Ever By My Side

The lessons that these animals taught me have been subtle startling and inspirational playing a small but vital part in helping to shape the person you see with the stethoscope around his neck. Dr. Nick TroutNew York Times bestselling author Nick Trout has captivated readers by taking them behind the scenes into the heartwarmingand sometimes heartrendingworld of veterinary medicine. In Ever By My Side Nick turns the lens inward to offer a funny moving and intimate memoir about how the pets he has had throughout his life have shaped him into the son husband father and doctor he is today. Using his relationships with those beloved animals to tell his life story Nick shares the profound lessons hes learned about friendship loyalty and resilience. The result is a moving story that speaks not just to animal lovers but to any reader who appreciates the bonds we have with our loved ones be they animal or human and the lengths to which we go to nurture those bonds. . Nick waxes nostalgic about his boyhood in a working-class British suburb where a large German shepherd named Patch was the perfect companion to a scrawny bookish boy in a neighborhood full of bullies. He writes about his relationship with his father the man who nurtured Nicks dream of becoming a vet even though he couldnt have imagined the career would lead his only son 3000 miles away. He describes wooing his future wife and stepdaughter and (perhaps most difficult of all) their ornery cat. And he offers a poignant chronicle of his daughters devastating diagnosis of cystic fibrosis and how a little yellow Labrador retriever played an important role in bringing joy to their family when they needed it most. Alongside Nicks warm reflections the pets in these pages come alive as irresistible characters in their own right and showcase the power of animals to offer a lifetime of consolation guidance and abiding affection.Tender wry and ruminative Ever By My Side is a tribute to the power and beauty of ordinary life and a celebration of how pets make it all the sweeter and richer.