A Spanner In The Works (or, more accurately, a spaniel in the works!)

Hello everyone, what a beautiful day yet again. I could get used to this, it's like living abroad! I've forgotten what it's like to put a jacket on. 

I spoke in a previous blog about our goal to retire in 2016 and how we had put together a plan which involved setting money aside for emergencies, paying off the existing mortgage, getting any big jobs on the house done and also getting together some decent savings. This was way back in 2010 so it was a 6 year plan. At the time it seemed an eternity away but believe me it came around so quickly. I will outline our plan for anyone who is interested or may find it useful in another post. I also mentioned about spanners in the works, by this I mean unforseen circumstances that could have put our plans off track. There were a few minor ones such as a couple of hefty car repair bills ( the joys of owning a 4x4 - necessary for the journey over the moors to work but costly). A few bank of mum and dad moments including an unexpected wedding, you get the picture. These are all pretty normal events in family life but expensive. What we weren't banking on was our mad as a box of frogs spaniel requiring major surgery. 

Now, at this point you're probably thinking well surely you weren't stupid enough not to take out pet insurance? And you'd be right, we weren't! The only problem was that he was insured for £4,000 with Petplan and his operation plus therapy afterwards cost just over £8,500. Ouch!!!! I had, at this point, spent several evenings perusing a pile of kitchen catalogues and dreaming of my lovely new kitchen that we were about to purchase. Not just any old kitchen, oh no, I would have handmade stand alone cabinets, granite worktops, a lovely porcelain sink and  had my heart set on a beautiful, small, pale blue Aga. We have a tiny kitchen and I had chosen so carefully to make it a perfect cottage kitchen. Well, they had to go straight into the bin! I had two choices here but, as an animal lover and the fact that we loved our little lad so much, we really had only one choice. 

One cold and miserable Sunday morning, we woke to find he had gone off his back legs, he was only 4 and so it was straight down to our vets. One look at him and it was a phone call to Chestergates Animal Hospital  and we were told we needed to take him immediately, some 30+ miles away. I had gone to the vets without any breakfast, tears streaming down my face making tracks through last nights make up that I'd not had chance to wash off and wearing an outfit that should never be seen out in public. When we got there the first thing they said was "you are insured right?" "Oh yes, just go ahead" I said with misplaced confidence "Just do whatever is necessary". Four days our poor boy was in hospital and several times a day, whilst at work, my phone would ping with text after text of updates from Chestergates. Not updates about his welfare, just... "your bill in now £2,496, your bill is now £3,865" and so on and so on. The final bill was just over £7,900 and had to be paid before we left the hospital. But, most importantly, our beloved pet was ok thanks a fantastic surgeon and a brilliant team of veterinary nurses.

He had had a disc that had shattered in his spine and the fragments had to be removed. We still have no idea how this happened. When we went to pick him up from the hospital he still had no feeling in his back legs so we had to carry him, he had a catheter in that we had to change too. The poor lad had to be carried out and held on the lawn for a poo. We were in a right old state! Luckily the kids stepped in  and did shifts around various college and university commitments along with us once we were home from work. Initially, he couldn't be left alone and had a strict physio and medicine timetable. He also had to attend a 6 week block of hydrotherapy treatment.With lots of love and an awful lot of hard work and determination, we got him walking again. Now he is amazing and you wouldn't know he had ever been so ill apart from the fact that he can only now have very small walks and has the odd day where he must be in some discomfort but that's soon sorted with pain killers. Did i ever get my kitchen? No. Am i bothered? Not at all. Did we retire on time? Absolutely and I don't regret a thing. Its all about choices and when your spanners get thrown just take a step back, deal with them and move on. Don't let them put you off or stop you going ahead with your plans and dreams.

Jarvis as in Jarvis Cocker enjoying a long walk, usually 10-12 miles before his back operation

First time he took a few steps again outside

Hydrotherapy to strengthen his muscles

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