I’m not a big fan of House but I’ve seen it once or twice. When they told me my mother had had a stroke, I leapt on a plane and came to SF to try to pick up the pieces.
For the first few days she was pretty out of it, but what struck me as pretty darn weird in the middle of all the medical worry, was that she kept hallucinating a big black dog in the room. “But there is no dog,” the nurses kept telling her. Or was I hallucinating?
We had a big influx of neurologists yesterday, herds of them. My mother, who’s making amazing progress, finally looked at one hovering muttering group and said, “Have you people got a new theory or something?” She wasn’t born yesterday, my mother. Yes, they had a theory. It wasn’t a stroke after all.
There may not have been a dog, but I could definitely see the ghost of Hugh Laurie nipping past out of the corner of my eye…..
Winston Churchill had black dog days.
I think he coined the use of the black dog as a metaphor for depression.
Although this has nothing to do with what you were saying i went from your blog to another and since they were both about dogs i figured it was meant to be.
here: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
not sure if its your sense of humor, but i know you have pets so you might relate
A very belated thank you for this, Ellie. I love it.
Prisoner of Azkaban?
Hope she’ll feel better and better.
Now, if I say “there is no dog” I sound like a heartless witch, and if I don’t, I feel I’m letting you down Meg. Hope your Mother is fully recovered very, very soon….
Please! There IS no dog!!! Say it loud!
Thinking of you. Seems like you can find absurdity, ideas and challenges – that not dog! – in even the biggest family crises. Hope all turns out well especially for your mum, and no not cats turn up to irritate the not dogs. BTW I haven’t seen House, but hallucinating animals seems the least worrying of all the things going on in SF. Thanks for taking Vulcan and I for a walk a few days ago, we enjoyed it a lot.
My first thought was, The Grim! (Yes, yes, Prisoner of Azkaban.) Anyway, hope your mum gets well soon. My husband’s mother did have a small stroke about a month ago, and is recovering reasonably well. But there was no dog.
Maybe it is an omen (a good omen), someone trying to tell you that book is going to be so great that it’s title will be on every one’s lips- including, it seems, american nurses…
Next time you’re in SF, please call. And if you need anyone to take a look in on your mom, let me know.
Thank you, Julie, and thanks for the offer. It would be great to see you. And you’d be safe too, as infectious diseases are just about the one thing my family doesn’t seem to have a problem with….