Day 3240

So I get in my car this morning to go to my doctor's appointment. I'm late as usual. I press the ignition button and immediately get a Low Coolant warning light on my dash. Do I ignore the warning and proceed to the doctor's office, or cancel my appointment and go looking for some antifreeze? This is how people wind up getting towed to the dealership. I decided to keep going and just make sure that the car didn't overheat. Everything turned out OK, but I hate situations like these.

As far as I can tell, my physical exam went OK. There were no surprises anyway. The phlebotomist was great today. I didn't feel a thing. It's still surprising that my new doctor and my old doctor seem so different. Each has their own priorities. Some tests that my old doctor routinely preformed are considered unnecessary by the new doctor. He's added some new tests that the old doctor never bothered with however. Who is right? I guess it's all a matter of who you trust. I'm screwed because I basically don't trust anybody.

After my appointment, I immediately drove to the Land Rover dealer to ask them about the coolest level. The warning light actually went out after the engine warmed up, so I didn't think the problem was serious. My service adviser topped up the reservoir with antifreeze and told me to give him a call if the warning light came on again. He said the sometimes an air bubble gets trapped in the cooling system and causes a false reading. He also said the coolant level actually was pretty low, so who knows what is going on. I'll keep an eye on things in case I have a leak. At any rate it was certainly easier to have the dealership take care of this for me than to go to Auto Zone and wonder which of twelve brands of antifreeze to buy.

I never ate breakfast at all today. By the time I returned home, it was way too late and I wasn't very hungry anyway. I'll return to my smoothie tomorrow. Dash did get a walk this morning, but he seemed kind of lost as soon as we got to the park. I had to return to the house and get Janet to walk with us so he'd have someone to follow. Lately, he's been very tentative about walking unless he has someone to follow. I think his vision has gotten much worse in the past several months.

Evidently, I need to worry about my own vision as well. My doctor made an appointment for me to see an ophthalmologist. He said it was important to see an eye doctor at least once a year since I was being treated for diabetes. I've always thought I was pre-diabetic but my doctor said to stop kidding myself. "If you're taking Metformin," he said. "you've got some form of diabetes." I'm a long, long way from needing to take insulin, but I do need to be careful. I probably need to go back to my rigorous, no sugar, no wheat diet too, but I do love bread, pasta, and dessert.

I'm glad I'm moving to the new storage warehouse. When I went back to the old warehouse today, the entry doors at the back of the building wouldn't accept my code and the manager didn't know when they'd be able to get things fixed. I had to carry my stuff all the way to the other side of the building to load the car. I hope the get the door fixed before the movers arrive. My move is going to be more expensive if the guys can't park their truck near my unit.

Dash had a cut on one of his paws this morning. Even though he wears a special sock under his protective rubber boots, his feet still manage to get scraped up. It's frustrating. He needs to stay active, but he also needs to stay protected. Any type of bleeding is not good at all.

It was really a long day. I should have no problem sleeping tonight. I hope that Dash feels the same way.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 755

We took Dash to see the ophthalmologist today. It looks like the main problem with his eyes are allergies. I guess this shouldn't be surprising, since allergies are also the main problem with his skin. The clouding on the surface of one eye is not a cataract, as I had feared, but is a collection of lipid cells instead that is sometimes caused by cholesterol. All in all, he's in pretty good shape, even though the pinkish discoloration around his eyelids looks terrible at times.

Janet told me later that we were sitting right next to hockey great Mike Modano and one of his Golden Retrievers in the lobby while we were waiting for the doctor. I can never recognize anyone. If you follow hockey at all, I suppose you would recognize one of the NHL's all-time points leaders, but he just looked like one of the guys who works on my furnace to me. He certainly seemed like a nice guy and you could tell he loved his dogs. I didn't even know that Modano had retired until Janet told me that as well.

It rained most of the day today. Dash was pretty good in the car though. I was surprised. He was pretty good at the doctor's office as well. The doctor did one test where he had to put some saline solution in a tear duct until it came out his nose. Dash whimpered a little, but he was even pretty good for that gruesome procedure. He certainly behaved a lot better than I would have if a doctor tried to do that sort of thing to me.

Even though the visit to the ophthalmologist took most of the afternoon, I still managed to finish adding the new puppies to the adoption website and wrote another watch article. This is the day I usually try to get my invoices out, but that will have to wait until later in the week. Dash goes back to the vet for his biweekly antigen shot tomorrow and then on Wednesday, I go to the doctor myself. Sometimes I'm amazed that I get anything done. I still haven't gotten the nail taken out of my tire yet. That will have to wait until later as well.

Mack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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