Day 2902

Dash threw up again today. This has to have something to do with his vestibular disease. Otherwise the symptoms just don't make sense. Everything will be fine and then all of the sudden he will appear very distressed and throw up everything he has eaten recently. Lately, this seems to happen about one a month. This morning Dash ate his normal breakfast, took a nice walk and then retired to the bedroom to take a nap. This is what he does every day. When he woke up from his nap, he went straight to the back door and scratched to get out. After eating some grass, he came back inside, took another short nap, and then puked all over the carpet. While I was cleaning up the first mess, he puked again in the living room. After that, he was fine for the rest of the day.

I was getting ready to go to the doctor when Dash got sick, so I got out some soft blankets and confined him in the hallway while I was gone. It was hard enough cleaning vomit off the carpet the first time. I definitely didn't want to do this again today. This seemed to be a fairly major episode, so I also gave him a Cerenia pill. When I returned from my doctor's appointment, Dash was sleeping calmly on his blanket and everything seemed fine again. I wish someone could tell me exactly what is going on, but we may never find the answer. I'm pretty sure that this is not another hidden cancer, because we have had him scanned from nose to tail. There are no suspicious growths or tumors anywhere. The vertigo that accompanies a vestibular event can definitely cause a dog to vomit. There's a good chance that this is what is happening. Since there is no real cure for vestibular disease, Dash's doctor says to expect periodic vestibular seizures for the rest of his life.

When I switched primary care physicians, I decided to switch the specialists I see as well, so everyone would be affiliated with the same hospital. Today I had an initial visit with my new urologist. This guy was so much better than the doctor I was seeing previously that it made me wonder why I stayed loyal to my old doctors for so long. All doctors aren't the same and the differences between a good doctor and a bad doctor are enormous. So far, I think my decision to upgrade the quality of my medical care has been a wise one. I just should have done this sooner.

Janet and I went to a Christmas party at the presidential library this evening. As usual, I didn't know anybody at the event, but the food was excellent. I even had a glass of wine. Janet volunteers as a docent at the library one day a week, so that's how we wind up on the guest list. I was a little worried about leaving Dash at home, but he was perfectly fine when we returned. With any luck, we'll have at least a month before we'll have to deal with the vestibular disease again. Even though each episode can be scary, the symptoms don't seem to last very long. I just hope he never has another serious incident while I'm gone.

It never did rain today. I wonder where the weather app on my phone gets its information? It never seems to be right. I'm glad we had another dry day. The repairs I made to the roof yesterday will have another day to cure properly. I'll be so glad when I finally get these roof repairs finished. I'll be even happier to see Dash get better. He had a rough day today.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2896

I made a lot of progress on my website project today. It was a nice day and I know I should have worked on the roof, but this was more of a challenge. I wasn't going to let a silly template defeat me. After spending the morning dealing with all the things that baffled me yesterday, I feel confident that I can finish this thing. All I've got to do now is add the rest of the pages. With any luck I should be done by the end of the week.  It's a shame that all I'm doing is replicating a perfectly good site that I build two years ago. The objective is to create something that anybody can update. I even offered to continue updating the old site myself, but people don't want a website manager anymore. Godaddy Website Builder, Wordpress, and a host of other drag and drop website tools have made people like me obsolete. I'm sure there are other sites I'll be asked to convert, but I can see the writing on the wall. My coding days are over.

I'm impressed that my new doctor called me this afternoon to go over the results of my Calcium Score Screening. He reassured me that things weren't as bad as they looked. "These scores are frequently over 2000 for someone your age," he said. "You're less than 250."  I was hoping for a score of 0, but apparently that is very rare. My old doctor never called me on the phone with test results in the twenty years I was his patient. I always had to make an appointment and go to his office for a visit. To be fair, I eventually did get the test results and was able to ask questions, but only after spending forever sitting in a crowded waiting room full of sick people. Things are much more efficient and accessible now. I may change my mind later, but so far concierge medicine definitely seems to be worth the money.

I'm glad I have plenty of time. Dash is so slow now that I would never have time to walk him if my business was still busy. He still likes to walk and seems to move freely wearing the knee brace, but he just inches along. He'll walk ten feet and then stop to smell something or pee. Then we'll walk another ten feet and he'll stop to smell something else. For a while I was worried that he might be having trouble moving, but that doesn't seems to be the case. He just isn't in a hurry anymore. Actually this is a good thing. The specialist who treats him at the cancer center said that long, slow walks were good for him. We're definitely taking long, slow walks.

I spent so much time working on the website today that I didn't get around to all the other things on my list. How did I used to be able to get so much done?  Either I'm really slowing down, or life has become more difficult. Fixing breakfast and taking care of Dash seems to eat up half the day. If I can accomplish one other thing with the time I've got left, I'm lucky. I did balance my checkbook today, but that was only because I didn't want to go up on the roof or unpack all my photo gear to test the strobe lights. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow?

A friend's dog died today. It's so sad that our pets don't live longer. They become such an important part of our lives and then they're gone. I always see Gracie when we take Santa Paws photos. I was hoping that I'd see her again this year. Rest in peace sweet dog. I hope you say hello to Dot at the Rainbow Bridge.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2874

The exam I received from my new doctor seemed almost exactly like the physical exams I'd received from my old doctor for all these years. I briefly wondered if it was worth all the effort required to switch doctors. Then I remembered that I wasn't worried about my car being stolen while I was sitting in the waiting room. I didn't have to sit in the waiting room very long either. In addition to being clean and reassuring, this place was super efficient. It kind of felt like I was going to a German doctor, and for me that is a good thing.

The doctor seemed to think that I was in pretty good shape for a man of my age, but that's what they all say. I know better. Men let things creep up on them. I know too many men my age who've just dropped dead without much fanfare. We're all falling apart like rusty old machines, but I still think it's a good idea to know what your odds are.

The medical exam took most of the morning. That left most of the afternoon to work on the roof. Thankfully, the wet spots had all dried out and there was very little wind. It was a good day to apply the messy coating. I thought it would take a gallon of material to cover the areas I'd exposed yesterday, but it ended up taking two. I didn't spill any of the goop on myself this time and was able to make a nice looking repair. Since it takes the silicon material 24 hours to cure, I won't know if my repairs were successful until tomorrow afternoon, but everything seems fine so far.

I also called the refrigerator repairman and he's coming out again tomorrow. Lord knows what he's going to do this time. The last time the repairman was here, he told me that there was nothing left to replace. I always thought that the problem was caused by a loose wire or a burned out internal fuse. You can't tell repairmen and plumbers how to do their job though. I've tried this before and it just makes them mad. I'm very polite to repairmen now, but I'll keep calling them back from now to eternity if they haven't done the job right.

Getting Dash to walk in the afternoon is turning out to be just as much of a problem as I thought it would be. He doesn't understand time changes at all. I tried several times to get him to walk while the sun was still up, but he wasn't ready to go until it was almost dark. This is a good way to get some nice sunset photos, but it's not good for anything else. Dash is shaky on his feet now and I need to see where he is walking. I don't want to encounter stray dogs or coyotes in the dark either. We're going to have to work on this, because it was way too dark when we returned home this evening.

I continue to be amazed at how little I get done these days. I used to have time to go to business meetings all over town, play in a band, and still have enough time left over to read a book a week. All I did today was go to the doctor and paint some sticky goop on the roof. Basically these two things used up the entire day.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2037

I had a fairly useless doctor's appointment today. The doctor I meant to see canceled on me at the last minute because he was going to be in surgery. When I tried to reschedule, I was informed that my doctor was closing his practice to become a hospital administrator and that there were no more openings available until his last day at the clinic toward the end of this month. This was surprising news, mostly because why would a doctor want to become a hospital administrator anyway? I was encouraged to see one of the doctor's colleagues instead. When I arrived today, the new doctor was clearly overworked. He must have taken over the other doctor's entire case load. Instead of answering a lot of questions and running a lot of tests like the other doctor did, this guy rushed through his exam and quickly pronounced me good to go for another year. Usually a quick exam is exactly what I'm looking for, but this time I felt shortchanged. I may need to find a new doctor.

I'm havin an odd problem with my new website project. The client gave me an FTP address where I could upload the new site, but when I went there, there was nothing on the server. Where was the existing site? I contacted the client's IT guy and asked where the site actually was and he didn't know. The old site is active, but it isn't where it is supposed to be. I used the correct domain name to login to the server and everything. The whole thing is a mystery to me. This is getting to be a case of all dressed up and no place to go. The new site is just about finished, but I've got no place to put it.

I just saw on NASA TV that the New Horizons team has received a signal from the spacecraft that the Pluto flyby was successful and the memory banks are full of pictures. I'm sure we'll see something pretty impressive tomorrow, but it will take over a year to transmit all of today's images and observation data back to earth. Pluto is so far away and data transmission rates are so slow that it makes old dial up modems seem super fast by comparison. It is just amazing to me that the little spacecraft can do all this using technology that is a decade old and already obsolete. I'm sure you know by now that your phone has a more powerful computer than the ones aboard Apollo 11, but did your know that the Voyager spacecraft that took the first photos of Neptune actually saved the images to a tape recorder. That's all they had back then. If an old analog tape recorder can work billions of miles away in space, why doesn't the ice maker in my refrigerator work? These audacious space missions have confirmed what I have long suspected. We know how to do things the right way. We just don't bother most of the time.

Dot is still having problems with her left rear leg. I wish there was a way to make her youthful and strong again, but realistically what I am doing is managing an inevitable slow decline. Dot seems comfortable and happy, but she's having a harder time getting up than she was even a month ago. Hopefully, we can figure out the reason for this setback and get Dot back on course for a full recovery. I still think it might be the Palladia pills that are causing this recent weakness, but it's going to be a tough choice if chemotherapy is causing the problem. What do you do if you have to choose between cancer and walking?

I can't wait to see the Pluto close up pictures tomorrow. My own day won't be nearly as exciting. There will be barking dogs during my breakfast. I will see if I can find the real location of the mystery website so I can exchange the old for something new. I updated an animal rescue website today, but there may be more new dogs and cats to add tomorrow. I wish it was cooler outside, but hey, it's July in Texas. What else can you expect.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day