A dogs tail part 1

Time to introduce my long time companion and furry best friend snapper. Getting on for 13 and still a pup in her head. Up till a few weeks ago wouldn't sit still for more than a couple of minutes then one evening totally out of the blue lost all movement in her back legs.

Cue a panic stricken rush to the vet who was, I must admit, a thoroughly top bloke. Outlined the options very clearly...waste loads of money getting scans etc, get her put to sleep or try some strong painkillers and anti inflamatorys and see what happens.

• Option 1 the vet himself discounted as a waste of time and money.
• Option 2 was not an option as far as I was concerned.
• Option 3 it is then.

Over the next few days she seemed to be eating ok, and with a little support was going to the toilet ok so decided to continue with this course. Managed to take her for short walks using a sling fashioned from a Sainsburys bag for life, a memory foam pillow and a roll of duct tape, I love it when a plan comes together.....

......Then.....

my sister sent me a link to this site that makes wheels for dogs! Bob and Angela, lovely people and very very helpful. Dog measured, wheels ordered.

Within a few days the chariot arrived, and a beautiful piece of engineering it is too. Assembled, adjusted to fit, Snapper strapped in and this was the result.

Absolutely loved it, off like Ben Hur, this video was shot just a few minutes after strapping her in for the first time and look at the wagging tail! Took a few goes to master corners, downhills and stopping but an amazing bit of kit.



More to follow...............

Blind spot

New blind fitted today, finally finishing the dining room.

Spent an hour with mum explaining how the string moves the blind to the side and the chain opens and closes, cheers and excitement when it was finally mastered.

 Hour today not too bad, the hard part is the hour every day from now till who knows when going through the same explanation time and time again.

Still, at least it has given the rose a stay of execution!! Every cloud...

Garden wars

Latest on mums declaration of war against every living thing in the garden.

Fuelled on by the recent very successful battle of the clematis, mum has started a pincer movement on a rather attractive and very healthy rose bush. at the moment this seems to be offering a bit more resistance than the easily massacred clematis, but mum has a look of steely determination and is moving in for the kill.


 More to follow........ 

3 posts and writers block?

Never realised just how hard this would be...not sure what to write  and what to leave out, so I end up with nothing. Suppose I just need a little more discipline coupled with enough self belief that people may want to read what I put on here.

Today was a good day, Sarah off work so her and mum moved all the bedding from one room to another, all neatly folded and arranged in sizes so satisfies mums(and my) OCD nicely!

Nice tea, pasta, tomato and basil sauce with sundays leftover pork and veg mums upstairs now applying a vat of face cream and repacking the two suitcases she always has ready "because you never know".

I think tomorrow I will introduce snapper, the dog on wheels...although it looks like the wheels will be a very short lived thing thanks to Neil Gaiman and the power of the internet.

A Brief History Part One

As I am starting this story in the middle I will outline a little history now as I have no intention of writing a prequel a la Star Wars at some point in the future.

We had noticed mum starting to struggle with various things, memory loss, some obsessive compulsive behaviour and a general air of confusion being the main problems. I was at a bit of a loose end career and life wise so I packed up my best friend snapper and headed on down to investigate.

After many months of buck passing and dead ends from our glorious National Health we managed to secure a diagnosis of vascular dementia.I wont go into long descriptions of the disease but there is some excellent reading here should you so desire.

Now, a few years down the line I am mums full time carer and have decided to share the day to day trials of caring for someone with dementia. Partly because someone, somewhere may be interested in what I have to say but mainly because its handy to have somewhere to let off steam.

Introducing the cast.

Time for introductions to the main protagonists.
Thats me, Jon doing some of the things I love, drinking real ale, crossing things out on a piece of paper and probably telling Sarah a very interesting story.







Thats the lovely Sarah doing what she does so well, pretending to be interested in whatever rubbish I am spouting.








The real star of the show, Mum. Seen here posing in front of the new wallpaper.











The rest of the cast including a dog on wheels, mad max`s capri, two sisters and a lovely old gentleman will be introduced as we go along.

The start.

With a bit of luck and hard work there will be some stuff here tomorrow.