Day 3929

Dawn was very subdued today, but is feeling much better than yesterday. Her temperature is down and she is starting to eat again. We took a very short walk just to the end of the street and back because we didn't want to push our luck. Ths fact that the medication she's taking appears to be working indicates that she probably did have a seizure. Hopefully, Dawn's condition will continue to improve and she will remain stable after she has finished her meds. Seizures are strange and unpredictable. Dawn could have another seizure tomorrow or several years could go by before we experience something like this again. 

I'm still not sure that Dawn even had a seizure, but it is the most logical explanation for her condition. We've had a lot of experience with seizure dogs and Dawn didn't react the same way that Dot and Dash did when they had seizures. On the other hand, she was treated as if she'd had a seizure resulting from some type of brain lesion and the treatment seems to be working. We probably won't learn a lot more unless we proceed with MRI or CT scans. Sometimes this advanced imaging doesn't even tell you anything definitive. When we began to suspect that Dot was having vestibular seizures we made sure that she had an MRI. All we learned for sure was that dogs have very tiny brains. I thought that Dot's brain would have taken up a lot more space in her skull.

When a vet says your pet may have brain lesions, I think they are just trying to be nice and avoid saying the word tumor. A brain lesion and a brain tumor are basically the same thing. Pretty soon you are talking about cancer and the surgery, radiation and chemotherapy options that accompany it. We need to figure out what is going on, but I am in no rush to do anything. The first step is to see if Dawn remains stable after she has finished her meds.

I took my walk today without Dawn. I've done a lot of walking over the years and walking with a dog is always more enjoyable. You never really question why you are walking, because it is usually obvious that the dog enjoys the walk. When you start to experience what the dog is experiencing, you become much more aware of your surroundings. When I am walking by myself, it is usually just an effort to stay in shape. When I am walking with dogs, it is often more about sharing the dog's enjoyment.

The launch I was thinking of attending in Florida has already been postponed two more times. It is a good thing I never made the trip. Even if there were no Covid restrictions and Dawn wasn't sick, I would still just be sitting in a hotel room wondering if it was worth the effort to extend my trip a few more days. After the latest delay was announced this morning, there is still no firm launch date. Maybe I'd better wait for a more reliable rocket before I make my next trip to Florida.

I did my grocery shopping today and was able to find almost everything on my list. I usually get the same things week after week and I've noticed that prices have really gone up since the pandemic started. The price increases haven't been dramatic, but they have been steady. Is this just the normal supply and demand equation at work, or are manufacturers trying to see what they can get aways with? It really doesn't seem that prices should have gone up than much since last March, but what do I know.

I went to get take-out from our favorite Chinese restaurant this evening and the place was full. I was surprised. I guess they have ended restaurant restrictions in Texas. It's strange. When you turn on the TV you'd think we're all headed for disaster. When you just walk around town, you'd think that the pandemic was over. Time will tell, I guess.

Suki is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3928

Dawn is sick. She was fine yesterday, but she woke up this morning very lethargic and didn't want to eat her breakfast. We initially thought she had an upset stomach and might have eaten something bad in the yard. When we went on our morning walk she walked about a block and then refused to go any further. We went back home and she immediately went back to the bedroom. When she still refused to eat anything at lunchtime, we began to get worried. She felt a little warm, so we took her temperature and were shocked when it was 105 degrees. This was serious. We called the vet and made an appointment. When we described our situation, they told us to come in immediately.

Dawn is still under observation. Her blood work looks good, but the vet initially thought that she might have had some sort of seizure. If she did have a seizure overnight, it wasn't like anything we've experienced before. We've had dogs who have had both epileptic and vestibular seizures and Dawn wasn't acting like this at all. She occasionally had a mild tremor in her body that appeared like she was having hiccups. She had some rapid eye movement as well. The thing that scares me is the last time we took a dog to the vet with a 105 degree fever, we discovered two days later that she had abdominal cancer and required immediate surgery.

Each of our dogs has had to deal with very serious health issues at some point during their life. After dealing with cancer, epilepsy, neurological and spinal cord problems, torn cruciate ligaments, and attacks by other dogs, we were worn out. The sadness that comes from dealing with serious and often incurable health issues was one of the reasons that we didn't think we'd get another dog after Dot and Dash passed away.

Dawn is such a sweet dog with such a troubled past that we were really hoping that we could offer her a happy, trouble free life where she could forget her former life. Hopefully we still can. The vet thinks she might have a neurological problem and wants to get an MRI done of her brain as soon as we get her fever under control. We've taken one of our dogs to see a neurosurgeon before. If there is a problem in the brain or spinal cord, it often doesn't end well. 

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Hopefully, we can bring Dawn home later tonight and the vet will be able to figure out exactly what is going on. In the best of worlds, we'll all wake up tomorrow morning and everything will be fine. Dawn has always had some muscle atrophy on the top of her head that you usually don't see until a dog become very old. I've always thought this was strange. Up until this morning she has seemed perfectly healthy though. She routinely gets a clean bill of health when we take her to the vet. This is 2020 though so anything could happen.

Well, it's two hours later now. We just returned from the vet with Dawn and a big bag of meds. They managed to get her fever down, but still don't really know what caused it. The vet suspects that Dawn had a mild seizure last night and might have brain lesions. This is just a guess though. We'd need to do an MRI to know for sure. Other things could have caused a sudden high fever as well. It could be a viral infection. It could be a wide variety of things at this point. From past experience I know that a conclusive diagnosis can be quite difficult. Dawn is eating again though. That's a good sign. Oops. Janet said she just threw up. That's not a good sign.

I'm glad I didn't go to Florida. I'd feel even worse if I was far away. We'll see how Dawn feels in the morning. She's resting calmly now. This is all very familiar territory that I was hoping to avoid for a while.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3235

Dash gave me another scare last night. He woke me up when I felt his whole body shaking next to me. The shivering continued for quite a while and he seemed in some sort of distress. His front legs felt stiff and his heart was beating rapidly. Was this another vestibular seizure or the beginning of heart failure? He's had these episodes before and we've learned that taking him to the emergency room doesn't help at all. Trying to get him into the car during a seizure often makes things worse. I stayed next to him and kept him calm until we both fell asleep again. This morning Dash was fine. It's weird that these episodes always happen at night. I don't think Dash has ever had a vestibular seizure during the day.

The rain appears to be over for a while. It was a cool, clear Fall morning and I walked Dash before going out for breakfast. I really ought to just stay home and drink my regular smoothie on Fridays. It's becoming harder and harder to find anything in a restaurant that interests me. The buttermilk pancakes I had this morning were good, but I ate way too much and felt sluggish for the rest of the day.

Janet helped me with the storage warehouse move today. She filled her car with items for the charity shop while I filled mine with things that had to go to the new storage unit. It's pretty obvious that I don't need any of this stuff. I wonder why it's still so hard to jettison these things? It's easier to turn loose of stuff when Janet is with me. She reminds me how ridiculous it is to save things I haven't used in decades. There's still a long way to go, but I think about a third of the warehouse has been moved.

I need to remember to ask my doctor about my recurring heartburn when I have my exam next week. I thought I had the problem under control, but now it's back again. We has shrimp with pesto last night and it gave me heartburn. Tonight chicken tikka masala gave me heartburn. This shouldn't be happening. I understand why pizza might cause problems, but the pesto sauce was pretty mild. I'd hate to have to start taking proton-pump inhibitors again. They work well to control acid reflux, but they are risky to take indefinitely. Side effects from long-term use include osteoporosis and increased risk of heart attacks.

I'll probably go back to the storage warehouse tomorrow. I wish I still had my Defender. The car was indestructible and was perfect for moving things. I have to worry a lot more about scratches and dents when I'm moving things in my current car. The boxy Defender seemed to hold a lot more too. I'll still probably call a mover at some point, but the more things I can move myself, the lower the final bill will be.

Dash has had a good day. I really hope that he sleeps well tonight. There was a short period last night when I though he might die. The specialist at the cancer center has warned us that if the blood clot shifts and goes to the brain or lungs, he could go at almost any time. It's a good thing that Dash doesn't know what 's wrong with him. He's still a happy camper. I'm pretty sure he'd enjoy spending another year with us.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2983

Dash gave me a scare today. We had just gotten started on our morning walk when I noticed that something seemed wrong. Dash was unsteady on his feet and didn't want to move. I suspected that he was having a mild vestibular event and immediately tried to get him back home. Luckily, we had not gone very far, so he was able to wobble his way back to the house. When we got inside, Dash seemed very tired and almost immediately went to sleep. He had no interest in food. Sleep must have helped because he woke up feeling fairly normal around noon.

I always worry that Dash might have a vestibular seizure when we are away from home. In the Summer, the best thing to do would be to sit with him in the grass and let him rest until someone could come for us. This probably wouldn't work very well on a rainy day in the Winter though. If a seizure is severe, I need to get him to a vet immediately. For mild seizures it is best to just keep him calm and wait until the symptoms subside. Luckily, major seizures are very rare. Dash has had several, but the vet said he may never have one again. Of course, he could have a bad episode tomorrow. Vestibular disease never really goes away.

The rain wasn't as bad today. There was a storm when we got up this morning, but things got better as the day progressed. It never really quit raining, but for most of the day all we got were light showers. I was able to take Dash on a short mid-adfternoon walk and later in the afternoon I was even able to inspect the roof. I was hoping to find the source of the leak on the back porch, but finding a leak is hard when everything is underwater. I plugged in the sump pump and began sweeping away water. I knew I wasn't going to be able to clear away all the water. I just wanted to reduce the load on the roof. Dealing with the roof is very discouraging in the Winter. Mother Nature always wins.

When the rain subsided a bit, I went to the grocery store and got some food for the weekend. I hate a muddy car, but there is no way to avoid driving in the rain when the rain never quits. I have to remember that the rain will stop eventually. Maybe I can go to a carwash later this Spring. Maybe the roof will be dry enough for the roofers to fix things by Summer.

The post office needs to get its act together. Today's mail looked like it had been dropped in a puddle. Everything was so wet that the envelopes had all come unglued. Even though there was a big pile of soggy mail, it was mostly just catalogs and political flyers. Nothing of significance was ruined. One of the reasons that I always take letters directly to the post office is that I have no faith in our mail carrier. This certainly isn't the first time we've received a box full of soggy mail or letters addressed to our neighbors.

The house always seems cold in wet weather. According to the thermostat, the temperature is the same as it always is, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I wonder is it's psychological? I just can't get warm enough on day like this. I've got the little ceramic heater going in the office and I'm wearing my down booties, but I'm still cold. Maybe I've just got poor circulation. If I don't keep my feet really warm, I feel like no blood gets to my toes at all.

We've had far worse Winters in the past, but this this extended rainy spell has got me nostalgic for Summer. Sure, it gets too hot, but we've got air conditioning. Somehow, our air conditioner always seems to work a lot better than our furnace. Not to worry though. The weatherman says it's going to warm up this weekend. I hope he's right.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2904

I can't resist taking a picture of Dash next to a fire truck. I have no idea who was being carried out on a stretcher, but it happens a lot in our neighborhood. We're all getting older.

We had our own medical emergency last night. Dash experienced a severe vestibular event and we were up half the night with him. In the past we have taken him to the emergency room when he has one of these episodes, but there is little if anything the vets can do. Now that we recognize the symptoms, we just try to keep him calm and ride it out. The vestibular episodes almost always start the same way. Dash will wake up during the night after sleeping calmly. Usually we will immediately notice that he is drooling. Since drooling is sometimes a precursor to throwing up, I'll take him outside. If he doesn't throw up and seems disoriented and unsteady on his feet, it is often the start of a vestibular seizure. Dash drooled a river last night and was very agitated for about an hour. When he started to calm down, we got him to lay down on a rug in the living room and I curled up next to him. I could tell his breathing was becoming more regular and in about fifteen minutes he fell asleep. I stayed with him until the drooling completely stopped and he seemed normal again. Then I eventually went back to bed. Later that night, Dash woke up and came back to bed with us. He was fine. I was tired the next morning though. I didn't get much sleep.

Vestibular disease is scary, because there is so little you can do. We keep a supply of anti-nausea pills on hand in case he shows signs of vertigo, but the pills don't take effect immediately. The main benefit of the Cerenia pills is if the vestibular events last for several days. The last time we experienced an event this bad was during the summer. Today Dash was completely normal. He ate well and took both of his regular walks. The vestibular disease never really goes away, but episodes like Dash experienced last night are infrequent. We've got enough to worry about with his heart problems. I hope he doesn't have another seizure for many months.

The weather was chilly again today, but there was no rain. I didn't go anywhere because I wasn't completely sure if Dash was back to normal yet. I'd hate for him to have a seizure when I wasn't there. There was plenty to do around the house. I returned to work on my website project and made a lot of progress. I think last night really tired Dash out because he slept a lot today. I always let sleeping dogs lie. It's the only way I get anything done. The website is looking pretty good now. I'm just about ready to turn it over to the client.

I had to renew a domain today and had a real problem turning off the auto-renew feature on my account dashboard. I hate auto-renew because very often I don't want to renew something again. At any rate, when I renewed the domain, my credit card information got captured by the website and all of the sudden I was a perpetual customer again. Damn. It took sitting on hold with tech support for almost an hour before I was able to talk with someone and get the problem resolved. A word of warning. If you sign up for Sirius XM radio, don't ever check the box that lets them auto-renew your subscription. They make it so difficult to leave that you're practically a customer for life.

I'm hoping I can finish the website tomorrow. I'm also hoping that Dash is back to normal. Sometimes the vertigo can last for several days. We gave him another Cerenia pill to help him sleep calmly tonight. I won't need a pill to get to sleep. I'm so tired that I'm falling asleep right now.

Emma 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 2606

Things are getting difficult. It's getting harder and harder to get Dot up in the morning. She used to wake up when the alarm went off and we all started getting ready to start the day. Now, nothing seems to wake her. I have to find a strong smelling dog treat and put it near her nose to wake her up and then gently try to coax her into a sitting position. I always make sure the back door is already open before I lift her to a standing position to guide her outdoors to pee. She still enjoys her breakfast, once she is fully awake, but she is definitely slowing down.

One sick dog is bad enough, but now Dash is a worry as well. He had two more mild seizures today. He was fine when I took him to the vet early in the morning to repeat the blood work for his phenobarbital test. Later in the day I heard a thud in the bedroom and discovered him sitting on the floor, looking completely disoriented. Like his earlier seizures, he was moving his head back and forth. I tried to get a quick video that showed his eye movement while he was undergoing the seizure, but his head was moving too much to keep the camera in focus. I stayed with him until the episode passed and then he was fine until late in the day. A second minor episode occurred while he was walking toward the kitchen while I was fixing his dinner. He didn't fall this time, but just appeared dizzy.

I feel kind of helpless at this point. We can't really do anything until the test results come in. Until we know whether this is epilepsy, vestibular disease, or something much worse like the beginning of encephalitis, it is pointless to begin any sort of treatment. I hope we can find out what is going on soon. I hate to see Dash this way. I have a feeling the the odd behavior I've being seeing on our walks for the past several months is related to these new seizures, but I have no way of knowing for sure.

Our next door neighbors were having a large tree cut down in their yard today. The sound of chain saws and falling tree limbs was so loud that it was difficult to think. The tree trimming crew has been taking this tree down for three days now and hopefully they are finally finished. I didn't think anything could be louder than the chain saws until I heard the noise of the machine they used to grind up the roots. Maybe all the noise and commotion next door triggered one of Dash's seizures. I have no way of knowing,  but the noise certainly irritated me.

I changed anti-virus software today. I was growing frustrated with the auto-renewal policy of the software I've been using for the past three years. They lock you into a subscription and then keep raising their rates year after year. Enough of that. Trying something new turned out to be not as easy as I thought. The first application I downloaded crashed on launch and I never could get it running at all. The second application works fine, but it spends so much time checking things that it slows the entire computer down. I may have to try something else after I figure out how to remove the first two applications completely from my system. Life was much simpler when you didn't need virus checkers at all.

I hope both dogs have a good day tomorrow. Today was stressful. I always thought that Dash would stay healthy while I was dealing with Dot. but like the song says, you can't always get what you want...

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2605

We ran a bunch of tests on Dash this morning and didn't find out anything definitive. I'll have to take Dash back to the vet tomorrow morning after a 12 hour fast to repeat one of the tests because he had too many fat cells in his blood today to check his phenobarbital levels. This has happened before. I don't know why Dash has fat cells in his blood but it happens a lot. I did learn some things to look for. If Dash has involuntary eye movement when he is staring straight ahead, this is very often a telling sign of vestibular disease. We are supposed to grab our phones and make a video if we see this. Shaking his head back and forth like we witnessed could happen with either an epileptic or vestibular seizure. Dizziness could happen in both cases as well. It doesn't look like this is going to be an easy diagnosis.

Dash hates to miss a meal, so I'll have to get him out of the house tomorrow morning before Janet feeds Dot. Luckily, the early morning blood test won't take very long so he'll get his breakfast as soon as we get home. Hopefully, we can prevent future seizures by making small changes in the medication Dash is currently taking. You always hope that intermittent problems will just go away on their own. It's good not to ignore these things though. The sooner you identify a serious disease, the more resources you have to cure it.

I got someone to come over today to give me an estimate on trimming my trees. I've used this guy for years and he's honest and fair, as well as being quite a character. While I was greeting him in the driveway this morning, he asked me to look at something in the back of his truck. "What do you think that is," he asked me. The large clear Plexiglas container looked like a fish tank to me.  "No, it's a fuel cell," the guy told me. "I make hydrogen out of water and then mix it in with my gas to reduce emissions." Personally, I don't think I'd want something that made hydrogen sitting in the back of my car, but hey, that's just me. This guy was real excited about his home brew fuel cell and told me that he was working on a way to improve the design so he could run his truck entirely on water. I just hope he doesn't blow himself up before he trims my trees.

Dot wouldn't eat the rice cake I give the dogs for lunch today. This was alarming, because she has always loved rice cakes. I started feeding the dogs rice cakes at lunch because they want to eat constantly and this was a way to give them the sensation of having a meal between breakfast and dinner without making them fat or adding many calories to their diet. I'd hate to see Dot lose her appetite, since eating has always been one of her favorite activities. I see new signs that Dot is slowing down almost every day and it makes me sad. I wish we could still go for water therapy, but transporting her in the car is just too difficult at this point. All I can really do at this point is try to make the remaining time she has with us as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.

Work is still slow, so I wrote a letter to my Luddite sister this afternoon. I usually like the somewhat archaic ritual of writing letters the old fashioned way, but there are times when I wish my sister would get an e-mail account. e-mail is definitely faster. When I took the letter to the post office, I stopped by the neighborhood Pei Wei to get something for dinner. I'm so predictable that the guy at the counter already knew what I was going to order.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2604

Dash had another seizure last night. This episode was much milder than the one he experienced on Sunday, but clearly something is wrong. This looks more like vestibular disease than a typical epileptic seizure. Instead of falling to the ground and having convulsions, Dash appeared dizzy and unsteady on his feet, moving his head from side to side during the episode. Dot had very similar symptoms when she was diagnosed with vestibular seizures four or five years ago. We ran a bunch of expensive tests and took her to a neurologist, but we never did determine the cause. After three seizures, she quit having them and was completely normal until she developed cancer a few years later. I made an appointment to take Dash to the vet tomorrow, but I'm not terribly optimistic about finding a solution to this problem. Neurological problems can be hard to diagnose and even harder to cure. If Dash does have geriatric vestibular syndrome, there isn't a cure anyway.

Now, I'm wondering if Dash's odd behavior on his afternoon walks might be connected to these recent seizures. Sometimes Dash will just stop for no apparent reason and look confused. Often, he'll appear nervous or refuse to move forward and then we'll have to re-trace our steps to return home. Other times he is even reluctant to leave the yard. If Dash has been experiencing vertigo or dizziness, which is common during vestibular events, this would explain a lot. We'll have to be real careful about the diagnosis, since Dash already has a history of epilepsy. You don't treat epilepsy and vestibular disease the same way. If it turns out that Dash is having vestibular seizures, we definitely don't want to increase the amount of phenobarbital he is taking. 

I miss the days when both dogs were healthy. It seems like a lifetime ago now, but really it's just been about three years. I often forget that dogs age much quicker than we do. Measured in human years, Dot would be well over 100 now. Dash is younger, but he would still be over 70. No wonder they are falling apart. Dog years are a bitch. I really wish that our pets lived as long as we do. Janet and I have had quite a few dogs, and sometimes it feels like I've spent the better part of my life dealing with dying animals.

It definitely felt like a Monday. Things got off to a slow start and remained slow for the rest of the day. Luckily Dot didn't have any major problems today. We took the dogs on a shorter walk this morning. Janet was already late for work when we got started and we were both worried about Dash. A seizure at home is bad enough. A seizure out in the park would be even worse. I'm caught up on work, so I spent the day doing some much needed bookkeeping and marking a few things off my to-do list. I even called a tree service to come out and give me an estimate for trimming the trees in the back yard. I skipped pruning last year and there are a few dead branches on the big oak trees that need attention. I have a healthy respect for falling tree limbs. Once, a large limb fell next to me and I quickly realized that if I had been standing fifteen feet to my left, I would have been dead.

I hope we can discover what's going on with Dash tomorrow. Seizures can be frightening and I want him to be able to lead a normal life. I want us all to be able to lead a normal life. It's just getting a little harder.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2603

Dash had a seizure last night. This was very alarming, since he hasn't had a seizure in well over four years. We just did a check of his phenobarbital levels last month and everything was normal. Janet and I were convinced that we had his epilepsy under control and seldom worried about it anymore. Luckily, we still remembered what to do when a seizure occurs. Dash was very frightened during the episode, but we kept him calm and 45 minutes later he was acting like nothing had happened.

Hopefully, this is an isolated incident. If the seizures continue, we'll have to adjust his phenobarbital levels. I hate to give him more phenobarbital than he's already getting. It's a pretty powerdul drug. I wish I could train Dash to sleep on the floor with Dot. He likes to sleep on the edge of the bed, and could easily fall off the bed and hurt himself during a seizure. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. The air was very dry and both dogs kept waking up with a dry mouth. Instead of going to their water bowls and drinking some water, they kept swallowing loudly, which made me think they were having trouble breathing. Dot pooped in her bed at some point during the night as well.

Janet cooked a special Superbowl dinner tonight. I was really looking forward to this meal when I was at the gym this afternoon. Unfortunately, neither of us realized until late in the day that the Superbowl is actually next Sunday. When Janet told me that the game was today, I had no reason not to believe her. I don't really keep up with these things. I guess if we'd thought about it, we would have realized that the game has been in early February for a long time. Oh, well. Dinner was delicious. Maybe we'll have the same thing again next week. I still think that if the NFL hadn't made that bad call during the Packers game and mistakenly penalized Dallas fifteen yards for having too many men in the huddle, the Cowboys would be playing in this year's Superbowl.

Despite starting the day with a medical emergency, it was actually a good day. The weather was crisp and cool like Dot loves. She had several good walks today and seemed to enjoy herself. Dash seems to have fully recovered from his unexpected seizure and acted completely normally today. I had a good workout and was surprisingly accurate shooting free throws on the basketball court. By the end of the day, I kind of forgot that I woke up dog tired.

My iPhone became a brick today. The screen was dark. It wouldn't respond when I plugged it into a charger. None of the buttons seemed to work. I thought I was screwed until I remembered that you can find the answer to anything on Google. Within thirty seconds I learned that by pressing the home and power buttons simultaneously for thirty seconds, you can almost always revive a dead phone. I tried the trick and it worked. I still don't know what was wrong, because this has never happened before. I did upgrade my system yesterday. Maybe that was the problem.

I hope that the weather stays nice and the dogs stay healthy next week. The stress is getting to me. I'm tired of waking up in the middle of the night thinking that Dot might be dead. I don't know if it's even possible to get a good night's sleep anymore. The slightest noise wakes me up. Now, I'm going to be wondering if Dash is going to have another seizure too. I need to remember to take things one day at a time and not to get ahead of myself. Today was good. There's a good chance that tomorrow will be good as well.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2479

I listened to Elon Musk give a presentation on how he planned to colonize Mars this afternoon. The guy actually plans to do this. Part of the presentation was an animation showing how the journey to the red planet would take place. "This isn't just an artist conception," Elon said. "These are the actual rockets we are getting ready to build." The animation was evidently developed from CAD drawings created by the Space X engineering department. Each space ship was designed to carry 100 people and Elon envisioned that a fleet of 1000 of them would be required to establish a permanent, self sustaining settlement on Mars. I love epic plans. The guys who built the pyramids probably thought like this. I'm convinced that when you are constrained by practicality, you really limit yourself. During the question and answer session after the presentation, someone asked how the Mars colonists would be selected. "First of all, they would need to be very comfortable with the idea of dying." "This is going to be very dangerous," Elon said. I have no idea how you would pay for a grand venture like this, but I hope Elon succeeds.

I had no grand plans today, but there were certain things that needed to be done. Dash has been having episodes that look a bit like mini-seizures, so I wanted to get his phenobarbital levels checked. I remember this test being kind of tricky, so I went to the vet to see what I needed to do before I brought him in. I scheduled the test for tomorrow morning and Dash will need to fast for at least 12 hours before they draw his blood. That's going to be fun. Dash gets real irritable when he can't eat whenever he wants. Hopefully, I can take him on a long walk while Dot eats her breakfast and then go straight to the vet.

The powdered graphite I got yesterday worked like a charm and now the sticking locks around the house are smooth as silk. I haven't gotten up my nerve to fix the leaking shower stall yet. Usually when I try this, I end up wanting to take a shower before the silicon caulk is completely dry and the seal doesn't stick. I still don't know why somebody doesn't make a product that dries in an hour and can be applied to damp surfaces.

Dot had quite a few accidents today. I've learned to minimize the mess by always placing disposable puppy training pads under her while she is sleeping. All I need to do is carefully slide the pad out after she poops and replace it with a fresh pad. When I was cleaning things up today, I noticed another kind of mess. Dot had thrown up again. This is the second time this month. I think she may have acid reflux since she spends so much time lying down on her bed. Maybe I'm wrong though. I'll ask the vet tomorrow when I take Dash in for his test.

I saw a Red Shouldered Hawk when I was walking Dash this morning. There are lots of hawks and owls in the neighborhood, but they seldom stay still long enough to photograph. I got lucky today. Tomorrow, it's back to looking for the occasional wildflower that hasn't dried up yet. Tomorrow will be busy. I hope that Dash's test goes smoothly and we don't have to increase the amount of phenobarbital he takes. Life is complicated enough as it is.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2058

I thought I'd go to the gym today. I didn't stay long. Before I started my workout, I checked the dogs on the baby monitor like I always do. It wasn't working. This was odd, because the Withings monitor is usually very reliable. I rebooted my phone in case that was the problem, but I still couldn't connect. Being the alarmist that I am, my first thought was that Dash had another seizure and knocked over the furniture again. His epileptic seizures are very infrequent, but when they do happen they can be alarmingly violent. Of course, my second thought was that the dogs were just fine and that the network was down. The network goes down a lot more frequently than Dash has seizures. I didn't want to spend the next hour and a half fretting about Dash, so I turned around and immediately went back home again to check on things. The dogs were fine. It was the WiFi network that had crashed.

It kind of bothers me that I have become a prisoner of fear. I worry about everything these days, especially when it concerns Dot and Dash. I feel like my one job is to keep the dogs healthy and protect them from harm. As both dogs age, it's getting harder and harder to do this. Dot is so fragile now that just getting her through a normal day is stressful. Dash is fine now, but he is a cancer survivor who has had horrible seizures in the past. If there was an emergency with both dogs at the same time, I don't know what I'd do. At any rate, I had no choice today. Once the seeds of doubt had been sown in my mind, I had to return home immediately.

Instead of a workout at the gym, I washed the car. I don't know why I like keeping the car so clean, because I seldom feel like going anywhere. If work doesn't pick up soon, I'm just a few steps away from binge watching an entire season of something on Netflix. I'd probably already have done this if I hadn't already seen everything that even remotely interests me. I've seen every single episode of Dr. Who, including the old black and white shows from the early 60's. I've seen every episode of Babylon 5, Lexx, Farscape, and Firefly. I've seen Gravity, Interstellar, and I'm patiently waiting for Ridley Scott to finish filming The Martian. Keep in mind that this is the same guy who used to favor authors like John Fowles, John Kennedy Toole,  Katherine Dunn, John Nichols, and Tom Wolfe. I was a voracious reader back in the day. Things change. The guy who used to enjoy reading Dostoyevsky in college now watches science fiction and reads instruction manuals.

We got a late start on our evening walk, but that was actually a good thing. The temperature had cooled down a bit and there was a beautiful sunset. Sunrise and sunset are the best parts of my day. It's that long interval in between that's the problem. Maybe I'll try to go to the gym again tomorrow. I'm not going to think that far ahead though. We'll just see what happens.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1708

I've been sleepy all day. Dot woke me up about 3 AM needing to go outside and then I had trouble getting back to sleep again. After three uneventful nights of restful sleep, I thought we had put most of Dot's incontinence issues behind us. Evidently not. Rehabilitation is not an exact science. There are still good days and bad days and today was not one of the better ones. When we went for our physical therapy session later in the day, I asked the vet why Dot appeared to be regressing. She said Dot probably just drank too much water later in the evening yesterday and said I should start withholding her water around 7 PM until her kidneys started concentrating urine normally again. Maybe it's as simple as that. Actually, I did let Dot drink water later in the evening last night because I thought she was back to normal. I need to remember to be patient.

It wasn't all bad news though. Dot had another good day on the underwater treadmill and continues to get stronger. I walked the dogs together again this evening and Dot had no trouble keeping up with Dash. Physically, she's doing great. She just pees all over the place. Despite the lingering incontinence issues, I'm still reluctant to give her estrogen. It would be so much better if she can resolve this on her own.

Sometimes it seems like these dog problems are never ending. Exactly one year ago Dot was having some serious issues with seizures. We managed to get those issues resolved and then Dash got sick. Dash appears to have made a complete recovery from his cancer, but he's still under treatment. In fact, he goes back to the cancer center tomorrow for another evaluation. We're hoping that Dash's oncologist will give us the green light to discontinue the chemotherapy. They're going to do an ultrasound tomorrow and if everything looks good, he might be finished with his cancer treatment entirely. We'll follow the doctor's recommendations though. We've come this far and Dash is doing well. If he needs more treatment, that's what he'll get.

You'd hardly know it was Janet's birthday today. She left for work early after we each walked a dog around sunrise. We still don't walk them together in the morning, because Dash likes to walk much further than Dot can manage in the mornings. When Janet came home from work later in the evening we had chocolate Sprinkles cupcakes and opened presents. Then it was time to waterproof the bed again. Our birthdays may not be glamorous anymore, but we've got a lot to be thankful for. Both our dogs have survived some pretty serious illnesses and are happy to be alive. We're also managing to stay reasonably healthy ourselves. We're all survivors. At this point in our lives, that's enough.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1591

I managed to compound the problems I was facing with an already busy day by making small mistakes in virtually everything I touched. Maybe I just had too much on my plate today. I suspect it might have been my tendency to ignore the details however. The details I forget are inevitably the first thing my clients always notice. All's well that ends well though. I think I managed to get everything fixed.

Dot did great at her physical therapy session today. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that she was actually getting younger. Her rear legs seem stronger now and she doesn't stumble as often. More importantly, she hasn't had a seizure since  we started to do acupuncture on a regular basis. I asked the vet if there might be a connection between the acupuncture and the seizures, and she said that although there was no way to prove things conclusively, at least two other patients of hers quit having seizures when they started having acupuncture. There is some anecdotal evidence that acupuncture can help prevent seizures in certain situations. Maybe Dot is one of the lucky ones where acupuncture really makes a difference.

I went back to eating oatmeal this morning, but the whole time I was fixing my breakfast, I kept thinking that tomorrow was Friday and I would finally get to go out for a real breakfast. I need to come up with a better solution for feeding myself. I'm actually a pretty good cook, but my OCD tendencies make cooking excruciatingly slow. I often find that I've wasted half the day fixing myself a simple meal. When I'm chopping vegetables, I have to cut everything into precise little squares. The meat has to be browned just so, and heaven forbid that I substitute another spice for the missing one in the spice rack. None of my compulsions make the food taste any better, but they sure do waste a lot of time. I've also noticed that I tend to wash all the dishes by hand before I put them in the dishwasher.  I don't know why I do this, but I suspect it has something to do with trying to make things easier on the machines. By some twisted logic, I think that the dishwasher will last longer if it doesn't need to deal with excessive amounts of dirt.

One of my clients mentioned that she had an idea for a TV series that she would like to pitch. There was a time when I would have jumped at this obvious opportunity to help her put together a pilot episode. I have the experience and I have the equipment. I just don't have the energy anymore. Production is a lot of work. Fifteen years ago I was going to SXSW every Spring, hoping to make connections and find funding for video projects I wanted to do. Now, I'm wondering if I'll ever get behind the camera again. Years ago, I was totally perplexed at all the changes my Dad went through as he got older. Now, I think I'm starting to understand.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1405

Dot seems to grow older by the day. She still likes to go to the dog park, but she's never active anymore. She mostly just moves slowly from tree to tree smelling things. She seemed exceptionally tired today and we didn't stay at the park very long. When we returned home, she slept for most of the afternoon. The girl still has her moments though. She bounced back after dinner to bark at the neighbor dog and was still eager to go on her evening walk.

I know exactly how Dot feels. On most days I feel exceptionally tired as well, but so far, I still seem to bounce back when the occasion calls for it. At least I don't have to go to work on Sunday, like Janet did today. I pulled weeds in the garden beds while the dogs were resting in the back yard, but that was about it. I try not to even think about websites and writing on Sunday.

I did think about going to the gym again this afternoon. It turns out that Sunday afternoon is the perfect time for me. For the second week in a row, the facility was practically empty and every machine was open. The basketball court was empty as well, so I didn't need to worry about taking up some young hot shot's valuable court time. Janet likes to take group classes at her gym, but I prefer to have the place to myself. I never did anything important on Sunday afternoons anyway, so this new activity is working out pretty well. I still don't know why I'm the only person who likes to work out on Sunday afternoon, but I'm not going to spend much time questioning things. I'll just enjoy this pleasant situation while it lasts.

The Wednesday business group I joined recently seems to think LinkedIn is important. I never cared much for LinkedIn myself, but I've started building up a connection list just to go along with the flow. I'm not going to get very far with this group by telling them that LinkedIn is worthless. Truthfully, the more time I spend with social media, the more useless all of it seems. Facebook is where I look at pictures of Dalmatians and see which of my high school friends died over the weekend. Twitter is where I relentlessly spam people with my writing and stories. Instagram is where I take pictures of my food. Google+ is where I find out what new technology I'm going to be wanting next. I'm not sure what I'll use LinkedIn for. I can't imagine the place actually bringing me any business.

I hope I get some sleep tonight. I'm a light sleeper anyway, and lately every time Dot or Dash coughs, I wake up thinking they might be having a seizure. Last night I woke up five times. The dogs were fine. I've got to get beyond this, since there isn't much I can actually do during a seizure anyway. We'll see what happens tonight. I'm tired enough that I ought to sleep like a log.

Emily is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1403

Dot does not have a brain tumor. This is very good news. She still has seizures, of course, and we're not quite sure what's causing them, but seizures can be controlled. Although there's still something very wrong, it's reassuring to know that Dot's brain is as normal as a Dalmatian's brain can be. I'm always fascinated with MRI images. They're so clear and detailed. The imaging technicians took hundreds of images of Dot and if you put them together in sequence, you would have a detailed movie of what's going on inside her head. Some of these images show the eyes and the optic nerve. Others show the tongue and the esophagus. This slice seems to be centered in the middle of her head and shows the spinal cord attaching to the base of the brain. It was a stressful day, but everything is back to normal now. Dot recovered so quickly that she even wanted to take her evening walk.

Since the Animal Imaging Center isn't located nearby, I spent quite a while transporting Dot to and from her MRI appointment. The scan itself took less than an hour, but since she had to be anesthetized for the procedure, she was at the imaging center for most of the day. The place is pretty amazing. They have one of the most advanced MRI machines in the entire country. It is one of a small handful of MRI machines in the world that is large enough to accommodate horses. The facility is located in an equestrian center because most of the clients are horse owners. Lots of top race and show horses come to the facility to have injuries evaluated. Under ordinary circumstances Dot likes being around horses. Today was different though. She had no interest in horses. All she wanted to do was come home again.

Anesthesia often causes nausea in both people and animals. Dot woke up feeling a little under the weather and the trip back home during rush hour traffic didn't make things any better. She threw up in the car and seemed to feel better afterwards. I guess it was only a matter of time before one of the dogs threw up in the new car. If you have a dog and you have a car, the dog is going to vomit in it sooner or later.

The artwork of the Dalmatian without any spots came out very nice. I picked up the life-size image at the printer today and I think this will make a cute game at the children's carnival. We'll make the spots out of peel and stick black vinyl and let the kids choose where to place them on the dog. I guess we need to name the dog too.

I was lucky that there were no pressing deadlines today. I certainly didn't have a lot of time to write or make website revisions. I know that some of my clients read the blog, so maybe they just cut me some slack today. I'm hoping for an uneventful weekend. We all need a little rest around here.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1395

With life returning to normal, I decided to use some of my free time to get a haircut. I should have gotten a haircut over a month ago, since I was starting to look like Albert Einstein on a bad hair day. It just wasn't worth the effort on most days though. The only time I go to the mall lately is when I'm getting a haircut at Toni & Guy or shopping for a birthday present for Janet. Although I noticed a number of new stores and tons of new Fall merchandise, I still didn't feel compelled to buy anything. The haircut was all I needed today. 

There were some interesting sculptures in the mall made using canned vegetables as the primary building block. This was probably some sort of fundraiser, but I didn't look to see who the cans benefited. I'd never noticed before that Trader Joe's canned corn is quite colorful.

I turned in another article today and got my October invoices in the mail as well. Things were slow this month. Looking at the bills I sent out today, it doesn't look like there's going to be a lot of money coming in next month. At least the stock market had a good day. Any day the DOW decides to go up 300 points is just fine as far as I'm concerned. Evidently, investors were heartened by news that Congress was finally getting around to doing something. I think everyone must have been listening to a different newscast than I was. Sure, some folks got together in the White House and talked for a while, but unless I'm missing something here, they didn't actually agree on anything. Nothing has really changed.

The dogs were both in good spirits today. When they're having a good day, it's easy to forget that they are both prone to seizures. So far, nobody has been able to pinpoint the cause of the seizures or tell me when they are going to happen next. All I know is that when the dogs do have seizures, they are pretty severe. My own condition is equally mysterious. I really feel pretty good these days, but my blood work tells a different tale. I really don't like all the uncertainty, but what are you going to do?

I know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm already looking forward to a delicious breakfast. I might even have a side of bacon with my omelet. I know I've got one more article to write tomorrow morning, but if that turns out to be it for the day, I'm going to try to get to the gym as well. One day a week really isn't doing me that much good.

Neo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day