according.to.kim

We let Sherlock go today

...and it was hard; really hard. But it was the right thing to do. He was not doing well. I took this last picture of Sherlock this morning. He looks so strong and beautiful here -- just the way I want to remember him. It's odd that he raised his head so high at that moment because he had hardly lifted his head over the past few days. We hope he is healthy and strong again, and having a ball running and playing with Alfie.

Highlights of the week

• celebrating (Neil's) Grandma Louise's 94th birthday at Weisshaar's on Monday evening. It was nice to see Louise and everyone who was there. I think she's doing very well for 94! Also, I was pleased to get some good photos and the cake was heavenly! Angel food cake with a wonderful lemon glaze icing, topped with vanilla ice cream, and fresh strawberries and saskatoons. Best. Dessert. Ever. IMHO
• hearing Dr. Abdulhadi (Nephrologist) tell me I'm fine. I was actually doing a pretty good job of not worrying about this appointment (I was, really! at least until the receptionist led me to the examining room and placed a box of tissues in front of me. Why would she do that?! Sheesh! Yes, Kleenex-induced anxiety -- perhaps I'm a little fragile!), but it was still such a great relief to hear that my most recent lab results came back normal (well, almost all normal).*
• enjoying the summery weather. I love sunshine!
• watching the girls in their outdoor swimming lessons Friday morning (Sophia and Bronwyn at 9:45, Madeline at 10:35, and Georgia at 11:05). It's no fun being stuck at work while the rest of my family goes to the pool every morning! I'm glad I'm able to go twice anyway (both Fridays). Unfortunately, Madeline ducked out of her lesson half way through because she wasn't feeling well, and then laid on the concrete on a towel, covered by a towel, the rest of the morning. Both Georgia and Madeline (and now Sophia, as of late Sunday night) had a bit of fever on the weekend. Only Sophia is complaining about ear pain.
• taking Sophia to her orthodontist appointment and having it go exceedingly well in terms of Sophia's mood and cooperation throughout -- thanks to Bronwyn being there with us. I know her presence helped immensely! Sophia has an underbite (front and one side) and she'll start treatment next March.**
• taking the girls to Play in the Park Day (sponsored by Regina Downtown BID) on Friday afternoon, and meeting my Mom there, too (she happened to be in the city). The girls got some autographs from Roughriders (including Georgia's favourite, Hugh Charles -- favored because he does back flips) and had their faces painted. We enjoyed watching some demos such as belly dancing, hula hooping(?), watermelon helmet making (only in SK, heh), and Meihua martial arts. Sophia was delighted to keep one of the watermelon helmets that had been prepared the night before. We also enjoyed getting free hot dogs (good ones from The Frank Cart) for making a donation to the food bank.
• ordering another Blurb book made from my blog entries. I hadn't worked on one since last November, and I'm not even sure why I did this weekend (it certainly wasn't on my to-do list) but I impulsively started working on Volume 7 (May - August 2006) Friday evening. I finished up Sunday morning and ordered the book. The process is rather tedious for various reasons, but I kind of enjoyed doing it this weekend and I look forward to doing another (good thing since there will be 10 more volumes to the end of 2009). It is satisfying to have those memories printed in hard copy.
• taking the girls swimming at Dunnet Regional Park Saturday afternoon, along with L&B and the girls' Grandma Donna. It was a hot day, so a dip in the pool was perfect. Sophia enjoyed doing flips off the diving board -- without a life jacket in the deep end! This was both a 'yikes!' and 'my-baby-is-growing-up' moment for me. Madeline enjoyed jumping off the diving board, too, but with a life jacket -- thank goodness! Georgia is much more tentative in the water and she didn't want me to let go of her for a second, but eventually was more relaxed (and proud!) when I showed her she could actually stand up on her own at the end of the pool.
• seeing Sherlock... Neil's parents called Saturday morning to tell us he wasn't doing very well; he wasn't interested in eating or drinking much and didn't have enough energy to go for his usual walk with Lou... so, after that, it was just good to see Sherlock -- and see him get up and eat and drink a little -- when we arrived in Avonlea Saturday afternoon. We brought Sherlock home that evening and took him to the vet Sunday morning. An x-ray revealed three large tumors in his chest, so it was a sad weekend for us. Lots of tears have been shed already, and the hardest part is yet to come.
• having a couple quiet hours at home on Sunday while the girls went to a movie (Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs) with Laurel and Brownyn. They enjoyed the movie and I enjoyed some much-needed silence and time to plow through some paperwork.
• knocking 10 things off my to-do list on Sunday, including backing up my photos to an external hard drive (the one I keep in my office at work). I hadn't done this backup for seven months and I'm glad to have it updated. (I also have automated frequent backup to an EHD that sits next to my computer.)

*As mentioned previously, my doctor sent my past lab results to a nephrologist for a second look. He subsequently ordered more blood and urine tests, including a 24-hour urine volume. Dr. Abdulhadi (a very nice man, by the way) had the results before my appointment with him on July 22. Right away he said, "this will be a very short visit because you're fine." It was great to hear that right off the bat! Then he showed me that everything came back normal except one thing: Creatinine Clearance -- mine at 125; normal range 75 to 114 for women. He called this "slightly elevated". Essentially, this is the same thing as the low eGFR (58) revealed by two prior blood tests. Anyway, the doctor implied it was nothing to worry about considering everything else is normal. He made a point of showing me that he wrote "ALL NORMAL" on my file. :)

**She'll get a palatal expander (in place for 6-8 months; not removable) and head gear (to be worn evenings and overnight). She's taking this very well considering she gets a bit upset at the thought of braces (which likely won't happen until she's about 14). I know the expander and head gear will be awful for Sophia, and even painful at times (as with most ortho treatments; I know all too well), and I do wish she didn't need this at all, but given the circumstances I'm very happy about these developments in orthodontics. They say expanders work very well on a growing child. I wish I had had that treatment rather than surgery on my lower jaw. Apparently, they rarely do lower jaw reduction surgery anymore because it doesn't work most of the time. I'm not surprised; my bite isn't much better than it was pre-surgery. Now, when surgery is required (which is less often due to the use of palatal expanders), it involves the upper jaw. In any case, I really hope Sophia will not need surgery.

So many last days

What a week.

Wednesday was Sophia's last day of school; her last day of grade one! (I told her to stop growing up. She refused. Hmmphh.) They had tons of fun the past couple weeks. Last week, they went to the splash park on Tuesday and bowling on Friday. This week, they walked around Wascana and had lunch in the park on Monday, went swimming on Tuesday, and watched a movie in the gym (Bee Movie) on Wednesday. We received Sophia's report card that day too. She did very well in grade one, especially in reading. I'm proud!

Wednesday was also Neil's last day (for the summer anyway) of doing lunch supervision at the school. He even received thank you gifts from a teacher (a set of frosty mugs) and a student (a Starbucks gift card). How thoughtful and unexpected! The principal asked if Neil would do it again next year. He said he didn't know if he could because he would have to have Madeline and Georgia with him, but the principal said that would be fine, so maybe he will do it again. (The little girls ate their lunch at school several times this spring when our babysitter wasn't available and they loved it.) I think it was awesome having Neil at the school every day; he was so in-the-loop on everything happening there!

Thursday was my last day as a dealer rep in External Channel Management. (On Monday, I'll be back in my regular position as a writer in Marketing Communications.) I was in ECM for ten months. It was a great learning experience. For one thing, I learned that I prefer work which involves less talking on the phone! I really enjoyed working with the people in ECM and I will miss them. I will also miss my fabulous main floor office with a wall of frosted window. (The office I go back to is dismal by comparison! Oh well.) I received many kind farewells yesterday and had a long talk with my manager. I left feeling I had made a good and lasting contribution to their team and that is a great compliment!

Thursday was also the last official day of our kids (and our niece, B) being in the care of our long time babysitter, Sharon. They had a great last day together. They went to the Science Centre in the morning and spent the afternoon at Massey pool. So glad it was a nice day! At the end of the day, I took photos of all of them together and we said our goodbyes (but, of course, we will see her again! even as soon as Monday). After she left, Sophia was most upset. She cried for a few minutes at that time; then at midnight, Sophia woke up and cried for several more minutes saying she didn't want Sharon to "leave us". I explained that it wasn't Sharon's choice; it's just the way things had to be. Sophia sobbed, "I've seen her every day of my whole life. She's like my mom!" She certainly was a big part of Sophia's life (six years and three months, in fact). I'm glad they cared about each other so much. (I always felt that Sharon had amazing fortitude and a heart of gold for putting up with Sophia's tantrums. What a blessing to have a caregiver who could handle my spirited child in a firm but loving way!)

Thursday was Neil's last day of "freedom" too. The kids will be with him every day from now on, so for his last day without the girls at home, we went out for lunch. We went to Siam, a Thai restaurant, and had the lunch buffet. It was great! Very tasty. I would go again.

Thursday, unfortunately, was Spot's last day as well. Friday morning, Madeline and I discovered that our plecostamus was no longer with us. Who knows why. Spot looked fine, but Goldie had been sick (she looked half dead -- literally; her hind end looked like it was decomposing. Pretty gross!) and Neil had been treating her with some medicine, so we wonder if the medicine was bad for Spot. The girls were upset for only a few seconds. It seems they are taking death (of fish, anyway) a little too lightly now.

Speaking of pets, we were worried about Sherlock too. For the past few days, he wouldn't eat and he was moving slower than usual. Neil took him to the vet this morning and they discovered he has an infected wound on his front leg, almost in the arm pit. It's draining fluid, but it wasn't obvious with all of his hair covering the wound. He has antibiotics now, so should recover soon. It's quite a relief. (Dare I say, I was a little concerned these were Sherlock's last days too.)

The story of Goldy #1

On April 1, when Neil was walking the girls home from school*, a neighbour on our block got out of her car and said, "Hello". Neil replied, "Hello," and continued walking. A few seconds later, the woman called after them, "Would you like this fish?" as she held out a little bag of water with a goldfish in it. He stopped, and she proceeded to explain that she didn't want it and had been trying to get rid of it. Well, Neil agreed to take it, and the girls were very excited -- to say the least. She caught the right person at the right time, heh?!

When they got home, Neil put the fish in a jar on our counter to await better accommodations, and then called me at work. "We have a fish!" My response wasn't quite as enthusiastic (I guess I'd prefer to take more time to consider adding a pet to our household!). When I got home, I was greeted with a chorus of "We have a fish! / We have a goldfish! / Her name is Goldy! / Her name is Fishy!" There was some debate over the name, but Goldy won out. (Very original, don't you think?)

After supper, Sophia, Madeline and I went out to sell Girl Guide cookies, while Neil and Georgia went to Petsmart to find a suitable environment for our new pet. He came home with an aquarium and all the ecoutrement ($100 worth of stuff... again, I wasn't exactly feeling the love on this decision!). He set everything up... read about goldfish and their care on the internet... conditioned the water and waited until it was the right temperature, etc. before introducing Goldy to her new home, late at night.

The next morning, she was swimming around and looking good. The girls loved getting up and looking at Goldy in our nice new aquarium. I must admit, the tank does look neat in our living room. We actually had a good place for it.

Neil was busy in the morning chauffeuring the girls to school, speaking to Madeline's preschool class about our visit to NASA in 2006, and then doing lunch supervision at school, among other things. After lunch, he noticed that Goldy wasn't swimming around so well anymore. She was still moving but did not look good at all. Yep, she was dying. He called me at work a couple of times and basically gave me the play-by-play of Goldy's demise. She expired mid-afternoon, before school was out. (Just guess how thrilled I was at this point!) Less than a day. How crappy. Poor fishy.

We decided he should not tell the girls right after school when he was taking Sophia and Bronwyn to Sharon's place. We agreed to tell them later when we were all together. After work, as we drove home from Sharon's, Sophia started talking about the goldfish right away. She was still so excited about it. Obviously, we had to break the news. So we did, and then endured the wailing of three little girls the rest of the way home. I don't know if Georgia understood, but she joined in the crying just the same.

They bawled while Neil buried Goldy in our garden -- right next to Bronwyn's beta fish that we (Neil) looked after for quite some time. The girls were upset off and on all evening, but we promised to get them another goldfish (after all, we have a bunch of used equipment now) and that helped.

So, what went wrong? Well, we think -- from further internet research and a conversation with Petsmart staff -- it was because we introduced the fish to the aquarium too soon while the water was still too "clean", even though Neil had used the conditioner stuff. We're now waiting for the water in the tank to improve, and Neil will have it tested at the pet store before we put a new fish in it. Perhaps tomorrow...

I sure hope Goldy #2 lives a lot longer! (I just have a strong feeling the next goldfish will be named Goldy too.)

*Our girls and B were with Neil because our babysitter had moved out of her rented house the day before and had not yet told us the address or phone number of her friend with whom she was planning to stay (until she finds a place). It was very odd that she hadn't called, but fortunately, not a big problem for us because Neil is available. I suppose she felt it wasn't critical to call us because knows Neil is available (???). It turns out she'd had a very late night with the moving and slept in.

Goodbye Alfie

Alfie - 1993(?) to December 2, 2006

Alfie, you were a good dog and a wonderful companion to Sherlock. I will never forget how you craved the affection of people more than anything. You would choose a pat on the head over the most tantalizing treat. You were a sweet and gentle dog. We will all miss you.

(Alfie lived at the farm with Neil's parents -- and Sherlock for much of the year. His health was poor the past few months.)