Difficult decisions and allotment news

Springtime is my favourite season with all the blossom and new life sprouting from the earth, the clocks have now changed and the days are getting much warmer and longer

Boris is doing really well on the new medication regime for his arthritis, I'd noticed he was starting to struggle more with the stairs and sometimes in the mornings he was finding it difficult to assume the position when toileting

Image Description - Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel sitting in front of a large bush covered in white spring blossom, he's sitting proudly and looking very intenly at something that's behind me out of shot as I take his photo, he's also wearing a grey Y front harness 

I was really starting to worry about Boris and his quality of life as he's such a master manipulator (like many dogs) about hiding his pain, we had a long chat with Dr Tania about how Boris was starting to struggle and how we could tweak his pain medication, I was pleased to discover we're still a very long way off from maxing out the pain medications that Boris is allowed for a dog of his size

We'll continue with Boris's monthly Librela injection as well as the Onsior and Gabapentin as they really suit him, we've now added a low dose of Pardale twice a day which has made huge difference to Boris's whole demeanor and outlook on life, his cheeky personality is back with avengence and he's happily leaving all his soft toys laying around the house once more as trip hazards for us poor unsuspecting humans, he's loving his walks again and is happily chasing around after Eko whenever they're off the lead in the woods or out on the common

Due to the arthritis in Boris's neck and spine I've opted to stop using his collar for general lead walking and he's now wearing a Y front harness which overall he's finding a lot more comfortable, although for his free running exercise in the woods and out on the common Boris will still be wearing his collar as it'll be much safer than wearing the harness as his collar has less chance of  getting caught up on anything

Here in the UK dogs must wear a collar with identifying tags whenever they're out and about in public places or you could be subject to a fine, there are some exceptions to this rule but none of which apply to Boris an Eko

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It's been a stressful couple of weeks with my dad's health as he becomes more frail, we recently had a wasted day at the hospital with an unnecessary sedation for dad, because of his esophageal cancer he's been having problems eating for some time now and has been on a soft food diet

Dad recently had a bout of aspirational pneumonia because of food getting into his lungs,  the cancer has caused a type of pouch in his esophagus where food and liqiud gets trapped, the best way to describe it is that he has a U-bend in his esophagus instead of the usual straight route down which heightens the risk of foreign objects ie food getting into his lungs

We were advised that fitting a stent would beneficial, my understanding was that a stent would open up dad's esophagus and bypass the pouch which in turn would significantly reduce his risks of aspirational pneumonia, but apparently not

When I went to pick dad up I was informed that it had been a failed procedure due to an obstruction found in dads esophagus **slaps forehead in disbelief** I pointed out that was exactly why dad was having the stent fitted and got told again that they couldn't do it because of an obstruction

They now want dad to do yet another barium swallow test which dad really hates, it feels very much like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing at the moment and dad is struggling

With dads alzheimer's I'm the one that has to make all these decisions about his healthcare, it's a job I hate because I don't know what dad would want and when I ask him I get a different answer each time

Dads GP called us in for a consultation about some recent chest x-ray results which still show dad has an infection in the bottom of his right lung, plus to also discuss how dad wants to proceed with any future invasive procedures to do with his cancer in view of the recent failed attempt to fit the stent, which completely knocked the stuffing out of him and has left dad feeling very unwell and even frailer than he was before the procedure

It's not a conversation I've ever wanted to be part of, it was hard enough when we had to do the Respect from, but dads GP was brilliant and took his time with dad phasing the questions in various ways to ensure dad was giving consistent answers about his wishes

Dad has decided that from now on he just wants to be left alone, his GP agreed with him that keeping him comfortable would give him the best quality of life and I had to reluctantly agree, I'm so lucky to still have both my parents at my age, but I'm also finding it extremely difficult and stressful to be dealing with dad's palliative care and the fact that the time I have left with him has an end date at some point

I wish I could just switch off from it all

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In other news I've been busy on the allotment digging out some new and larger growing beds, it's been really hard work because of the past year of neglect, the weeds are rampant and nature has taken over once more but I'm determined to get it done

  

Image Descriptions - The dug out area of our first larger growing bed with the final corner still left to dig out. Image 1 - Boris and Eko tied to the shed and looking perplexed as to what I've been doing as they stand looking at the camera near the freshly dug earth. Image 2 - A closer view of the corner area I've got left to dig out

There I was happily digging away when suddenly disaster struck and my fork gave way on me and gravity took me down, I lay there in the dug out earth totally confused about what had just happened, I got up and dusted myself off as I prepared to dig again, but the fork felt most odd and was sitting at a strange angle

I looked down and couldn't see what was wrong so tried again, something definitely wasn't right here, upon closer inspection I noticed my fork had fractured just above the tines and was now useless with no chance of repair, I didn't have another fork at the allotment so had to call it quits for the day, hence the strange undug part in the photos above

Image Description- A close up of the damaged area on my fork where the metal had fractured and was lovely keeping the tines attached to the fork handle

Luckily I had other forks at home and a day or two later I was able to finish getting the bed completely dug out, I even managed to add some green plastic edging as a temporary fix until I can find some more wood off Freecycle

Image Description - The finished dug out vegetable bed and it's new edging 

All that remained to do was the exciting part and get my Potatoes and Garlic planted before I started digging out the rest of the beds

Image Description- The vegetable bed with the raised rows of earth after planting my potatoes, the two rows of garlic is in the far corner marked by wooden pegs 

In view of how long it took  and the effort involved for me to dig out the first bed I've now opted not to dig out another large bed this year, but to follow the lines of the original beds as the ground will be much softer, easier and quicker to get dug out, that way I can get my onions as well as all the seedings waiting in the greenhouse into the ground a lot sooner than if I attempt to break all new ground, that little job can wait until next year when hopefully I'll be feeling more up to the job

Until next time

Dawn, Boris & Eko xxx 

 

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