Day 2003

Dot did great during her biopsy this afternoon. We won't have the cytology report until Friday, but Dot's oncologist said that they got exactly what they needed to find out what was going on in her liver and spleen. I learned something new today. I was worried that since Dot can barely walk anyway, she might have an an adverse reaction to the sedation that would make it difficult for me to get her home again. "She'll be able to walk just fine," the nurse told me. "We reverse the sedation when we are finished with the procedure." I didn't know your could quickly reverse the effects of a sedative, but apparently you can. They give dogs a drug called Dexdomitor to put them under and then give another drug called Antisedan to bring them back again and reverse the sedation. The combo apparently works, because Dot walked out of the treatment room like nothing had happened.

My dogs get so much better care than I do. When I go to one of the specialty vets that care for Dot and Dash, I always feel like I'm in the right place. The nurses are nice and always take time to answer all your questions. The people waiting in the lobby with their dogs are all polite, responsible people who genuinely care about their pets. The doctors themselves are amazing. In this kind of environment, I'm always hopeful. Unfortunately, I can't say the same when I go to a human doctor. A visit to my general practitioner is like a visit to Walmart. Where do these people come from? I usually feel like I'm going to catch something horrible just by sitting in the lobby for more than ten minutes. The lobby TV at the dog's cancer center shows PBS cooking shows. The lobby TV at my general practitioner shows Man vs. Food. Both places apparently know their audience.

Going out to eat is a good solution for dealing with dogs that need to fast for an upcoming medical procedure. Dot got her early breakfast with Janet this morning and when I returned from the restaurant a few hours later with my last cup of coffee in a to-go cup, both dogs were sleeping peacefully. They had completely forgotten about the banana I usually give them.

Considering that I spent most of the afternoon up at the cancer center with Dot, I actually got quite a bit done today. I'm making good progress on my latest mobile friendly website project. It's a good sign that each one of these projects gets a little easier than the previous one. I am apparently learning something. I wouldn't call my current project easy, mostly because there are so many pages involved. It's the process that's getting easier. Responsive design is still new enough that I should probably go out and try to get some new business. There are still thousands of old static sites out there and now I know exactly what to do with them.

Tomorrow is a new day. With any luck, I ought to be able to launch what will be my fifth mobile friendly website. We going to let Dot rest tomorrow morning and see if she does any better on the treadmill at her physical therapy session. I don't think she'll miss her walk tomorrow morning anyway. It's getting hot again and she had a pretty big day today. Dot is sleeping now. I think I'll join her soon.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1998

Poor Dot. Her Ultrasound scan this morning showed a small growth on her liver and an unexplained shadow on her spleen that were not there in a previous scan taken about eight months ago. Her oncologist told me that there was no reason to get alarmed yet. The vast majority of small growths like this turn out to be benign cysts. We were at a cancer center though and cancer doctors want to know if an unexplained growth might be cancer. The oncologist wanted me to bring Dot back next week so they could aspirate some cells from the questionable areas and send them to a cytology lab for analysis. Since she will need to be sedated for this procedure, I went ahead and had a full blood chemistry panel done today. At least that part of her annual exam later this Summer is already done.

Dot's oncologist is a realist. She said that no matter what the results turned out to be, she couldn't see herself recommending surgery. Dot has had just about all the surgery she can handle at her age. I agree with her that it's good to know what's going on though. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the new growth in her liver was just a cyst. I've had several small benign cysts in my kidneys for years. Cysts and growing older just kind of go together. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with today's test results. Dot is my miracle dog. After all she's been through this year, I was really hoping that her lab reports today would be perfect.

I noticed this morning that my breakfast restaurant has raised its prices. The cost of my favorite meal has gone up a dollar. Truthfully, I was surprised this had not happened sooner. This is still one of the most reasonably priced quality restaurants in town. I don't begrudge their modest price increases a bit. I just wish I had a way to raise the price of my own services. The cost of just about everything continues to go up, and yet people continue to want to pay less and less for website design.

At least there is plenty of work. I had an initial meeting with a new website client this afternoon and we all got along well. I got the job and will begin building their new site later this month. I also decided that my mobile friendly skills were ready for prime time and almost immediately got a job to convert an older static site to a mobile friendly design. I'm going to be busy this month.

I was certainly busy today. In addition to my trip to the cancer center with Dot and the new business meeting later in the day, I still had time to write a new article and send it off to its destination. By the end of the day, I was tired. We didn't get a lot of sleep last night, mostly because Dash had an upset stomach and kept getting me up to take him outside. I've never seen a dog who is so indecisive about pooping. I knew he had to go, but it took three trips to the back door at thirty minute intervals before he finally did his business. It doesn't help that the sodium vapor security light in the back yard is starting to go out and every time it blinks on and off Dash thinks it is lightning and races back inside again. Eventually, we all got back to sleep but it was almost morning by then.

For all his peculiar habits, Dash is a very smart dog. Sometimes I think he knows English. Usually, on our afternoon walks he like to take a right turn when we get to the alley and go directly into the park. Today when he tried to turn right, I told him that we needed to go left today. "If we turn right, you might get bit by the neighbor dog again." He gave me a worried look and immediately turned left.

Scooby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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