two years ago my old lab burt Was at the vets coz he jumped out of the van and his back gave out, he couldn't walk. Turned out he had spondolosis. Vet gave him a year tops, but said if I gave him lots of walks, little and often, I may get the whole year. So I did, and the vet did his bit by putting him on PLT, a steroid they only give to dogs as a last resort as it focs their renal system ultimately. I went out early in the morning, then several times in the day, his last one just before midnight. For the first three weeks he cried every time for the first ten minutes of the walk, and could only put one back leg down, so it was literally twenty minutes out covering about 40 yards. Gradually he got better and better, and after six months, even though he walked a little oddly, he was fine and we would gout half a dozen times a day for twenty minute min and forty max. I got my year, and a year extra too. He would still be here now if not for my stupidity five weeks back, when I lost him.
Last three weeks I've been ill, proper poorly, and genuinely thought I was dying, though in truth I wasn't that bothered, just too old and fed up to care lol. Just under a week ago penny noticed I had a bulge in my left side, about as big as three quarters of a tennis ball and made me make. An appointment at the docs. I figured it was cancer, tied in with the pain/ guts ache/ shitting blood etc and it was mildly painful to touch. Went to the docs this afternoon and it was something else altogether. Thirty years ago I had kidney operations, and unbeknown to me they cut the three walls of muscle that line our stomachs ( one horizontal, one vertical, one lateral) the inner wall didn't heal, and had a hole slightly smaller than a golf ball in it. As I had a physical job, it kept my stomachs muscles reasonably taut, so I didn't suffer anything and didn't know it was there. Then when I stopped building and became a sit down on my arse all day student, I was still walking burt, and as little excecise as that was it was enough to still keep my muscles holding my guts at bay. I didn't think about it, but I guess me and burt walked between 5-10 miles every day, rain or shine.. Five weeks ago I lost him, and the walking stopped. Three weeks ago the pain started as my guts started pushing through the hole. I didn't have a clue, and honestly thought it was something to do about being broken hearted as I was about burt. Today my doctor laid me down and pushed my guts back in, then made me cough, which pushed them straight back out. How gross is that? He said the danger is if it pops through and twists, then I'm forced I got two choices..first is an op, which means cutting through two good walls of muscle to get to the buggered one, and could give me more problems and a chain of ops. The second, and the one I'm taking, is to excercise gently initially, then more so and strengthen the muscle enough to to hold stuff in, whilst also lose weight as there's less pressure pushing everything out. Talk about an incentive for a new year resolution huh... So I'm back to walking, will go out twice this evening, on my own with the ghost of a Labrador at my side, with a torch through the Forest of Dean. I can think of far worse ways to spend these winter evenings. And isn't it strange...all this time I thought I was saving my dog. Turns out he was saving me.
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