Ode to Sam

The dog is sick. He was vomiting and having diarrhoea overnight last night, and was super lethargic this morning. We got him an emergency vets appointment and they instantly admitted him and put him on a drip. They ran some bloods, X-rays and ultrasound, and basically don’t know what’s wrong with him. Their best bet is severe gastroenteritis. He’s an old guy and it’s hit him hard.

We had to collect him this afternoon and take him to Chester to a 24 hour animal hospital there, to be observed overnight as our vet closes at 7pm, and for more tests. He seemed to finally have settled, he didn’t vomit on the drive which was 45 minutes, and slept the whole way, albeit his breathing was laboured and I had to keep checking he was still breathing.

He made it to Chester unscathed and the vet there seems to think it’s a gastro bug. He’s run every test he can think of, they’ve all come back negative. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, at least if they had a positive result they’d know what to treat him for.

It’s critical at the moment, the next 24 hours will be telling, whether he improves with the fluids and antibiotics or not. Obviously he can’t live forever but it’s so sad to think he might not pull through this.

Also today:

John’s supervisor has been suspended. Which means John is covering his hours. He’s working 8-6 five days a week then 8.30-1 on a Saturday until this mess is sorted out.

He’s not happy, he’s booked days off work to spend with me, and it’s touch and go whether they’ll honour them. I’ve said he should be more forceful in asking them to find someone to cover, it’s not reasonable that they would expect him to work 60 hours a week for weeks on end, taking on the responsibility of running the store for no benefit at all to himself. If anything, it’s to his detriment.

I feel terrible that it’s come at a time when I’m on night shifts and am so limited in what I can do to help. It’s little things like if I was on days I could walk the dog on my days off, a good long walk around the park, so John didn’t have to worry about taking him when he gets home.

As it is, we’ll barely see each other. I’ve got seven nights over eight days, he finishes work allegedly at 6pm but usually later, I start work at 7.45pm, he lives 15 minutes away, it just doesn’t work out!

It feels like this is a test. I know we’ll be fine, it’s frustrating that we’re like ships in the night, it’s frustrating that John can’t stay at mine when he’s in work at 8am because his is so much closer. It’s frustrating that I’ll be all geared up to stay at his then his mum will go off on one and ask him to ask me not to stay on a certain night. This happened last night, and it’s her house, it’s her prerogative, but when we know it’s the only night we’ll get to spend together for almost two weeks, it’s just rough and frustrating.

It’s made me realise how important it is to take every little moment we can get together though, so that’s the plan for the next week or so, just persevere as best we can, knowing the bank holiday Sunday night/Monday is all ours as we’re both off work together for the first time in weeks.

Xx