Golden vamp

HOW is 2013 treating you so far?

I hope you are having a good start, and that you managed to actually take the first steps towards your goals for 2013. The other night, while watching the news, I came across this report on “post-holiday blues” – specifically that feeling of (semi?) depression after the holidays – when loved ones who travelled far to be with you over the holiday season have already left, when work or classes resume, and long weekends are over. I have a strong feeling it also has something to do with that bloated feeling you have in the middle, thanks to the sumptuous feasts and drinking binges over the merry season.

We haven’t gotten past the second week of the new year, and challenges have come knocking at our door, giving me my own dose of post-holiday blues. On Saturday night after anticipated mass, we found our golden retriever Fiona slumped on the floor, a spread of vomit beside her. She could not raise her head, or her body, and she was very cold to the feel. In her ten years with us she has never gotten sick, and would see a vet only for regular shots and stuff, never due to any illness. Up until last weekend we have regarded our darling Fiona as seemingly invincible and ageless. We still regard her like a little pup who gets scolded for messes and accidents, and until that sad episode we did not realize she is now 70 in human years.

The vet diagnosed her to have pyometra, which is uterine infection in dogs. Fiona is a prime candidate because she has not bred. Yup, my Fiona is a 70-year-old virgin. I remember a neighbor with a Canadian golden ret visiting us one time when Fiona was still young and I took one look at the huge stud and said no, my baby might die. Subsequent suitors had no papers (Fiona has 6 red marks on hers). In other words, her snob of a mom now wishes Fiona just had a wild time with others during her prime. But now she is advanced in age, and suffering from an infection caused by celibacy (not even her choice). Our vet says it was good she was diagnosed early and that she can still be healed by oral antibiotics as surgery is no longer an option at her age.

But Fiona was raised by, and among, a family of fighters. Two days after her episode, she went back to running around and wagging her tail although it is obvious she still has some pain and tenderness in the belly area. She now has 3 meds plus vitamin drops, but taken with pandesal – the love of her life – she never resists.

Our vet thinks she’s amazing (he didn’t say that exactly but he seemed impressed enough), as golden rets her age would usually be already stooping, wiggly, and a little deaf and/ or blind, but Fiona is still “focused” and “poised”. What can I say, she has found her elixir in pandesal and pastries. Or maybe she has vampire blood. It breaks my heart though, to know that she only has a few more years, and I hope she will get to actually talk to me in my dreams and give me her bucket list. But I know we still have happy years ahead and it’s about time we make them more special for her. (serendipity.couch@gmail.com/ www.serendipitycouch.com)