Hi all,

This all seems like déjà vu; from my numerous blog postings during the past week you’ll have read that I’m undergoing some more brain surgery this week. Although I feel like an old hand at this (this will be number six), the risks aren’t in anyway diminished. Needless to say the greatest risk is the ‘worst case scenario’ which I know I don’t have you spell out for you. Other risks include my forgetting what I already know, such as my vocabulary, animal sounds, and my fine and/or gross motor skills. As a result of all of these scenarios, the house has been somewhat sombre. A successful outcome for the surgery would be the embolisation of the large supplier that is still affecting my brain, as well as non-realisation of the aforementioned risks. So please keep fingers crossed for me on Thursday, and send me lots of angels and guardians and keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Back to my week. Mom had a dentist appointment on Monday morning so I needed to be on my best behaviour. Her dentistry appointment was followed by OT for me with Lauren. She did series of cranio-sacral treatments on me which caused me to have a marathon snooze for much of the remaining morning, in early afternoon. The rest of the day was pretty slow. Opa visited in the late afternoon, and it was really awesome to see him again, as I’d not seen him since before our going on holiday to Cape Town.

Tuesday morning was a very sad day for us. During the night Jake, our 17 year old staffie, started choking a little and was unable to move, as his back legs had collapsed. Mom and Dad put him in the kitchen with a heater and every so often they would syringe feed him some water, as he wasn’t drinking anymore. In the morning, as soon as the vet was open, Dad took Jake in for an assessment. Mom and I stayed home, but we both said long goodbyes, and Mom cried and cried. We all knew that Jake’s time had come. Dad called from the vet a little later to confirm our fears were valid, that Jake was so old now that it would not be humane to try keep him going. Mom and Dad were crying on the phone to each other, and sometime thereafter Dad called to say Jake had gone peacefully off to staffie heaven, where there were lots of rabbits to chase and holes to dig and a pit full of shoes to chew on – all the things Jake loved. RIP Jake, thank you for the wonderful fifteen of your seventeen years that you spent with us and being such a good and loyal friend.

On a positive note, you will recall from my Nineteen Months Today blog, that I turned nineteen months on Tuesday. Many people wonder while we celebrate each month; the answer is simple – it lies in the first paragraph of tonight’s blog. Until I’m ‘out of danger’ medically speaking, each month on Earth is a celebration.

From Tuesday’s blog you’ll have also noticed that it was Tammy and Ryan’s birthday as well. So once Mom had composed herself after the sad news about Jake, we headed off to Cresta to get them some gifts. Afterward, we met with Granny at The Wedge to give her the gifts to give to Tammy and Ryan. Granny had a surprise install as well – she’d decided to surprise Tammy at school with cupcakes. Being game to participate in a surprise, Mom and I joined Granny in seeing Tammy at school. En route to Tammy’s school, I decided to utter a new word, namely Tam! This, I decided, was my birthday present to her. So, sneaking into Redhill School to catch Tammy off guard, I mumbled Tam Tam Tam all the way!

After Tammy’s awesome surprise and shrieks of joy, Mom and I headed to Benmore gardens to ‘break the budget’, i.e. get supplies of baby stuff. Back home Mom and I did masses amounts of tickles, which resulted in masses of giggles from me. As if that wasn’t enough, we then ran up and down the house, with me screaming in delight.

In the evening, Robin and Di popped in for a visit. We’d not got a chance to see them before Christmas, as we were all heading off to our various holiday destinations, so they still had my Christmas present. Di had picked roses for Mom and Dad from her garden in memory of Jake, which was very sweet. We all settled down in the lounge, and Mom, being a domestic goddess of note, quickly rustled up snacks and drinks. I ripped through the wrapping paper of my present to reveal a stunning wooden elephant with beads for a trunk. I immediately decided to oblige with my own rendition of an elephant which had Robin and Di in stitches. We visited for a nice long while and then it was time to bath, so Robin and Di also got the chance to see the infamous bunzy run; I’m thinking of starting a bunzy run alumni for everyone that’s watched my bunzy run. Those with 10 or more bunzy runs under their belt may even get platinum status!

Waking up on Wednesday morning I’d come to the realisation that it had rained all night. The garden must be loving the soft soaking rains after the incredible heat of the past few weeks. As a result of the rain, a great deal of indoor playing ensued, until Mom had to go for another dentist appointment. This time Granny was collected, and she looked after me in the car while Mom was treated. Dad also had a dentist appointment, directly after mine, so we had a quick chat and cuddle. Dad’s appointment was significantly delayed, so Mom and I decided to join him in the dentist’s reception after dropping Granny off. As we settled in, it was Dad’s turn to see the dentist. I was causing mayhem, so Mom said shhhhh to me. I obliged by saying shhhh to her too with my finger over my lips – another new sound and action to add to my repertoire! After Dad’s appointment, we all headed to Europa on First Place for an early dinner.

We seated ourselves outdoors, right next to the sandpit, where I got down to the business of some serious playing. Dad, still in his office clothes, even joined in. With Mom and Dad’s help I also did some sliding down the jungle gym. While playing, our food arrived, and I tucked into my plate of salmon and vodka pasta. I loved it and ate ½ the plate! It started to drizzle as we ended our main meals so we headed indoors to the sofas where we had ice cream. By the time we headed home it was already starting to get dark. Once home we did notice that Roxy seemed very sad, and was missing Jake. We all agreed we’d need to keep a close eye on her over the next few days and weeks.

My Thursday has already been reported on in my blog titled Tripping, so I won’t repeat that here.

Friday was pretty quiet, with the only thing Mom and I did was go to Benmore Gardens to do some shopping. I sensed Mom is very preoccupied and worried about my procedure on Thursday so we didn’t do too much. In the evening Dad got pretty busy after work so Mom bathed me for a change.

Saturday I again awoke to discover that it had rained all night, but much harder this time. We did some grocery and detergent shopping at Cresta’s Shoprite Checkers which was an awful experience. We agreed to avoid Shoprite Checkers at all costs in future! Dad also got a CD Clinic from Glomail, as I’ve managed to scratch and get cereal over most of my DVD’s. So Dad spent the rest of the afternoon putting my disks through the CD Clinic!

Sunday we stayed at home, and with the weather being a little overcast, and with slightly cooler temperatures, we opted to not venture out at all!

Ok, that’s it for tonight. As per my opening comments tonight, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers on Thursday, and send me lots of positive thoughts and angels and guardians to look over me and my medical team as I undergo another round of very dangerous surgery.

Lots of love,

Jarrod

Figure 1 Playful Cuddle Bunny

Figure 2 Stair climber

Figure 3 Mom doing some awesome creative photography

Figure 4 Giggles

Figure 5 Playing with my tea set on the patio – Sonic keeps a safe (dry) distance

Figure 6 Chilling

Figure 7 Oops!

Figure 8 My elephant!

Figure 9 Playing outdoors; learning about fluid dynamics

Figure 10 Sliding, and loving it

Figure 11 In the sandpit at Europa

Figure 12 Playtime takes a quick time-out to wolf

Figure 13 Back to play (although feels like bootcamp)

Figure 14 Playing along with the tunes on Cbeebies

Figure 15 Early morning playtime

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