Day 4977

The schedule was a little different today. We got up and took our sunrise walk at the regular time, but there was no breakfast for anyone. Dawn had an early vet appointment and she needed to fast for blood work, so we postponed eating until we got home. Dawn was excited to get in the car, but seemed very disappointed when we arrived at the vet. I think she thought we were going for ice cream.

We didn't learn anything today because it will be several days before they get the test results back from the lab. We did mention Dawn's strange behavior to the vet. No answers on that either. Janet and I think it is more likely that Dawn is having panic attacks rather than seizures, but we have no idea what is causing this. Usually the house is quiet and nothing is going on when Dawn becomes fearful and starts acting weird. Luckily Dawn seems to recover quickly, but it is still alarming to see her shivering and shaking for no reason at all.

When we returned home Dawn got her breakfast and so did we. By the time I finished my breakfast it just seemed like an ordinary day again. Hopefully all is well with Dawn. When her test results come back we'll schedule her annual teeth cleaning. Actually my teeth cleaning is coming up soon as well. I have a dental appointment next week.

I'm getting bored with going to the gym every day, but it's way too hot to even think about walking in the park. Even our sunrise walks with Dawn are feeling too warm now. I guess this is what happens when you get hooked on having a certain number of steps every day. I'm certainly not going to get my steps sitting at this computer.

I found a spot in the parking garage today, but my performance at the gym was nothing to brag about. I still can't bring myself to do anything different. I walked three miles around the indoor track again. This is between 40 and 45 laps, depending on which lane I'm in. I'm not the fastest person on the track, but I'm not the slowest either. I shot free throws until I completed ten. This took 9 minutes today. I finished by working with weights for a while and trying to build up my upper body strength. This is going to take a while, but I certainly don't have anything better to do.

The house up the street is gone and all that is left is an empty lot. There are two empty lots on the street now where people I knew well used to live. They both had nice houses that they were proud of. I think it's a shame that the neighborhood is changing, but it's probably inevitable. Living near the lake has become very desirable. The regular people who greeted us when we arrived years ago have all died by now. The folks who replaced them are much richer. Pretty soon the street will be nothing but lawyers and anesthesiologists.

I've finished taking this week's trash out to the curb and the temperature was still over 100 degrees an hour after sunset. I always think that things are bad until I turn on the news. It's hot an dry here, but wildfires haven't burned the place to the ground like is happening on Maui right now. We aren't being flooded like a lot of places in New England either. Even the tornados are developing elsewhere this year. I still wish it would get cooler though. We are setting the wrong kind of records this summer.

J-Lo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4266

Illness teaches patience. I can tell my body is healing, but it's a slow process. There is no longer a need for laxatives. The puffiness under my skin is slowly subsiding. I'm feeling a little stronger, but it will take a while to get back in shape. It still seems unreal how quickly your body deteriorates when you are bedridden. I'm determined to resume my regular schedule as soon as the doctors say it's OK. I was headed downhill anyway and the past week has certainly accelerated the process. Muscle atrophy is common in the healthiest person as you grow older. You've got to work hard to keep from losing ground. I saw what happens firsthand when you don't do something. After a serious illness, my Dad stopped being active and spent his days watching television. It was unbelievable how quickly he went downhill.

I'll keep walking for my body. I'll keep writing for my mind. And it's probably important to keep traveling as well. As soon as Covid is over I'm going to be following rocket launches again and watching the Milky Way under the clear, dark skies of West Texas. Janet does volunteer work to stay active. I look for more solitary activities. I don't think it matters what you choose to do. You just can't let yourszelf go to seed.

According to the guidelines I've been given, it appears that my recovery is right on schedule. I still have a lot of unanswered questions though. I was reading through the dozens of lab reports are are available online at the hospital website and was quite surprised to discover that they found E Coli in my bloodstream. How could that happen? We are fastidious about the food we eat and cleaning things has been an integral part of food preparation for many years. We seldom go out to eat either, so it is doubtful that I could have gotten bad food from a restaurant. I suspect the problem is all internal. When a gallstone blocked my bile ducts, my entire digestive system got screwed up. My blood work was off the charts terrible. It actually looked worse than when I had Hepatitis C.  Probably the bacteria entered my bloodstream from my own intestines.

I took three short walks today with Dawn. Dawn got her special outing today, but I was unable to keep up with her. I returned to the car while Janet and Dawn completed the special Sunday walk. I didn't feel like ice cream after the walk, but Dawn certainly did. She seems to know I am sick and has been much more accommodating about sharing the bed with me. I'm glad that Dawn enjoys taking sunset walks now. It's an added incentive for me to keep moving. I walked 3.65 miles today. It isn't much, but it's a lot better than nothing.

I don't think I'll be visiting the Dalmatians tomorrow. It would be bad news if one of them jumped on my belly. Janet may still visit the kennel, but I'll just stay here and try not to do anything stupid. I need to call and make several appointments for follow up visits tomorrow. I'll need to see both the surgical team and the gastrointestinal team before I can be given a clean bill of health. It will probably be two weeks until I see anybody, but I hope the doctors are as pleased with my progress as I am.

I haven't been paying a lot of attention to current events lately. All things considered, that's probably a good thing. 

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4163

Another rainy day. I think it's supposed to be this way for the rest of the week. This would have been the week to go out to the Davis Mountains. It's still clear out there. I don't know what this proves other than it's very difficult to plan ahead and sometimes I'm just unlucky

I guess having a regular physical exam is an attempt to plan ahead. I do try to stay healthy, even though maintaining your health depends on a certain amount of luck as well. Since I was having blood work done today, I needed to fast and couldn't eat breakfast before my 10 AM appointment. This made for a long morning. I drove to the doctor's office in the rain and noticed that I need new windshield wipers. One more thing to add to my to-do list.

Physical exams are always a mix of good and bad news. The good news was that my doctor seemed pleased with my overall health. The bad news was that I'm due for another colonoscopy. It doesn't seem like ten years since my last colonoscopy, but time flies when you are growing old. I always ask about my ongoing foot pain and my frozen shoulder, but I'm never happy with the answers I get. There's no real cure for osteoarthritis. When the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of your bones wears down over time, there's not a lot you can do. Your choices are usually limited to pain medications, physical therapy, and surgery. I've known plenty of people who have had knee, hip, and shoulder replacements. I'm not sure I want to go down that road.

Dawn didn't get a walk at all today. We tried, but she had no interest in getting wet. It took some planning to take my own longer walk, but I managed to find some dry time between the bands of rain moving from the southwest to the northeast. I got caught in a few sprinkles, but for the most part I stayed pretty dry. This wet weather seems to bring out the snakes. I've seen snakes almost every time I've walked lately.

I made another attempt to process some of the pictures I took last week and wasn't happy with the results. It is much easier to take pictures of dogs. The night sky is quite dim and the stars are always moving, so you can't simply take a very long exposure. Successful astrophotography depends on taking a lot of shorter images of the same subject and then merging them together using specialized software that compensates for the rotation of the earth. There are many steps to this stacking process. You want to keep both your foreground and your stars sharp, while avoiding the camera noise that often accompanies long exposures. I'm learning, but I've got a ways to go.

The Atlas V SBIRS GEO Flight 5 launch was successful today. Several of my launch photographer friends were there and got great pictures. I'm always a little envious when I see these pictures, but I don't think I'll be returning to Florida any time soon. The East Coast gas shortage, lack of rental cars, and the huge number of people who want to get out of the house and return to Disneyland or the beach are going to make travel difficult for a while. I'm hoping that life will eventually return to normal, but clearly we're not there yet.

Dismal weather always puts me in a bad mood. I wonder how long it's going to be before I see the sun again? I spent a lot of time napping today, but that's the way it goes on a rainy day. I'll make up for lost time when the sun returns.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day