Saturday, January 5, 2019

Carl...

(for Sherry)
Carl is still with us....
Brian is in denial and tells everyone he is doing fine!
Carl sleeps most all the time, is restless at night.  I think he has dementia... wants outside, then goes out there and stands, like, what am i here for? Does the same over his food bowl, just stands, uninterested.  Has a hard time walking, very hard..... is on gabepentin for nerve ends and pain pills.. goes for ultrasound treatments every other week.  He gets too hot in front of the stove, then moves from out in front of it, and Luci takes her turn in front of stove until he wants back in his bed.  He will stand and growl at her until she moves... At times she just ignores him and the growling gets louder and louder and he will even go get Brian to make her move... They are a pair!!!!
I feel so bad for him, but he does not appear to be in gross pain unless he is trying to walk.  He just flops down, as it seems too hard for him to go from standing to laying down, so flops.....
It is a hard decision to make and Brian is the one that needs to make it. I DO make him clean up after Carl when there is an 'accident' and fill the water bowl, so Brian at least knows what is entailed in keeping things clean, picked up and normal.  Just like a man to completely not see pee on the floor!!! Or poop piled in the yard. I also make him PICK Carl up and take him outside and then stay with him until he does what he needs to do outside....
So it is an ongoing thing, keeping Carl clean and safe and functioning.  He does not seem to be in extreme distress and has not had any seizures in the last month or so.. we maintain and we try to make him comfortable and just hope he passes in his sleep and we don't have to make that hard decision..... Don't know if that is right or wrong, but as long as he is not in extreme, continuing pain all is  'fine'
Take Care All and God Bless

5 comments:

  1. You are doing the right thing. As long as the pretty good days outnumber the really bad days. Skitz is having some problems with dementia and sleeps a lot. She's also deaf now. We have to carry her up and down the stairs (which is a lot easier than Carl) to go outside. But she's still going strong. Even when her back legs don't want to work. Not an easy decision to make to let them go. Remind Brian that he needs to think about Carl's life not his own heartache. And give them all a hug from me.

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  2. I'm sure that has to be a very hard decision to make. I don't know how I will feel about it when Freds time come. Of course he still acts like a puppy and runs all over the place getting into trouble

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  3. Yes, sad to hear about Carl. It's hard to grow old and sick for all of us. It's a tough road. I'm glad you are there to watch over. Give Carl a hug for me. Glad to hear he doesn't seem to be in pain.

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  4. It is difficult to make the decision, but we have to remember that we are making them sacrifice because we can't make the decision. Quality of life is a big part of the decision.

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