Double Duty

Life has sure been stressful around here the past couple of days. Wednesday night mom woke up in the middle of the night with an awful apin in her stomach. This had happened the night before but milk from the kitchen had made everything okay and we had gone back to bed. Wednesday, Mom made it to the hallway and dropped like a dumbbell from a recall screaming in pain. Ru and I shot off the bed surrounding her not knowing what we should do. Finally we just each lay down on either side of her until she decided to get up.

After about as much time as it takes to get to the kennel and then go there again, mom finally got up but she diddn't seem to be feeling good. She went back to bed but was real restless. Ru and I took up our posts at the foot and the head of the bed and kept an eye on her all night.

In the morning, mom didn't get up when we nudged her. She kept saying she would, then she would moan and go deeper under the covers. Ru and I took turns staying with her. Finally she got up and fed us but she was walking all stiff and hunched over. She called Aunt Nonie who came over and they talked about going to the hospital where I would have gone too, but that's a scary place for mom. Mom insisted she had to go to work.

Either Ru or I stayed with her the whole rest of the day at work until Aunt Tamra persuaded her to go home early. After we ate she just laid in her chair and we lay on either side of her making sure the other was awake if one of us had to go outside. Friday she seemed to feel better but she still didn't get out of her pajamas all day. That's not like her. Ru and I stayed close. Following her around the house. Today was better. We went up to the kennel, but neither one of us wanted to let her out of our sight.

Ru taught me what I need to know as a Service Dog as far as taking care of mom and it was sure good to have her around during this crisis. It was much more than a pup of my age has been trained to experience. It's been really hard work just making sure that everything is safe. I don't know what was attacking mom, but whatever it was I knew I couldn't do anything about it but I could keep her company and provide her warmth and comfort.

Isn't that the way it happens a lot with people we call friends. We can't go after the thing that is attacking them, whether it is a disease, or financial problems or emotional or relational problems. We can't fix that which is actually causing the pain. But we can stay close, gather around them, with more than one if necessary and give them comfort and keep them warm with our kind words and pleasent thoughts. We can nudge them into taking better care of themselves and try to point them in a healthy direction, but the best thing we can do is surround them with our love and care, keep our eyes on them and make sure all our four feet are on the ground, even if their two feet aren't. This is the life of a Service Dog. This is the life of a good friend.

Time to get back to work. Enough rambling for now. See you around the kennel.