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Man and his dog....a classic love story. Over the years, we have read the stories how dogs are used in detecting cancer in humans with an accuracy rate sometimes better than the most sophisticated hospital hardware; how dogs can sense when children are nearing epileptic seizure; how dogs can alert those with heart conditions of an impending attack.
It seems that in addition to their absolute unconditional love, these joyful creatures, these adored pets, cherished companions, four-legged members of the family, are able to save our life and save the life of those we love. This extraordinary sense, the Sick Sense, that dogs have does not necessarily involve special training. Sometimes, it just happens. But what a gift.
And so it happened in my house last night. While my father was finishing dinner, his dog, Agah, began barking. There was something different about his bark, different enough that I immediately returned to my dad's room even though I had just been in there not more than ten minutes earlier. My father was sitting in his Lazy Boy, right arm hanging over the side of the chair, eyes closed. "Dad, open your eyes," I said emphatically. Had it been later in the evening, I might have just covered his legs, lowered the sound on the TV, closed the door quietly and left him to nap til bedtime. "Dad, open your eyes!" His eyes remained closed but he mumbled something and raised his right
arm to his head. "Pain pill, please," is all I heard and in typical textbook fashion it was slurred. Dad was having a stroke. I immediately dialed 911 on my remote; recovering quickly, I got the phone, dialed 911. Help was on its way. One thing left to do was hug this bear of a dog and nose-to-nose just tell him thank you.
It's been less than 24 hours but Dad's doing really well. And the big guy in the picture is our hero!
