International Day / Brian took a Tumble
May 21, 2019
I volunteered to be on the committee to help organize International Day at James Wilson’s school. It was a lot of work, but highly satisfying. It was good to have something to focus on and to collaborate with other adults, although I think all my years of working as a managing editor in magazines burned me out for dealing with human’s nonsense.
I liked the planning meetings, which typically took place in a cafe not far from my apartment. It was good to wake up and put real clothes on and ride my bike over there and have a cappuccino and work in a small group, but my primary role was coordinating with the leaders of all the different international communities on what food and passport activities their community was going to offer and it was like herding international cats. Also, I stepped into the role late to fill in for someone who had a baby, so that’s always a challenge. But it all paid off. The day was a huge success.
James flew in from the states on the redeye and took a short nap and then he and James Wilson came over to help out. They were both awesome, as usual. James manned a game where kids kicked a soccer ball to see who could kick it with the most force and the winner got a 20 euro gift card.
James Wilson and I ran the North American cotton candy machine. We were covered in cotton candy like human spider webs, but it was great to spend the day with him that way. We felt like a part of the community and that’s what it’s all about.
In other news, Brian gave us a terrible scare on Sunday. He fell down both flights of stairs. It was horrible. We’re not sure what happened but we think he heard something exciting outside and started to run down and lost his footing. I was downstairs and heard him crash down the first flight and went running and got there in time to see him hit the landing and spazz out and come barreling down the second flight.
He’s a 100lb Labrador tumbling down multiple flights of steep, winding wooden stairs so it was absolutely horrific. At first we thought he was seriously injured. We called the emergency vet and kept him still while we tried to get an appointment and arrange to rent a car to take him. The emergency vet had an emergency (?!) and didn’t have any appointments available for several hours, but it seemed like Brian was starting to walk okay and wasn’t as hurt as we initially thought. We kept him quiet all day and he seemed like he was sore, but maybe not broken. But then that night he was trying to walk up the short flight of stairs from the kitchen and his back legs went out.
I took him to the vet yesterday and they did a thorough exam and it seems like he’s got some bruising and inflammation, especially in his spine, but his bones, hips, and reflexes seemed okay. They gave him some anti-inflammatory medication and we’re supposed to keep him quiet with gentle activity for about 5 days until so that he can heal.
In the meantime, we blocked off the main stairs so he can’t go up or down and we moved his food out of the kitchen into the hallway and we ordered some nonstick pads for the kitchen stairs and baby gates for the main stairs.
