Spending some quality time at the beach house with Ruby before her exit procedure which is booked for 6:30 pm on Monday.
We’ve just got back from a late evening walk on the beach. She can still walk but is quite enjoying being carried for most of the way.
She doesn’t know what’s coming but it feels like she’s gradually withdrawing from life nonetheless. My meditation app had a podcast on palliative care – apparently psychedelics are really good for terminal patients to help get to grips with their prognosis. I do remember hearing that Steve Jobs’ last words were “Oh wow!”, presumably as he was being dosed up with something before he passed away. A nice way to go. I had been planning on giving Ruby a hefty dose of sleeping tablets before taking her to the vet , as she doesn’t love it there, in contrast to our old dog, Katie – I don’t know if you remember the story of the time she ran away to the vet, when she got separated from us outside the local supermarket? Unfortunately, the vet has put the kibosh on my plan – it seems benzodiazepines drop dogs’ blood pressure, so he would find it too hard to then find a vein to deliver the pentobarbital coup de grâce. His suggestion was gabapentin, so hopefully that will help a little with her anxiety, at least. I’m sure it’s still going to be a traumatic, tear filled affair.