My family is returning tonight from a camping trip at Yosemite – a trip planned months ago. I am recovering from a burst appendix. I was up visiting my mom, then headed over to Walla Walla to play with college friends, but didn’t feel so swell through that Friday night. So I drove back to Spokane the next morning, checked into ER where they did a CT scan which showed my appendix had a fissure, though it was enclosed in a bubble. Twenty-one hours later when they finally operated, it had burst. It was a long 5 days in the hospital. My mom visited each day, but she confessed to having nightmares getting lost in the parking garage. Mike Mulligan was hard a work, building a new parking garage outside my hospital window and keeping me from going crazy inside the four walls.
I missed my family and animals a lot, but it felt good to be in the NW near my mom for this. Life never ceases to surprise us.
Today is mom’s birthday. I told her if I was going to miss a return flight home, I couldn’t imagine anyone else I would rather be with than her. I think it made her feel good.
Our dog Buck’s heart is failing. The vet said today he couldn’t even hear it beating. There is so much fluid (or maybe a tumor?) up against it that he couldn’t even hear it faintly. A hard conversation is awaits our family when they return … when to let Buck go. I can tell he’s not feeling good, because he’s sleeping outside through the night. He hasn’t slept on his dog bed in days. His breathing is labored. He is so thin.
It’s so sad to watch this happen. Life is so fragile.
Rancheygal 