Day 2758

My doctor thinks I'm making good progress. There are no signs of infection. The swelling in my left leg is starting to subside. I'm even starting to be able to move my wrist again. My problem now is patience, or more accurately, a lack of patience. The healing process is so slow that it's driving me nuts. I'm still supposed to sleep with my feet elevated for another week and my doctor says it's too early to start walking again. I wish someone had told me to keep weight off my legs in the very beginning. I probably didn't help myself by walking as much as I did right after the injury.

Janet got a good report after her own doctor visit today as well. We are both doing everything we should and are on a trajectory to return to normal one of these days. You don't really realize how critical staying healthy is to a normal life until you're not healthy. So many little day-to-day necessities get thrown off track when all you can do is rest. I certainly couldn't have cared for Dot the way I did unless I was very healthy. I wonder sometimes if Dot might have known what was in the future for Janet and I. They say that dogs can smell cancer sometimes. Dot was very old and very tired at the end, but it was almost as if she made her final exit at the perfect time just to avoid being an extra burden for Janet and I now.

I just hope that Dash will stay healthy until we both get well. We've always known that Dash's vestibular disease could return at any time. He has seemed very agitated for the past two days and occasionally that is a precursor to further seizures. Dash has always been a moody dog and is used to an active lifestyle, so hopefully he is just irritated at Janet and I for spending all our time sleeping. It's ironic that this would bother him at all, since that's what he does most of the time. I do know that dogs like a fixed and regular routine and our routine has been temporarily broken. "Be patient, little buddy," I try to tell him. We'll be back to normal soon.

The doctor talked me into doing a bone density scan while I was visiting about the dog bite today. My bone density is declining, although it is still pretty average for my sex and age. I asked if I should start taking more calcium and he gave me an ambiguous answer. "Too little calcium is bad, and too much calcium is bad," he said. He asked whether I used dairy products and I told him that I loved cheese. Basically, it is hard to tell if you are getting the right amount of calcium to keep your bones strong as you age. Walking is good though. I'll be glad when I can get back to taking long walks.

Our air conditioner quit working for a while this afternoon and Janet and I immediately went into a panic. The last thing we need right now is a hot and humid house while we are both still wearing bandages. Luckily, the air is back on now, so we dodged a bullet. Sometimes in weather like this, the coil can freeze and it will shut the system down until the coil thaws out and the system stabilizes. I'm not sure if this is what happened, but it's happened before. I just shut the AC off for ten minutes and then turned it back on again. This seems to be the universal solution for everything these days. I turn the network router off and on again several times a week when the U-verse TV freezes or goes out.

I don't know whether I'll go out for breakfast tomorrow morning or not. I can drive again, but I'm just not very hungry. All I really want to do right now is get back on my feet again.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2626

Either my Spring allergies arrived early this year, or I've got a cold that just won't go away. I've had a runny nose and itching eyes for at least three weeks now. I have to remember to stuff my pockets with paper towels when I walk the dogs or leave the house, because my nose continually drips. I'm starting to look like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I've never been able to blow my nose silently and often end up waking the dogs, which is the last thing I want to do. It's frustrating. I suspect that I'm having allergy problems, because a cold would never last this long.

The cancer center finally returned my call about Dot's Gabapentin pills. It would be a lot easier if you could just talk to the doctor directly, instead of receiving relayed information from a nurse. I know that doctors and veterinarians hate to take phone calls though, because if they did they would spend their entire day talking with people looking for free medical advice. It took a while to explain Dot's situation. The pills were working great at night when Dot was sleeping, but seemed to impair her limited ability to walk during the day. All I wanted to know was whether it was OK to just administer the nighttime dose and forget the pills she was supposed to take during the day. The nurse kept suggesting that I discontinue Dot's Tramadol pills instead. "But she's been taking Tramadol for almost three months now and these pills aren't causing a problem," I kept saying. I thought this would be an easy conversation, since Google listed the three most common side effects of Gabapentin as drowsiness, weakness, and feeling tired. Finally, I think we got on the same page. "It's a pain pill," the nurse said. "If Dot's uncomfortable, give her a little more. If the pills make her weak, give her a little less." I guess I'll just continue doing what I've been doing.

I got a long awaited check from a client today, but it still wasn't enough to offset Dash's rather large vet bill. Looks like I'll have to transfer some money from savings. I don't know why it bothers me to do this, since it's just moving money from one pile to another, but I always feel defeated when I have to dip into savings. I guess I'd better get used to the idea. It won't be all that long before retirement becomes a reality and I'm faced with the prospect of living on social security.

I went to make an appointment for a bone density scan at my doctor's office and discovered that you don't need an appointment for this sort of thing. This just gives me an excuse to postpone the test a little longer. I've started taking calcium supplements to increase my bone density, but I don't know if I've been taking them long enough. I hate to take a test if I know I'm going to get a bad result. This desire to fudge test results has even got me experimenting with my new WiFi scale. I've learned that you weigh the least when you first wake up, but that your heart rate might be better later in the day. I can't seem to find the right time of day when all the things this high tech scale measures are optimal. Food is a lot heavier than I thought though. I guess the best way to diet would be to just quit eating.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day