medicine – carolyntorbettjohnson

As with humans the symptoms started small. The beginning showed with the odd sleeping positions she began to use.

Crazy way to sleep but okay if that’s your new thing. It wasn’t many months before other things showed up. She became terrified of haircuts. Whereas before she endured them with patience, she now fought the groomer tooth and nail. We decided just to let her hair grow.

She started being stuck under wheelchairs and walkers as if she’d forgotten how to back up. We had to move the barrier for her.

Soon it became a constant duty of myself, my husband or our grandson to redirect Peaches out of her dead ends. Sometimes our help wasn’t appreciated and she would pretend to bite us. Having just a few teeth, we weren’t worried.

She no longer seemed to notice feelings of wet or discomfort. My floor got mopped so much more due to Peaches spilling water several times a day.

At the end Peaches, though the vet said she had a strong heart, lost strength in her legs. She would stand staring at nothing then slide to the floor when her shaking legs gave out.

We spent months with our little dementia dog, caring for her as well as we knew how. The beginning years of her life were terrible in an abusive puppy mill and when we got her we had bonded in a very special way. It was hard to let my little girl go. I took comfort in the knowledge that the last half of her life had been filled with love and peace.

The days came when she no longer knew where she was. She began crying as she wandered the house. My own dad had come to a point where he didn’t know us and I prayed God would take him home. He died the next week. Now it was time for Peaches to be at rest. I miss you little girl may you run in the fields of heaven.

I had major surgery last March to reconstruct my ankle. I have CMT (Charcot Marie Tooth Atrophy). It has destroyed a lot of nerves and muscles in my feet and hands. There is no cure and no treatment but new advances can help correct the damages of the disease. Because of the weakness and instability in my ankles, I was walking mostly on the side of my right foot. They cut a bone, straighten the ankle and screwed everything back together. It has been a long year. I no longer have constant pain in that foot and now walk on the sole and not the side. Thank God.

I was prepared, somewhat, for the post surgery pain. I wasn’t prepared for the depression. Facing limitations have always been hard but facing a future with a crippling disease was something I wrestled with this past year. Besides having the surgery, in the last 2 years I have lost the use of my little fingers and most of my ring fingers. This might not seem like a big deal to most, but as a writer it’s hard to adjust to typing with five fingers instead of nine.

I was also following the blog of Julianna Yuri. A precious, precocious little five year old. Her mother wrote her outrageous, hilarious comments. I enjoyed her wit and wisdom. Julianna also had CMT. Probably the worst case known. The sweet child passed away this past year. I felt her loss as if I were a close companion.

But with all this year has thrown at me, I am alive and will continue to go on and adjust when it’s needed. I will try not to mourn the losses ahead but be creative to overcome them. I face reconstruction of my other foot in the fall but know it will give me more mobility. I wish my dad could have had the advances that I am enjoying. I also know some great writers only typed with two fingers. God is still in His heaven and all is well with my soul.