Day 2529

I spent the day asking questions about the various medications the dogs and I take. Dash had an appointment to check his Levothyroxine levels. He's had to take this drug ever since he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and periodically they need to check and see whether the dose needs to be adjusted. While I was at the vet, I asked about the Incurin Dot was taking for urinary incontinence. Do we need to increase the dose on this one, since it doesn't appear to be working anymore? I was surprised to learn that this drug has been on backorder for months and wasn't even currently available. There were alternate drugs we could try, but each had their own drawbacks. Maybe it might be better to just learn to deal with Dot's leaky bladder.

Later in the day I visited my own doctor to get my prescriptions renewed for another year. The doctor wanted me to stop taking Protonix because it had been linked to a higher incidence of stroke in a recent study. It would have been nice if I knew this ten years ago when I started taking the drug. This is the frustrating thing about prescription medicine. Doctors are always learning new things and this year's favorite treatment can always end up being on next year's dangerous substance list. The doctor also said my blood pressure might be too low. Jeez, I've spent years getting my blood pressure under control under the assumption that lower blood pressure is always better. Now doctors are learning that abnormally low blood pressure is often associated with brain atrophy. Yikes. I'd never even heard of brain atrophy before, but there must be an epidemic of it in this country. How else would you explain all the bad decisions we make.

Every time I see my doctor, he tells me that my Cortisol levels are too high and I need to do something to reduce the amount of stress in my life. I try to explain that there really isn't any significant stress in my life, with the possible exception of cleaning up dog poop day in and day out for years at a time. When I explained the daily routine required to care for an incontinent, crippled dog, it appeared to give the doctor stress. He said that when this happened with his dog, he had to put it down. "Well, that's the difference between you and me," I said. Dot is a happy dog. She just can't care for herself anymore.

I think I've gotten all the prescriptions straightened out for another year. Janet only takes a single statin pill every day, but Dot, Dash, and I have dozens of medications to keep track of. At least Dot and Dash don't have to take the chemotherapy pills anymore. There used to be a gas station on every corner. Now there's a CVS Pharmacy or a Walgreens on every corner. How did we live without all these pills? I certainly believe in the benefits of keeping your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels under control, but it sure would be tempting to quit taking all these meds.

I've got a new article to write tomorrow. It looks like there will be some website work as well. I anticipate a quiet day of writing, punctuated every few hours with the smell of fresh poop. I don't think I was cut out to be a caregiver, but I'm actually doing reasonably well for a person with very little empathy. Dot seems happy anyway. I'll work on keeping the stress under control.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2166

My doctor asked me today if I was under any unusual stress and if I was getting enough sleep. Apparently, my Cortisol levels were high and this is often an indicator of a sleepless, stress filled life. So, what else is new? I was talking about this just the other day with Dot's vet and a few of her vet techs. All of us led stressful lives and weren't getting enough sleep. We all seemed to average between four and five hours of sleep each night. This is just modern life. I doubt that I needed a blood test to tell me that I wasn't getting enough sleep. All you have to do is look at my face.

Despite the high cortisol levels, the rest of my blood work looked pretty good. Considering that my doctor had actually cut back on a few of my meds last month, I considered the test results a win. My cholesterol is under control, I don't have diabetes yet, and I don't have to take any additional pills. Who could ask for more?

Considering that my income is declining, my expenses are increasing, and I'm cleaning up dog poop every few hours, I think I'm handling stress pretty well. Maybe now that we have running water again, life will settle down a bit. It's always stressful taking care of an aging, sick dog, but I don't regret any of the time I spend with Dot. Both dogs have done far more for me than I'll ever be able to do for them. Making them my top priority now is the least I can do. I don't think the stress is going away though. All I've got to say is don't let your babies grow up to be web designers. Let them be plumbers instead.

I felt like having burgers this evening and was pleased that I returned from the grocery store with all the ingredients. I had the ground beef. I had the tomatoes. I had the lettuce. I had the cheese and all the condiments. It was only much later that I realized that I had forgotten to buy the buns. This always happens to me when I shop. It doesn't even matter if I make a list, because I'll always forget to add something essential to the list. This is one reason I go to the store a lot.

We didn't make our Thanksgiving reservations soon enough this year and ended up going to our third restaurant choice instead of our favorite. This is still better than cooking at home though. We'll probably never cook a big holiday meal again. Evidently, Janet and I aren't the only people who feel this way. When we started eating out on Thanksgiving years ago, you didn't even need a reservation. Now going to a Thanksgiving brunch has become so popular that you have to make reservations a month in advance.

Dot had a good day today. She was strong and energetic on her morning walk, and I was surprised to see her wandering around the house on her own throughout the day. Some days she can barely move. Other days she can still get up without assistance. As far as I'm concerned, every good day is a bonus.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

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Day 1655

When I was leaving the doctor's office today, I noticed a little piece of metal sticking out of my tire. This looked like something superficial that I could pull out with a pair of pliers myself, but since I was near the Land Rover dealer anyway I decided to drive over and let them get the piece of metal out of the tread. As soon as the technician began prying the little piece of metal out of the tire, I began to hear air escaping. I quickly learned that the tire was a total loss, due to the location of the puncture, and that I need a brand new tire. Yikes! This wasn't what I expected at all.

I sure was glad the dealer convinced me to purchase tire and wheel protection coverage when I purchased the car. I thought it was a big waste of money at the time, but in retrospect it turned out to be quite a bargain. It turns out that my fancy low profile nitrogen filled tires are quite a bit more expensive than the old truck tires I had on the Defender. I never dreamed a tire could be this expensive. I didn't have to pay for this one though, and I will always make sure I have tire and wheel protection coverage in the future.

My doctor visit was a bit disappointing. I thought I'd be able to convince the doc to discontinue a few medications, but instead he wanted to put me back on statin drugs to improve my cholesterol levels. My liver doctors had taken me off the statin drugs during my Hepatitis C treatment and I thought I was done with them forever. When I asked the doctor why he wanted to try statins and niacin again he told me that my new liver wouldn't help me that much if I had a heart attack. He also told me that my Cortisol levels were too high. "What causes that," I asked? "Stress." the doctor said. "You need to get rid of the stress in your life." "Well, how do you expect me to do that," I asked incredulously. "I don't know," the doctor said. "My Cortisol levels are even higher than yours." This made me smile. It almost made me laugh out loud.

I've always thought that I led a relatively stress-free life. Truthfully, it's just about impossible to avoid stress entirely in today's fast paced world. Prices of just about everything have increased a lot faster than wages. Everyone I know seems to expect more, while at the same time having less patience. Even the dogs seem to expect more. When I checked the baby monitor while I was at the car dealer, I discovered that they were both barking loudly. I laughed. Dot and Dash weren't alarmed about anything. It was their dinner time and they knew I was late.

It wasn't a very productive day, but I did make a little forward progress. I won't have to go back to the doctor again for a while, and I avoided a potentially dangerous flat tire on a Dallas freeway this weekend. I'm sure that's worth something. The dogs should actually be proud of me.

Rascal is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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