Day 4245

Sundays are usually just a lot of walking. Today was no exception. The gym isn't open on Sunday and I'm finally learning to take my long walk early in the morning to beat the heat. We took our sunrise walk with Dawn, came home to eat breakfast, and then I immediately left again on my long walk thru the park. Today was actually fairly pleasant since there was a strong breeze. The wind kept me cool, even though the sun was out most of the time. I'm really learning to appreciate a cloudy day. Most of my yard work takes place on cloudy days now. I was able to complete my full six miles today. It wasn't a big accomplishment, but I'm willing to settle for small accomplishments lately.

When I returned to the house, I took a few minutes to cool down and then we took Dawn on her Sunday outing. We didn't overdo it this time and only walked Dawn a short distance. Today was mostly about the ice cream. The ice cream place surprised us by offering Dawn a free pup cone. This was new. Usually we order two small vanilla cones, eat part of them ourselves, and then give the rest to Dawn. Dawn seemed to like the idea of having a whole cone to herself. Of course, she still got some of ours as well. We try to be careful that she doesn't overdo it. I'd hate to discover that she was allergic to ice cream and that was what was causing the paw licking. 

I'm having trouble remembering to take the antibiotics the dentist gave me. I take them on a different schedule than my regular morning and evening meds and anything new is a problem. I'm such a creature of habit that I do virtually everything the same way day after day. You'd think adding one new pill wouldn't be a problem, but new isn't in my vocabulary anymore. You might think my interest in rockets and astronomy is new, but I've actually been interested in these things since childhood. I just got distracted from childhood interests during my working years.

Dawn has figured out how to reach her rear paws even with her cone on. It's really been an uphill battle to control the licking. We think we're making progress and then there'll be a setback where we'll catch her chewing on her paws again. It's always three steps forward, two steps back. Usually, it's our fault for leaving her unsupervised, but you can't watch a dog 100% of the time. Dawn is nervous around me anyway. If I was following her around all day long and reprimanding her for trying to attack her paws, she'd be even more nervous. I don't think I'm the problem with the paws though. Janet said she started the licking while I was away during my last trip to the observatory.

You'd think with unruly passengers on airplanes, nonexistent rental cars, and a surge in Covid infections, that I'd already have enough reasons not to visit Florida. Now there's something new. I saw a notice that Titusville residents have to boil their water because E. coli bacteria has gotten into the city water supply. It makes you wonder what's next. Maybe it's a good thing that two dentists have dibs on all my money this month. I can't be tempted by rocket launches for a while.

I need to remember to take my camera when we visit the Dalmatians tomorrow. I've heard that there's a new dog at the kennel. I don't know much about this four year old owner surrender, but I'm fairly certain he'll like squeaky toys and tasty treats.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4244

It was a busy Saturday. We took our sunrise walk, but Dawn still isn't wanting to walk very far. Where did that little burst of energy come from a few weeks ago? We're trying to use up some things that partially thawed when the freezer malfunctioned last week, so we had a package of toaster waffles for breakfast. They were actually pretty good. When I ran my Saturday errands, I got some long foam tubes at Home Depot to make more professional looking inserts for my camera case. I also filled the car with gas, picked up some salicylic acid at the pharmacy, and did my grocery shopping. Everybody was wearing masks at Sam's Club, but almost nobody was wearing masks at Central Market. Go figure. It's Hatch Chili season again in Texas. I don't understand the fascination with Hatch Chilis, but for one month a year, you can get Hatch Chile pound cake and cookies, Hatch Chile Sourdough Bread, Hatch Chile potato salad, Hatch Chile burgers and rotisserie chickens, along with all sorts of Hatch Chile concoctions at the deli counter.

Since I got started early, I was still able to make it to the gym before they closed at 1 PM. You have to wear a mask when you check in now, but you can take it off as soon as you get down to the gym floor and start exercising. I don't know what this proves, but we are all pretty good about following the rules. Some people continue wearing their mask during their workout, but most don't. I don't spend as much time at the gym on Saturdays, but I did get my steps and fill all the rings on my Apple Watch. I'm continuing to work on upper body strength, but I don't know how much progress I'm making.

I've started taking the antibiotics the dentist prescribed for my root canal. Dawn and I are both taking antibiotics now. Her paws are starting to look a little better, but I don't know if this has anything to do with the meds she's taking. I think it's mostly because she's wearing a cone a lot now. We always put the cone on when we're both going to be out of the house. You don't have to leave Dawn unsupervised very long before she starts biting at her paws again. 

When I went to the gym today, there was a line of cars wrapped all the way around the block at the Covid testing site. New pandemic fears certainly aren't stopping people from shopping though. Grocery stores were full today and the Northpark Mall looked like it was Christmas. There wasn't a parking place anywhere. I picked up Chinese take out for dinner and PF Chang's was absolutely packed. There wasn't an empty table in the place and everybody was seated close together. This is all very confusing to me. When you turn on the television, the sky is falling. When you're out in the community, everything seems normal. 

I basically don't trust anyone now. I don't trust what the government is telling me. I think the strangers I see are probably all infected with horrible diseases. You certainly can't trust the media anymore. Every time you change the channel, you get a completely different story. I wonder if anyone's done a study to see if extroverts get infected with Covid more frequently than introverts? I bet they do. They always seem to trace a big spike back to a party or a wedding.

It's a weird world we live in. They still haven't found the missing cobra in Grand Prairie. This snake will never make it all the way to Dallas unless it is already in someone's car. I guess we're safe on our Sunday outing tomorrow. I don't know why I'm worried about cobras. The park is full of poisonous snakes anyway. 

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4243

This is a bad time to be a hypochondriac. You can't turn on the television without being bombarded with seemingly apocalyptic health news. Are more people getting infected now than during the height of the pandemic? Are hospitals full again? It's hard to tell what's really going on. Every time I venture out in the world, everything seems normal. I only know one person who has gotten sick during the last year and he recovered quickly. I know a lot more people who have gotten cancer than have gotten Covid. Why all the fear mongering? It is unnecessary. Every time I have a runny nose or wake up with a scratchy throat, I have to go to Google and see if that might be a symptom associated with one of the new variants. At my age there are probably a lot more immediate health issues to be concerned about. Jeez. I got the vaccine. If you didn't, that's your business.

I'm so glad I am no longer a landlord. I used to own rental property and I know I would have gotten stuck with a tenant who used Covid as an excuse to stop paying rent. I don't really understand extending the eviction moratorium. The economy is doing great. I've never seen so many help wanted signs in stores. You could easily get a job if you wanted one these days. You could probably get a better job than you had before. I think I have more sympathy for the landlords than the tenants. There are definitely easier jobs than owning a few rent houses. I had endless problems with tenants. I'm glad that chapter is behind me.

There is a cobra loose in the neighboring town of Grand Prairie. Who keeps a six foot West African Banded Cobra as a pet? I know I would be really mad if a neighbor let their pet cobra escape. It would be hell to worry yourself sick about Covid and then end up getting bit by a cobra instead. I should just stop watching the news. There is too much weirdness going on. They say the Gulf Stream is slowing down and could drastically change the climate on the East Coast. The West Coast seems to be perpetually on fire. Are these the end times? I have friends who think so.

I don't know why I thought today would be a good day to take a long walk. It was even hotter than yesterday. I guess I just didn't feel like driving today. I completed my full six mile route, but I was really starting to wonder what I was doing outside. I'm glad I discovered the misting station in the park. I sprayed myself with water on both the inbound and outbound segments of my journey, but it didn't take long for the water to evaporate. I read an article recently that said walking consistently was one of the best forms of exercise and included a long list of health benefits. I hope this is true. Walking is still enjoyable for me because it is the best place to daydream.

I need to start taking the antibiotics prescribed for my root canal tomorrow. I take the pills for four days prior to my procedure and then for four days afterwards as well. I'm not looking forward to this. I've never had a root canal before. I've had relatively few fillings over the years as well. All good things come to an end I guess. I'm certainly spending more time at doctors and dentists these days than I did in my 30's and 40's.

Dawn had a good day. There weren't as many problems with licking her paws today and she seemed to enjoy her morning walk. I hope Dawn is happy, but I'll never know for sure. Dawn is an enigmatic dog. Dealing with Dawn's problems is as far as I want to go with problems. I'm definitely not going to solve the world's problems. I doubt that you are either.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4234

Good grief. Usually a trip to the dentist is uneventful for me. I have good teeth and seldom have problems. Today the dentist told me that I have a cavity in one tooth and need a root canal in another. My regular dentist doesn't do root canals, so I had to go see an endodontist. My regular dentist said it was time for another pano-x-ray. That wasn't good enough for the endodontist however. He said I needed a cone beam CT scan. I got both. Needless to say, it was an expensive afternoon. All I was expecting was a routine teeth cleaning today. My teeth don't hurt and I had no idea there was a problem. The x-rays don't lie unfortunately, so I've got two different appointments in August for some major dental work.

This is probably why I still haven't made appointment with two other doctors I need to see this summer. I hate surprises and the older you get, the more likely you are to be surprised during a routine doctor visit. I'll get everything done this summer, but I'm saving the colonoscopy for last. I'd really like to avoid that one. 

Medical expenses always seem so unrewarding. I'd much rather get a new camera lens than a root canal. You can't ignore your health though. Both dentists agreed that it wouldn't be wise to postpone the root canal, even though the tooth isn't bothering me at the moment. The endodontist said the infection was still contained within the bone. "You don't want this to spread to soft tissue," he told me. "It will be very painful." OK. I believe you. I've made both dental appointments and will probably go ahead and make all my other appointments as well. I might as well get all this medical stuff behind me. Then I can concentrate on important things like going to rocket launches and visiting the observatory again.

It was too late to go to the gym after I returned from my two dental visits today. Even though it was very hot, I went for a walk instead. There was no compelling reason to do anything, but I really wanted to get those steps. I have become a slave to Fitbit and my Apple Watch. There's nothing wrong with exercise though. I think I'm in pretty good shape for 73. Age catches up with you though. Dusty Hill died today. He was younger than I am. I never saw ZZ Top perform, although I really liked their music. I should have gone to a concert while I had a chance. The band spent a lot of time in Dallas. Actually Dusty was born here.

Dawn is still trying to lick and bite her paws. I had to put a cone on her before I went to the dentist today. She's still taking antibiotics and I thought it was funny that the endodontist prescribed the same antibiotic for me. I'm supposed to start taking the pills four days before the root canal procedure. The root canal is underneath a crown and I keep thinking that this never would have happened if I hadn't gotten the crown. I chipped a tooth years ago and I wanted the dentist to just smooth the little chipped part and seal it. Nope. He said I had to have a crown, even though only a tiny part of the tooth had broken off. I still think that tooth was basically fine. What do I know about dentistry though? I'm the guy who went fifteen years without seeing a dentist at all.

Tomorrow I get a haircut. Somehow it is much easier for me to make a hair appointment than a doctor's appointment.

Queenie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3387

I should have learned by now that there is little to be gained by looking up symptoms and side effects on the Internet. Dash got a Covenia shot this morning to help with his infected mouth. I wasn't familiar with Covenia, so I did a little research on Google. Unbeknownst to me, there is a raging controversy about this drug. Some people say it has killed their dog or cat. On the other side of the coin, many veterinarians say that the drug is safe, effective and that complications are very rare. All drugs can have complications but the problem with an injectable antibiotic like Covenia is that once it is in the body, you can't get it out again.

I trust our veterinarian and Dash seems to be tolerating the drug well. Nevertheless, it makes you nervous when you listen to sad YouTube videos from people who are convinced that Covenia killed their pet. In fairness, I've read some terrible things about meds that I take myself. You ultimately have to make your own judgement about just about everything. Another person's experience is not necessarily yours. Often Internet accounts can be very distorted. If someone has had a bad experience you will almost always hear about it. Good experiences tend to be considered normal and are often not reported at all.

I'm hoping that the Covenia injection will help clear up the infection. If this doesn't work we can always try the Clindamycin. I have a feeling that no antibiotic will completely cure Dash's peridontal disease. When the antibiotic wears off, the plaque on his teeth, especially under the gum line, will just cause the infection to reappear.

When I got my monthly statement from the dealer who is selling my train collection, it appears like several trains have been sold twice. I hope this isn't the case, since I'd hate to return the March payments I've received. I'm hoping that this is just a data entry error. Honesty is still the best policy. I told my friend about the mixup and we'll see if he wants the money back. You can't keep selling the same thing over and over again.

I'm glad we don't have to take Dash to the vet very often. It has become a nightmare transporting him in the car these days. We always take an emergency clean up kit with us now. Amazingly, Dash didn't poop in the car this morning. He waited a few minutes and then pooped inside the vet's office. We managed to get a few nails clipped while we were there, but after his exam and the shot it was clear that Dash wanted to go home.

I sent invoices to my few remaining clients today and wrote a letter to my sister. It's weird that going to the post office is such an important ritual to me. Nobody else I know goes to the post office at all. Nobody else writes a daily blog either. To each his own I guess.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3064

Dash and I have a new schedule for a little while. Janet is traveling and I need to remember to do all the things she usually does. Janet usually prepares Dash's meals and gives him his pills. The meals are a guessing game, since you never know what he's willing to eat on any given day. No matter what his mood is, he always has to eat something early in the morning, because he can't take his phenobarbital on an empty stomach. Dash used to take his pills in a dog food meat ball, but now we have to resort to more exotic temptations. Today, I hid the pills in soft slices of banana bread with a little peanut butter on top. This worked pretty well. Meals are just as challenging. I opened three different cans this evening before I found something he would eat. When a dog turns up his nose at fresh chicken breasts, you know you are getting desperate.

Luckily, we were able to give Dash a good walk early this morning before Janet left for the airport. I knew I would have trouble with the afternoon walk, and even though I tried, we didn't even make it out of the back yard. Dash turned around and threw off one of his rubber boots before we even reached the back gate. When I got the boot back on again, he refused to move at all. Hopefully, he will still walk with me in the mornings. Morning walks are an essential part of the feeding routine. Without a walk, he rarely has much of an appetite.

It's not normal for a Dalmatian to lose interest in food. Something is definitely wrong, but so far his veterinarians have not been able to pin down a cause. We've done every type of test imaginable and so far the only plausible cause for this loss of appetite is the nausea that is commonly associated with vestibular disease. So far, we've always been able to get Dash to eat something, but it's getting harder and harder.

I think I got lucky with the roof. The rain that was supposed to arrive today never materialized. The area the roofers patched yesterday has had a full 24 hours to cure, so I think the elastomer coating is stable now. We may still get some rain later tonight, but if the roof stays dry, my next job is to get the roofers back to finish the rest of the repairs.

I paid some bills this afternoon and picked up the new antibiotic that is supposed to cure the infected area on Dash's lip. Hopefully, this pill won't interact with any of the other pills he's already taking. Dash takes so many meds now that it gets complicated. I always hope that we'll be able to reduce the number of pills at some point, but that's probably being realistic. Dash hasn't had an epileptic seizure in year, but he will always need to take phenobarbital to prevent them from reoccurring. Even though the blood clot in his heart has seemingly dissolved, he will need to continue taking Plavix to keep new clots from forming. The list goes on and on. He has to take thyroid medication because he doesn't have a thyroid anymore and he takes blood pressure medication for the same reason I do.

I think we're going to go to bed early tonight. Why not? We've both finished our dinners. Dash has taken all his evening meds. And I'm almost finished with tonight's blog post. We're probably going to need a good night's rest. Tomorrow might be challenging.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3063

We're making progress. The roofers came out today and fixed the area above where water has been leaking into the living room. I reluctantly agreed with them that it wouldn't be wise to repair the entire roof, since there is a 40% chance of rain tomorrow. It probably wasn't even wise to repair the small section above the living room, but it's so hard to get the roofers to come out here that I figured that something was better than nothing. The elastomer material needs 24 hours to fully cure. According to the current forecast, it will probably rain in 16 hours. The roofers said this was OK, but we'll have to see. If it rains really hard, today's patch might just wash away.

I was pleased that the roofers made a firm promise to return and fix the rest of the roof. Lord knows how long this will take, but they've always kept their word in the past. It would be nice if by the end of the Summer, all the house problems that are currently plaguing me are solved. Old houses are relentless taskmasters unfortunately. As soon as today's problems are solved, new ones will crop up to replace them.

Dash's vet is going to prescribe a new antibiotic to see if we can clear up the infection on his lip. I think we tried this before and it was only a temporary solution. Maybe this is a virus instead of a bacteria. I sure wish that Dash wasn't so interested in smelling things in the park. There are tons of animals that call this place home and not all of them are healthy. The main reason that Dash gets a Leptospirosis vaccination every year is that here are a lot of raccoons and rodents in the park that carry the disease. If you're listening Dash, please quit smelling other animals pee.

I've just about got everything set up to start taking distributions from my retirement account. I was hoping this day would never come, but this is what retirement accounts are for. Hopefully, I will be able to live comfortably for a long, long time, but you never know. I had to get a power of attorney and take over my Dad's affairs during his final years, so I have a realistic idea of what might happen. All it takes is one really serious illness to wipe almost anybody out. It was shocking for me to see how quickly medical bills can suck up all available resources. Medicare and supplemental insurance help a lot, but they don't even come close to paying for everything.

I wish Dash had a way of telling me what he wanted to eat. I picked the wrong can tonight and he refused to touch the stuff. Last night, this was his favorite. Even the fresh boiled chicken breasts he gets for breakfast aren't a sure thing anymore. He didn't finish his breakfast until almost 11 AM this morning. We still think it's the vestibular disease that's making Dash such a picky eater. It could be something else though. All I know is that it's getting harder and harder to feed him. Dash has a birthday coming soon. I hope we can find something he likes for his birthday meal. If I asked Dash, he would probably choose a cheeseburger.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2759

Janet and I both thought it was Saturday this morning. It was an easy mistake to make, since all the days are blurring together. Luckily, I did remember that it was Thursday yesterday and took the trash out. I didn't feel like going out for breakfast this morning. Somehow, the ritual of going to a restaurant for breakfast every Friday morning seems buried in a distant past. Maybe I'll look forward to doing this again sometime, but other things seem more important now.

My legs continue to improve. When I look at them together, it's easy to see that the left leg is still swollen, but it is so much better than it was a week ago. The pain has subsided to a dull ache and my wrist is slowly becoming more flexible. I don't even wear the splint all the time anymore. The one thing I'm still careful to do is elevate my legs every time I sleep or take a nap. I wish I'd done this the very first night after getting bitten. If I had elevated my legs and rested more in the beginning, maybe the swelling wouldn't have become so bad.

I was promised that my car would be finished today, but when I called to check, they hadn't even started working on it. I guess I wasn't surprised. Ever since the Land Rover and Jaguar dealerships merged, service has slowed down to a crawl. They just don't have enough mechanics anymore. When people complain that there aren't any jobs, I wonder if they've considered becoming an auto mechanic. Large dealerships always seems to be short on mechanics. Luckily, there was someone who could help me today. A warning light came on in the loaner car and I didn't want to get stuck without a car this weekend. Everything is fine now, but waiting at the dealership made my errands take a lot longer than expected .

Dash was much better behaved today. Maybe he's finally getting used to this amorphous new schedule that Janet and I have adopted. We don't plan ahead very well anymore. We just buy food one day at a time and one of us is always running to the store to pick up something for dinner. We are bored and tired at the same time and still spend a lot of time resting. No wonder Dash becomes frustrated at times.

When I was running errands today, I got caught in a brief thunderstorm. It's weird to have so much rain in the middle of July. I guess it's a good thing, especially since the landscaper is coming on Monday. Usually we put in new grass in March, so it is well established by mid-Summer. It will be nice to have grass again, but one way or another, I bet my water bill is going to go way up next month.

I'm just about finished taking my antibiotics. Hopefully there is no risk of infection anymore. The strong antibiotics have given me an upset stomach, so maybe my appetite will improve once I'm finished with these pills. Antibiotics have been known to cause dental problems and I've noticed that my teeth are more difficult to get clean this week. I'm tempted to blame a recurrence of hemorrhoid problems on the antibiotics too. I'll be glad when I don't have to sleep with my feet elevated anymore. I usually sleep on my side and it has taken a while to get used to sleeping on my back. The best thing about a return to health is that I won't be wasting time Googling medical problems anymore. I'm sure Google has me listed in its hypochondriac file by now.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2750

Well this sucks. I found a credit card in our alley this afternoon and though it might belong to friends of our neighbor. They'd had a Fourth of July party yesterday and there were a lot of people walking back and forth down the alley yesterday evening. I knocked on the neighbor's door and before the door was even fully open, their German Shepard ran out the door and bit me in the calf. I fell down and before I could get up, the dog bit me in the other leg. I was just trying to do a good deed by returning the credit card and got some bad dog bites for my efforts.

I've been bitten before and know that puncture wounds aren't to be taken lightly. One of those new stand-alone emergency rooms had just opened up in the neighborhood, so I decided to go there. They told me that they didn't accept Medicare and I would have to pay cash. Forget that. I drove down the street to a Primacare and they told me there would be a two hour wait. The lobby was empty, so I don't know what the problem was. I was still bleeding and growing frustrated. Luckily, I remembered that my own doctor was open until 8 PM. I got in the car and drove there, arriving just before the place closed.

A nurse cleaned my wounds, gave me a tetanus shot, injected me with an antibiotic, wrote me a prescription for more antibiotics, and bandaged me up again. If I'd waited for the Primacare folks to do this, I'd probably be sitting in the waiting room until midnight. Something needs to be done about the neighbor's dog. They claim he's friendly, but he's bitten me three times in the last ten years. It's probably time to call animal control.

I was hoping the nurse could stop the bleeding, but she told me that letting the blood flow would help prevent infection. I'm probably going to need to do a lot of bandage changes for a while. Just when I thought that Janet's bandage changes were becoming less of an issue, now I've got my own to deal with. The bad thing about dog bites is that they take a long time to heal. Been there, done that.

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful. I walked Dash, took Janet to a few stores to get her out of the house for a bit, and started cloning the hard drive on my desktop computer in preparation for installing a larger and faster drive later in the week. It was just a normal hot July day until the dog bit me.

I never dreamed it would take so long to clone a terabyte of data. Everything has slowed down to a crawl while the files are being copied. I've been waiting for Photoshop to open for twenty minutes now. I hate to cancel the cloning operation, since it's been running for five hours now. Oh, well. I learned a long time ago that when you start something, you've got to finish it.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. It looks like I've got a hematoma in my left leg since it's swollen quite a bit. Everything hurts, but the nurse said I should be fine. At least Janet is improving. The drainage is subsiding and if she's lucky they'll take the remaining tubes out at her doctor's appointment tomorrow.

I hope I don't bleed on the bed tonight. The nurse did a good job with the bandages, but I don't know if they'll hold all night. I probably should take a pain pill, but Tylenol is bad for your liver and you aren't supposed to take ibuprofen if you're bleeding. Jeez, I really thought this was going to be a good day, but life is full of surprises.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1960

I think the antibiotics are working. Dash did a lot better at keeping all four paws on the ground today. He still limped a little when he tried to walk too fast, but his condition was visibly better than yesterday. It wasn't all smooth sailing though. Dash woke me up twice during the middle of the night to go outside. He raced around the yard on three legs like he was possessed. Dash acted like he had an upset stomach and needed to poop. After several tries, he eventually did. It could have been the Clavamox. On the other hand, it could have been something bad he ate in the park. The important thing was that Dash eventually did his business and we finally got some sleep.

I made some website revisions today and after I uploaded the new content, the client sent me an e-mail saying that nothing had changed. This happens all the time. Am I the only one who regularly clears my browser cache? I patiently explained that he was looking at an old version of the site and that if he re-loaded the page, cleared his browser cache in the preference menu, or just restarted the browser he would probably see the new changes. Since I never heard back from him, I guess one of those remedies worked.

I had some writing jobs today, but I got side-tracked experimenting with my mobile friendly test site. Today I learned how to create drop down menus that automatically re-size for different devices. Life was so much easier when everyone was looking at the same 17" CRT display and used their phones for making phone calls. I'm slowly getting comfortable working in this new responsive design environment, but I'm also getting bored with it. It's a race against time to see if I can learn enough to be useful before I get sick of the whole thing. It's getting harder to find a reason to stay on the cutting edge of anything anymore.

Tomorrow is the big day. I can't eat anything after 10 PM tonight and Janet has to drive me to the dentist tomorrow. I'm supposed to take an antibiotic and a pain killer one hour before surgery. There is a nice steak in the refrigerator, but Janet froze it, saying that I'll probably be eating soup for the rest of the week. The procedure is only supposed to take an hour or so, but somehow I think I'll be dealing with the aftermath for a lot longer. I just hope when I wake up from surgery that only one tooth is missing. I still have a fear than more than one will be removed if the oral surgeon decides that some other teeth can't be saved either. I know that the tooth right next to the impacted wisdom tooth has been damaged, but I'm hoping that all it will need is a filling. If the second tooth has to be removed, I will need an implant. Dental implants are a long, expensive process. Let's keep it simple. Just remove tooth number 32 and be done with it.

Tomorrow will be interesting. I've got lots of writing and website work that needs to get finished. The dogs still need their walks. Tomorrow's blog post needs to be written and published as well. I hope the anesthesia wears off in a hurry. I don't have time to be loopy all day.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1676

Dot took a turn for the worse today. We were really optimistic this morning. When we picked her up at the emergency clinic at 7 AM, her fever had subsided and she was a lot more steady on her feet. Dot looked like she was getting better. We had to take her back to our regular vet for the day, because the emergency clinic is only open at night. Dot's regular nurse called around noon to say that she was eating solid food again. This was encouraging too. It was only at the end of the day when our vet did new blood work that we realized her condition had actually gotten worse.

Dot's white blood cell count has significantly increased during the day, while her liver enzyme levels have gotten worse. This is not good! What it means is that the inflammation within her body that is causing all the problems is not being effectively controlled by the antibiotics or anti-inflammatory medications she's currently taking. Janet and I really thought we'd be able to take her home with us this evening, but since her condition was deteriorating, we went straight back to the emergency clinic instead.

She is spending the night hooked up to IV tubes again. Tomorrow morning, Dot will see an internal medicine specialist at the same cancer center where Dash is being treated. We stayed with her tonight at the emergency clinic until she got sleepy and was comfortably settled in for the night. I wish I could have just pulled up a cot and spent the night with her, but that was not allowed. I hope she sleeps peacefully and shows just as much improvement tonight as she did last night. One of the vets we talked to today told us that the anti-inflammatory steroids she was given today can cause a temporary increase in white blood cell levels. I hope that is all that's going on. Dot's escalating white blood cell levels could mean something far more serious.

It has been a very long day. I got a lot of website work done, but I was really just sitting by the phone all day waiting for updates from the vet. It is frustrating that nobody has been able to pin down the source of the inflammation so far. I've talked to a lot of people too. If we knew what was causing the problem, it would be much easier to treat it. I'm really hoping that the internal medicine specialist we're seeing tomorrow can shed some light on this mystery before Dot's condition becomes even worse.

Dot's sudden illness is the last thing I expected. Sure, she's old, but she is the healthiest Dalmatian we have ever had. I guess in some small, unrealistic corner of my mind, I kept thinking she would live forever. I"m hoping for the best this weekend, but things don't look good now.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1675

What a difference a day makes. This morning Dot seemed fine. Now she's hooked up to IV tubes at the emergency vet. We still don't know what's wrong. The day certainly started out normally. Dot ate a good breakfast. We took a nice walk. It was just an ordinary Thursday. After lunch, I let the dogs out in the back yard to pee, and then Dot took a nap by my desk, just like she usually does every day.

I became alarmed when she didn't get up again. Instead of following me back and forth around the house like she usually does, she stayed under the desk, panting heavily and appearing visibly uncomfortable. When she still refused to move and wouldn't eat her favorite treats after I let her rest for a while, I called her vet. Actually, I called all her vets, because she has several. When an old dog refuses to get up and isn't enticed by food or water, you really start to worry.

After a quickly scheduled exam, which included x-rays and new blood work, we discovered that she had an unusually high while blood cell count and was running a high fever. This usually indicates severe inflammation or infection. There were no immediate explanations as to how her condition could have changed so rapidly, but everyone agreed that the most important thing was to get her fever down and get her on some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications. The vet thought that she might have a bacterial infection, a virus, or even pancreatitis.

Dot needed to be on intravenous fluids so she wouldn't get dehydrated, antibiotics to fight the infections, and pain medication to relieve her obvious discomfort. To get this kind of care, we needed to take her to a 24-hour emergency vet. She is resting at the emergency vet now. Her fever has subsided a bit and after further testing, we now know that she does not have pancreatitis. Hopefully we will know more when we pick her up in the morning to take her back to our regular vet. The emergency clinic is only open at night when regular veterinary hospitals are closed. I hate to haul her back and forth like this when she's sick, but there is really no choice.

Hopefully we will know more in the morning. It's possible that she might have a type of cancer that is undetectable in the early stages. I'm going to be optimistic though. I'm hoping that she has an easily curable bacterial infection that she got from eating something bad. All I know now is that Dot is very sick.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day