The golden grand-dog, Georgie, was sick. After a run outdoors with the kids, she collapsed in the kitchen and wouldn’t or couldn’t walk. No number or type of treats could coax her. Georgie didn’t eat supper which never happens. By the next day, when she hadn’t improved, our daughter called for an appointment with the vet. Meanwhile our daughter was self isolating, due to our grandson’s possible exposure to Covid so my husband and I took Georgie on that potentially fateful drive.
Georgie will soon be twelve years old. We are always cognizant of her age and are bracing ourselves for her end of days. Devastated describes how we will feel to lose her and we feared we were driving her to her doom on this day. There was silence as we drove along while the radio played country music, which can be sad enough. Meanwhile Georgie, sat in the back seat, rested her head on my hand as she often does. She had come downstairs to greet us when we went for her, so a part of us held out hope. Despite my best efforts to stay positive however, a tear rolled down my face and the silence, above the music, was deafening. Words were embedded in my throat.
We turned onto the street to the clinic and stopped behind another car. A line of vehicles waited while a police car was stretched across the centre of the road. Electric utility workers were busy further ahead with a wire down on the road.
My husband broke the silence with, “Now, there’s a fly in the Metamucil.”
I started to laugh and we laughed together for several minutes. That line is from The Golden Girls, spoken by Sophia, one of the main characters. The laughter broke the tension and sadness. We felt better.
When we dropped Georgie at the clinic twenty minutes later, we left with good thoughts on our minds. By late afternoon and a number of tests later, the vet reported that Georgie has arthritis. Several prescriptions and almost $400.00 later, we dropped her home.
Meanwhile, back at her home, two new pets joined the family a few months ago.
Meet brown Archie and gray Ozzie, the Guinea pigs. Georgie was jealous of any attention the pigs received initially but as you can see from this photo from last week, the dog has joined the pigs rather than attempt to beat them.
There are no flies on Georgie!
Update: There have been six deaths from Covid on the island to date. A neighbour lost a family member, a man in his eighties with several serious health issues. The province is in a lockdown again similar to those earlier in the pandemic.
The good news is our daughter and family came through the self isolation last week without having Covid. However, it is nerve-wrecking when anyone must be outside the house these days. My husband and I will venture into the fray to get our booster shots on Wednesday.