Doug Pensinger wrote:
>
> Three weeks ago, for my birthday, my wife and kids got me a little
> yellow sided conure (a small, new world parrot). At about 12 weeks old
> she isn't quite full grown yet. She was hand raised, and is
> affectionate, mischievous, curious, and altogether endearing. As I
> write this she is sitting on my shoulder, nibbling gently on my cheek.
> She'll eat from my hands, relax on her back while I scratch her neck, or
> crawl inside my shirt and stick her head out the collar. When she's
> tired, she'll fall asleep in my hands.
>
> But also as I write, my 13 year old dog Lucky lies in a cage at the Vet
> hospital, breathing hard from the fluid collected in her lungs, barely
> able to stand or walk, and low in spirit. The Vet says she may have
> pneumonia - or cancer in her lungs - the xray is inconclusive. Lucky
> has always been a doll. We adopted her from the shelter when she was 6
> weeks old. She and her litter mates were left on a corner in a box, and
> might have been destroyed without even getting a chance at adoption if
> we hadn't spotted them. She always hated being left alone, and I'm
> agonizing over the idea of her staying at the clinic by herself,
> receiving the intravenous fluids and antibiotics we hope will restore
> her to health. If she has cancer I just want to bring her home and hold
> her for a few hours before she passes. She's been such a good dog -
> smart, affectionate, playful...
>
> So new life and the awful specter of death. Does one offset the other?
> I wish I never had to find out.
I don't know.
In June, when we knew I was carrying twins, my parents-in-law came for a
short visit. (With them, anything less than a week is "short". Too
short, if you ask me.) We discussed the possibility of my needing bed
rest at some point to try to help prevent premature delivery. They
assured us they could be here within 3 days of our hollering that we
needed their help for that.
Then my father-in-law went to the doctor about a lump. The doctor set
him up with a surgeon, who removed it. Test results said it was some
sort of neuroendicrine cancer. He saw an oncologist today, will have
all sorts of tests run Monday afternoon, and will see the oncologist
again next Wednesday and the oncologist will know just what's going on
with him.
Needless to say, my parents-in-law aren't available for helping out
anytime soon. So when it got bad for me a couple of weeks ago (when all
we knew was "neuroendicrine cancer" and that the Really Good Oncologist
hadn't had an opening before July 30), Dan called *my* mom. Of course,
she's not the one I spent 2 weeks in May whipping into shape. :) (My
parents-in-law came for a longer visit then, and it was nice to have
them here.) She *is* being helpful, and we're easing her into various
responsibilities a bit at a time.
So, in the back of my head, I'm wondering if there's a possibility that
my father-in-law just isn't going to ever get to see these two new
grandchildren in person. And that saddens me greatly. But we're most
worried about my mother-in-law; I think my father-in-law can handle his
own death a lot more easily than she can.
Julia
hoping that both of Dan's parents will be able to come for Thanksgiving,
and *desperately* hoping that one of his relatives in Austin will be
hosting Thanksgiving, because I just can't do it, not even if everyone
else brings all the food, not *this* year, and I don't want to have to
go to Houston for it
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