Day 1682

Dot is finally home again. After spending an entire week in intensive care being poked with needles, hooked up to IV tubes, and being cut open by a surgeon, I think she is very glad to be back on familiar turf. The cancer center officially released Dot late this afternoon, sending her home with a big sack of meds, and special instructions on how to care for her for the next few days. She still isn't eating well, but her doctors thought that being back in familiar surroundings would encourage her to resume eating normally. So far, the plan seems to be working. Within two hours after returning home Dot ate a small can of Hills A/D Critical Care. I'm glad she seems to tolerate this special prescription diet, because as much as dogs would prefer cheeseburgers, bacon and fried chicken to help them get well, people food just isn't a good long term solution.

Dot has been through a lot this week and is very tired. After eating her small special dinner and surveying the house and yard to make sure everything was still there, she settled in on top of a soft pile of her favorite blankets in the living room and went to sleep. We'll go back to the cancer center on Saturday to get her surgical bandages removed and then two weeks later to get her stitches out. I'm hoping that is all we'll need to go back for. Assuming that everything goes well with her convalescence, the next major milestone will be getting the pathology report on the tumor that was removed. If the growth is not malignant, all Dot needs to do is continue her recovery and get healthy again. If the growth turns out to be cancerous, we'll have to come up with a plan of action. That can be dealt with later. Right now, the important thing is recovering from some very major surgery. We'll take things one day at a time.

While Dot was being evaluated by her doctors this afternoon, I paid a visit to my own doctors. They wanted to do another series of tests to determine if my Hepatitis C treatment was still working as expected. I keep waiting for a final thumbs up from these guys, but it appears I may never get one. When I asked whether the disease ever returns after this type of treatment, my doctor essentially said that nobody knows yet. I was among the first large scale group of people in the world to receive the new Sovaldi drug and there are no historical records to compare. I am one of the test cases that will ultimately determine whether Sovaldi works as well long-term as it does during the initial treatment phase. So far, the drug appears to be a home run. "You were real lucky to be included in this first batch of patients," my doctor told me. "Insurance companies are starting to deny coverage already because of the high price, and there is talk of reserving the drug for the most serious cases." Rationing a drug that actually works exactly as promised seems like a stupid idea to me, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is what the government decides to do. Why would you want to ration a pill that costs a small fraction of the price of a liver transplant and has none of the rejection issues or transplant side effects? At any rate, I'm glad I got approved for treatment before Sovaldi got on the evening news as the world's most expensive pill. Insurance companies hate it now.

I won't be going out to my breakfast restaurant tomorrow. We have a new schedule now. I'll walk Dash very early in the morning, while Janet is still home and getting ready for work. We want to make sure that one of us is there to watch over her at all times. We'll see how tomorrow goes. So far, Dot seems to be improving a little bit every day. Today was a very good day.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1598

Dash appears to be getting depressed. He is lethargic and spends most of the day sleeping under my desk. He isn't even interested in taking his walks anymore. I called the cancer center to explain what was going on and as expected, they told me that this was normal for the final stages of radiation treatment. They said I should put him back on Tramadol, because a lot of this behavior could be explained by pain. "Dogs don't always react to pain the same way we do," the nurse told me. This made me feel bad, because just two days ago I was convinced that his odd behavior was actually caused by the pain medication. It doesn't really help that we were warned about everything that is happening now. It is still very unsettling.

When I went to see my hepatologist today, I kind of expected some sort of graduation ceremony. Hey, I was finished, wasn't I? Instead, I just received another blood test and an appointment to come back again in three months. After the three month test, I will come back for yet another test six months after that, and then once a year for the foreseeable future. "You guys are being pretty cautious," I told the hepatologist. "Does this disease ever come back again?" "Very rarely," she said, "but it does happen."

My doctors and veterinarians have been able to accomplish some amazing things, but they are still very cautious about making promises. I guess they have good reason to be cautious. Life is complex and full of surprises. When I think of what happened with my parents as they got older and the outcomes of past illnesses and injuries, I'll have to admit that I was seldom prepared for what actually happened. Sometimes the results were much better than I expected, and other times they were worse. What doctors really offer is hope. There are no guarantees in life.

At least Dash only has two more radiation treatments to go. There is one tomorrow and the final treatment is on Monday. The oncologist and the entire team at the cancer center love Dash. They also thing he is doing extremely well, despite the discomfort he is experiencing now. This should be reassuring, but I'll just be glad when this long journey is over. If Dash could talk, I'll sure he would agree.

Work was very, very busy today. There was nothing to get excited about, but nothing that could be ignored either. Janet is even busier than I am. She leaves before sunrise and returns long after sunset. I think we both thought we would be taking it easy by now, but like I mentioned earlier, life is full of surprises and there are no guarantees. You've just got to take things one day at a time. Our dogs are still with us and a lot of hard work allows us to take care of them properly. I guess that's a fair bargain.

Betsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1574

I got a call from my hepatologist today. He told me that on my latest round of blood tests, my viral load numbers had gone to zero. This meant that for the first time in almost thirty years, the Hepatitis C virus was completely undetectable in my body. I continue my treatment for three more weeks and I'm done. The treatment worked! My doctor wasn't quite willing to officially declare me cured yet, but he did say that these were the results they'd been looking for. I still find it ironic that the very same hospital that gave me a transfusion of contaminated blood back in the 1970's was now home to the world renowned liver clinic that cured my disease. Life is funny that way. Everything eventually comes full circle.

My quest to lower my cable bill today was a dismal failure. I hate cable companies. They lure you in with a low price and a two year contract. The initial two year contract is essential because they know in advance that it will take almost two years to get all the kinks out of your system and ensure that everything is running smoothly. Once you are happy and everything is operating the way it should have in the beginning, your contract runs out and the price goes up. If you are willing to upgrade to a more expensive plan when your contract runs out, they will often give you a artificially discounted rate for three to six months, so your bill doesn't seem like it's going up so dramatically. Eventually, you've taken advantage of all the special upgrade offers and the deals run out. Then your bill can double almost overnight. When you try to downgrade your service, you get no deals at all. The cable companies know how much trouble it was to wire your house and get the WiFi running smoothly. They know you don't really want to start over and go through this instillation hell again with another company, so they stick it to you. It's hard to unbundle services too. I really need the Internet portion of my bundle. Without the TV and phone, the Internet component would be much more expensive though. The worst thing is that the cable company isn't even embarrassed to charge you double for the same services they lured you in with in the beginning. It's just their business model. They know exactly what they're doing. They make a calculated bet that your will just shut up and pay more, because it's so much trouble to rip out the wires and start over with a different company.

I'm still amazed that Dash actually likes going to his cancer treatments. He thinks he's going to doggie day care. These guys are so good at giving anesthesia that I don't think Dash even realizes that he's out cold three times a week. He's not even groggy when I go to pick him up in the afternoon. I used to panic when Dash needed anesthesia, because he was what was known as a "hard wake up" dog at my local vet. I didn't realize then that all anesthesia isn't the same. A wide variety of drugs can be used and patients can have a different reaction to all of them. I'm really happy that the folks at the cancer center have managed to reduce the anxiety and risk associated with anesthesia to an absolute minimum. These guys are pros!

It looks like the rain is ending. It should be a nice day tomorrow, even though I'll be inside working on websites most of the day. Maybe I'll take a break and go up and get all the water from this week's rain off the roof. That's probably as close as I'm going to get to going to the gym for a while.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1554

Reality is starting to kick in. Radiation therapy is not like going to doggie day care. Dash came home today with a number of small florescent green marks on his body, supposedly to help guide or position the radiation robot. He seemed more tired than usual and was coughing a bit. The oncologist said this was completely normal, but it reminded me of my own hepatologist, who keeps telling me that waking up feeling like you have a bad case of the flu every morning during Hepatitis C treatment is completely normal too. Things like this are probably where that old "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" cliche came from in the first place.

This is going to be a very long Spring. One of the common side effects of radiation treatment is diarrhea. One of the common side effects of Hepatitis C treatment are flu-like symptoms. Both therapies cause fatigue. Oh, well. I wasn't planning on running a 5K anytime soon, and Dash likes to sleep a lot anyway. I suspect we will both be OK.

The traffic is a lot lighter at 7 AM than it is at 7:30 AM. Everybody seems to go to work at exactly the same time. At 6 AM the roads are empty. 7 AM is OK, but by 7:30 the roads are getting crowded. By 8:30 AM, it's gridlock. If you still commute to work every day, you have my sympathies. I've worked out of the house for so long now, that I don't think I could do it anymore. All that being said, it was definitely worth getting up a little earlier this morning. The trip to the cancer center was a lot easier than yesterday. The trip home at 3 PM wasn't bad either. People usually don't come home this early. I try to avoid rush hour at all costs these days.

Although it wasn't a normal day for Dash, it was business as usual for me and Dot. We ate breakfast together and took a walk after I dropped Dash off at the cancer center. I wrote two articles, updated a website, paid some bills, went to the bank, picked up a prescription at the pharmacy, and mailed some letters at the post office. This is where I took today's picture. It used to be a regular No Parking sign. Over the years, shrubs grew up around the sign and covered up the word that spelled Parking. Now, the sign just says No. It pretty well sums up my feelings on most days.

Tomorrow, Dash goes back to the cancer center again. This will be the only time when his treatments are back to back like this. After tomorrow, we begin going on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hopefully, giving Dash a rest between treatments and taking the weekends off will help. I've canceled Dot's acupuncture session tomorrow. There's only so much I can do. Next week I'll see if I can re-schedule things so she continues to get her therapy as well.

Nick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1528

OK. We're making progress. I've scheduled a consultation with an oncologist first thing Monday morning. After this initial evaluation, Dash will get a CAT Scan later the same day. If necessary, we've arranged for a joint consultation between the oncologist and a soft tissue surgeon. My philosophy for just about everything is to hope for the best while preparing for the worst. That's what I'm trying to do here.

It turns out that they didn't check my viral loads when I went to the hepatologist today. The nurse said that I hadn't been taking the pills long enough to see whether they were helping me. All they wanted to do today was to make sure they weren't harming me. I guess that makes sense. I would be very surprised if the pills were actually harming me. I feel fine. Dash seems to feel fine too, so maybe things aren't always as simple as they seem.

Dash has reverted to getting us up in the middle of the night again. Just when I think his digestion is back to normal, he has another of these episodes. We certainly aren't getting much sleep this week. I asked the vet if Dash's loose stools could have anything to do with his thyroid issues and she didn't know. She said anything was possible. I think both dogs have been going to the vet so frequently this month that everyone is starting to get Dot and Dash's stories confused. We thought we had some recent x-rays to send over to the oncologist today, but it turned out they were Dot's x-rays.

After a short break, I have returned to my insane writing schedule. The constant writing, plus all the website updates and dog issues are starting to take their toll. I'm tired. There are a lot of things that just aren't getting done the way they should. Ordinarily, I would have fixed the faulty can light in the bathroom by now. Not even close on that one. I still haven't gotten the damaged Oak tree in the back yard cleaned up after December's ice storm. I ended up fixing the hole Dot that ate in the carpet with Duct Tape. It looks like crap and Janet says we're living in Honey Boo Boo's house now, but at least there are no more dangerous loose edges that the dogs might eat again. It's going to take a while to get a new carpet put in. Getting the dog health issues resolved has to come first. There's so much furniture that would need to be moved before a new carpet could be installed that I dread even dealing with the whole thing. I don't know who to call anyway. My favorite carpet company went out of business five years ago. Nothing is simple anymore.

I was really hoping to get Dash in to see the oncologist tomorrow, but maybe waiting until Monday is for the best. He still acts and feels pretty normal. At least now, we'll have a chance to take him to his favorite dog park over the weekend and spend some quality time with him. If he does end up needing surgery and radiation therapy, he's going to have a pretty rough Spring.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1500

My visit with the hepatologist today was very encouraging. The new treatment for Hepatitis-C is far superior to the old interferon and ribavirin treatment. The new treatment only takes 12 weeks. It is almost always successful. And there are no horrible side effects. The old treatment could take up to a year, involved injecting yourself with very expensive interferon every week, and it almost always made you feel like you had a bad case of the flu. You also had to worry that the medicine would destroy your white blood cells.

Sovaldi, the major component of the new treatment, appears to be an amazing new drug. I'm glad someone finally invented it. The only downside is that I have to get approved before the pharmaceutical company will start sending it to me. The first part of the approval process involved getting new baseline blood work done. That part was a piece of cake. The next part involves getting insurance approval.  Lets see. A brand new advanced drug and an antiquated approval system that doesn't even understand some of the regular medication I take. What could possibly go wrong?

The best part of this new treatment is that my reluctance to inject myself with interferon has actually worked in my favor. Apparently Sovaldi works best if you have never had the interferon and ribavirin combo before.  We'll see what happens. My medical team wants to see me again in March. They say that I should be halfway through my treatment by then.

It was so cold today that the dogs and I were both reluctant to go outside. Nature calls though, so we had to bundle up and make the best of it. I found some new dog coats that are much easier to get on and off and the dogs seem to tolerate them pretty well. Getting them to wear their old sweaters was often an exercise in futility. Luckily, we didn't have to stay outside as long as we used to. Dash has finally learned to poop in the yard on cold days. Thank god! I don't know why it took him five years to learn this simple trick, but I'm glad he's finally acting sensible.

The tree service is supposed to come out and remove the tree from my roof tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the tree trimmers never show up. The tree has been sitting up there on the roof since well before Christmas, despite several promises of a speedy removal.  When the tree is finally gone, I'll move on to my next big project: doing my taxes.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1499

I skipped the networking breakfast this morning. Maybe I'm growing tired of bacon, or maybe I just didn't have any interest in learning about how to retain good sales managers. That's the trouble with these networking breakfasts. The food is good, but the speakers very seldom deal with anything I'm remotely interested in. These aren't exactly Ted Talks here. Since I have to give one of these talks myself later this Spring, I shouldn't be too disparaging. I still don't know what I'm going to talk about, but I bet it will be a little different than what these folks are used to.

Since I wasn't stuffing myself with bacon and sausages, I walked the dogs and had my usual bowl of oatmeal and fruit. It was really cold on our walk this morning. All the vegetation was covered with frost. I'm sure glad the furnace is working again. This ongoing tug of war between heat and cold will continue through April. Then it will just be hot all the time. Basically, Texas weather is hopeless.

Since Dot had an acupuncture treatment on Monday when we took her to the vet for her spinal X-Ray, she didn't go for her usual Wednesday therapy today. This made the entire day sort of topsy-turvy. When I finished my work for the day, I used Dot's time slot to go to the gym. I frequently go to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but have never gone on a Wednesday before. Much to my surprise the place was crowded. What would make a Wednesday afternoon different than a Tuesday afternoon? Both are workdays. At any rate, I think I'll go back to working out on Tuesdays. You should know my style by now. When I go out in public, I like my destination to be empty.

I had a lot of work to do today, and none of it was very interesting. I won't bore you with the details. Tomorrow should be interesting though. I have an appointment with my hepatologist to discuss, and perhaps even begin, my new Hepatitis-C treatment. I still don't have any idea what this new treatment involves, but I've heard that it is much more effective than the old interferon and ribavirin combo. I'm looking forward to finally putting all this behind me. If the new medicine works, I should be completely virus free in six months. I still find it ironic that I am being treated at the very same hospital that gave me the transfusion of bad blood that started this whole mess over 30 years ago.

I watched a fascinating documentary about J.D. Salinger last night on PBS. I never realized that Salinger kept writing prolifically right up until his death in 2010. He supposedly wrote dozens of unpublished novels and kept the manuscripts in a safe at his New Hampshire home, stipulating in his will that they weren't to be published until 50 years after his death. I don't think J.D. Salinger would have liked the Internet.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1476

Janet returned from her Christmas trip today. I only fly a couple of times a year these days, so every time I go to the airport, I'm amazed at all the changes. Anybody who expects job growth to return any time soon needs to take a good long look at DFW airport. People are being replaced by machines in droves. The attendants who used to hand you a parking ticket when you entered the airport have largely been replaced by machines. In many terminals, the ticketing agents have been replaced by machines as well. You print your own ticket and boarding pass without talking to anyone. In the international terminal, there is even a machine that will scan and verify your passport. Flying isn't very exclusive anymore either. To my untrained eye, it looked like the people waiting for their bags at the baggage carrousel had arrived directly from Walmart. I'm sure that all the machines keep costs down so these scruffy looking people can fly instead of taking the bus.

The year is finally winding down. By the end of the day, I looked around the office and realized there was nothing more to do. I'm caught up! Since tomorrow is New Year's Eve, I might actually be finished for the year. I'm not worried that this lull will continue. It never does. Traditionally, January is usually a busy month.

Although the year is ending tomorrow, there is still plenty of unfinished business from 2013. For starters, my neighbor's tree is still sitting on my roof. The owner of the aggressive dogs down the street hasn't fixed his fence either. I need to call my hepatologist and find out when he wants me to start my new Hepatitis C treatment. For several years my doctors have told me that January 2014 would be the date when the new treatment would be approved by the FDA. Now, 2014 is here. Oh, I guess I need to find out what this so called "donut hole" that has made the cost of my prescriptions skyrocket is all about as well.

I'm not making any New Year's resolutions this year. I've given up most of the guilty pleasures already, so there's not much more to abstain from. I'm not trying to better myself either. Maybe I could be a kinder, more sensitive, or harder working person if I really tried, but what would be the point? Life is difficult enough as it is. Maybe I'll just resolve to get up every morning and make the bed.  That should take care of things for another year.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1420

Today was dismal. The skies were sullen and grey, accompanied by a cold, all-day rain. I would have preferred to just have stayed under a blanket today, but I had to pick up some more phenobarbital for Dash at the vet and the dogs still needed their walks. Every time I went outside, there were muddy shoes that needed to be cleaned and wet dogs that needed to be dried off. I wish I could just train the dogs to use a catbox on days like this, but we all know that's not going to happen.

While we were walking in the rain, I noticed a film crew working in the park. There were four grip trucks, several tents, and a large motor home for the actors. Why would anyone want to film something on a day like this? Maybe they were in the park for the same reason I was. Some things just can't be postponed. On the other hand, maybe the movie had a scene that takes place in the rain. In that case, they picked the perfect day.

This would have been a perfect day for me to hunker down and write, but I seldom get writing assignments on Mondays. Usually the writing assignments start filtering in later in the week when I have plenty of other things to do. Without any pending deadlines to spur me on, I uploaded some more pictures to Shutterstock. So far, more people seem to be downloading my images on Shutterstock than on iStockphoto. Although this is encouraging, Shutterstock pays less, so I doubt that the increased activity will net me any more money in the long run.

When I saw my Hepatologist recently, he suggested that I probably ought to see a kidney specialist. Apparently, the radiologist had noticed that something had changed in my kidney on the MRI they took. I don't know why each organ in the body needs its own doctor, but that's apparently the way it works. You'd think that a liver doctor would work on kidneys too, since they both filter things. Nope! I needed to see a kidney doctor, so that's where I'm going tomorrow.

I wonder how long it will be before I see the sun again. I do much better when the sun is shining. The weather forecast isn't encouraging. It looks like there will be at least two more days of continuous rain.

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1139

I woke up feeling strange this morning. I couldn't pin down the feeling, but I suspect that it had something to do with the medication the team of hepatologists had me discontinue last week. I remember that there was a warning on the side of the bottle that clearly said Do not discontinue this medication without consulting your physician. Here's where things get difficult. A reputable doctor actually did tell me to discontinue the medication. Unfortunately it wasn't the same doctor who told me to start taking it in the first place. So which doctor is right? Which organ is more important, the heart or the liver? You can see why I get frustrated with medicine at times.

We took a gamble on the dog park today. It had rained at our house overnight, but there were indications that the rain never reached the northern part of town where the park was located. Weather is often like this in Dallas. It can be pouring rain in one part of the city at the same time it is sunny and dry in another. I wish the dog park had a webcam on a pole where you could just get on the Internet and see if there were dogs in the park before making the journey yourself. There are no webcams in any of the local dog parks unfortunately. The city must have spent all their webcam money putting stop light cameras at every intersection. Fortunately, the gamble paid off today and the dog park was open. Dot and Dash had a great time and both dogs have been calm for the rest of the day.

It's hard to believe that January is already coming to a close. Didn't we just celebrate Christmas? Apparently, a lot of my neighbors are having the same problem with time getting away from them. I still see Christmas trees being tossed out by the curb almost every time I walk the dogs. It's time to take down the Christmas tree folks. Pretty soon it will be time to start fretting about taxes again. With the simple life I lead, I don't know how my taxes have become so complicated. Selling a house this year probably won't help matters either. If I could have a say in where my tax money actually went, I wouldn't mind paying taxes so much. No such luck though. I'm sure that every cent of my tax dollar goes to fund something I hate. 

I'm glad I live in Texas. The temperature was over 75 degrees today. After watching all those dismal pictures of cars sliding around on icy East Coast highways this weekend, I'm happy to report that I wore a t-shirt up to the dog park today. Our chilly, foggy, days seem to be over for a while. Hey, t-shirt weather in January is just fine with me. T-shirt weather all year long is fine with me. That's all I ever wear anyway.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1138

I went to see a nutritionist today. I've got to get beyond feeling good about myself for having a nutritious Kale salad one day and then going out and having a humongous bacon and chorizo omelet the next day. Consistency and discipline have never been my strong points. I need to clean up my act though. The team of hepatologists I saw earlier this week has put the fear of god in me. I definitely don't want to wind up on a transplant list.

It's too bad that eating unsalted nuts and fresh fruit isn't as appealing to me as a cheeseburger and a beer. Some people I know love to eat raw, unprocessed foods. Personally, I'd much rather have a pizza, or barbecued ribs. I have a feeling that those days are gone though. I'm going to have to learn to love something new.

This is the longest string of foggy days I can remember. One foggy day is a photo opportunity. A whole week of foggy days is just lousy weather. Although I have professed my love of fog many times on this blog, I'll have to admit I'm getting tired of it this week. I'm ready for a little sunshine.

I keep hearing on the news that stores are going to start adding and additional 4% to your bill for credit card transactions starting tomorrow. That sucks. I hate carrying cash around and use credit cards for virtually everything. I wonder if stores will actually try to pass on their transaction charges to customers, now that they're allowed to by law. It could go either way. Competition could keep prices the way are are currently. Or, the stores might get together just like the airlines have and try to stick their customers with every additional charge they can get away with.

I can't find anything on TV tonight. Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered to get U-Verse. There are dozens of channels filled with dumb shows like Storage Wars and Duck Dynasty. There's absolutely nothing that I want to watch though. You'd think with 500 channels, there would be at least five good ones. I find myself still watching old Seinfeld episodes because the new shows are so terrible. Sometimes I just stare at the NASA channel, watching astronauts floating around in the space station. It's not very dramatic, but at least it's not irritating.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1119

I feel cheated. Remember when I told you that I had discovered some new HD channels on my TV? Well, they're all gone. It's turns out that this was just an evil holiday promotional ploy by AT&T to suck people like me into paying even more for their monthly bundle. It wasn't that I failed to notice the HD channels earlier. They just weren't there. These new channels appeared briefly during the holidays as free programming, but today it was back to normal. All I got was an onscreen message saying "You have not subscribed to this channel. Please press OK to upgrade to our premium service." I should have known. You never get something for nothing at AT&T, Comcast, or Time Warner.

I took my old Apple Lombard laptop up to the Apple repair center in Plano today. Yeah, I know I should have just thrown the old laptop away, but I feel compelled to bring this thing back to life. Although I have a much faster and more capable laptop now, the old Lombard was always the real workhorse of my business. This computer traveled the world with me and was always there for my biggest and best assignments. It's almost laughable now that I depended on this computer and it's tiny 6 GB hard drive for almost everything. My phone is more capable now and has a much larger memory. Even the thumbnail sized SD cards my camera uses hold much more information than this computer. I'm a loyal person, not a practical person. I'm bringing the Lombard back to life just for old times sake.

We're in uncharted territory with Dash now. Since the vet has run out of ideas, we have been left to our own devices on the best way to control his nightly vomiting. Pills certainly aren't the answer. I hate to over medicate a dog, especially for long periods of time. Janet said she sleeps better when she has a snack before bedtime. We tried giving Dash a snack before bedtime last night, and he slept soundly all night. I guess we'll try the same thing again tonight.

The big liver specialty clinic called today to set up an appointment. When I called them back to confirm my visit, it was a bit disconcerting to hear their call center message. "Press 1 if you are a cancer patient," it said. "Press 2 if you are a transplant recipient," the message continued. When it got to "Press 3 if you are on the transplant waiting list," I didn't want to hear any more. Hopefully, my own appointment is just a precautionary visit.  I feel fine.

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1098

I wasn't very happy with my doctor today. Instead of getting the upbeat and definitive answer I was hoping for, I got referred to the Baylor Liver Institute instead. This probably isn't a good sign. In my experience, doctors would rather refer you to another specialist than to make an ominous decision themselves. I shouldn't be hard on my doctor though, since he is very thorough and leaves no stone unturned. It's just that I've been trying to avoid a liver biopsy for years and it looks like my time might have run out. I don't mind non-invasive tests like sonograms, CAT scans, and MRI's. Sticking the equivalent of a large knitting needle all the way through your body is another matter entirely.

My doctor's appointment took so long that it was already dark by the time I got home to take the dogs on their evening walk. The lake looked quite beautiful under the moonlight. Moonlit walks would be a lot more enjoyable if I wasn't imagining a lunatic hiding behind every tree. Although the park is quite large and creates the illusion of being out in nature, it's really just another urban park full of crazy homeless people. The park is actually very safe, considering the city is serves, but there have been just enough murders over the years to warrant erring on the side of caution.

Back in the comfort of my own home, I pondered the many ambiguities of medicine while eating a semi-healthy dinner. Part of me would just like to abandon all the doctors and try to repair myself with good nutrition. There are a lot of books out there that claim this can be done. The friendly nutritionist who owns the health food store down the street from me is a believer. He's told me several times that everything from diabetes to liver and kidney problems can be reversed through diet and nutrition. It all sounds pretty good, but I'm still a bit skeptical. I remember the nutritionist's own wife died at a very young age from some strange debilitating ailment. If the nutritionist's plans couldn't keep his own wife alive, I wonder what he could do for me.

My backup hard drive is starting to fail. It's started disappearing from the desktop every couple of hours. I've verified and repaired the volume, but it doesn't seem to help. The backup drive is definitely on its last legs. I guess I'll go to Fry's and buy another backup drive tomorrow. Although losing all your files isn't even remotely in the same league as losing your liver, it is a hassle nonetheless. I've lost all my files twice already as a result of major hard drive crashes. Never again. I'm getting a new drive first thing in the morning.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1097

I was watching PBS while eating breakfast this morning and happened to catch this program about how eating the right foods could prevent and even reverse the effects of everything from rheumatoid arthritis, to lupus, and even type 2 diabetes. I've heard this argument before, especially from the guy who owns the neighborhood health food store down the street from us. This presentation on TV was so clear and logical however, that I wanted to change my diet immediately. In short, eating the right amount of foods like beans, onions, mushrooms, raw nuts, kale, broccoli, and cabbage, while simultaneously limiting your intake of red meat, processed flour, and sugar can significantly boost your immune system and prevent disease. I wonder why more doctors don't tell you this? Probably because prescribing pharmaceuticals is a multi-billion dollar industry.

The only problem with eating lots of salads and fresh vegetables is that they don't stay fresh all week. With only two of us, it's hard to eat up lots of fresh produce before it goes bad. It's equally hard to find time to go to the grocery store more than once a week. It would certainly make more sense to go to the store once a day though and get a small amount of really fresh healthy food, than to continue to taking a mountain of pills for the rest of my life. I'm supposed to see my hepatoligist tomorrow. I'll ask him about rejuvenating my liver with a better diet. I bet he just prescribes another pill though.

Dot and Dash had a great time at the dog park today. The temperature was almost 70 degrees and all the dogs were friendly. We stayed about an hour and then returned home to finish our weekend errands. Janet went off in one direction, while I went off in the other. I wanted to find a high capacity USB-2 hub, so I wouldn't have to keep plugging and unplugging things from the main computer. I finally found a hub that would let me plug in seven different things. It wasn't enough, but it will have to do.

After a weekend of trying diligently to clear out my office, the room looks pretty much the same. There are lots of things in different places now, but the office looks just as cluttered as ever. I distinctly remember taking a big pile of stuff to the storage warehouse, but I still don't see any empty shelves or tabletops. How can this be? I was supposed to end up with a clean desk.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1092

For a while today, I thought it was Monday. That's the kind of day it was. I guess that yesterday was so uneventful it has already slipped from my memory.

It's was still unusually cold this morning. At least I remembered to turn the outside faucets on just a smidgen, so the lines wouldn't freeze. I'm always forgetting that the greenhouse has running water, since I never use the building anymore. There are probably other types of cold weather maintenance I've forgotten about as well, but it probably isn't worth worrying about. Sub-freezing weather seldom lasts long in Texas.

I got my December invoices posted today, but I didn't have time to take them to the post office. I did remember to make appointments with the hepatologist and the urologist. Most importantly, I remembered to take Dash to the vet. That's when I realized it was actually Tuesday. We're going to have to change his antigen dosage. After almost a year of no symptoms, his skin allergies are returning again.

I finished a couple of writing assignments today, but so far, it still looks like December is going to be slow. Actually, December is always slow for me. Things pick up quite a bit from January through March however. I sure wish someone would give me something exotic and exciting to work on. I'm tired of sitting behind this computer. There used to be travel assignments to break up the monotony, but those are rare these days. Sometimes when I'm doing press releases these days, clients just ask me to pretend I'm at the events I'm supposedly covering.

I wonder if the music store liked the repairs I made on the broken guitar amp? I noticed on the FedEx website that they received the package I returned today. I actually think I did a great job of putting the broken cabinet back together again. My woodworking skills are pretty good. From a distance of more than six inches, you'd never know the amp had been damaged at all. Although I'm delighted to have a brand new amp now with no damage whatsoever, I wonder if the music store ever realized how easy it would have been to convince me to keep the broken amp. All they would have had to do was sell me the broken amp at a special "damaged goods" price and they wouldn't have needed to send a replacement at all.

What a world we live in. I turned on the TV while I was eating diner tonight and within a span of three minutes I learned that there had just been a mass shooting at a shopping mall in Portland, the North Koreans had just launched a missile that could reach the United States, and huge crowds were still rioting in Egypt. I'm tired of all this chaos. When I retire, I'd think I'd like to live in a very small town, far away from anything exciting or dangerous. I'd still need to have broadband access, of course.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1091

Brr! It's was very, very cold this morning. With the temperature hovering near freezing, the dogs wore their Winter sweaters and I went looking for my down ski jacket before we departed on our morning walk. I always wonder how you Northerners cope with this kind of weather for months at a time. Just a few days of sub-freezing weather are enough to do me in. One problem is that our house just wasn't designed for cold weather. There is a lot of single-pane floor-to-ceiling glass in the house that lets the heat out almost as effectively as leaving a window open. The other problem is that my office is on the opposite end of the house from the furnace. By the time the hot air makes it down to my end of the house, it's already cool again. If I turn the thermostat up enough to warm up the office, the kitchen is way too hot. The house was designed for Summer. Somehow, the air conditioning cools the house a lot more effectively than the furnace heats it.

I had another ambiguous doctor visit today. Somehow, I never find out anything definitive during these visits. Apparently, I am hovering right near the red line for several serious ailments. So far, I've  always been on the safe side of the red line. The doctor tends to congratulate me on holding my ground, but never really explains why I'm so close to the line in the first place. I've always suspected that the medications I take may be causing more harm than good, but this is often hard to prove and even harder to get a physician to admit. One thing about ambiguous lab results. It usually means that you need a second opinion from a specialist. I'll be making appointments with my hepatologist and urologist tomorrow.

I packed up some books in book boxes and took them to the storage warehouse this afternoon. I like the little corrugated book boxes because they aren't too heavy to carry when full. They don't hold a lot of books however.  At this rate, it will take me about five years to clear off my shelves.

I sure hope it is warmer tomorrow. Dot and Dash hate the cold, but it still takes them just as long to poop on a cold day as on a hot day. This extended walk in the cold usually results in two disgruntled dogs and one very cold dog walker.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day