“So since Michael has been sick all week, the girls have been up my butt all week. If Michael moves or coughs in his sleep Frankie wakes me to have me check on him, multiple times a night. The girls have been so good though and we’ve had a lot of bonding and cuddle times.
Tonight I’m making my second pot of chicken soup for the week but per the ER Dr last night it’s gonna be the most bland thing I’ve ever cooked in my life. The soup is also dog safe so let’s hope a little bit of this over Moos food will encourage her eating to pick back up too since she’s been not wanting to eat much lately.”
So this is part of a post from Facebook from when the “primary human” was sick a few weeks ago. My life was insanity for that whole week. I’ll tell you why.
So I feed all three animals breakfast and dinner daily, I also make a pot of soup for the pups weekly now as that’s what Java has to have to actually eat, yes I am perfectly aware she is spoiled. The soup for the girls started the week Michael was sick, as he needed something bland and soup is always the choice of sickness. I decided to try giving Java some, and of course Frankie too as we treat them equally, and she started eating well again. I did purposely make the soup dog safe and bland, per Michael’s doctor, but Michael hated it and it became the girls soup.
So anyways back to the main story of the craziness of life with dad being sick.
I had a severe headache all week but knew Michael was sick so I picked up all the duties for the girls, usually I feed them, play when dad is busy, cuddle when the girls “have time to cuddle”, and play outside with the girls regularly as well as with the family.
With dad being sick, he spent most of the week sleeping on the couch. Java didn’t mind much as that left his spot in the bed open for her to sleep in. Yes, now that Java is retired she does spend more time cuddling with me on the couch or if given an opportunity to sleep in the bed she will absolutely take it. However, Java is still very protective of dad while he is sleeping, as is Frankie.
So with dad sleeping on the couch a majority of the week, my spot on the couch was taken up by 2 big pups that had to be right beside their dad, keep in mind we have a 6 seater sectional for just the two of us and the animals. Of course Michael also had meds that he was supposed to take while he was sick, yes I’m a horrible person and woke him to keep his meds active in his system because if not it got worse. Java knows that dad doesn’t sleep well and also doesn’t like being woken up. Michael can also be in the middle of a panic attack in his sleep and has been known to throw a punch being woken from it. So while dad was sick Java would lay right beside him during his naps during the day and taught Frankie to do the same. Now while it is adorable seeing them cuddling and protecting their dad while he’s sick it meant waking him up for meds was even tougher.
If I walked over to the couch and reached out to wake Michael up Java would nudge my hand away, mind you she does this anytime I try to wake him up. If I continued to try to wake him up Java would carefully grab my hand with her mouth and move it away from him. If I kept pushing the situation she would push me away with her paws. Frankie decided she had seen Java do this enough to where she decided it was her turn to join. Frankie started standing up on the couch and putting her front paws carefully on my chest to push me away. I did what any spare human would do and ended up telling the girls to wake dad up since I couldn’t get close. They both laid over top of him cuddling in and giving kisses to wake him up. The final challenge to waking dad up was trying to give him his meds in his hand with both girls pushing my hand away each time.
So on top of the med debacle the other biggest issue was my sleep. With having a headache, I also had to ensure I also took my meds to try to keep it at bay to still be available if Michael needed me, and not to take sleeping meds just in case.
The sleeping debacle happened each night that Michael was sick. Java was fantastic and just stole his side of the bed, covers and pillow included.
Frankie on the other hand was the issue child. At any point in the night that Michael got up, coughed, rolled over, or any slight change Frankie woke me up. This means that every 30-45 mins I had a 75 pound dog coming to wake me up.
Frankie has a special way of waking me up that she partially learned from Java. When Frankie first came home to us Java would wake me up at night by coming to my side of the bed and whining/nudging me til I woke up to take Frankie outside. Java has never gone out overnight and never woke me up at night til Frankie came home.
Frankie on the other hand takes extreme measures to wake me up. Frankie will come to the side of the bed and nudge me just like Java. However, if I don’t respond or act fast enough she then puts her paws on the bed and starts hitting me til I acknowledge her and start moving. That is the way she woke me up all week to check on Michael, every 30-45 minutes. Did I try to tell her to go back to bed? Yes. Did she? Nope, not until I physically went over and checked on her Dad. Is this a good quality to have for a service dog in case something is absolutely wrong with Dad? Without a doubt. But dang, a lot of sleep was missed.
The rest of my time that week was spent trying to get the girls outside to go potty or soak up the sun while Dad rested. Occasionally, Frankie would decide that she was bored enough to bring her toy over to me, the spare human, to play fetch. I also was stared at constantly as a way to be reminded of my place in the house and that their food was the only reason they keep me around.
So even though this was a rough week for everyone involved, I still wouldn’t change it for the world. I love these two crazies so much and look forward to sharing more of my spare human daily life with you.
If you have a spare human story that you would like to share, send it to me or comment below. If you would like to remain anonymous please let me know.