Exhausting Weekend

Well, we had quite the weekend!

Grandma Sally came down to Anchorage to have her Pacemaker replaced so we spent three days in Anchorage with her, keeping her company. On Thursday Martin and I went in, after all of her pre-op paperwork, and took her shopping. She wanted to go to the furniture stores so that's what we did. It's always fun to have a look around! We went to dinner and then got her back to the Hickel House, where she was staying, on the hospital grounds.

On Friday Robin, the kids, and I went in again and was with her at the hospital while she came out of recovery. The awful thing was that they left her in the recovery area ALL DAY LONG!! There really wasn't enough room to sit and visit so we mostly sat and waited, going back to the room every so often to make sure she was doing okay. They didn't get her a room until 6:00PM!! What a drag! The kids were getting pretty cranky by the time we headed back home for the night.

Friday morning, before we left for Anchorage, Kev had brought the cat up to me, concerned that something was wrong with him. He set him down and Socky wouldn't walk. I was afraid that maybe he had a stroke. I went to pick him up and I could feel every bone in his body. Something was seriously wrong. I told him to lay him down in my room and if he was still looking bad when we got home that we would take him in. When we got home at 8:30 he hadn't moved an inch. He was in the exact same position as when we had left at 7:00 am. We rushed him to the Animal Hospital where they confirmed our worst fear- renal failure. They could have done diuresis but in the shape he was in he probably wouldn't have pulled out and even if he did it would have just bought him a little more time and hundreds of dollars in cost. The vet said that either way he would die, there is no cure. So we had to make the awful decision to put him down. I called Martin to bring Tristan and Calista down since Kev was the only one with me. It was absolutely heart breaking to see my 15 year old sobbing so hard that Socky was literally soaked by the time we even sedated him. And then to have the other two come in, uugghh! They all snuggled around him as the doctor sedated him and then gave him the injection. We got home at 11:00 and, of course, no one was going to sleep. We all snuggled in my bed until there were no more tears to cry.

We paid the extra money to have him privately cremated and they will give us a little print of his paw. Each of the kids will have a little urn of their own with a copy of his paw print. It may seem ridiculous to those of you who don't own pets but it's HUGE for the kids. We have had that cat for 13 years and they really just become part of you. It's a tough, tough deal, losing a pet.

Then on Saturday I had to teach a class, which I didn't think I would get through but it was actually a great distraction and I felt much better after class. After class Robin, Martin and I went back into Anchorage and sat with Grandma until she was discharged. We got her back to the Hickel House and then came home. Some friends picked her up on Sunday and brought her to the airport. It's the first time she has had to do something like that alone, since Grandpa has Parkinson's and is to the point that he can't manage. Auntie Karen stayed in Fairbanks a little longer (she is visiting from San Antonio) so Grandpa would have some care. Grandma is definitely moving into another phase of her life but she has a great attitude. People can't believe she is almost 82 years old because she acts and gets around more like a 40 year old! She is a really amazing human being!!