We love our Labrador Retriever, Max with all our heart, mind and soul. He has been an amazing and loving companion to our family during his 14 years on this Earth. But as Max approached his 14th year, he encountered some significant health problems. First and most frightening, he got bloat. This is a life-threatening condition in which a dog’s stomach swings up and over the rib cage and gets twisted and stuck. The result is trapped food and air inside the stomach (which ferments and expands - bloats) the stomach like a balloon. The twisted stomach also cuts off blood and oxygen to the spleen, liver and kidneys which can lead to organ failure or death. It is extremely important to get the dog to an animal hospital within an hour so that emergency surgery can be performed to correct the bloated condition and re-orient the stomach back to its normal position. If the dog does not receive timely surgery, the dog can die quickly or have lasting debilitating problems with the affected organs.

Fortunately, we were able to rush Max to a nearby animal hospital for immediate surgery. Due to his advanced age, there was a high probability that he would not survive the surgery or even the anesthesia. So we prepared ourselves to say goodbye to Max. But due to the skills of his attending emergency vet, Max survived and came through very well with no complications. A wonderful outcome to our fervent prayers for him! In case you are wondering, the bill came to a heavenly $5,500 for his care. Thank goodness, I decided to carry pet insurance for him all these years. It paid for about two-thirds of the bill for us and continues to pay for his frequent visits to the vet which are very expensive.

Max’s recovery was swift but about a month later he suffered a mild stroke. We are not sure if the bloat surgery was the cause (a latent clot etc.) Since the stroke, Max’s personality began to change and then his cognitive abilities began to decline. The first wake up call for us that this was happening to him was a massive display of incontinence in one of our bedrooms while we slept. Not a great thing to wake up to! Max’s incontinence began to increase in frequency and he didn’t seem to know where he was (inside or out when he went to the bathroom) or wandering/pacing in circles. Then he started to become very anxious at the slightest thing and would not let us stroke or kiss him anymore. He would yelp sometimes when you touched him. It became tougher and tougher to put his diaper on. We had to buy more, since his diaper was always in the washer being cleaned. It is also annoying that Max seems to wiggle out of his diaper during the night and then makes a nice accident for us to clean up the next morning. Because of this Max now sleeps in our tiled kitchen where cleanups are easier but still unpleasant especially on a work day morning.

Max then stopped eating for 4 days straight. We were frantic to get him to eat anything and prepared for him to die. But then we discovered he would eat homemade applesauce, then we progressed to mashed sweet potatoes. Lastly, we discovered if we mixed baby food with his prescription kidney food he would gobble it up enthusiastically. His appetite came back but his weight is still way down. So we are now indulging him with more low-phosphorus food. Presently, his appetite is voracious and he practically inhales his food!

Still concerned about his cognitive abilities (confusion, anxiety and fear-based reactions) we took him back to the vet to see what could be done. They prescribed him Selegiline for senility. This is a drug that is used for Parkinson’s disease in humans. It has good reviews from other dog owners whose companions suffer from similar cognitive disorders. We just started Max on this medicine today and even though it is very, very early he seems to have perked up a bit and is less anxious and more alert. We hope this continues and that the drug brings back the old Max.

I can’t help think about the parallels my mother had in caring for my beloved Grandmother, Lucy Mae who also suffered from mild dementia in her final year and needed custodial care at the assisted living facility she lived in. The constant attention and care is incredibly draining and both Sheila and I are wearing thin taking care of Max (especially poop duty!) Our neighbors now know how tough it is to take care of Max now. They took care of him while we were in Ireland (they have done so before for our previous trips) and realized he needs a lot of care and oversight. If it isn’t his senility and confusion, it is his kidneys and his special food preparations, or it is his incontinence inside the house, or it is his weak hind legs which are losing muscle mass and make him fall down too much.

Max’s ailments breaks our heart. He means so much to us. He is the finest dog companion we have ever had. We are trying everything we can to help him and restore his quality of life but it is a losing battle. He will die soon, we know that. We want him to live as well and long as possible in comfort and peace and we don’t mind the cost, time or effort. But it is hard. It is so unfair that such wonderful creatures which give us so much unconditional love do not live as long as us. At least our medicine is better for them these days. Just like we did for my Grandmother, we will continue to love and support Max as much as possible until God calls him home. Until then, caring for a senior dog really takes a lot energy but for people who have done the same for their loved ones during their final days know what we are going through and understand our devotion to Max.

- Tom, Sheila and Max

Many of our friends and family know that we have a decent generator for our home in Maryland that is in a rural area outside Washington D.C. Our only utility is electricity and there are no sewer, water or gas lines in our community. We are surrounded by farms with animals such as cows, horses, chickens, goats and even a peacock. It is a very peaceful area but having only above ground electric lines we are very vulnerable to outages due to severe storms year round. Last Friday night the entire DC area was hit by a derecho (a land hurricane) which left millions without power during one of the hottest heat waves to hit the Mid-Atlantic in years.

Thankfully, we have a generator that can power our well pump, fridges, lights, Internet, TVs/phones, and microwave. But it is not powerful enough to run our heating/cooling units. During this heat wave, being without air conditioning is downright dangerous to your health. In addition to storm damage (some of our siding was blown off which I have since repaired), roads were blocked by downed trees and power lines and businesses like gas stations, ATMs and grocery stores were closed because they had no power either.

These conditions and the slow response by our local electric company, PEPCO to restore power throughout the area taught me that I need to be more prepared and self-sufficient when it comes to providing energy for my home. As a result, I am looking to purchase a larger portable gas generator to power all of our appliances and HVAC systems but I will still be faced with the problem of needing to have a long-lasting supply of gas on hand. During this latest outage, we had to make long-distance gas runs to keep our smaller generator running and it was not easy to find an open and working gas station that had fuel. Some were out of gas! The larger gas generator is obviously not a long-term solution for lengthy disasters. Standby generators that use propane are another consideration but they would probably last about a week until the propane runs out and again, this type of fuel supply is vulnerable to vendor outages.

So I am considering a solar option. It is a renewable energy source and can be operated off the grid or tied into the grid. I am leaning toward pole-mounted sun tracker solutions since they are 25% more efficient than fixed roof-mounted solar panels and I have lots of land to set it up a pole-mounted system. Problem is some of these solar systems are 3 times as costly as a large gas generator and wind damage to the panels is a concern of mine. We get a lot wind here during storms being at the highest point in our county. So the system will need to have a low profile to reduce being affected by the wind. Also, I need a decent amount of wattage for all our appliances, so I will need a fair amount of panels to get the power we need. Again, more panels means more money. Of course, I need to upgrade my power intakes to adapt to a solar system which is even more money. So I am looking at least a $10K system with a battery backup.

So my research continues but I need to get a solution set up short-term since I am certain that we will face another outage event again this year (from perhaps a hurricane coming up the coast, a snowstorm or just another wicked line of severe thunderstorms). In the 21st century, it should not be difficult to set yourself up to live off the grid but unfortunately it does take a lot of effort. I am determined to find a way for us! It would give me peace of mind living in such a beautiful but remote area. Stay cool!

- Tom