It’s not easy to know if it’s a senior’s time. Abby (pictured above) is our oldest senior at the moment. She is not the oldest senior I’ve cared for, but she’s the oldest in our current group of three. Abby has a lot of needs and health issues. She came to me in 2020 along with her sister Cricket. Abby was about 8 at the time. She was healthy and still very spry and bossy. She’s still bossy that’s for sure, but she’s become frail in her old age and has developed seizures and other neurological issues that come with the seizure territory.

Abby is on five different medications at the moment not counting her vitamins. She’s comfortable. She’s happy. She’s still bossy. Abby knows her schedule and what she wants. She expects breakfast promptly when she gets out of bed (no specific time in the morning, just when she says she’s ready). After breakfast I’m expected to get dressed and immediately take her and her canine siblings on a walk. Not just any walk. We need to get in the car and drive 30 seconds to the local rail trail, park, and then walk. Abby doesn’t really want to walk though. She wants to sniff around, potty, and then storm off in the other direction as though she’s going to walk home. 

We used to cut our walks short for Abby and then I realized it was just her mindset and not actually a cry against walking. So, I bought a cart. Not a small cart, but a dog cart that’s large enough for all three pups to fit into (in case we needed to make our escape quickly….seniors have all kinds of speed settings that usually start with slow or “I don’t care how long it takes don’t rush me”). Abby now likes to ride in her cart along the rail trail while her sister and younger brother walk alongside. Abby sits like a royal queen in that cart and looks out on the trail like it’s her kingdom. She has been nicknamed the “Queen” by those we pass by frequently. Her subjects (or anyone passing by) greet her, stop to tell her hello along with her siblings, give her smiles, tell her she’s cute, and well any other royal treatment she requires.

Once we’re half we through with our walk, we turn around. Abby demands to get out of the cart. We have a quick water break and then we head back home. Except Abby is out of the cart and in full queen mode. She practically speed walks home. I’ve tried to put her back in the cart if she seems tired, but she won’t have it. It’s as though she can ride half way, but no one should see her riding home. She must walk. And walk she does; although, now days it’s a determined wobble of sorts as she’s gotten a little unsteady in her old age.

After the walk we get back in the truck, take another water break, I pass out treats, and then I grab my treat from Dunkin’s. Sometimes they get a snack too, but mostly just their doggy treats. Then we head home and Abby naps for most of the day while I do my work. 

Medication for Abby is given five different times a day. I set my schedule around it. I can usually run errands between 1pm and 5pm. That’s our longest break between meds. Abby takes her liquid meds pretty well. She doesn’t slow down to realize she has pills in her food. She just gobbles everything up and waits for more.

Evenings can be rough with Abby. She’s a senior and she’s prone to some of the “sundowning” moments that any senior goes through. She gets a little agitated or more demanding for food. She has some barking moments or hours. Then at 10pm promptly, she lets us know it’s time for bed. More meds and she’s quiet for the night. She sleeps comfortably in the bed with me and the other two pups. She usually sleeps through the night unless it’s super hot out. (New England heat with no central A/C is not this Floridians dream for sure!) We have portable A/Cs but it’s not the same as central A/C that we all enjoy on our visits to see “Grandma and Grandpa” a.k.a. my parents in Florida.

Tonight, Abby is quiet. She’s not feeling well. Her latest meds of prednisone make her even more irritable at times and they make her extremely hungry. She eats everything including the not so great stuff on the ground. I imagine she got ahold of something today as she’s had a stomach ache this afternoon. She’s not her bossy self, but she did eat dinner and get water. She’s even more wobbly on her feet. She’s resting at my feet while I write this. I’m keeping a close eye on her. I don’t know if she’s just feeling cruddy or if she’s going through something. I don’t know if it’s her time and if she’ll leave us in the night. For now, she’s comfortable and happy. But I have to remember she’s 13 and she’s frail and eventually her body will say it’s time to go. Tears fall as I write this part because I know it will come one day and even know she’s a senior and I know that’s part of taking care of seniors (end of life stages), I’m never ready for it. 

Each evening I try to set aside time to read a Bible verse and have some time of prayer. Tonight’s Bible verse was from Psalm 139. More specifically verses 13-16. It says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

I believe we are created by God and created in His image. Like David writes here, God knows everything about us from our first breath to our last. He even knew us before we were born – when we were just forming. I believe God knows the same of his creatures including Abby. He knew her while she was still forming into her little bossy self. he knows the number of her days. He sent Abby her for a purpose and He will take her home when her time is over. I find comfort in knowing that God is in charge and He knows the plans for my life and for Abby’s. I rest in knowing that all His creation rests in Him.