I couldn't keep it to myself anymore...

I had to tell my son about our horse.

It was hard. It was horrible. But my son was awesome. Sad, yet supportive and thoughtful.

I felt that I needed to tell him because Parlay had a couple of bad readings over the previous 24 hours. Heart rate as high as 62 and respiration back at 28-30 with intermittent coughing and a nosebleed thrown in for good measure. Way to keep me on my toes, Parlay.

Anyway, having someone you live with "in the know," makes it a little bit more *real*. J keeps asking me about what comes next--funerals, gravestones, memorials-- he IS 9 after all... Answering questions about death and dying is like giving yourself permission to explore those things for yourself. You hate it, but know you have to face it. The questions come innocently and with very little preconceived notion--I guess that helps to ease the pain of the answer at times. However, now I have constant reminders of impending fate---not just visually from my observations of Parlay, but verbally from my ever-so-verbal son.

So, my weekend did revolve a bit around coddling everyone--Parlay, my son, my BF, my other pets and ME. It is a lot of work!! Physically and emotionally draining, I would say. Thankfully I did have some reprieve with a ride out on my Big Guy with a friend and some time at our local water park. Those were the longest two periods away from my home and horse for quite a few days. It worked out fine and I *think* I was not outwardly anxious about it.

Another cool event that occured was that my friend Beth came over to shoot some pictures on what turned out to be a glorious summer Saturday. J and I gave Parlay a bath and beautified him. He did look quite terrific. I have to figure out how to post some pictures on here... it's on the list!

We had fun chatting with Beth, snapping pictures and enjoying the day. My son explained, quite perfunctorily, that these might be some of Parlay's last photo opportunities due to his condition to Beth. It was interesting to observe how mature he was about it. It was wonderful to see Parlay striking a pose here and there and enjoying the attention.

This week I will be really working on my *alternative* nutrition plan along with dosing the Lasix. Par is totally off of the Dex at this point and I am quite glad about that. Not sure that whatever benefit it might have been providing was worth the risk.

I have been managing to get some electrolytes into him each day without too much forcing. I found a pelleted electrolyte from Platform that he seemed to eat (1x). I will have to see how that keeps up. He has also been getting some electrolyte in his afternoon "tea," of Horse Quencher, which I think he is actually enjoying.

Even with Parlay not eating as much of his grain as usual, he still appears to look "OK." He is such a hard keeper and I worry about him fading away to skin and bones--that is the LAST thing that I want to have happen! There is nothing as miserable to look at as a skinny horse! So, I am doing my research, gathering the suggestions and trying to keep him motivated to eat.

Last night P& R was at a more reasonable 56/18. The predicted weather this week may be hard on all of us. More to come...