A coincidence or helping hand?

 

Oh deary deary deary! The scene set on Sunday.

A spur of the moment call to mum and dad, are you up for a visit today? Yes that would be perfect.

Arrived to find Karen, Ava and Owen already there for quick half hour visit. The purpose of which was to impress Great Grandad with Owens outstanding (still to be confirmed) skills on his new trumpet for the school band. Alas the trumpet had been forgotten to be put in car and was still sitting on table at their house.

All hushed whispers and giggles between them all. Aha! thought I, something is afoot. "Go on then, tell her".....

….The children all excited inform me that "Grandmum, Nanna and Grandad are getting a dog today."

"Yeah that'd be right" says I with a feeling of uncertainty seeing as they had all just had a raucous time laughing at me because I was impressed with budgie Bluey and his new birdsong which turned out to be his new toy that had a recording of said birdsong that played when the plastic lifesize budgie was moved. Well it fooled me!

……anyway....off went Karen and Co to take Owen to football.

"Are you really getting a dog?" I asked, warily for fear of getting my leg pulled again.

"Well, its all dads idea. He wants one and I told him it is up to him to take care of the thing. It is coming from  a dog sanctuary. They are bringing him at five this afternoon. All we know is he is a Jack Russell about 2 1/2 years old and was taken from a police dog pound by an elderly lady who finds him too much. We do not even know what he looks like."

All afternoon after a lovely roast chicken dinner it was 'only two hours to wait' 'only one hour to wait' 'wonder what he will look like' ' he'll be here in a minute'.......oooooohhhhh here they are!!!!

Dad of course is first out the door to greet him. Mum looks out of window and an instant cloud of lovehearts and bluebirds fly above her head. She gushes "He is lovely, oh look at him, he is gorgeous". All apprehension evaporated. How she transported herself to that front door from the window in a flash is beyond me.

In scampers Jack (formerly known as Jacky), all white with little tan patches over ears and eyes, completely nonplussed and soon investigating every nook and cranny indoors and outdoors. A slight worry when he refused to leave Bluey alone. For a fleeting moment it was touch and go as to if he would stay or not as Bluey is very loved and cherished and briefly was first priority but that soon changed as Jack endeared himself with each passing minute.

Jack has a lovely temperament, he loves sitting on laps, he asks to go out, he is well mannered and gentle. He formed an instant bond with dad and stands by the door waiting for dad to come back in the room.

I spoke to mum on the phone this morning and she is besotted with him, as is dad.

Jack slept soundly on their bed and when out he walks well enough on the lead and pays no attention to other dogs.

Bluey is relegated to the breakfast room and cage hung high up from ceiling.

The difference in Mum and her lifted spirits is amazing. She and dad both agree that the sadness and lacklustre they have had these last couple of years has partly been because of the gaping hole left by dear Sam the last Jack Russell they had. Mum says the house feels right again with little stocky Jack ensconcing his four little paddy paws under the table.

So there you have it. Another family member.

.......the coincidence or helping hand...............The sanctuary is called Green Wicket...........the very green wicket gate that animals enter heaven through as mentioned in the prayer/poem read out at Kaths funeral. Kath always did say they ought get another dog, looks like she may have had a hand in it!

A day away from troubles and cares…..

is exactly what was the order of the day when I was reluctantly dragged along to grandson Joshs new youth club for young carers fund raising fete in the grounds of our worldwide tourist attraction Leeds Castle.  I really couldn’t be bothered, but when my other daughter said that Clare was really hoping I would go if only to push the pram I was held to ransom, so I gave in.  Oh my, what a wonderful day I had. It was brilliant, the weather perfect, the scenery stunning, the company and event very enjoyable.

Here are some photos of the day.

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So as you can see, it really was a welcome break and now for those of you who do not know yet….the good news is………………drum roll please……………..Clare is at long last free from any of the cancer in her body.  She and the three grandchildren came and lived with me for three weeks while she recovered from her op which left her unable to tend to the baby Isobel.  She is such a brave daughter and I am so proud of her.  For all that she has endured with the chemo, losing her hair, her toe and fingernails falling off, the lethargy and sickness, she has never once complained or bemoaned her plight. The only time she cried was when they said it was gone and then she cried because she said she could never ever face having it again.  She only has a month of radiotherapy to go through and then hopefully that will be that. 

Isobel is coming on in leaps and bounds and astounding the doctors with her progress at things they thought she would never be capable of.  She will be one year old in a couple of weeks!

I would tell you about Kath who is now 94 and not long for this world but I find it hard to put in words, so if you will excuse me I shall not.

Rest assured, you are not forsaken....

....I am still here don't worry I have not forgotten you all.  Real life interferes sometimes when all you want to do is sit at the pc and idle away a few hours in good company of online friends.
Not a lot of positives in my life at this moment in time and rather than get morbid and ramble on about misfortunes I would prefer to keep things on a lighter side with all of you my wonderful friends.  Yes yes I know you all care as I do about you as well but sometimes the doom and gloom is a bit soul destroying. Maybe you can understand more if I just let on ablut one of the all consuming heartaches I have had laid at my feet now which is.........
Sadly my very good friend Kath has very little time on this earth according to the doctors who say her heart and arteries are too furred up.  She is in very good health otherwise and none the wiser that they have decided not to admit her to hospital to deal with her health but instead feel there is nothing they can do even if they identified her exact condition.  The risks of an angiogram are too dangerous to do.   As I said, she feels fit and well and it is likely she will just go to sleep and not wake.  The doctors cannot be sure but indicated maybe a week, possibly a few months, no one can predict nature taking its course.
One thing is for sure and that is that that precious lady is going to have some good times each and every day if I have anything to do with it.

All on the up : )

What a lovely feeling it is when things start to resolve themselves and just for a while before the next round of blows you can sit back and enjoy feeling positive and happy again.  It is quite right that when you reach the lowest of the low that the only way is up!

The emotions of despair pale into insignificance  compared to the lift of a brighter future for those you love.

My daughter Clare is responding well to the chemo and it has not been as debilitating as we imagined.  The two tumours in her breast have significantly reduced already but she has to continue the full six months treatment.

Grandaughter Isobel is blossoming since her last heart op and catching up fast.  She is such a happy little girl and always laughing and smiling.  Thankfully a lot of the fears we had about her mental health and disabilities have not been as severe as they could have been. 

These photos were at Evie’s 4th birthday party.

               

Meanwhile, I have had a bit of time to myself as Kath is much more settled since I decorated her house and have more carers tending to her during the day.  She is contented and happier and instead of the usual 10+ phone calls to me on top of my daily visits she has only rung me 3 times since she went home from the Carehome and she has not called the doctor or ambulance at all compared to 25 times in one month each midnight!

Kath holding Isobel. 

Mo my dog is happy too, I am at home with her a bit more.  She has been somewhat neglected of late because of all the running around I have been doing. 

       

Blog cut short, no time to tweak,  just had a call for taxi service to take Clare and Isobel for blood tests…….ttfn