Day 4261

Well, this was a big surprise. I'm at the hospital. It looks like I'm going to need surgery tomorow. I wasn't expecting this at all when I began to have stomach pains yesterday. Today the pain got a lot worse. Janet said that I'd better call my doctor and my doctor said I'd better get down to the hospital quick. The pain was pretty bad today. I threw up several times. I thought that I was throwing up blood, but then I remembered that my morning smoothie was pink. I'm pretty sure I just threw up my smoothie.

Janet dropped me off at the hospital and then I began the long wait as I was shuffled around from one department to another. The last thing I wanted to do was be in a hospital during a Covid surge, but here we are. After several blood tests and a sonogram, I finally talked to a doctor. The doctor said that I had stones in my bile duct that needed to be removed and that my gall bladder was full of stones. That needs to be removed as well. For the first procedure they will snake a camera and a thin wire down my throat, stomach and intestines to reach the bile duct and remove the stores. This sounds incredibly difficult to me, but the surgeon assured me that he does this every day. There is a small risk of pancreatitis and an even smaller risk of perforating the intestine wall, but the surgeon didn't seem worried. Surgeons never seem worried.

The next day I will have a second surgery to remove my gall bladder. This type of endoscopic surgery is supposed to be minimally invasive with a quick recover time. There is still cutting involved though. I hate the cutting. I'm going to be here a while. They said they planned to release me on Friday morning.

My doctor showed me how to use a special physician referral door to the emergency room. This saves a lot of time. Between some of the tests this evening I was pushed into the general emergency room waiting area for about an hour. This place seemed like one of Dante's circles of hell. People were coughing and half of them probably had Covid. For once I was really glad I was wearing a good N-95 mask. I was glad to return to a private room for the remainder of my tests. I heard that there was a six hour wait for walk ins  at the emergency room.

I wasn't expecting to stay overnight, so I asked Janet to bring me my electric razor, a toothbrush, clean underwear, a laptop, and charging cords for all my devices. My phone and watch are dead. I'm actually writing this blog entry on Wednesday morning and backdating it to Tuesday. With all the tests going on, there was no way to write this evening.

Hopefully, everything goes well tomorrow. I don't like hospitals and dislike surgery even more. It is what is is though. This needs to be done and it would be stupid of me to ignore the problem. The doctors said it was a good thing I came in today because if I'd waited there would have been a good chance for a severe liver infection. The last surgery I had was knee surgery back in the early 1970's. I guess it's finally time to do this again.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3577

The roofers finally delivered the silicon coating they've been promising. Literally five minutes after the large container appeared on my front porch, it started to rain. I guess I should have expected this. Nothing is ever easy. I've been waiting all summer for this stuff. It's been a hot, dry summer and conditions have been almost perfect for repairs. Now that severe thunderstorms and another major cold front is on the way, I'm good to go. I guess there is a silver lining to this mess. The roofer left me a lot more of the silicon material than I anticipated. This was probably just because he doesn't want to hear from me again, but I'm always glad to have more of the material on hand. If history is any guide, there will be more leaks in the future.

I filled out all the paperwork I got yesterday and returned it to the observatory. Unfortunately, I left one of the form fields blank by mistake, so I had to do everything all over again. The forms are done now. I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Some of the forms I submitted today were requests for medical information. It was a bit sobering to provide this much detail. I know there have been accidents on the mountain. Astronomers have fallen off viewing platforms. Cars have driven over cliffs. There is concern about bears and mountain lions in the area as well. I am very risk adverse, but I don't want to be house bound either. I guess the bottom line is that I'd like to do this, so I'd better be careful.

I lost my last client today. Once again the business went to some much younger folks who claim to be on the cutting edge of Internet technology. The client claims his site is no longer mobile friendly. What? I completely revamped the site several years ago specifically to make it mobile friendly. The site worked and everyone was happy. Maybe the client is right though. When we concluded our phone call I looked at his website on my phone and there definitely were problems. I hadn't changed anything, but maybe the way modern phones interpret HTML code has changed. I'm sure that I could fix the problems after doing a little research. Do I even want to make the effort? Probably not. I told the client that I've enjoyed working with him all these years, but that he probably did need someone younger to manage his website. I'm really tired of keeping up with constant change and nothing changes faster than the Internet. It's time to pass the torch. There is no pretending anymore. I guess I'm stone cold retired now.

This weather is driving me nuts. We has our first cold front a few days ago. Then it got hot again. Now, another cold front is on the way and temperatures are supposed to be in the forties tomorrow. That's quite a change, since it was over ninety degrees this afternoon. I hope we have a little more warm weather before winter arrives. I really do need to get the roof patched.

For me, the week always ends on Thursday evening. The week's trash has been taken to the curb and I'm already thinking about where to go for breakfast tomorrow. If it's raining when I wake up, I'll probably just stay home and have a bowl of cereal. I've used up all the fresh fruit, so having another smoothie isn't an option. Driving in a thunderstorm isn't much of an option either. Breakfast just isn't that important.

Neo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3492

Occasionally I look back at old posts to see if anything has changed. I'd almost forgotten that on this day in 2014 Dot became very sick and had to go to the emergency vet. A few days later we learned that she had a golf ball sized tumor in her intestines and needed emergency surgery. The tumor turned out to be cancerous and we spent the rest of the year nursing her back to health. Dash was still recovering from cancer at that point as well. I guess things have changed a bit.

I don't miss all the medical emergencies, but I do miss the dogs. Life is very quiet now. I'm getting plenty of sleep these days but it's harder to find a reason to get up in the mornings. Keeping the dogs healthy and happy gave me a purpose, but it also wore me out. Maybe I'll discover a new purpose, but it may take a while. I'm in no hurry at this point.

Hot summer days have always had a slow monotony to them. When you wake up hot, all you really want to do is get through the day. This year I seem to be able to get through the day without really doing anything. Making the bed and fixing and drinking a rather large and somewhat complex fruit smoothie usually takes me to 10 AM. After checking my e-mail I take my first walk of the day. In theory I walk early to avoid the heat of the day. The problem is that I'm so slow that I'm never early. Usually by the time I've finished my three mile morning trek, it is almost noon.

I try to do a few chores during the middle of the day. Usually this just amounts to paying bills, doing laundry, picking up prescriptions, and going to the post office. Every once in a while I vacuum or go up on the roof, but not very often. Today I wrote a letter to my sister because I knew I had to go to the post office anyway. My second walk of the day is always shorter than the first. By the time 4 PM arrives I realize that there is no point in killing yourself.

I was a little disappointed with today's auction results, but at least my lot sold. I think I'm done with auctions for a while. I wish I could stay interested in downsizing because I've got a long way to go. Unfortunately, acquiring things is much more interesting to me than disposing of them. Some people seem to find real joy in lightening their load, but I'll probably always remain a pack rat at heart. It would be nice to clean out my office and start fresh, but when I look around it seems impossible. Probably the best I can do is just try to restrain myself from buying new useless stuff I don't really need.

Maybe I should go to Adult Space Camp after all. Some of the activities make me nervous, but that could be exactly what I need. It would certainly give me something interesting to write about. New experiences are easy to write about. It's much harder to write about nothing. I think I proved that again today.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3081

One year ago today, Dot passed away. It's been a long year. Shortly after Dot died, Janet was diagnosed with breast cancer. Then Dash almost died after experiencing a severe vestibular seizure. Later in the year I discovered that my sister also had cancer and Dash had a large blood clot inside his heart that could break apart and travel to his brain at any moment. We're all still here. Janet is doing great and so is Dash. I hope there is a lot less drama in the year ahead. It would be nice to have a year with no life threatening emergencies whatsoever.

The tree trimmers came early this morning. I hadn't even eaten breakfast or walked Dash when I heard the sound of their chain saws. It's sad that the Oak trees are slowing dying. They are very old and we lose a few limbs every year. I hope we can keep the trees as long as we are in the house. The yard would look pretty bare without them. I'm glad the crew was able to remove a large dead limb that was hanging over the house without dropping it on the roof. That would have been a disaster. Luckily, everything went well. I think the trees are safe and secure again for another season. The neighbors didn't even get mad at us today. They don't like it when work crews have to block their driveway.

I'm discovering that it is much more complicated to sell fine art than it is to sell model trains. I was on the phone with several galleries in New York today and there is some initial interest. It appears that I have a fairly discerning eye as a collector. The next step seems to be establishing provenance for the artwork I'm thinking of selling. This might not be easy, since I obtained some of these pieces many, many years ago. If you're the collecting type, be sure to save everything. Model trains without the original boxes were only worth half as much as those where I'd saved the original box and receipts. Artwork without a clear provenance is basically worthless. I save almost everything, but receipts and records from the 1970's might be very hard to find.

I cooked dinner for Janet tonight. It was only spaghetti, but she seemed to like it. I'm always surprised that I'm a pretty decent cook when I put my mind to it. Janet is a superb cook, but neither of us like to spend much time in the kitchen these days. We end up buying "Dinner for Two" at Central Market over and over again. I can see why meal kits like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron are so popular. Nobody really had time to cook anymore.

I still really miss Dot. When Dot and Dash were both young and healthy, life just seemed to make more sense. Dash finally seems to be getting used to being the only dog but I don't think he likes it. Dot was the Alpha dog and Dash looked to her for everything. Even though Dash has become more confident, you can tell that he'd much rather have his sister at his side. I'd much rather have both dogs together again too. They were perfect companions.

You can't bring back the past, but there's always the future. Here's to the future.

Charlie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2607

Poor Dash. He had a massive cluster of seizures last night that quickly became a medical emergency. By the time I was able to get him to the vet, he was unable to walk. We debated whether to drive him to an emergency vet while he was having a seizure last night, or try and keep him as calm as possible and take him to his regular vet when they opened the next morning. Since each seizure seemed a little less severe than the previous one, we decided to wait. Eventually, the seizures subsided. Dash went to sleep and started breathing calmly again. We didn't discover that he was unable to walk until the next morning.

I carried Dash into the veterinary clinic at 7 AM this morning, hoping that the doctors could quickly stabilize his condition. It wasn't meant to be. It quickly became obvious that he needed to see a specialist. It wasn't clear at all that he was having an epileptic seizure. He could have had a stroke, be suffering from a brain tumor, have vestibular disease, or even have encephalitis. It is not easy to diagnose any of these conditions. You have to go through a process of elimination, evaluating for the most likely condition first, and then go on to the next condition if the tests aren't conclusive. To figure out what was going on, Dash needed a brain scan. There was a chance that he would need a spinal tap as well. I could take him to the regional neurology center 35 miles north of us and get an MRI tomorrow morning, or take him to the cancer center and get a CAT scan today. The second option seemed better, even though an MRI provides a superior image of the brain. Dash is well known at the cancer center and he would be seeing doctors who are very familiar with his condition.

I think I made the right decision. The oncologists and internal medicine specialists at the cancer center are among the best in the country. Whenever I take one of my dogs to this place I see people in the lobby who have traveled with their dogs from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and even further to see one of these doctors. We are very lucky to have some of the best specialty care for dogs in the entire country right here in Dallas.

So far, so good. The initial CAT scan showed that there were no lesions or tumors in his brain. It doesn't look like there is an inner ear infection either. Since Dash is not showing symptoms usually associated with Encephalitis, his doctors think it is likely that he has idiopathic vestibular disease. This condition is often called old dog vestibular syndrome, for obvious reasons. Young dogs rarely have these problems. Dash is spending the night at the cancer center's ICU, receiving steroids and anti-nausea medication in an IV drip to reduce the inflammation in his brain and help control the severe nausea that makes it difficult for him to stand. Hopefully, we will see some improvement in his condition when we check with his medical team in the morning.

Keep in mind that while all this is going on, Dot is still sitting at home, unable to do much of anything. I spent the day going back and forth, trying my best to monitor the condition of both dogs. It has been a very long day. Janet and I got virtually no sleep last night. Trying to arrange for emergency care and sophisticated imaging in a city full of sick dogs wasn't easy either. As bad as Dash's condition was, there were other dogs with even worse problems. While I was at Dash's regular vet this morning, a family came in carrying a dog that had just been run over by a car. They were all crying. The injured dog was their family pet. Even though the vets tried their best to save it, the dog died on the operating table. Later at the cancer center, I visited with people who had driven their dogs over 500 miles just to see the oncologist. One lady told me she made this long trip every single week.

We made it through the day. Dot is resting now. I hope Dash is resting too. Life is definitely full of surprises. I never dreamed that I would wake up one morning and find that Dot was the healthy dog. With all her incontinence problems and severe mobility issues, Dot is still in better shape than Dash right now. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I will go to bed tonight knowing that I did the best that I could today.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1549

We've got a long journey ahead of us. I got a call from Dash's oncologist today and she told me that after a review with the pathology lab, she and the other doctors recommend that Dash begin radiation treatments immediately with additional chemotherapy as needed. Evidently, the carcinoma the surgeon removed proved to be an aggressively growing type and they are worried that some cancer cells might have already spread beyond the tumor site. Since this type of cancer tends to invade the bloodstream, it could go anywhere. This is why they recommended radiation plus chemotherapy. In the worst case scenario, the treatments could last up to six months. They would begin with three radiation treatments a week, chemo would be added at some point, and then very gradually the treatments would taper off.

I tried to find out if we could just discontinue the treatments if they were making Dash miserable, but I couldn't really get a straight answer. For just about every question I asked today, the answer was "it depends." Apparently treating cancer is not an exact science. I have a call into the head oncologist to see if I can find out more details about the treatments and possible side effects. I'm OK with the therapy, but I'm more concerned about Dash's quality of life than the number of years he lives. I don't want him to suffer from the cancer, but I don't want him to suffer from the treatment either.

The cancer center wants to begin radiation treatments on Monday. I asked how they determined if the treatments were successful and they gave me a very ambiguous answer. I don't think doctors really know if a cancer ever completely leaves your body. They just feel successful if you are still alive after a certain point. It was pretty clear that the people I talked to today thought that Dash's cancer would just grow back if we did nothing. When doctors say a cancer is aggressive though, you don't know if they are talking about three months or three years.

I am so tired of medical problems. I have to get my blood tested every two weeks to make sure my hemoglobin levels don't fall dangerously low during my Hepatitis C treatment. The last thing I need right now is a heart attack. I take Dot for water therapy and acupuncture every week to keep her leg muscles from atrophying. Now Dash has the toughest journey of all. We are lucky that we caught the cancer at an early stage. We are unlucky that this not one of those slowing cancers that Dash might outlive on his own. I don't think doing nothing is even an option at this point.

I called my accountant today and told him I might not have time to get my tax information organized properly. He told me to just dump everything in a big envelope and he would figure it out. I wish I could just dump my entire life in a big envelope and have someone else figure it out. Things are getting complicated. You've got to keep moving forward though. I'm still going out for breakfast tomorrow. I'm still cranking out an unbelievable amount of work. I may quit the Wednesday networking group though. I love the bacon for breakfast, but business networking just isn't my style. What was I thinking? Honestly, I was probably just thinking about the bacon.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1531

Dot and Dash had a great day. Our mild Springlike weather continues, making it possible to give the dogs several long walks, in addition to the trip to the dog park they'd both been anticipating. It was beautiful today. The redbud and dogwood trees are already starting to bloom, and if you looked closely, you could see tiny green buds on most of the other trees as well. I hope all this early growth isn't cut short by a final hard freeze, but it usually is. That's just the nature of things in Texas.

When the dogs had finished smelling every tree at the dog park, we came home and I finished the writing assignment that threw me a curve yesterday. It all seemed to go smoothly this time and within an hour I was ready to go to the gym.

I think my shoulder might be as good as it's going to get. I was able to go back to my old workout routine this afternoon and everything seemed fine. The shoulder still hurt, but it hurt before the injury too. The important thing was that it was able to bear weight and wasn't falling out of the socket anymore. I'm more careful now and try not to do things that would pull my right arm away from my body. All in all, I think it is better to stay active. If I babied the shoulder too much and did nothing, it would probably be worse on my body in the long run than what I'm doing now.

Janet fixed cheeseburgers for dinner. I did eat a kale salad as a token gesture to good health, but that was about it. There are few things better than a good cheeseburger and fried onion rings. It's not the healthiest thing in the world, but you could do a lot worse. Good lean beef, artisan cheddar cheese, some fresh heirloom tomato slices, and a little arugula on a freshly  baked whole grain bun. That sounds healthy doesn't it?  There's got to be more to life than oatmeal and kale. If I can ever get my liver working properly again, I might even enjoy the ocassional glass of wine with dinner again. That would be nice.

Tomorrow is the big day. We can't feed Dash anything after 10 PM tonight, since he will probably have to be anesthetized for his CAT scan tomorrow. I'm trying to keep an open mind, since almost anything could happen. Depending on what the oncologist finds, he could come home with a bottle of pills to take for a week and be good to go, or he could be rushed into emergency surgery. I don't know how parents with small children handle these situations as well as the do. We've had a lifetime of different Dalmatians, and I always remember the medical emergencies the most vividly. Spot had a tumor inside his spinal cord and I thought he might be paralyzed for life. It was a long, tough surgery, but he bounced back to lead a normal life. Much later, he was back on the operating table again with intestinal cancer. A six inch section of his small intestine was removed and he survived that as well. Petey almost died after he got pancreatitis from eating a duck's foot he found in the park. Greta did die after liver surgery failed to completely eliminate the cancer that was growing there. I'm hoping for the best with Dash. He had a very tough life before we rescued and adopted him. We promised him that things would be better now, and we'll continue to do our best to keep that promise.

Joey 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 1085

Things certainly didn't go according to plan today. Janet got food poisoning at an awards dinner she went to last night, and I needed to take her to the doctor this morning. As we sat in the crowded waiting room, it made me realize that my strategy of only making doctors appointments at 2:15 PM was a pretty good one.  We got to the doctor's office around 11 AM and I'm sure everyone there was trying to cram in a quick visit on their lunch hour. 2:15 PM is a great time to go to the doctor, since all the working people are back at work and the doctor is just back from his own lunch and hasn't had time to get behind with other patients yet. Considering that Janet didn't have an appointment at all, she actually got in to see the Doc fairly quickly. We were home again by 2:15 PM.

With Janet's emergency taken care of, I drove to the FedEx office to pick up the replacement for the guitar amp that arrived broken last week. I didn't want to risk another delivery to the house, because I thought the driver would just drop the heavy package again. When I got the big box home and unwrapped I was happy to see that this time the case was in perfect condition. I wasn't so happy when I turned the amp on and discovered that the volume potentiometer on both channels made a loud crackling noise whenever I turned the control knobs. I've seen very old and dirty amps make this sort of crackling noise, but never a brand new one. Oddly, the electronics on the broken amp sounded much better than on the brand new one.

After another call to my sales rep, the music store finally decided that it would be OK if I took the electronics from the broken cabinet and switched them with the electronics from the new cabinet. I think they were willing to do anything to avoid sending me a third amp. As long as I sent them back something resembling a guitar amp, they seemed to be happy. It will take me a couple of hours tomorrow to take the internal parts out of the broken cabinet and install them in the good cabinet, but after I do that, I think everything will be OK.

With all this going on, I didn't have enough time to take the Norman strobes to the repair shop. Hopefully, I can do this tomorrow, because there are still some more Santa Paws events for me to shoot. Somehow, amid all this confusion, I still found time to write an article and make some website revisions. Today's updates involved changing several women's names after they had gotten married. I should know better than to embed names in JPEG images. The young ones always get married right after I get their profile pictures finished.

Dot and Dash were good little nurses today. They seem to sense whenever either of us get sick and become very attentive. Both dogs were very gentle today and spent most of their time sleeping right next to Janet.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 822

We had a dog emergency today. The day started normally enough. We fed the dogs and I took them on their morning walk. Both Dot and Dash were energetic and eager, just like they usually are. When we returned, I went out for breakfast. I was only gone an hour, but when I got home again, Dot couldn't walk anymore. I would lift her up and she would just fall over. She couldn't stand at all. I immediately rushed her to the vet. I wasn't sure if she had a seizure, if she had somehow torn her anterior cruciate ligaments, or if something life threatening was happening.

Dot was still real shaky when I got her to the vet, but over the next hour she appeared to stabilize and was able to stand again. The vet agreed that she probably had a seizure, but nobody knew why. Dot, unlike Dash, has never had a history of seizures. The vet did blood work to make sure she hadn't gotten a tick borne disease and then checked all her vital signs. Everything seemed normal. I left Dot at the vet for several hours, just in case she might have another seizure. Seizures often come in clusters of three. Nothing happened for the rest of the day however, and Dot is back home with us. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would be hard to believe that anything had happened at all.

While Dot was under observation at the vet, I took my tax files over to my accountant. This year, instead of fat ring binders and bulging accordion files, I just took them a disk with all my Quickbooks information. The disk is all they really want anyway. Last year, I took over a stack of papers almost a foot thick and I don't even think they looked at them. After finally getting Quickbooks configured exactly the way my accountant wanted, you'd think my taxes would be less expensive to prepare. Nope! Somehow, they're actually more expensive to prepare now.

After dropping off my files at the accountant's office, I headed back to the vet to check on Dot. On the way, I stopped by my rental property to see if my tenant had actually moved out. Nope! There's still furniture in the place. I was under the impression she was going to move out last week. I don't know if I have the patience for another renter. Maybe it's finally time to sell the place. I think I'm going to interview some real estate agents and see what they have to say.

Friday traffic was a lot worse than usual. The grocery stores were packed and everyone seemed to be buying beer and wine. There is a huge St. Patrick's Day parade down Greenville Avenue tomorrow. I need to remember to avoid the entire area, since traffic becomes gridlocked. The days when I enjoyed drinking green beer and getting knee walking drunk are long gone. I just hope Dot is feeling better tomorrow.

Ruthie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 666

The rain slowed us down today. A passing morning storm postponed our morning walk and by the time the dogs and I finally returned from the park and had our breakfasts, I was already behind on everything.

I did manage to get the October invoices out and in the mail today. I also finished a writing assignment that I had promised would be done by this evening. That was about it though. After those two things, it was time to head up North for my Wednesday physical therapy session.

Although the physical therapy is really helping my neck, it is also contributing to my inability to get things done as efficiently as I used to. Every time I go to a session, they seem to add another exercise they want me to do at home. Today, they added some free weight exercises to the isometric and resistance exercises I am already doing. I don't have time for all these exercises. I didn't even get the water off the roof today.

I had almost forgotten about the inauspicious nature of today's post being number 666 when I got a call from Janet on my way home from physical therapy. She said she had been having some trouble breathing today and was going to stop by Baylor on the way home from work. Stopping by Baylor instead of our regular doctor meant she was going to the emergency room. I was superstitiously worried for a while and then a few hours later I heard her car in the driveway. After a steroid shot, chest X-rays and some other tests, it appears everything is going to be fine.

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day