Day 2752

I spent most of the morning at the emergency room. I've had painful wrists for years, but yesterday I noticed that the pain was getting worse. It was excruciating last night and I couldn't even sleep. When I fell after the dog bit me, I must have either sprained or broken my wrist. Even though I rarely take pain pills, I took one of Janet's powerful after surgery pills in hopes that it might help me get some sleep. This morning, I still felt miserable, so I decided to go to the emergency room and get some x-rays.

Yesterday, I was driving Janet to the doctor. Today, she was driving me. Luckily, she got the OK to drive again just this morning. Amazingly, the emergency room wasn't very full. I got admitted within fifteen minutes and my whole exam from start to finish was less than three hours. All things considered, I felt like I was treated very well. I didn't have any broken bones, but I did have a severe sprain along with clear signs that I have osteoarthritis in my hands. I was fitted for a splint, given a few ice packs, a pain killer prescription and sent on my way. The doctor who examined me referred me to an orthopedic specialist to confirm the arthritis diagnosis.

Basically I'm a mess right now. My left hand is in splint, I can't raise my right hand very high because of my dislocated shoulder, and both legs are still very swollen and painful from the dog bites. Poor Dash isn't going to get a walk for a while. He doesn't seem very upset though. Actually, I think he likes hanging around the house with us. It's been a long time since Janet and I both spent all day in the house for weeks at a time. We may be going stir crazy, but Dash approves of this arrangement. He likes having the whole family together.

Despite all my problems, I still managed to get my computer upgraded. the employees at the repair place loaded the computer in and out of the car for me. Somehow, I managed to carry it from the driveway to the house with one hand. Amazingly, everything still works. The technicians told me that I prepared the clone drive correctly and I now have a working 4 terabyte internal drive. Probably my computer will be obsolete before I run out of space again.

Animal control didn't waste any time investigating the dog bite. They interviewed Janet while I was in the emergency room and I think they tried to interview the dog sitter as well. I told the owners to expect this when I talked with them yesterday. Physicians are required by law to report all dog bites. The dog will have to be quarantined while he is evaluated. If the owners are lucky, they will be allowed to quarantine him at home. Even though this dog bit me, I'd still hate to see him have to go to the pound.

The doctor sent me home with an ice pack and a splint. Unfortunately, I can't use the ice pack while I'm wearing the splint. You'd think somebody would have designed these things a little better. I've got to decide whether to use the ice pack or take a pain pill tonight. I think I'll opt for the Codeine. The ice I used last night didn't really do much.

Just so you know, it wasn't very easy to type this. I'm not going to let a bum wrist slow me down though. This is Day 2752 and it needs to be documented.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2751

When I took Janet to see the surgeon this afternoon, we were moving so slowly from the car to the lobby that it made us laugh. We were pathetic. She couldn't use her arms very well and I couldn't use my legs. Janet was holding on to a pouch with tubes hanging out of her and I felt like I needed a walker. I'm feeling better than I did last night, but this is going to take a while. Basically, it feels like someone shot an arrow through my legs.

Janet reached a milestone today. Her doctors felt that she had improved enough so that they could take out the remaining drainage tubes. She'll probably be able to drive in a few days. There is still a long journey ahead since it will take at least three months to complete reconstruction. Things are looking good though. My case is much simpler. Assuming I don't get an infection, I should be good to go as soon as the hematoma in my leg is reabsorbed. I'm not sure what to do about the hematoma, since they do tend to heal on their own. It takes a long time though and there is occasionally a risk of a blood clot. Some people say ice packs can reduce the swelling. Other people prefer heat. I'll continue taking the antibiotics and hopefully I'll notice an improvement in a couple of days. I hope that I don't have to have the hematoma drained, but that is always a possibility.

I'm seriously thinking of switching to Janet's doctor. Everything went perfectly on her surgery since they assembled such a great medical team. It's always been hit and miss with me. Sometimes I'm referred to a good specialist, other times not so good. Your realize after a while that it makes a difference where your primary care physician has hospital privileges. Some hospital are better than others. Janet has always seen Baylor physicians. I tend to go to Medical City. If something was seriously wrong with me, I'd feel much more comfortable being treated at Baylor.

Dash didn't get a walk at all today. He seemed a bit confused at first, but then he realized that he had more time to nap. Janet's doctors don't want her walking a dog yet, because it could cause some damage if the dog pulled of tugged on the leash. I just can't walk very well at all right now. Hopefully, things will improve within a week or so. I think I'll try sleeping with an ice pack tonight.

I've got my replacement hard drive formatted and ready to go. I think I'll take my computer to the repair place tomorrow and make the switch to a 4 terabyte drive. That should last me for quite a while. It took me quite a few years to fill up the 1 terabyte drive. I used to be in a panic if I was without a computer for even a day. Now, I could probably be without a computer for a week and it wouldn't make any difference. Work is really that slow.

The neighbors called me today from wherever they're spending their vacation. They seemed very concerned about the dog bite. Since they are lawyers, they were also probably concerned that I might sue them. Not to worry. I have no interest in suing anybody. All I want in life is to be left alone. That sentiment applies to most people and it definitely applies to biting dogs.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2750

Well this sucks. I found a credit card in our alley this afternoon and though it might belong to friends of our neighbor. They'd had a Fourth of July party yesterday and there were a lot of people walking back and forth down the alley yesterday evening. I knocked on the neighbor's door and before the door was even fully open, their German Shepard ran out the door and bit me in the calf. I fell down and before I could get up, the dog bit me in the other leg. I was just trying to do a good deed by returning the credit card and got some bad dog bites for my efforts.

I've been bitten before and know that puncture wounds aren't to be taken lightly. One of those new stand-alone emergency rooms had just opened up in the neighborhood, so I decided to go there. They told me that they didn't accept Medicare and I would have to pay cash. Forget that. I drove down the street to a Primacare and they told me there would be a two hour wait. The lobby was empty, so I don't know what the problem was. I was still bleeding and growing frustrated. Luckily, I remembered that my own doctor was open until 8 PM. I got in the car and drove there, arriving just before the place closed.

A nurse cleaned my wounds, gave me a tetanus shot, injected me with an antibiotic, wrote me a prescription for more antibiotics, and bandaged me up again. If I'd waited for the Primacare folks to do this, I'd probably be sitting in the waiting room until midnight. Something needs to be done about the neighbor's dog. They claim he's friendly, but he's bitten me three times in the last ten years. It's probably time to call animal control.

I was hoping the nurse could stop the bleeding, but she told me that letting the blood flow would help prevent infection. I'm probably going to need to do a lot of bandage changes for a while. Just when I thought that Janet's bandage changes were becoming less of an issue, now I've got my own to deal with. The bad thing about dog bites is that they take a long time to heal. Been there, done that.

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful. I walked Dash, took Janet to a few stores to get her out of the house for a bit, and started cloning the hard drive on my desktop computer in preparation for installing a larger and faster drive later in the week. It was just a normal hot July day until the dog bit me.

I never dreamed it would take so long to clone a terabyte of data. Everything has slowed down to a crawl while the files are being copied. I've been waiting for Photoshop to open for twenty minutes now. I hate to cancel the cloning operation, since it's been running for five hours now. Oh, well. I learned a long time ago that when you start something, you've got to finish it.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. It looks like I've got a hematoma in my left leg since it's swollen quite a bit. Everything hurts, but the nurse said I should be fine. At least Janet is improving. The drainage is subsiding and if she's lucky they'll take the remaining tubes out at her doctor's appointment tomorrow.

I hope I don't bleed on the bed tonight. The nurse did a good job with the bandages, but I don't know if they'll hold all night. I probably should take a pain pill, but Tylenol is bad for your liver and you aren't supposed to take ibuprofen if you're bleeding. Jeez, I really thought this was going to be a good day, but life is full of surprises.

Isabella 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

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