.  Buddy lives with my parents, but he is still essentially my dog.  Although my parents do all the "dirty" work, and I just get to go and visit now.  But visit I do, almost daily b/c my parents live literally around the corner from me.

Buddy is 12 years old.  The goal was for him to at least live to see his BARK-Mitzvah in April when he turns 13.  He has heart disease, it's in his breed, and has been monitored for years as part of a study with other Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.  He also has kidney failure.

In October, when my parents came back from their three week trip to Israel the vet gave him 3 days to live. My mom has been amazing - the two of us gave him saline injections every day or two.  She made him food and gave him meds.

My dad cleans up all the pee and takes him out constantly, muttering under his breath "I am so sick of this stupid dog..."  which of course he doesn't mean, but he's sick of the constant cleaning up.  Buddy wears a "blue diaper" as SR would say.  It is just a wrap that catches the pee, and we line it with maxi pads - the thin kinds.

A couple of weeks ago, Buddy got VERY sick.  He mostly sleeps all day anyway, but my parents woke up to bloody poo all over their home.  My mom and dad discussed that it was time to put him down.  I don't want to interfere as they are the ones doing all of the work and I just get to play with him.  So, my dad and I took him to the vet to put him down.  The vet talked to my dad and I and had my mom on the cell phone so she would be a part of the conversation.  She was home with SR.

The vet didn't want us to feel guilty for putting him down, but he gave us some options to sustain his life a little more if we wanted to.  My dad talked on the phone to my mom while I cuddled with Buddy.  My mom is the one who has been having the hardest time with all of this.  But in that moment, she said to my dad to go ahead and put him down.  I had no idea.  My dad said to the vet, "let's treat him."  MY DAD...WHO ALWAYS GRUMBLES ABOUT THE DOG....even though my mom was ready to put him down.

My mom told me later that my dad said he couldn't stand the look on my face.  My dad is so sweet under his grumbling.  As a side note, he also grumbles all the time about how I'm having a second baby, and he did the same when I was pregnant with SR and he LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEESSSS SR soooo much!

Last night at 10:30, my mom told me Buddy was sick again.  My parents are just getting ready to go away on a trip and Buddy is scheduled to stay with the vet so he can get proper care and his meds.  Last night, my parents told me we would be putting Buddy down today.

Today I had a PA Day at school - morning meeting and then the rest of the day to do report cards.  We were free to leave at noon, but I knew I had a 3:30 deadline for report cards and did not want to have to extend.  That being said, I emailed my principal at 11pm last night to explain my situation and ask for an extension.  Half the school hands in Friday and half on Monday, so it would have been okay.  I popped in this morning to see her to find out if she got my email and I was already crying.  My extension was given.

At 10:45, after my meeting, I called my parents to find out the details.  Well, Buddy bounced back.  He was peppy and they weren't going to put him down after all.  Couldn't they have told me that before I was an emotional wreck this morning?

TO SUM UP...in case you just skimmed through this story....BUDDY IS ALIVE!

I emailed my principal back and did a "long story short" and explained I would try to meet my deadline.  She told me to take the extra time anyway.  She knows I've been sick this week too.

I decided that since it was a quiet day, and no kids at school, and she seemed to be in a good mood, I would go and tell her my baby news.  Nothing important to share from that conversation.  The unspoken rule is that the grade you leave from is the grade you return to.  But I'll be off a full school year, not mid year to mid year.  And grade 3 is a testing year, so she's not sure she wants to put an occasional teacher in for a full year in grade 3.  I just asked if she would please not switch my classroom.  I can't see moving when I'm 9 months pregnant.

A quick final note, I had BAD pink eye this week.  I started on old prescription drops from over a year ago and thought they were going to run out.  I switched to the over the counter polysporin pink eye drops.  They burned my eyes and the pink eye went from bad to worse in 24 hours.  I went back on the old drops (they weren't outdated, just open for a long time) and now I got a new prescription.  My eyes are still dry and itchy but the other symptoms are gone.  Just struggling with a bad morning/night cough and stuffy nose.

Oh, I saw my OB this week too...that's another story...next blog.