Being Old is Hard Work

  I am not accustomed to this "dog sitting".  No, I do not mean the normal type where you take care of someone's pet while they are away.  I am talking of literally sitting here with a dog.  Old Mr. PJ has had his surgery to remove a rather large tumor from his leg but, now, he does not want me more than ten feet from him.  If I move the least bit, he panics and tries to follow.  He is supposed to rest...I get no rest.  Well, maybe I am getting too much of sitting even though I do not find it restful.  I am not used to sitting for any length of time and it is driving me bonkers.  I realize this is not his fault but it is tiring.  During this sitting, I have to keep a constant watch on him so he does not pull at the staples in his leg. Yes, he does have that cone thing on his head but this dog is smart.  He has figured out that if he squirms enough to get the cone pushed back far enough on his neck and then contorts himself in almost a pretzel position...he can reach the wound!  Oh, my.  He is also smart enough to know when I doze off at night so he can start his maneuvers.  I think he plots this all day so he watches...watches and plots until I nod off.  Thankfully, the cone is made of plastic and I can hear when he starts his squirming.

  Like I said, I am not one to just sit around.  This sitting and my lifting the dog has given me a severe backache which does not want to go away.  Several times today, he collapsed as his legs just gave out from under him.  To keep him from hurting the bad leg any further, I always tried to catch him before he fell.  Sixty pounds of dead weight is not an easy catch for someone my age and it is starting to show.  There is not much I can do about it, however, as this has to continue for the next two weeks.  Hopefully by then, he will be well enough to do things for himself.  Hopefully, my back holds out.  It ain't easy being old!