Day 2961

Dash's blood clot isn't any bigger this month. It isn't any smaller either. His doctor thinks this is good news, but it would be a lot better news if the clot was starting to shrink or dissolve. The vet wants Dash to discontinue one of the blood thinners and start taking a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug called Carprofen instead. The plan sounded reasonable during the exam, but when I did some research on the drug later I discovered that it is exactly the same chemically as Rimadyl. Years ago, one of our dogs died of kidney failure after taking Rimadyl for a long time. I swore that I'd never use the drug again.

Why is life so complicated? Now I've got to call the vet back and express my concerns. He'll probably say that most dogs tolerate the drug well, just like vets have always told me when they prescribe Rimadyl. Known side effects of Carprofen include increased risk of heart attack, staggering, stumbling, or partial paralysis, loss of coordination, and increased aggressiveness. Why would you ever want to give something like this to a dog like Dash?

I made some calls about the refrigerator Janet likes and discovered that it is on back order at Home Depot until February 28, and isn't available at Nebraska Furniture Mart until March 15. I doubt that our current refrigerator is going to last until then. Again, why is life so complicated? I should have been able to find an acceptable refrigerator and had it installed by now.

Dash seems to be frightened of the alley behind our house now. I can tell he wants to walk when we leave the house, but as soon as we get to the alley, he freezes and won't go any further. This is unfortunate, because the only way to get to the park is to walk down the alley for about fifty feet. Dash has been walking down this alley for his entire life, so I don't know what is going on. After several tries, I finally got him to take a morning walk, but I never could convince him to go on our evening walk.

I think I've come down with some sort of stomach flu. I woke up with a stomach ache this morning and have had one all day. It is very rare for me to have stomach flu, but whenever I do I think I've been poisoned. I picked up a burger for dinner yesterday. Maybe the meat was bad, or maybe the cook dropped it on the floor. Who knows? I am so suspicious of other people that I should probably fix all my food myself. At any rate, I'll probably be getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom for a while, just like Dash.

There's not much point in going out for breakfast tomorrow if I've got a stomach ache. Maybe I'll just fix myself a bowl of oatmeal. We'll see if Dash will walk in the morning. If he won't, I'm just going to crawl back in bed with him and take a long nap.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2960

I drove halfway to Oklahoma to look at a refrigerator and came back with nothing. If you've never been to a Nebraska Furniture Mart, you ought to go sometime. The store was amazing. They had the odd size refrigerator I was looking for, in addition to hundreds and hundreds of other models. I've never seen so many appliances in a single place in my life.

I almost bought the refrigerator I had traveled so far to see until the salesman opened one of the freezer drawers and said "there's just one more thing" as he pulled out an odd looking filter attached to a long hose. It almost seemed like an episode of Columbo. Unlike most refrigerators, this one had an external water filter that needed to be placed somewhere else in the house. It was apparently too complicated for the regular delivery crew to install, so I would need an additional extra cost professional installation team. "This thing looks European," I said. "How is it going to hook up to my plumbing?" The salesman assured me that they had successfully installed many of these refrigerators, but I wasn't very confident. I tried to have a plumber install a German kitchen faucet once and it was a nightmare. I have also had similar problems with a French toilet.

Since just about every refrigerator in the world was out on the showroom floor, I asked to see what else was available. There were a few choices that would fit in the space I have, but all of them had a full width door. I needed a side by side refrigerator or a french door model, so the door won't stick out so far when it is opened. Like I've said, my space is very limited. I had the sales guy print out specifications for everything I'd looked at and I took them home for Janet to look at. She went on the Internet and picked out something entirely different. It's a good thing I didn't buy anything today.

I got a good look at the lunar eclipse this morning. The eclipse was just starting when I had to take Dash outside to poop during the night. A few hours later, I had to take him outside again to pee and the moon was a thin crescent. I was hoping to get a nice photo of the red "blood moon" at totality, but it was too near sunrise and the moon was already obscured by haze near the horizon. I took a photo anyway, but you can barely see the moon at all.

The weather was really nice today, but Dash wouldn't take an afternoon walk at all. I wish I knew what that dog was thinking. At least he got a fairly decent morning walk. Tomorrow we go back to the cancer center for our monthly echocardiogram. I really hope his condition has improved or at least has stabilized. Dash is taking some powerful blood thinners now and I'm always worried that he'll get cut and I won't be able to stop the bleeding.

I guess I'll go and look at the refrigerator Janet likes on Friday. There probably isn't time tomorrow since it is a vet appointment day. I just want to put this refrigerator mess behind me. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to be able to find exactly what I want. If I can find something that keeps food cold and won't block the door to the utility room, I'm fine. Part of me still wants to fix the old refrigerator, but we won't even go there. I've already lost that battle.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day