Day 3640

Life has returned to normal. I was up on the roof, wondering why there was still so much water even though it hasn't rained for several days. I wish I could just ignore this standing water, but I can't. Whenever I'm removing water from the roof, I'm reminded of a quote from an old Dr. Who episode. "Water is patient, Adelaide. Water just waits. Wears down the cliff tops, the mountains. The whole of the world. Water always wins." So true. The roof isn't leaking now, but if water sat there long enough, it would find a way in.

I finished editing the pictures from my trip and sent a few more to SpaceFlight Magazine. No reply or acknowledgment yet. This happens a lot. I never know whether people are too busy to reply or if my mail has gone into someone's junk mail folder. You always get an answer right away if someone wants something from you. If you want something from them, you may have to wait a while.

Our new petcam has been moving around on its own when nobody is looking at it. I looked on the Internet and a surprising number of people were experiencing the same problem. "It's creepy," most of them said. Strangely, the Chinese company that makes the IP camera openly admits that their camera pans and tilts on its own. "Don't worry," a company representative told one worried customer. "Nobody is spying on you. This is normal camera behavior. Our camera goes through a self-test routine periodically to make sure all systems are operating properly." Why am I skeptical? I doubt that this cheap camera is sophisticated enough to have a self-test routine. It's also a Chinese company, just like Huawei and Tik-Tok. The little camera works great, but for the moment we just put a paper bag over it.

Keeping track of my health is a mixed blessing. I'm always wondering about my sleep and heart rate now. My resting heart rate always gets lower when I settle into a routine. The more boring the routine, the lower the heart rate. Whenever I do something new, my resting heart rate goes up. Since a low resting heart rate is good, this would seem to indicate that a boring life is healthy. Exercise, even strenuous exercise does not elevate my resting heart rate. Travel does. I also sleep better after a boring day at home. This is all somewhat counterintuitive. You would think that doing new things would be good for you. Maybe not. Stress is a weird thing. Could it be that what is good for the brain is not necessarily good for the body.

I found a new spot that needs to be patched when I was up on the roof today. I wonder if the remaining silicon is still any good. I forgot to bring the bucket back inside on a night where the temperature got down in the low 30's. If the weather ever gets warm again, I guess I'll find out. I need to use this stuff up.

I don't think I'll go out for breakfast tomorrow. I've lost interest. I keep trying new places and new things that I don't really like. My smoothie is comfort food. I wonder sometimes if trying to be adventurous is even worth the effort. I'm comfortable with my routines and a simple, uneventful life seems to suit me.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2627

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I've mentioned that Dash was becoming a finicky eater. Well, last night he threw up his dinner and this morning he refused to eat at all. We walked the dogs to see if this would settle Dash's stomach and then tried to feed him again. He still wasn't interested. We got him to eat a small amount of canned dog food so he could take his morning meds and then an hour later, he threw this up as well. This was not good. I called his oncologist as well as his regular vet and arranged to take him in so they could give him an injection of Cerenia to stop the vomiting. After waiting an hour, I had to give him a second phenobarbital pill, because he threw up the first one we gave him this morning. The other pills can wait, but the phenobarbital is essential.

Dash's vet thought that he was still experiencing symptoms from vestibular disease and when the oncologist contacted me later in the morning, he agreed. They both said that it could take from two weeks to three months to fully recover from a bout of old dog vestibular disease. So, here we are. I've got two sick dogs with very different needs. Both need a lot of attention and it's hard to deal with one without something happening to the other.

Dash seemed out of it for most of the day, but when I eventually fed him some bland food the vet gave me for a sensitive stomach, he held it down. Since Dash is still feeling some vertigo or motion sickness as a result of his vestibular seizures, we may have to put him back on an anti-nausea drug. Hopefully the Cerenia will stabilize him, since it is pretty mild and has few side effects.

I took Dash on a short walk later in the afternoon. Although he walked slowly and seemed a bit tentative, he showed no signs of another vestibular event. This was good. I walked very slowly and let him relax. When we returned to the house, I immediately noticed that Dot had knocked over her protective fence and was sitting in a pile of poop. Like I said, I've got two sick dogs with very different needs.

I hope we can get Dash stabilized quickly. While I was cleaning up vomit on the carpet last night, Dot decided to poop in her bed. It was hard to decide which mess needed my attention first. Needless to say, it was a hectic day. A continual barrage of poop, pee, and vomit can generate a lot of laundry and even more worry.

To cap off the day, I heard a giant thud on the roof as I was preparing dinner this evening. I went out to investigate and discovered that one of the dead limbs I've been waiting for the tree trimmers to remove had fallen. The wood was rotten and the tree limb broke apart when it fell, so there was no damage to the roof. I'm really glad the limb fell on the roof instead of in the back yard. It was large enough that it would have injured me or the dogs if we were underneath when it fell. Now, there is an added urgency to get the trees trimmed quickly, but getting anyone's attention lately has been difficult.

Stress eats away at you slowly. I wonder if I'll even recognize when I'm completely burned out. Maybe I'm there already. The past two years have definitely been a challenge. I know I complain too much and that there are many people with far more serious problems than I have. Nevertheless, it would sure be nice to have two healthy dogs and a little peace and tranquility.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2623

I'm not so sure about the Gabapentin. Dot slept soundly last night after her first dose, but within an hour after receiving her second dose this morning, her entire body seemed to go limp and she could hardly stand up. Later in the day when the drug started to wear off she started to return to normal. There is no room for error with Dot. If the side effect of a drug is to make a dog sleepy, it will probably knock Dot out cold. The doctor did say that the Gabapentin might make Dot a bit lethargic. She didn't say it would turn her into a wet washrag. I don't want Dot to be in an pain, but she does need to be able to walk. Maybe we'll just give Dot the Gabapentin before bedtime. I'll call the oncologist on Monday, but I suspect that she'll just say that Dot needs time to get used to the drug. That's what doctors always say.

The app that lets me bypass the checkout line at the grocery store crashed while I was shopping today. So much for technology. I had to check out the old fashioned way and I'm still wondering whether the purchases I made before the app crashed are floating around in the cloud somewhere. Before the app crashed I noticed that there had recently been a software update. Why do people keep "improving" things that already work perfectly. This happens again and again with software and apps on my phone. I'll have an app that I really like and then an automatic software upgrade will ruin it.

I think we're having an early Spring. It's only the middle of February and the temperature is getting close to 80 degrees. Judging from the number of people in the park today, this unusually warm Winter is pretty popular. I'm not sure the dogs agree. They both like the cold weather and days like this make them uncomfortable. I had to run the air conditioner today to keep Dot from panting. The sweet spot for Dot is very small. The weather has to be just right. She can't overexert herself, but she still needs to keep moving to prevent further muscle atrophy. Too many drugs knock her out and too few leave her painful. It's a delicate balance.

My new WiFi scale that measures everything indicates that my stress levels are continuing to rise. I don't know what to do. I feel responsible for the dogs and almost every day there is a new surprise. My diet is deteriorating too. That doesn't help. When everything is going well it's easy to eat Quinoa and Kale. When I'm under stress I gravitate toward comfort foods like ice cream and waffles.

I definitely need to go to the gym tomorrow, but the weather forecast says there are going to be thunderstorms. If it rains, I seldom go anywhere. I don't like to drive in the rain and I worry that my two storm phobic dogs are going to freak out. I suspect that my sweet spot is even smaller than Dot's. I can function well in almost any circumstance, but everything needs to be perfect before I'm happy.

Dash wouldn't eat his breakfast this morning, but then took a long, energetic walk. This evening he enthusiastically ate the same food he refused this morning, but refused to leave the back yard when it was time for his evening walk. I don't know what is going on. I keep thinking that the doctors might have missed something important when he was sick, but than again this odd behavior might just be Dash's normal personality.

Maybe the weather forecast is wrong. I'm hoping that it doesn't rain. The roof is clean and dry and the dogs are happy. Rain will spoil everything.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2529

I spent the day asking questions about the various medications the dogs and I take. Dash had an appointment to check his Levothyroxine levels. He's had to take this drug ever since he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and periodically they need to check and see whether the dose needs to be adjusted. While I was at the vet, I asked about the Incurin Dot was taking for urinary incontinence. Do we need to increase the dose on this one, since it doesn't appear to be working anymore? I was surprised to learn that this drug has been on backorder for months and wasn't even currently available. There were alternate drugs we could try, but each had their own drawbacks. Maybe it might be better to just learn to deal with Dot's leaky bladder.

Later in the day I visited my own doctor to get my prescriptions renewed for another year. The doctor wanted me to stop taking Protonix because it had been linked to a higher incidence of stroke in a recent study. It would have been nice if I knew this ten years ago when I started taking the drug. This is the frustrating thing about prescription medicine. Doctors are always learning new things and this year's favorite treatment can always end up being on next year's dangerous substance list. The doctor also said my blood pressure might be too low. Jeez, I've spent years getting my blood pressure under control under the assumption that lower blood pressure is always better. Now doctors are learning that abnormally low blood pressure is often associated with brain atrophy. Yikes. I'd never even heard of brain atrophy before, but there must be an epidemic of it in this country. How else would you explain all the bad decisions we make.

Every time I see my doctor, he tells me that my Cortisol levels are too high and I need to do something to reduce the amount of stress in my life. I try to explain that there really isn't any significant stress in my life, with the possible exception of cleaning up dog poop day in and day out for years at a time. When I explained the daily routine required to care for an incontinent, crippled dog, it appeared to give the doctor stress. He said that when this happened with his dog, he had to put it down. "Well, that's the difference between you and me," I said. Dot is a happy dog. She just can't care for herself anymore.

I think I've gotten all the prescriptions straightened out for another year. Janet only takes a single statin pill every day, but Dot, Dash, and I have dozens of medications to keep track of. At least Dot and Dash don't have to take the chemotherapy pills anymore. There used to be a gas station on every corner. Now there's a CVS Pharmacy or a Walgreens on every corner. How did we live without all these pills? I certainly believe in the benefits of keeping your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels under control, but it sure would be tempting to quit taking all these meds.

I've got a new article to write tomorrow. It looks like there will be some website work as well. I anticipate a quiet day of writing, punctuated every few hours with the smell of fresh poop. I don't think I was cut out to be a caregiver, but I'm actually doing reasonably well for a person with very little empathy. Dot seems happy anyway. I'll work on keeping the stress under control.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day