FROM THE EDITOR'S PEN /
For The Dogs
/
Editorial List
Recently, I had a chance to live the
precepts of being a Fearless Caregiver. I have a close loved one who started
having problems with his leg last month. I took him to the
doctor and found out that he has a genetic issue which was
starting to affect his movement and surgery was recommended. The
first thing I did was take to the internet, researching every
word that the doctor uttered. When we went back for the x-ray I
was loaded with at least some knowledge and a whole lot of
questions. It turns out that not only was the doctor right in
his prognosis, he was coincidently one of the leading surgeons
in this field. When I called a major teaching hospital
specializing in the surgery, they called him their “Guru”, which
sounded good to me.
Next step was to have a good idea of the challenges of
recuperation, how to prepare his family and even the house for
post-operative care. When we went for the pre-surgery meeting,
I whipped out my list of questions and my tape recorder and was
gratified that the doctor gave me as much time as I needed to
feel comfortable with his answers.
We are presently in the first two sleepless days of post-op
and the fact that I was able to visualize these days as much as
possible, has certainly helped keep the stress to a relatively
manageable level.
So, when people tell you that being a Fearless Caregiver is
for the dogs, you can now agree whole-heartledy.
P.S. The patient is doing fine and is presently
sitting next to me chewing on a new toy.
Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com
