Day 2365

Today was exhausting. I got up early to give the dogs their morning pills and make sure they were fed and ready to go when the dog walker arrived. I'd already been up twice during the night to clean up Dot's latest accidents. I don't know how Dot can sleep through pooping in her bed, but she does. I certainly can't sleep through these episodes. The smell wakes me up every time. Luckily, I can get back to sleep easily.

Things went better than I expected with the dog walker. She arrived right on time and Dash seemed to take a liking to her almost immediately. We decided that she would walk Dash and I would walk Dot. Dash seemed to think it was special to be walked by someone new. Dot barked a lot at first, but she soon settled into the new routine as well. Dot even walked a bit faster than usual, which was surprising.

Since it was a nice day and the ground was starting to dry out, I decided to mow the grass this afternoon. This might have been a mistake. The grass was still a little wet, so the mower was harder to push than usual. I ended up getting a lot better workout than if I'd gone to the gym. I almost forgot it was Sunday today. It didn't seem like Sunday. It just seemed different.

Somewhere between breakfast and dinner the dogs walker came down with some sort of virus and asked if her husband cold help with the dogs in the evening. It was fine by me. Despite their many idiosyncrasies, Dot and Dash acted like well socialized and surprisingly well behaved canines today. the went on walks with two different strangers and nothing went wrong at all. I was proud of them.

The hardest part of the day are the evenings. It's almost like a changing of the guard when Janet comes home. They look forward to when she comes home every day and generally follow her around until bedtime. This gives me time to write the blog, clean up the kitchen, and whatever else I need to do. With this routine disrupted, there is a lot of barking and standing at the front door. Eventually they both get tired and we all go to bed, but you've got to watch them like a hawk. Dot ended up peeing on a big rug last night when I let her out of my sight for a just few minutes. I wish Dot wasn't so needy, but it is almost inevitable with her lack of mobility.

Tomorrow we go back to the cancer center for our long awaited ultrasound recheck. Dot's regular oncologist is out of town, but we have an appointment with another of the clinic's oncologists. I have mixed emotions about restarting her chemotherapy. She didn't appear to get any stronger when we discontinued the Palladia pills, but she didn't get any weaker either. It is hard to tell whether the chemotherapy was doing her any good at all. Hopefully, the ultrasound scan will clarify things a bit.

It would be nice to sleep a little longer tonight. I might as well have just stayed up last night. I think we're coping pretty well, but I'll be glad when things get back to normal.

Scooby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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