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fred senior

Loss

On July 7th 2002, in the early hours, our family dog Fred died, following a long illness. We’d been prepared for it for some time, but it was still a blow, as he was only eight years old.

By the early evening of the same day, astonishingly, my father was being rushed to hospital with a massive heart attack. In the early hours of July 8th, after several attempts to revive him, he too passed away. We’d had no warning of this, although the doctor said he had apparently been suffering from a serious, undiagnosed heart condition for a long time. He was 62.

Fred in 1998
Fred in 1998.
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On Friendship and Betrayal

Ho-hum. Not too much to say right now, but trust me, I’ll have a damn good try. The dog wasn’t too well again today, but it doesn’t appear to be anything real bad (relatively speaking; and yep, I know, this blog has become Animal Hospital lately).

Paul Gravett was in town last Thursday, so we met up for a coffee and a look around Birmingham. Me, socialising. But not very much. 🙂
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Pet Problems

Monday was a bit of a drama with our poor, ailing pooch, Fred. He seemed in quite a lot of discomfort and losing more blood than usual (usual being in the context of his illness). So off we went to the vet, completely expecting Fred to not be coming home with us. It was really quite traumatic.

However, the vet would not recommend putting him to sleep. The decision was in our hands. He suggested doubling the dose of Fred’s medication, and advised us to monitor his ‘quality of life’—that if he seemed in constant discomfort, that would be an indication that perhaps the time had come.

Well, as it has turned out, this was just a bad day, and the vet was right to be cautious. He’s seemed reasonably okay since then. We all know he won’t be around for too much longer, but it’s no joke to go through the experience of thinking it’s the end… and when it isn’t, knowing you’re going to go through it all again sometime.
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Angst Chronicles

Right, to update the last entry: mom came out of hospital the Wednesday after, and she’s more or less okay now. Our dog, Fred, who some of you will know is ill and sadly not going to make it, has been up and down, but holding on. So right now, I guess things are as ‘normal’ as they can be round here.
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After the Hiatus

What can I say? I’ve been stranded without a computer for a whole month, which is the longest I’ve gone offline/disconnected… for a few centuries. My computer died, poor old thing. And not gracefully. It belched and seethed and just kinda gave up the ghost. Poof! Bye-bye! Etc.

Actually, it was probably the CPU, which had apparently been running without a fan for a few months—so that was what those funny noises were! And odd how they stopped a while back. Erm, yes. Well, I can’t have looks and brains. Ahem. So, seeing as the thing was generally in a crummy old state anyway, I quickly lost interest in getting it patched up… and £250 I can by no means afford later, I now have a decidedly average but adequate refurbished thingy. It’ll do for a while, anyhoo.
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Bad News Explained

Okay, so ‘tomorrow’ was a long time coming. But I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind one way or another.

The bad news I mentioned is that our dog, Fred, who is only seven years old, was pronounced terminally ill by the vet. I was really shaken by the news, and on reflection not entirely convinced the vet wasn’t being overly fatalistic—but technically, Fred is mom’s dog, and she has accepted the diagnosis.
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