There are times in life where the roles with the people you love can become reversed, and last Friday was one of those days. I became the caretaker and Doc became the patient and if I had known how non-compliant she can become I would have declined the job from the start.

Early Friday morning, Doc’s niece picked her up to take her for a minor medical out-patient procedure that required that she be placed under anesthesia for awhile. I stayed home and napped until I heard the garage door open at about 11am. In walked Doc still feeling a bit groggy from the medication. She had been given strict instructions before she was discharged to take it easy, not drive or make any major decisions for 24 hours. Her niece, that also happens to be a nurse, told her to follow the discharge instructions, get in bed and stay there until she got back from filling the prescription the doctor wrote for her. I just rolled my eyes knowing Doc was not about to follow all those instructions. But just in case, I decided to lay down right next to her hoping by some miracle I could control her until her niece came back.

After about ten minutes had passed, Doc looked at me and said ” I think I’ll put in a load of laundry, that’s easy enough to do.” Oh Boy I thought to myself, ‘Here she goes.” She seemed content after she started the laundry and was quiet for a while longer, but I could see her brain thinking about all the things that needed done and one by one she checked things off her list until her niece texted her that she was on her way over with the prescription. Doc immediately got back in bed and swore me to secrecy. ” Wasn’t it you who told me that there are some secrets that we should not keep? ” I asked with some sarcasm in my voice. ” This is not the time Grover!” she snapped back at me. I could have sworn I also heard her say something about snitches getting stiches” under her breath but I probably misheard her.

The rest of the day and night were uneventful as her niece was keeping an eye on her. By 8pm Doc was bushed and she fell sound asleep. She stayed pretty quiet on Saturday because frankly I think she wore herself. I thought my caretaking role might be getting easier, until she let me out that evening and she noticed one of the flood lights had burned out. ” Oh No ! I thought to myself, because I knew what was coming next. Luckily it was dark so I knew nothing would happen until the next day.

On Sunday the worst came pass, Doc after having a surgery to help correct vertigo, though it was a great idea to get out a ladder to put up on the side of the house and climb up to change that burnt out light bulb. I had had enough with her non compliance and frankly now she was attempting death defying tricks that could really hurt her. So I did what any good therapy dog would do. When Doc wasn’t looking I noticed that my next door neighbor had his side door open and I could see him watching TV, so I went over to the fence and barked loud enough and long enough that he turned around to see what Doc was doing and came running out of the house to help. He was so nice in how he approached her that she didn’t even fuss at him and allowed him to help her. Crisis averted.

Later I was remembering how Doc always talked about her dad doing things when he was older that he shouldn’t have and how it scared her, and here she is doing the same thing. I guess its true that the apple does not fall far from the tree. As for this dog, I think I should be awarded some hazard pay.

It’s now Wednesday morning, we are at work and things are back to normal, but I still need to have a talk with Doc. I want to remind her that it’s ok to let other people care for her and to ask for help when she needs it. A life lesson many of us can probably work on.