Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1372 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Thanksgiving

November 22, 2012 at 8:13 am by Claudia

We got the word yesterday around 6:00 pm that we could bring Scout home. Her fever was down and she’d been given fluids and antibiotics. Her chest X-ray was clear. Her bloodwork was fine except for some elevated levels in the liver, most likely due to Lyme disease. Her heart looks good. She has a very bad case of Lyme but it hasn’t affected her kidneys, which is a relief. She was feisty as ever last night when we brought her home, and we were so grateful that she was back when she belonged, with her family.

She’s a bit more subdued this morning and may be running a slight fever, but that’s the way it is with an infection. She’s a fighter and so are we. Seeing her sweet face was the best birthday present ever.

Our local animal hospital is filled with the most wonderful caregivers – loving and caring, compassionate and kind. I am grateful they are here in my little town, available any time we need them. As you can imagine, our bill is shockingly high, but we are grateful that we can make payments. Another plus of living in a small town where everyone is your neighbor.

We’re rather tired but managed to stop at the store yesterday and buy the makings of a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner. And we will have our little celebration here at the cottage, grateful for the kindness of doctors, techs and nurses, grateful that our little girl is home with us, grateful that I have been given the gift of 60 years here on earth, grateful for all of you. Thank you for all of your kind messages and prayers for Scout. I know they made a difference. Thank you for all the birthday greetings; they warmed my heart.

I’ll share more about my birthday tomorrow. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

It’s Here

November 21, 2012 at 8:02 am by Claudia

Six years old. I proudly wore my pink-checked dress with my faux wrist watch. Obeying my mother’s instructions, I made sure that my dimple faced the camera. Oh yes, I had strict instructions about that sort of thing.

Today I am 10 times six. How can that be?

I am still that little girl, as well as the teenager and the college student and the camp counselor and the graduate student and the actress and the professor and the coach. I am so many things, so many ages, so many experiences. Like everyone else, I don’t feel my age. I feel like I’m in my thirties. And this number – this 60 – unsettles me.

I have no choice but to accept it.

But there’s a voice inside me that says: I can’t be 60! I’m still starting out! I’m still finding my path! I don’t even know what I want to do when I grow up! Wait, let me back up and start over!

Do you know that feeling?

Anyway. It’s here. The dreaded but actually not-so-dreaded day. I will officially be 60 around 5:30 pm.

I could just say it is my birthday and not acknowledge my age – but what the heck – I will proudly own it.

I miss my mother’s birthday phone call – her daily life in a nursing home is a sort of blur. I doubt very much that she’s even aware that it’s my birthday.

I miss my older brother, who died when he was 44. I’ve had so many birthdays he never had the chance to experience.

Scout is in the hospital. She ran a fever yesterday, wouldn’t eat and got progressively worse, so we took her in. They are keeping her to give her fluids and antibiotics. Whether this is all due to Lyme disease or something else, I don’t know. Her back legs were collapsing and she was shaking from the fever and my heart broke as we left her there. The bloodwork, by the way, came back normal.

Last night, the house felt empty. Nothing seemed right without her. Don kept saying, ” I miss my daughter. I want her home.” Today I came downstairs and there was no sweet girl to greet me.

I just want her well again and home with us where we can hold her in our arms and tell her how much we love her.

Sort of a bittersweet birthday, this particular November 21st.

Happy Wednesday.

On Duty

November 20, 2012 at 9:41 am by Claudia

My view yesterday. And most likely, today. I stationed myself in the living room with Scout and kept her company all day. Don had to go into the city, so I drove him to the bus station so that I had the car, if necessary. There’s not a whole lot new to report. Scout did perk up and get hungry yesterday and I managed to sneak some antibiotics into her food. Though she slept most of the day, when Don came in the door after a being gone all day, she did a couple of her pounces and spins, which was heartening. But she sounds terrible. Her already heavy breathing is heavier. She’s now coughing a bit and sneezing. And she threw up again this morning, which, I think, is due to the antibiotics. They may just be too strong for her.

We will know the results of the blood work sometime today and go from there. We may need x-rays. Ironically, I had just paid off our previous vet bills last Friday. Ha Ha! Got you! says the Universe.

I’m nervous but am praying and visualizing my girl as the whole, perfect, healthy creation she is. To top it all off, Don had a sleepless night last night with so much tossing and turning that I fled downstairs to the sofa in the den.

Birthday tomorrow. Thanksgiving on Thursday. I really don’t care all that much about either of them. The best birthday present would be Scoutie taking a huge turn for the better. That’s all I need. (And, of course, Mabel, the Featherweight, was my early birthday present.)

I’m listing a scarf today in the Etsy shop. It’s in silk and bamboo and the color is a bit deeper than this photo indicates. It is so soft and silky to the touch. I guarantee it. And it’s my favorite shade of purple. And I have another one on the way, which you can see in the first photo. Update: Sold to Charlotte. That was fast!

Happy Tuesday.

Thanksgiving

It’s Here

On Duty

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives