Our sweet "Pookie Bear" [as I always call him] has developed the nastiest absess on the side of his face. We've been putting hot/epsom salt compresses on it and keeping it cleaned up/disinfected for a few weeks, but the damn thing is not going to absorb on its own. So...we have to take him in for minor surgery tomorrow.

Now, you KNOW the year I've had with pets...with ELDERLY pets, and MacReady is 16 years old in November. A minor surgery for an elderly animal can be fatal. I'm trying to anticipate the worst, so that when he pulls through like a champ, I'll be happy as ever.

The vet has told us that he'll have a special anesthesiologist on duty monitoring MacReady very carefully. And this vet has been really amazing this past year, so I do believe that MacReady is in capable hands. I just can't help but be a little bit anxious over it, because I canNOT handle another death in the family...not this year. I'm taking Thursday off to be home with him, and make sure he doesn't have any "day after" reactions after the surgery. We take him in bright and early tomorrow morning, and if all goes well, we pick him up after work and take him home.

I fretted about him staying in the kennel when we went to Estes Park, and he did SO great. So I feel like he'll be fine...but with Al, I thought he'd be fine too, and he wasn't. So...I'm trying to be realistic, yet optimistic, which is...actually not very easy!

Please send healthy/recovery vibes for a successful surgery to MacReady tomorrow, okay? Thank you.