When the Time Comes

 As 72 is fast approaching for me, I have been contemplating the "what ifs." I have Max, a 3-year old German Shepherd and Elsie, a 10.5 year old Giant Schnauzer. What happens to them if something happens to me? They are my loyal companions and sometimes my entertainment. 

Elsie is my Velcro dog. She is always by my side. If I rise to go to another room, even though I am just going to check something cooking on the stove, she gets up and follows me to the kitchen, the bathroom, or wherever, then lays back down. As I turn around to go to another room, she rises to follow. Max is more patient. He just imitates a big throw rug and awaits my return.

Anyway, as I was pondering what becomes of my dogs should I be hospitalized or die, I tried to come up with people and scenarios. The people with whom I could entrust my dogs to and scenarios of what if no one wants these two big dogs. I owe it to these two to make the best plans. They love me unconditionally and trust me with their lives. I have to come up with something.

As I was talking with the vet this afternoon, he told me that I could have my family reach out to him to help find homes for placement if no one in my family would take them. I'm not sure any of them would want the tag-team of Max and Elsie.

Besides, Elsie is nearing her life cycle as a Giant Schnauzer. She will be 11 soon and the vet commented today that since she is in the double digits of age, she has lived her life expectancy and everything is now bonus life. He commented how so many of the dogs he has seen on autoimmune suppressing drugs, within several years after starting the drugs, pass. Elsie has been on autoimmune therapy drugs for 6 years now and Dr. Chaille believes that she has had the best of care to survive this long. 

Elsie is here for me. Her bond with me goes beyond anything any other dog I've owned. We go back to the day she was 10-days old. I went to look at Giant Schnauzer puppies that were only 10 days old. As I beheld the litter of 11 inside a puppy pen squirming around, crawling over top of one another, and making little puppy noises, I began talking to them. Slowly, I walked all the way around the pen while the owners watched. When I got to the 1/4 point, one puppy surfaced and began following my voice. When I got back to the starting point of my journey around the pen, there it was squirming and squeaking.

I was asked if I knew what sex I wanted and told them not really but that I had always had males. I reached in and picked up the tenuous little puppy who barely had the eyes open. I snuggled it close to my neck and she began making puppy noises and sucking on my neck. I commented, "I don't even know what sex it is," and held the puppy out and way at arms length to check.  "It's a little girl," I said.

I slowly brought her back to my neck where she began settling in. Then the owner inquired, "What are you going to call her?"

I didn't know as I had been thinking of male names, so I held her out at arms' length again and inquired of her, "What do you want me to call you?" Like a bolt of lightning it flashed through my head. "Elsie." 

I instantly inquired of the puppy, "So you want me to call you Elsie?" In answer to that question, she became very vocal and squirmy. I brought her back to my neck and snuggled her again. She settled in as if it was home and responded to her name each time I said 'Elsie.' 

Both owners commented on how they had never seen anything like it before in regards to the interaction of a puppy with a new owner. I paid my deposit and left for the day, but returned when Elsie was 3 weeks' old. 

This time, she was playing rough and tumble with her littermates and they were seeing who was the best at beating everyone up. The minute Elsie heard my voice, she stopped playing and turned and came to the puppy pen line to wait for me to pick her up. She and I had already formed a bond and she remembered it.

Finally, when she was 8 weeks old, I went to the kennel for the last time. Elsie was playing with the few littermates remaining. As soon as she heard my voice, she turned and began waving her left paw at me. The owner about fell over. Never in all her years of raising puppies had she ever seen such interactions as Elsie and I have for each other. 

I am always thankful that Elsie has come into my life. Not in my wildest dreams can I imagine my life without her. When her final day comes, I will be with her until her last breath; then I will hold her and cry over her body and the joy and years this beloved pet has given me. It just doesn't seem fair that dogs with such short lives compared to humans can't be around us longer. Their unconditional love makes my life so much richer.

Why Some Seniors/People Ignore Pain

 My parents were advocates of the "it's too far from your heart to kill you" when it came to us children (there were 10 of us) getting hurt. Anytime one of us got a cut, a scratch, a bruise, or hurt in general, we were told to continue doing what we should be doing, complete the task at hand, then Mom would take a look at it. No matter how bad we felt, we weren't to let it show and we were to get the job done.

A good example of this, is my brother David. For multiple weeks, he limped favoring his right side with a slight hunch protecting that side. When asked why he was limping, he said he didn't know (denial of pain). Well, about 3 weeks after the limping began, David got really sick with a fever, and extended stomach. He was rushed to the Emergency Room 25 miles away. The doctors did what needed to be done and found that David's appendix had ruptured. What if he had been taken to a doctor when Mom first noticed him limping?

However, as a result of being told or hearing daily and sometimes more than once a day - it's too far from my heart to kill me, at 71, I am reluctant to let the doctor know where I hurt and how much pain I am really in. For months, I hurt from head to toe clear to the bone, but I continued to work and do all that one needs to do to get thru each day. I got an opportunity to do LifeLine Screening, made an appointment, then followed through with the appointment.

A couple of weeks later, I found that I was severely deficient in Vitamin D. How can that be? I drink milk, eat cottage, ice cream, sour cream. Isn't that enough? I guess not. Vitamin D deficiency is one malady I never thought I would have.

It turns out that people with thyroid disorders, which I have had for 35 plus years, their bodies are less likely to manufacture and utilize Vitamin D from the sun and dairy sources. I am amazed at how 1 little gel pill each week keeps the pain from feeling like it comes clear from the bone.

I have some other issues I keep forgetting to mention to my M.D. that I really need to bring up but keep forgetting to until I get home. My doctor can't read my mind and I need to just open up instead of thinking 'it is too far from my heart to kill me.' What if it isn't?

My favorite tech support person's link is below. Today she brought up the fact that there are many elder scams out there and that we are easy pickings because we are so gullible and want to trust everyone. She provides tips for security and how to keep your information off the dark web and other items that give you an opportunity to protect your information. I hope you find her link useful. 

Kim Komando techie

Working From Home

For the past 46 months, I have worked from home. Now I know many people who believe this is the ideal job - never having to leave the house of a morning, not needing to get all dolled up to go to work, not needing special clothes for work, and so on and so forth. Yes, it is all that, but there is something more or should I say less, when working from home.

One is basically an island when working from home. There is no face time with another human being. As a customer service agent, I do get to interact with many people, mostly unhappy people, to resolve their issues in an efficient and courteous manner. My mind is always racing ahead to what I can do next to resolve the issue of the person on the other end of the phone line. 

Oftentimes, I succeed in being just the right person they needed to talk to. They might be having a difficult time and they just need kindness or a reassurance that all will be okay. I know that part is outside my job's realm, but I offer it anyway, hoping that their day will get better.

I must say, that this job isn't for everyone. One needs to be disciplined and a hard worker to last, tolerant for people who aren't kind, who believe one is subservient to them. And the long hours of sitting also make one want to keep over some days.  This just isn't the job for everyone.

I was at the right place at the right time when I took this job and it was a lifesaver. COVID had hit and everyone was in the avoidance mode - keeping away from socialization and groups of people. 

However, working from home is the right thing for me. I have a dog 10 year-old Giant Schnauzer who has suffered for over 6 years with autoimmune disease called Immune Mediated Poly Arthritis. She requires meds 3 time a day. I am home to provide those meds as required now that I work from home.  When I was working away from home, she was not as well as she is right now. I am truly blessed because of this job. 

If you think you might like working from home, reach out to others you know who are doing it. Also there are leads in LinkedIn and other jobsites. Be prepared to be disciplined because it does require a lot of discipline on one's part. But I do wish you great success when a job does land in your lap.  Go now and search! Start with Teleperformance.com and goodluck!