Day 2673

Dot threw up again last night and still seemed to be having trouble swallowing her pills this morning. Things are changing and I'm still trying to figure out how to adapt. Since putting her meds inside a small ball of canned dog food doesn't seems to work anymore, we're going to try cheese. Dot has always loved cheese. If cheese doesn't work, we can always try to boil a chicken breast and then cube the meat into small pieces we can use to hide a pill. One way or another, Dot still needs to take her meds.

I don't remember aging being quite as stressful with our other dogs. Maybe it was though. I tend to blot out things I don't want to remember. Spot lived to be fourteen. Like Dot, he lived through major spinal surgery and intestinal cancer. The surgery was successful, but cancer detection methods weren't as good back then and the cancer returned. Petey died suddenly of kidney failure and Greta never made it out of the hospital after a cancerous lobe of her liver was removed. Dot has lived longer than any dog we've ever had, but I doubt she'll make it to her next birthday. It's really sad to see this chapter of her life and mine coming to a close.

Occasionally, I'll look at old movies of Dot and Dash running and jumping over things. They were both very athletic and loved the dog park. Those years seem so long ago. Life has become so much smaller. Lately, we just try to make it through the day. Success is a day where Dot is able to hold down her food and enjoy a very short assisted walk to the end of our street. I've gotten so used to dealing with her incontinence that it just seems normal now. I can almost read Dot's mind by now. A glance tells me when she is in pain or when she needs to pee. We have become very close. I know she wants to continue. I just don't know how long she can.

Since there weren't any writing or website jobs today, I decided to get caught up on my bookkeeping. It's sobering to compare this year's billing to earlier years. Truthfully, there isn't much left of the business anymore. I just can't bring myself to formally close it. When friends of mine have found themselves in a similar situation, some of them have turned to teaching. I taught as an adjunct professor years ago, but couldn't imagine doing it anymore. I've become far too reclusive.

I wonder sometimes if Dash will be our last dog. Caring for two aging cancer survivors has been more tiring than I ever imagined. My Dad had a little Dachshund who was his constant companion until the day he died. Little dogs are easier to take care of though and tend to live longer. Dalmatians are extremely active dogs and deserve to be with an equally active person. I don't know if I have the energy for another Dalmatian, but I could never imagine having anything else.

I never made it up on the roof today. I never got my bone density scan either. Dot was restless. I was slow. It's amazing we made it through the day at all. I'm hoping that we both get a burst of renewed energy tomorrow.

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1868

I'm glad I don't live on the East Coast right now. Blizzard conditions have closed all the airports, making travel to Vandenberg Air Force Base impossible for a couple of people from New York and Boston who were planning on attending the SMAP launch this week. The weather is much better in Dallas, so my only problem will be getting up at 4 AM to go to the airport.

I'm a terrible travel planner, but I knew if I didn't get started today, I would run out of time. I always run into something unexpected when I'm packing. Today, I couldn't find a small tube of toothpaste that the TSA wouldn't confiscate. I couldn't get my laptop to boot up either. It turns out that I forgot to power the computer down several weeks ago and the battery ran out while the computer was still on. When I got this issue resolved, I had trouble setting the second time zone on a radio controlled watch I was planning to wear on the trip. The watch is supposed to set itself using a radio time signal, but somehow I screwed up and ended up with the dial showing the time in London. I probably should take a simpler watch with me. I packed some socks and then noticed that most of them had holes in them. I still can't figure out how to get the WiFi feature working on my new little point and shoot camera. If I can get the WiFi working, I'll be able to send pictures directly from the camera to Facebook and Twitter. Travel never used to involve so much technology. My boarding pass is on my phone. I sure hope this works, because sometimes it doesn't.

One way or another, everything will get done. It always does. I got all my meds packed away in one of those plastic pill containers that old people use. Oh wait, I am one of those old people. I super-glued my comfortable tennis shoes back together and packed a second nicer pair of shoes just in case I decide not to embarrass myself. I still don't know what kind of coat to take. I never get coats right and am always either too hot or too cold.

I did manage to get the camera equipment from yesterday's video shoot put away, but I haven't finished all of my website updates yet. I've got one more to go, which I should be able to finish before bedtime. I thought I'd be able to get caught up on things with time to spare, but I never dreamed that I'd waste an entire hour trying to set a weird Japanese watch and another hour simply trying to turn on my laptop. You might be wondering why I didn't finish my work first. I guess it was a matter of priorities. I'm always confident about meeting my work deadlines. Not so much with technology. Inexplicable software glitches, poorly written instructions, and the occasional catastrophic failure all drive me nuts. I depend on my high-tech tools, but I often hate them as well.

The dogs loved today's unseasonably warm weather. We took a long walk before breakfast and another toward the end of the day. In between, Dot and Dash sunned themselves in the back yard while I struggled to get organized. I wish I didn't wait until the last minute with everything I do, but it's in my blood. I've always been this way. Perhaps it's for the best. If I knew what I was doing ahead of time, I'd probably just worry more.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1597

When I called to confirm my appointment at the liver center tomorrow, they congratulated me on taking my last pills today. I told them that I'd actually taken my last pills yesterday, and they seemed confused. "Do you think you lost a pill," the nurse asked me? Nope. I took every last one of them. I think I know what had happened but it would be hard to prove things at this point. The first batch of pills arrived a day earlier than expected and when I called the liver center to let them know that they'd arrived, whoever I talked to on the phone said to go ahead and start taking them immediately. They must have left the original projected start date on a spreadsheet somewhere. This just proves that if you do anything long enough, the inevitable memory fog trumps everything. I vaguely remember starting the pills one day early, but my memory of the whole situation is a bit suspect as well.

I've started to notice that when we tell the nurses at the cancer center that we're worried that Dash might be in pain, they give us a prescription for pain pills. When we worry about  infections, they give us an antibiotic.  When we say nothing, they give us nothing. So, are they just giving us these pills to keep us happy, or are they actually prescribing them because Dash really needs them? I don't know. Pain pills and antibiotics are among the most over prescribed medications for both animals and people. I think doctors have gotten used to passing out pills like candy because their patients demand them. We are a nation hooked on pills. I wish I knew if Dash really needed these additional pills, but he's not talking. I hate unnecessary medication, especially antibiotics. On the other hand, antibiotics are absolutely necessary at times. How do you know if you're are doing the right thing? The information I received about supplements from my nutritionist was largely proved wrong and some of stuff I took did more harm than good. Several medications my doctors wanted me to take ten years ago are now featured on those 1-800-BAD-DRUG commercials you see on TV.  Things change all the time, and doctors and vets, like everyone else, are far from infallible. All that being said, they know far more than I do about health and healing, so I usually do exactly what they tell me.

My work load is starting to wear me out. One of the animal rescue sites I maintain has tripled the number of animals in their program. I am constantly adding and subtracting adoptable pets from their website. As soon as I finish processing one batch of animals, there's another waiting for me the next day. Writing has been erratic lately as well. If I knew exactly what I was facing, it would be easier to plan. Now, I'm usually in a situation where I'll go several days with nothing and then have a ton of website and writing projects all due on the same day. I must have been dreaming when I though that I might be able to retire to a tropical island when I turned 55. If you have a small business in today's economy, you're probably doomed to keep working forever.

I had to pick up some more groceries on my way to get Dash this afternoon. The combination of trying to eat healthy, fresh food and being busy all the time is causing me to have to go to the grocery store a lot more often than I used to. You can't stock up on a week's worth of fresh vegetables and expect them all to stay fresh forever. I've started to buy food as I need it, but it's a lot of trouble. Life was so much easier when I could just pull a frozen pizza out of the freezer and grab a beer from the refrigerator.

Tomorrow, the dogs get their monthly heartworm pills. It's trash day as well, so I'll need to remember to take the garbage can out to the curb. Sooner or later, it will be Friday again. I can't wait.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1555

It's still dark when we leave for the cancer center in the morning. By the time we arrive, the sun is just starting to rise. I get Dash checked in and then take him to pee in a grassy area near the building. The people at the clinic are smart. They let the dogs stay in a doggie-day-care environment where they can play with other dogs until it is their turn for treatment. Then as soon as the anesthesia has worn off after the treatment, they feed the dogs. This is all to build up a positive association about coming to this place over and over again. The plan seems to work. So far, Dash actually seems to like coming to the cancer center. Both dogs hate going to the regular vet, where they are frequently kept isolated in cages while they wait.

I've spent enough time around doctors to realize that they always surprise you with something after your treatment has started. I'm convinced they gloss over a few details, just to make sure you won't freak out and abandon your treatment plans altogether. Today's surprise was a pair of special purple gloves in the bag with Dash's chemotherapy pills. I asked what the gloves were for and the nurse told me that I was to wear them to avoid touching the pills. I was also to keep Dot in another room while I administered the pills to Dash, just to make sure she didn't eat them by mistake. Yup. These gloves would have definitely freaked me out, if I'd known about this procedure in advance. I guess I've always known that chemotherapy drugs are basically poison, but I never thought they were so dangerous that you couldn't touch them with your bare hands. The nurse said the gloves were no big deal, but that was just like my own liver doctors telling me that the occasional heart attack patients have a while taking the Hepatitis C treatment is no big deal either.

Dash didn't seem to have any side effects from today's treatment. There was no coughing at all today. He had plenty of energy on his evening walk with Dot as well. We'll see how he does with the chemo pills. I put on the purple gloves and gave him his first pills with dinner this evening. So far, everyting seems fine.

Tomorrow, Dash gets to rest and won't go back to the cancer center until Friday. Thursday will still be busy though. The landscaping guys are coming over in the morning to clean up the back yard and plant new grass. Later in the day, I need to go to Baylor and have some more blood work done to monitor the progress of my Hepatitis C treatment. Janet's coming home tomorrow too, so I'll need to go to the airport and pick her up.

I need to find an effective way to manage all the pills that are accumulating on the kitchen counter. I take thirteen different pills every morning and another seven every night. Dash takes phenobarbital, thyroid supplements, and allopurinol, in addition to the three new chemotherapy pills. Dot takes a couple of pills to boost cognitive function and ward off dementia. If I ever get these pills mixed up, we're all in big trouble.

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1513

I started my Hepatitis-C treatment this morning. While I was reading all the warning labels and instructions, I saw something that said "do not drive until you see how your body reacts to this drug." That was all the excuse I needed to skip my Wednesday morning networking breakfast. I didn't really want to go anyway. Ever since the guy who made the great omelets left, breakfast hasn't seemed nearly as exciting. I'm probably the only one who goes to these meetings for the food. Everyone else actually seems to like making connections. I'm very reluctant to sell my services too aggressively. I've learned the hard way that if I get the job, I have to do it myself. Most of these other guys and gals in this networking group are in sales. If they get the job, they just pass it off to someone else to complete.

It was so cold this morning that both dogs were finally willing to curtail their morning walks, so we could all go back to the house and warm up. Since I'm walking each dog separately now, the shorter walks allowed me to get back on schedule again. It was still a very busy day. I've doubled my writing workload this year and still have all the daily website updates that kept me busy to begin with. I doubt that I'll be able to keep this pace up forever, but for the time being, it keeps me from dwelling on the boring nature of my life.

Dot had a great day at her physical therapy session. She completed her interval training on the underwater treadmill like a boss and seemed relaxed and happy during her acupuncture therapy. This was the best Dot has done on the treadmill in several months, so I was pleased. When I arrived at the vet's office this afternoon, I saw someone make a u-turn through her parking lot and then drive directly over a street sign. The sign ripped the front bumper off the car and made a general mess of things. When I told the vet about the incident, she said that  the sign was a warning telling people not to make u-turns through her parking lot. Karma at work, I guess.

We haven't taken the dogs to their Wednesday evening training class for almost a month now. It's just been too cold. Dot and Dash certainly don't seem to mind. I think they both realize that lounging around on fluffy dog blankets in a warm house is a lot more pleasant than following orders in a cold, and often muddy field. We'll return to the class in the Spring though. I don't know why, but it is just something we do.

The weather report says it's going to get down to fourteen degrees tonight. Brrr! I don't know how you Northerners tolerate this kind of weather. We're not even halfway through Winter yet, and I'm already sick of continually changing back and forth between multiple layers of heavy outdoor clothing and lighter indoor wear. The large expanses of single pane glass in the house seems to condense buckets of water every morning, and I'm always wondering whether the car is going to start. Basically, I'm just a Winter wimp.

I wish I could tell you that it was Friday tomorrow, but we've got one more day to go. I try not to get ahead of myself, but I'm already looking forward to the weekend.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1097

I was watching PBS while eating breakfast this morning and happened to catch this program about how eating the right foods could prevent and even reverse the effects of everything from rheumatoid arthritis, to lupus, and even type 2 diabetes. I've heard this argument before, especially from the guy who owns the neighborhood health food store down the street from us. This presentation on TV was so clear and logical however, that I wanted to change my diet immediately. In short, eating the right amount of foods like beans, onions, mushrooms, raw nuts, kale, broccoli, and cabbage, while simultaneously limiting your intake of red meat, processed flour, and sugar can significantly boost your immune system and prevent disease. I wonder why more doctors don't tell you this? Probably because prescribing pharmaceuticals is a multi-billion dollar industry.

The only problem with eating lots of salads and fresh vegetables is that they don't stay fresh all week. With only two of us, it's hard to eat up lots of fresh produce before it goes bad. It's equally hard to find time to go to the grocery store more than once a week. It would certainly make more sense to go to the store once a day though and get a small amount of really fresh healthy food, than to continue to taking a mountain of pills for the rest of my life. I'm supposed to see my hepatoligist tomorrow. I'll ask him about rejuvenating my liver with a better diet. I bet he just prescribes another pill though.

Dot and Dash had a great time at the dog park today. The temperature was almost 70 degrees and all the dogs were friendly. We stayed about an hour and then returned home to finish our weekend errands. Janet went off in one direction, while I went off in the other. I wanted to find a high capacity USB-2 hub, so I wouldn't have to keep plugging and unplugging things from the main computer. I finally found a hub that would let me plug in seven different things. It wasn't enough, but it will have to do.

After a weekend of trying diligently to clear out my office, the room looks pretty much the same. There are lots of things in different places now, but the office looks just as cluttered as ever. I distinctly remember taking a big pile of stuff to the storage warehouse, but I still don't see any empty shelves or tabletops. How can this be? I was supposed to end up with a clean desk.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 946

I found out today that one of my clients is considering sending me to Las Vegas to cover a big fashion event next month. That's certainly an improvement over yesterday's dismal news. I just wish the good news was more consistent. If I had known what a roller coaster ride owning a small business was when I started my company in 1990, I probably would have been a lot nicer to the creative directors I used to work for.

Hey, I've got my freedom though. Today it was the freedom to be stupid. I mistakenly took my evening meds this morning instead of my regular morning meds. There is a reason that I'm supposed to take the evening meds just before bedtime. One of the pills I take is Simcor. This drug causes the small blood vessels near the surface of the skin to expand, resulting in a pronounced flushing sensation. All morning I felt like I was burning up. My skin was bright red and blotchy and I felt like I had a bad sunburn. This is normal, but usually you're asleep when the flushing occurs and you never notice it. It didn't help that I had four cups of coffee this morning either. You're not supposed to have hot beverages right after you take the pill. Oh, well.  I'm fine now and I'm less likely to absent mindedly make this mistake again.

If I can get my work finished in time, I'm planning on going to a video production seminar hosted by Panasonic tomorrow afternoon. I used to go to these type of things quite often when I was doing more video production. Now, it is becoming harder to justify the time away from the office when I'm bogged down in website work. I think I'll go anyway though. For some reason I still think video production is fun and you've got to take your fun wherever you can get it these days.

Dot and Dash did well in training class tonight. It was hot this evening, but that didn't seem to slow the dogs down. They both had one of their better nights. I'm proud of the little rascals.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 581

I spent quite a while on the phone this morning explaining what a browser cache was to a client who kept insisting that I hadn't done the updates they had requested. I tried to explain that the updates were already there, but that they were looking at an old cached version of the site on their computers. Why do so many people, especially in office environments, never bother to clear their browser cache? I've had people looking at old cached versions of websites that were at least six months out of date, totally perplexed at why there was nothing new on their site. I wasn't very successful at explaining the concept of the browser caching this morning, but I did finally convince my client to click on the reload button at the top of the menu, so they could see what I added several days ago.

When I was visiting with my financial adviser yesterday, I remember asking if we should buy something and pick up some bargains, since the market was having such a bad day. He said it would probably go even lower tomorrow. Hmmm. The last time I looked, the market was up over 200 points today. Go figure.

Dogs don't have to worry about the market. All they have to worry about is going to the vet. Dash had a vet appointment this afternoon for his bi-weekly antigen shot. His skin bronzing condition is getting better again after we changed his medication. Several months ago, the bronzing returned right after we started on a new bottle of antigen medication. I kept telling my vet that this had to be a bad batch of antigen, since nothing else had changed in the dog's diet or environment. The vet kept defending the pharmaceutical folks however and said that something else was causing the bronzing to return. After another round of tests proved nothing, I asked if they would switch to a new bottle of antigen just to humor me. Within a week, Dash's condition began improving again. It was a bad batch of antigen.

I think I'm going to go through this whole scenario again when I visit my own doctor next week. My blood sugar levels became elevated after he had me start taking Simcor, which has a known history of raising blood sugar levels. I've drastically cut back on eating sweets, but I think it is the Simcor that is causing the problem. Unfortunately, the Doc really likes Simcor. He thinks it's great for increasing "good" cholesterol levels. I'm not wild about taking pills in general. The side effects of taking too many pills to control various ailments eventually killed my Mom. In her case, the cure was worse than the disease. I guess that is the question. If a pill can keep you from getting a heart attack, but ends up ruining your liver, have you really gained anything?

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day