With the invaluable help from my neighbour/dogwalker/dog trainer, we have found a new home for Max, and it is even in a much more suburban and quiet area than this one, and in a house with a garden. Max’s foster parents from before I adopted him also have a big hand in making this happen.

Immense relief knowing that Max will be in good and loving hands now added to the immense sadness of the last few weeks. Not to mention the stress.

Added bonus, Max’s new owner would like to stay in touch, and would like me to visit for coffee and a walk in the forest, and – always depending on my health, of course – I have offered to house- and dogsit if she ever has to be away for any length of time.

Also, after a couple of weeks of nailbiting trials and tribulations, one of two important approvals from my sickness insurance company has come through, and the other one is alledgedly in the pipeline. In that context, I guess one of the “problems” was that the waiting lists in Berlin for this kind of surgery are relatively short, which is incompatible with the heavy bureaucracy of the sickness insurance for current and former EU employees. Had I lived in Denmark, I would probably have had to wait for the surgery for months rather than weeks, and therefore had plenty of time to get the paperwork done.

Head- and stomach aches, as well as brain fog, suddenly lifting, and I already have a bit more both mental and physical energy. I can now start to look forward to the arrival of my brother and sister-in-law, whom I have not seen for three years, and relax with them until surgery on 12 July. This will also mean that my home will feel less empty with them here, even after Max moves to his new home some time this coming weekend.