Yin and Yang

What is pain...........

Pain is having toothache when you eat and having to chew on the other side
Pain is not winning the lotto and having to go to work to pay the bills
Pain is waiting for news that you are so excited about you just wanna know now
The worst pain is watching your best pal suffering and nothing you can do to help.

So there are different types of pain and suffering. For me out of the list above the worst pain is number 4 – and that is just agonising.

Samroc’s back has been playing up – which it sometimes does. This is usually fixed with a massage and either heat and rest, or exercise – which is usually a walk then a swim with his floaty jacket on to take the strain out of his back.

He wasn’t himself for a few days and getting stiffer and stiffer. At late the worst case scenario is his muscles needing to warm up – rather than the whole rest thing – this was an issue in the earlier stages after his recovery period of his injury. Nevertheless he is older and rest is a thing the body needs to recover. We had tried the light walk and swim but this didn’t seem to fix. So we’ll do the heat and rest.

On Monday morning he was still stiff so I decided to rest him and just took the girls out. Got home and went to work. The trials and tribulations of getting old I suppose, my wee man is old and very stiff. I got home from work that evening and he was ten times worse, he could hardly move his back legs apart and stumbled over – I rushed over to pick him up and feel his muscles – on feeling his back legs my thumb brushed against something weird feeling – which was under his tail – what the......... moved his tail to the side and OMG – VET NOW...........

I lifted him as gentle as possible and proceeded to rush to the car – put him in the car and rushed down to the vet. One of his testicles had swollen to the size of a tennis ball. The vet said it was an infection. There were 2 possibilities – 1 it was just an infection and antibiotics would take away this, or 2 it was a torsed testicle, which means it was in torsion i.e. had rotated and was blocking off blood supply – this would mean surgery. They gave him 3 injections and said to come back in the morning for another appointment. That whole night was hell. We spent the most of the night on the floor having hugs and watching TV.

We waited on the vets opening at 8am – by this time the testis were like a balloon - larger than a grapefruit and his back was like an arch. He couldn’t move his back legs – OMG how much pain is this dog in and he’s not saying a word. Got to the vets and I told the girl at the front to take him through for surgery and not worry about the consultation. I give him a big hug and kiss and they took him though the back. I had been told to call after 3pm.

I cried all the way to work. I know he needs the surgery but the thought of my wee man going under – with his age and all..... So I tidy myself up – breath hard and get myself together and proceeded to walk into work. My mobile goes – it’s the vets – OMG what’s happened, phew they haven’t started yet. Done a test and his kidneys and liver are fine and he should be ok under anaesthetic but they would like to give him fluids – anything he needs give him it. He said they would be doing surgery in the next half hour and to call at 11am. You can imagine the wait.

11am – the call. I spoke to the receptionist and she put me on hold to go and find out. I felt like I was on hold for aaaagggeeeessssss........she came back and said the surgery was all fine and blah blah blah – I couldn’t hear her, is Sam ok, the surgery all went well, blah blah, blah – but is HE OK???? – “yes”! OMG, when can I pick him up – 3pm, phone down, head down and crying like a child. OMG they tears that are just incontrollable and like a waterfall – but with relief.

So I’ve got my boy home again. He was still very drowsy and not sure what the heck was going on. We got home and lay on the floor watching TV. I was supposed to go to training to instruct but I couldn’t leave him like that. I felt bad for not going down to help but my boy needed me and I couldn’t take him with me. Later on he started coming too again and wanted food. He ate slowly but was at least eating.

He’s got a bucket on and got 2 drains sticking outside his has-been testis to remove the excess fluid. Thank the lord he is safe and sound and it is over. He goes back on Friday to have the drains removed and in a fortnight to have the stitches out. Just time now to heal him – I bet he’s relieved he’s got them off. He’s punishing me with that bucket though you know. I won’t need to shave my legs for a while – Sam’s decided to shave them for me with the edge of his bucket – oh well we can be in pain together – owch!

I'm only going as long as NO ONE sees me with this on



Much more comfy now!!!