Last night Alex held my face in his hands and said "You're the best mommy in the world." After I gave him a big kiss and hug I said, "Would you like a new car?"

Sammy

My Sammy girl has been pretty sick this week. On Monday she started stumbling around and falling over. I took her to the vet who told me she has vestibular disease. This is a neurological disorder that affects her balance - basically she's really really dizzy. There are two kinds - central and peripheral. The central kind is inside the brain and is mostly degenerative. The peripheral kind is common in old dogs (she's 15) and usually goes away on it's own. The vet was mostly convinced that she had the peripheral kind, but not 100% sure. So we're nursing her back to health slowly and hoping for the best. We have her penned in the family room, where we can take care of her and keep an eye on her. We carry her out to the yard every couple hours to go to the bathroom. We have to hand feed her - so far all she will eat is cottage cheese and velveeta (of course!) cheese. For a few days I even had to scoop water into my hand so she could stay hydrated. Her aim is pretty poor, and you can see her trying hard to focus on something in front of her. But yesterday evening and this morning she seems much improved....she was able to walk around a bit, and even stood up at one point to drink water out of her water dish. So we are very hopeful.

Alex has been very good with her. He talks to her a lot telling her he hopes she feels better soon, that she's a good girl and that he loves her. I'm very hopeful she will fully recover, but just in case we ordered Cynthia Rylant's "Dog Heaven" book so he will understand what happened to her if the worst happens.

Sammy is the best dog, is my most loyal friend and she has been my constant witness for the last 15 years. I hope she'll be with us a bit longer, but she's also an old dog who has lived a long life. She's a good, good girl.