Out the back this Christmas morning feeding the birdlife, I gazed down the back paddock, lush and green, and by the back fence were two kangaroos slowing hopping about, nibbling a little here or grazing briefly at a tastier spot, and I reflected a year nearly done and dusted.
Last Christmas we were in a severe drought here in Australia, the paddocks were dry and dead, fierce winds blew and temperatures soared to 120 degrees here in Sydney’s west. Bushfires raged out of control, as they do every decade or so – only a bit worse this time. Last Christmas, the back fence 200-yards away was completely hidden by thick acrid smoke from the bushfires – things 50-yards away were barely visible, and that went on for weeks. Next came rain, and more rain causing severe flooding – we’re a land of extremes Downunder. Then along came Covid-19 and the place largely shut down for a few months. We were lucky with the virus, our leaders, State and Federal, put aside their political differences and backed the health experts in whatever they recommended. Several anxious weeks and Covid-19 was largely under control with minor clusters appearing occasionally, except for Victoria which had a second wave, but they’ve been on top of that for weeks now. The majority of our current Covid-19 cases we have imported via Australians returning from overseas, foreign workers coming here, and others able to get a permit – all have to be tested on arrival and all have to undergo 14 days in quarantine.
That’s at the macro level – at the micro level, it has been an eventful year for Miss Thriller.
For Her Ladyship, she ignored the bushfires remaining inside in the air conditioning, occasionally coming outside to check on her old dad who was spending his days watering dying gardens and watchful for fire among the thick smoke. We were spared.
Covid-19 did affect Thriller, her favorite café where they serve her a yumlicious “Thriller-burger” was closed for several months. Thrills has been enjoying her Thriller-burgers for years now, they even have her Thriller-burger on the menu – one of their more popular items, only Thriller gets hers without a side-order of chips or the vegetable matter. Since Caffe 104 reopened, Thriller has been enthusiastically catching up on missed burgers!
Health-wise, it has been a challenging year for the girl. She came to me with a life expectancy of a few months at most – that was three and a half years ago, or will be on 4th of January. Excellent care lavished on the little love by the vets/nurses at Sydney Uni’s Camden clinic, and their specialists in at the main campus in Sydney, Thriller has thrived the last few years, though slowing up somewhat this year. We dealt with some lesser issues earlier in the year, then the venerable Miss had a cancer scare mid-year needing surgery which her main vet at the Uni recommended be done by an outside specialist clinic where Thriller goes to see her ophthalmologist. Reason being, they can remove the cancer and Thriller could have some needed corrective eye surgery done at the same time since the ophthalmologist did not want Thriller to have anesthetic for something that was not life-threatening. Removing the cancer (which proved benign) allowed Thrills to once more see properly – and seeing made Thriller so very happy!
Then mid-year, Thriller was becoming very much less active, and by August she was struggling to weightbear on her back legs, and finally unable to weightbear at all – Blessed be the makers of the Help ’em Up harness! Then one sad Tuesday, Thriller managed to injure a muscle in her right shoulder and could not weightbear on that leg either. At 170-pounds, a girl really needs more than one serviceable leg to get around on, and I thought it was game over for Her Ladyship. Her main vet said that she could not find anything broken in the foreleg, and asked if I could cope for 48 hours, any assistance I needed with getting Thriller up or anything, day or night, they were a phone call away. By Thursday, Thriller was again weightbearing in a limited way on her foreleg. The specialists in at Sydney recommended that Thriller undergo TPLO surgery to her right back leg. Thriller came to me having done both cruciates, the left one was repaired by some “older” procedure which was a failure, the right cruciate had never been repaired, and given Thriller’s age and other issues it was not recommended that she have the surgery. By August it was a choice between surgery or euthanasia. They explained that for Thriller it was a very high-risk procedure, that she might not survive. She would need to be in hospital for 2 or 3 weeks having intensive physiotherapy – they had the bodies to get her up and walking, whereas I live alone. The object was to give Thriller one good back leg that could weightbear, allowing the girl to transfer weight from her other hind leg onto the newly repaired limb, and allow her to transfer weight back from her front end as well. And it worked! They also found and repaired a bad meniscal tear, which is probably what started the “cascade” of Thriller’s mobility issues. Thriller had a stunning recovery for a not-so-young Lady, was home in just over two weeks and hasn’t looked back! The only real problem they had with Thriller’s recovery was she would not take her various pills, etc. They could get the first tablet over the back of her tongue, and that’s it. When they place pills in a piece of meat, she swallows the meat then spits out the pill. Placing them in her food, she eats most of the food leaving the tablets, crushing the medication and mixing it in her food didn’t work either as she refused to eat. They asked how I managed at home. I told them all her pills, capsules are placed in a large gelatin capsule then poked over the back of her tongue, and that there was a supply of empty gel-caps in with Thriller’s medications in her hospital bag. No more problems once it was explained.
She still needs assistance getting up, or that first little bit of getting up, but that will come – hopefully.
The way she is going, methinks Thriller will become a teenager yet!
Merry Christmas and a Happy Newf Year to one and all!
Arthur Witten
Thriller – I am practicing being stubborn now in readiness for my teenager years!