Where's Charlie?

Have I mentioned how much we all love Charlie?  I know how much I adore the snuggling moppet, but I don't think I've actually absorbed the depths of Tim's love and concern for Charlie.

After a wonderful weekend full of swimming in the lake (a Friday morning outing with Wendy the Trainer and her dog Renegade) ...,

... posing for pictures with friends ..., 

... climbing trees with Renegade, ...

and followed by a Sunday spent surfing in  the Pacific, 

... and hanging out with family and friends on the beach, ...

... Charlie started to repeatedly shake his noggin, causing his ears to flap madly about his head.   Wendy mentioned to me on Friday that he might have gotten a Foxtail trapped in one of his ears or that it could be a bit of water trapped down there so we should keep a watch on his behavior.  

By this morning Charlie was still flopping his ears around so I made an early appointment with our vet to have things checked out.  Ironically, Tim is home from school today due to a slight cough (and a general oversensitivity to the whole swine flu panic around here) so he kept Charlie company while we waited in the vet's office.

As soon as the Dr started fishing down in his ear Charlie began to wince and whine.  I knew it was bad news.  The vet then asked if she could take our normally docile dog back to the operating room area so that they could get a better look.  I agreed and waited with Tim in the examination room.  

After a few thumps, thuds, and thrashing sounds the vet came back and advised that she thought there was a foxtail lodged near his eardrum and that he would need to be sedated for them to actually extract and examine what was happening down there.   I hate the idea of sedating him but I really didn't know what else to do so I agreed.  She printed out a diagnostic plan (along with an UNBELIEVABLE estimate of the cost for the work) and Tim and I made our way out of the examination room.  

As soon as I opened the door and Tim realized that Charlie wasn't coming with us he burst into tears.  Not the manipulative crocodile type tears ... these were the kind that start silently with big wells in the eyes followed by a wet sniffle, a scrunched up face and a mouth open in a silent scream.  Ugh.  How heartbreaking to watch your kid's heart break.   The receptionist and the vet techs all tried to reassure him that we'd be seeing Charlie this afternoon but he was inconsolable.   We slowly made our way to the car as he sniffled and wept with every shuffle of his sad little feet.

Buckling him into the car, my heart was heavy with the sorrow of my son and concern for our family's best pal.  I repeatedly explained that we'd see Charlie in a few hours but there was simply no diffusing this awful moment.  Then I suggested that we go buy a new toy for Charlie to have when he comes home from the doctor.  Tim tearfully agreed and off we went to our local pet shop.

As we made our way out of the parking lot, his tears had slowed and I thought the retail therapy would be a good distraction for Tim so I snuck in a quick trip to the dry cleaners to collect some long overdue cleaning.  Tim ran in front of me and pleaded with the dry cleaning lady "Where's Charlie?!"  And then the tears started again.   Obviously this plan wasn't working.  We needed to get to the pet shop, STAT.  

So, back in the car, the tears slowly subsided, and we made our way to the pet shop.  Once again Tim ran ahead of me, up to the saleslady at the counter and burst into tears crying "Where's Charlie?!"  The shocked saleslady looked to me for interpretation but not before Tim could blurt out one more tearfully plaintive "WHERE'S CHARLIE?"   I  made it to the counter, explained the situation and then suggested to Tim that we select a toy from their expansive toy collection.  The calm settled in and he carefully and thoughtfully made a selection for his beloved companion.

It's only 2:00 pm here now and we won't be able to collect Charlie for a few more hours but while we wait I am struck by the deep seated love and concern that Tim has for his pal Charlie.   More importantly this seems to be an indication of Tim's empathy for Charlie, something that lots of medical-types have declared that autistic people don't possess.   Perhaps Tim didn't have empathy before Charlie but there's simply no denying what I witnessed today.  I look forward to this afternoon's reunion ... as does Tim.