Day 2130

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, I thought I might have to take Dot to the emergency vet. Today, she was trying to top her personal best on the treadmill. Dot was strong enough today that we even did a few interval sprints. When we speed up the treadmill, she is still going very, very slow, but it's a big deal whenever we see progress. If you're curious what water therapy is like, there's a video of today's therapy session on my Facebook profile page.

The vet checked Dot's heart and abdomen and couldn't find any obvious reason for yesterday's frantic panting and grass eating incident. I got a check list of things to look for if this happens again. Dot's frantic panting is mild compared to the vestibular seizures she's had several times in the past, but it is still alarming. The vet said that if her temperature is normal, her gums are pink, and her abdomen isn't tight or painful, I ought to be OK. I still worry though, because this frantic panting was our first indication that she had abdominal cancer last year.

Work is picking up again. I completed two small website projects and got a new writing job toward the end of the day. I don't think things will ever be as busy as they were three or four years ago, but it is encouraging that people haven't completely forgotten about me. Sometimes I get asked why I don't write a novel or start some ambitions personal project. The truth is that I just don't have the energy. I still need some work coming through the door to pay bills and keep my brain from turning to jelly, but I don't want a lot of work. Caring for the dogs takes an enormous amount of time. I still think one project a day is just about right. No meetings either! Not only is there no time for meetings these days, I no longer have any inclination to go to them.

I was just getting used to Fall when Summer returned. For the past week it has been unusually hot. It's been in the high 90's almost every day this week. This is pretty warm for mid-October. Luckily, it is still pretty cool outside when we take our pre-dawn walks with the dogs. This means that we occasionally wake up with the furnace heating the house and then eat dinner with the air conditioner running. At least the rainy season hasn't started yet. Sometime around Halloween we usually start getting lots of rain.

One of my doctors told me that it is time for new blood work. Why? I'm getting tired of this continuous monitoring. There was a certain urgency when I had Hepatitis C, but now that I'm reasonably healthy again, I'm rapidly losing interest. I'll get the blood tests done next week sometime. I just don't feel like fasting tomorrow. If there were a few more health apps on my Apple Watch I might not need to go to the doctor at all. I'm just waiting for the day when someone comes out with a watch that contains a miniature blood testing module that will prick your wrist several times a day and analyze a minute amount of blood. If they designed the thing right, you probably wouldn't even feel it. Real time blood analysis, just like the real time heart rate monitors they have now would be pretty cool.

I'm ready for Friday. I've taken this week's trash out to the curb. The dogs have been fed and walked. All the accidents in the house have been cleaned up. It's time to recharge my phone, watch an episode of Perry Mason, and go to bed.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day