A Sweet Taste of tEeNaPiE

I woke up today feeling so tired and weak, i dont want to get up from bed to shower and change then go on a 12-hr shift in the clinic. But i got up anyway and prepared for my duty. It took me not more than 45 mins to get everything done and fetch my bag to leave. But as i was about to leave, a phonecall stopped me from heading through the front door. Before i could reach the phone, my mom picked it up already and answered it. I noticed my mom quivering when she mentioned our vet’s name then she quickly hanged up and ran towards where my father was sleeping. I followed her then in tears she frightfully said that our dog "GORIO" has been having some difficulty in breathing. My dad in an instant got up and got dressed. I immediately went upstairs to wake my sister for her to drive with my brother so that they could immediately go to the Claws and Paws clinic where our beloved GORIO is admitted. I wish i could have had the opportunity to go with them and see maybe for the last time our wonderful dog but unfortunately i can’t because I’m running late already for my 12-hr duty this morning that’s why i need to catch a cab asap to take me to my workplace. :(  I couldn’t stop myself from thinking what had happened to GORIO and wishfully thinking that he might get better. I’ve been teary eyed all throughout my ride but i stopped my tears from falling because if i allow one tear to drop from my eyes I couldnt avoid the tears that would well up after the first tear would fall. And besides, i dont want to go on duty with traces of me just crying awhile ago. I went on duty as if nothing had happened but the pain of knowing dat anything bad can happen and retelling it to anyone would make me inevitably teary eyed. At 8am i called up our home and praying so hard that a wonderful news would hit me but as expected the dreadful reality came crashing down on me. Our funloving "GORIO" has passed away already. My dad, brother and sister never get to see him alive when they went to the clinic this early morn. He was already declared dead even before they arrived. It was my mom who answered my call, she painfully told me about this bad news. She told me to hang up as she’s still on the verge of her tears dat moment. I feel so sad about this, his death made me think about the wonderful things dat dis wonderful creature has done to our family. It was only more than a week ago when i saw him peacefully sleeping under our couch then i’ll call it’s name and he would immediately get up and make me scratch its head and neck. He would look at me wid his gory eyes as if telling me that he wanted to be scratched more. He was a very a huge dog and was always mistaken to be coming from a higher breed when in reality this dog is just an ASKAL. His big paws and bulky brown figure made him even more lovable to everyone’s eyes. He has been a sickly dog but he always got away from his sickness before it takes its toll on him except today. His sickness got a little out of hand this week when he started not to eat anything at all. His mouth had some craters around it’s gums and his nose had dis some sort of infection and created a fleshy wound on it. He couldn’t eat so we had to consult our vet about dis. Our vet got a blood sample from Gorio and injected an antibiotic on him. She tried feeding him through a syringe and luckily Gorio started eating. All throughout d week we painstakingly fed him and give him d sets of medicine dat he needed to take. He was diagnosed to have a renal problem and d doctor said dat it’s really serious. For dogs, liver problem is much more reversible than renal so she said dat we have to be prepared on anything dat may happen. We took turns on feeding him, seeing him having such a hard time swallowing because of his condition made me even want to take care of him more. We need to scratch his neck and tell him to eat patiently and slowly so dat he would swallow his food and medicine. On the first few days of feeding him through the syringe he was quite ok..until on friday i let him take his food (mashed squash, rice and canned dog food) and medicine through a syringe. He took almost half of what i prepared and we were so happy to see dat. But after less than 30 mins he threw up everything dat he took. Dat alarmed us to get him to the Dog clinic asap. Our dog weighed more dan 20 kilos but because i really want him to get better i carried him wid d help of Aling until i get him inside the back of our car. At d clinic, an IV line was immediately hooked and d doctor injected all of its medicine through intravenous route. Gorio has been  very cooperative all along and dat made my heart ache even more. We need to leave him to have d doctor monitor him closely and waving our goodbyes to him make it sound more like it would be our last time to see him but i said to myself dat if would definitely be not our last time to see GORIO. I know i was on denial of his condition. As a nurse, i could see his condition has been such a serious case and seeing d progressive toll of his sickness on his body, i already know dat anytime, we would lose him. We wanted to see him yesterday to check on him but unfortunately our vet is a "SABADISTA" and  would not allow any clinic activities on saturdays. So we didnt argue wid dat and jst asked for Gorio’s condition. She said Gorio has been ok d whole night and is still under close monitoring. Until came a phonecall just dis morning..and dat completed everything dat we feared d most..LOSING "Someone" we Love so DEARLY… Many people may not understand how hard it is to cope after such a great loss dat we have. I know Gorio is just a DOG and wid dat i could still find a billion dogs whom i could always replace. He may have been such an ordinary dog to everyone else but to us he was such a gem to our family. D happiness dat he shared in our home will always be remembered in which no other dogs could ever replace. We treat our dogs not like animals but a part of our family, dats y losing anyone of them make us really very emotional. For more than 10 years dat we came to live wid dis dog every moment of it was such a pure bliss. If there was one thing that i thanked of dis morning was d fact dat i never get to fetch his dead body at d clinic and not saw a glimpse of him in such a sad state. I was just so glad to leave so early and not being able to share d emotional turmoil wid my family on d first blow of d bad news. Typing dis blog in my keyboard now made me do some frequent stops because i have to contain my emotions. It would be better dis way…I would rather have my last memories of him still so much alive and playful than remembering him in a lifeless state this time…

My Friday afternoon has been a blast..After i went home from my graveyard shift, i immediately washed and got ready for bed..i slept until 12 noon only to be awakened by my amerasian niece..she told me we were heading to Plantation bay since it’s 3 days more to go before they’ll be going back to alaska..so i obliged and packed my stuff to unwind at the resort. We stayed at WI-29 Lagoon area and as expected my 8-yr old niece who is kinda "ignorant" about beaches and the water all at once got dressed for her swimming activity dat afternoon. I too got dressed wid my 2-pc suit and my wrap around skirt for drying..You see, u cant expect her to be very much acquainted wid swimming outdoor..FYI: u cant expect to go for a swim in alaska anytime because d freezing temperature would surely kill u..one dip of ur toe at d sea..ul get it as hard as a rock from freezing.hahaha…and one more thing..they dont go swimming at d sea..expect them to be swimming on fresh waters like lakes and etc usually on summertime that’s y they dont like saltwater dat much… and oh they do have swimming pools too..but only an indoor one where the temperature could be adjusted.. my niece does not want to wade on seawater..’coz according to her it’s too salty!!! duh?!! what does she expect?!?! hahaha so we went looking for a fresh water at d whole stretch of d resort and finally found one..we we’re swimming wid my oder cousin quisa from 2pm till almost 6pm! and i’ve been like their nanny for 4 hours straight!! hahaha we werent supposed to jump into saltwater but it’s quiet inevitable since the longest slide let’s u dive on d seawater at d end so we climbed up d stairs, registered our names on d clipboard, had some brief instructions on how to increase or decrease our speed upon sliding down…as expected since i am d eldest (ow i hate being one), i have to be d first one to go which i really hate because im so afraid of heights and i hate slides…whoa!! but there’s no going back now since my cuzin has been so excited about all this and i just cant dissapoint her..so there i go, lie down at the top of d slide and let go of d railing……i was screaming like crazy!! haha finally when i got to d end i saw 2 koreans looking straight at me..i feel so ashamed for screaming too much but who cares?!?!!! haha my 2 oder cuzins followed immediately after me and quickly got out of d water since kaitlin’s ( my amerasian cuzin) eyes already hurt because of d saltwater..finally our activity was over..i went back to our room, showered, got dressed and had some sleep since i’ll still be having my duty at 11pm that night..huhuhu..poor me..i was completely drained but it was all worth it since im having such a great day!