In the middle of the night the dog toppled off the bed. Her body thunked on the floor, and I sprang out of bed and tried to pick her up. It’s the pain meds she’s on. They make her wobbly and confused. She scrambled away from me and headed toward the stairs, tumbling two or three steps down before I could stop her. 

We groped together down the remaining stairs and into the living room where I settled her on the couch. But I could not settle myself on the couch. It was three o’clock in the morning,...