I am so sorry for your losses. I had a similar situation, but mine was my mother and brother. My mom had a heart attack and while she was in the hospital she also suffered a stroke. We had all of our attention on helping her get better and my 47 year old brother had a heart attack and died. On the day we were having his viewing they decided to send my mom home from the hospital. We were all in shock over her sickness, his death, and then we had to get her home and settled. My brother wasnÂt married, and he lived with my mom. I have 6 other brothers and 5 sisters all scrambling around to get things settled and get to the viewing, so some of us were there at different times, and not all of us at the same time, which probably seemed strange to friends and family that werenÂt aware of the situation. Anyway what IÂm trying to get at is we didnÂt feel we gave him proper attention during his death, so when the 6 month mark came, my mom was doing much better, and we were still in numbness and grieving, we decided to have a celebration of his life. We got the activity center at our church, invited friends and family to celebrate with us. We asked that each person write down a memory they had of my brother, and if they had any pictures to attach them to the memories, and we made them into a scrap book. It wasnÂt anything formal, just friends and family and memories. We were able to laugh and cry together and give our undivided attention to his memory. So I think maybe you could do that for your son, and get some closure to your feelings of not giving him your full attention. By the way, I think you gave all you could give considering the circumstances. Again, I am sorry for you losses!

They watch everything that we do. They listen to everything that we say. They emulate everything that we do. They emulate everything that we say. Well ... for a few years they do! o j

Animals show pain by not doing things they used to do, like not being able to get up from lying down without help, not jumping, not playing, not running around like usual. They very rarely whine or cry except with acute pain, like being hit by a car. Even then, they aren't crying by the time we see them in the ER. Pain meds are great for older animals. Often people don't realize that their pet is in pain, and that pain is the reason that they don't do the things they used to do. It is more difficult to assess when the animal also has vision or hearing troubles, because that also makes the animal not want to move around as much as before. Pain meds are not without risk. Pets who will be on NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) need to have a complete chemistry panel and CBC prior to starting the medication to be sure the liver and kidneys in particular are able to metabolize the drugs. Then they must be monitored on a regular basis. The owners must watch for signs of problems, such as decreased appetite, vomiting, increased lethargy. But most animals do great on NSAIDs. Without knowing the cause of the dogs pain, NSAIDs are a good first choice. For a GSD sometimes their pain can be neurologic, like with degenerative myelopathy or cadua equina syndrome. In these cases, NSAIDs alone may not be enough. My own rottie K'Ehleyr has a terrible back, and recently had trouble getting up from lying down and some other neurologic problems. I thought for sure she'd need back surgery or be paralyzed. But after 2 MRIs, they couldn't find a specific cause for her trouble, and we just switched out one of her pain meds for another. She was on rimadyl (an NSAID) and tramadol (a synthetic opioid) for over a year with good results. But since we thought that she was having neurologic trouble, we switched her tramadol for gabopentin, which originally was used as an anti-seizure drug but it turns out to be good for controlling neurologic pain. She's doing MUCH better now. She has also been on glucosamine HCL 1500mg, chondroitin sulfate 1200mg, duralactin, fish oil, and vitamin E since I got her 2 years ago. She was a wreck when I got her, but between all that and significant weight loss (she was also fat, which didn't help) she is doing really well. In short, there are a lot of options for pain control in dogs. Sometimes it takes a little time working out which options are best. I would definitely try some sort of pain management on a dog who was having the symptoms you described. Could make a big difference in the quality of life for the dog. I know GSDs who have lived to 16, so 13 is old, but not unheard of.

Some 20 years ago, we sold an old house that had asbestos insulation around the pipes in the cellar. We had to have it professionally removed at considerable cost before selling the house, and the asbestos content in the air had to be checked after the removal job was done. It checked out okay. The hazard in that case was a matter of concern because the asbestos was exposed. We had lived in the house for 10 years, but I'm not worried because we never disturbed the asbestos insulation, and rarely went into the cellar. In the situation you described, it seems to me the asbestos, if there is any, is not exposed but buried in walls. Some asbestos exposure is possible in the course of doing repairs, which you mentioned. However, the exposure, if there was any, was very likely minimal, not the kind of daily exposure over a period of weeks, months, or years which is the real risk of mesothelioma. I can understand your concern, but I do not think the danger you're worried about is very great. You might want to google-search some key words to find out about the epidemiology of mesothelioma to allay your fears.