Day 2759

Janet and I both thought it was Saturday this morning. It was an easy mistake to make, since all the days are blurring together. Luckily, I did remember that it was Thursday yesterday and took the trash out. I didn't feel like going out for breakfast this morning. Somehow, the ritual of going to a restaurant for breakfast every Friday morning seems buried in a distant past. Maybe I'll look forward to doing this again sometime, but other things seem more important now.

My legs continue to improve. When I look at them together, it's easy to see that the left leg is still swollen, but it is so much better than it was a week ago. The pain has subsided to a dull ache and my wrist is slowly becoming more flexible. I don't even wear the splint all the time anymore. The one thing I'm still careful to do is elevate my legs every time I sleep or take a nap. I wish I'd done this the very first night after getting bitten. If I had elevated my legs and rested more in the beginning, maybe the swelling wouldn't have become so bad.

I was promised that my car would be finished today, but when I called to check, they hadn't even started working on it. I guess I wasn't surprised. Ever since the Land Rover and Jaguar dealerships merged, service has slowed down to a crawl. They just don't have enough mechanics anymore. When people complain that there aren't any jobs, I wonder if they've considered becoming an auto mechanic. Large dealerships always seems to be short on mechanics. Luckily, there was someone who could help me today. A warning light came on in the loaner car and I didn't want to get stuck without a car this weekend. Everything is fine now, but waiting at the dealership made my errands take a lot longer than expected .

Dash was much better behaved today. Maybe he's finally getting used to this amorphous new schedule that Janet and I have adopted. We don't plan ahead very well anymore. We just buy food one day at a time and one of us is always running to the store to pick up something for dinner. We are bored and tired at the same time and still spend a lot of time resting. No wonder Dash becomes frustrated at times.

When I was running errands today, I got caught in a brief thunderstorm. It's weird to have so much rain in the middle of July. I guess it's a good thing, especially since the landscaper is coming on Monday. Usually we put in new grass in March, so it is well established by mid-Summer. It will be nice to have grass again, but one way or another, I bet my water bill is going to go way up next month.

I'm just about finished taking my antibiotics. Hopefully there is no risk of infection anymore. The strong antibiotics have given me an upset stomach, so maybe my appetite will improve once I'm finished with these pills. Antibiotics have been known to cause dental problems and I've noticed that my teeth are more difficult to get clean this week. I'm tempted to blame a recurrence of hemorrhoid problems on the antibiotics too. I'll be glad when I don't have to sleep with my feet elevated anymore. I usually sleep on my side and it has taken a while to get used to sleeping on my back. The best thing about a return to health is that I won't be wasting time Googling medical problems anymore. I'm sure Google has me listed in its hypochondriac file by now.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2757

When I woke up this morning, the swelling in my leg had subsided a bit. This was good news. I've been sleeping with my legs elevated for a while, but this was the first time I've seen any positive results. Of course, after I'd gotten up and walked around for a while, some of the swelling returned, but that was to be expected. I've already discovered that this recovery is going to be a three steps forward, two steps back kind of deal.

After I got dressed, I took my car up to the dealership for a required service appointment. This time, my loaner car was a sedan that sat pretty close to the ground. I've gotten so used to driving a big SUV that this car seemed strange and a bit uncomfortable. I like to be sitting up above the traffic, not down in it. I made it home safely and gradually got used to this new driving position, but I don't think I'll be buying a sedan or sports car any time soon. It's difficult to tell where the front wheels actually are when you turn a corner and more importantly, where do you put the dogs?

I spent the rest of the morning fixing breakfast and cleaning up the kitchen when I returned home. Why hurry? There certainly wasn't a lot on my calendar today. I'll be glad when I finish taking these antibiotics, since they're giving me an upset stomach. I'm hungry, but I don't really feel like eating anything.

I got my July invoices out this afternoon. This was the first time I'd used my upgraded accounting software for invoicing. I quickly discovered that my custom invoice template was gone. The software had reverted to a generic invoice template without the company logo and custom fonts. I guess I could have just used the generic template and saved a lot of time. I never do things the easy way though. I found another copy of my logo and recreated all my forms from scratch. Everything is fine now, but I still can't figure out why odd and unpredictable things have changed on my supposedly identical cloned hard drive.

Dash is becoming impatient with how long it is taking Janet and I to get back to normal. Our doctors have told both of us that we need lots of bed rest to heal properly, so we spend quite a bit of time just sitting in bed.  Janet watches movies on her iPad and I just sleep with my feet elevated on a stack of pillows. You'd think Dash would be fine with this, since he spends most of the day sleeping anyway. I try to tell him that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, but he's convinced that when we're home we should be either feeding or walking him. He'll usually settle down after a while, but I think he's bored.

If I have another night like I did last night, I might be back to normal relatively quickly. Even after a busy day, the swelling in my leg is still less than yesterday. I still have to change my bandages every day, but only the two deepest cuts haven't scabbed over yet. We are definitely making progress. My bandages are much smaller and easier to manage than they were last week and I don't have to wear the splint on my wrist all the time now. I don't think there is an infection, but I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow morning just to make sure. Maybe one more week and I can put this unfortunate episode behind me.

I haven't even thought about the eclipse for a while. Somehow, watching a solar eclipse seems unimportant compared to getting your arms and legs back in working order.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2756

I finished writing both my new articles today and spent the rest of the time lying on the bed with my feet elevated. It was nice to have some work to do again, but I don't think it is a good idea to sit at the computer all day. I can literally feel the fluid pooling around my ankles when I sit for long periods of time. Another bad thing about sitting at the computer is that I spend too much time Googling information about swollen legs and ankles. I'm finding lots of similarities between my condition and people who have had minor motorcycle accidents. Basically, if you are a hypochondriac, you should never Google your own ailments.

Elevating my legs really seems to help control the swelling in my legs, but unfortunately the benefits seem temporary. It kind of feels like I've got a quart of water floating around inside me. When I lie on the bed with my legs elevated, the liquid flows back into my body. When I stand up and start walking, gravity causes it to flow down around my ankles again. It's frustrating, but there's not much I can do at this point. It's going to take a long time to completely reabsorb the blood and fluids resulting from a trauma injury like this.

Maybe I need to start watching Netflix like Janet. She needs to rest for long periods of time too, but luckily she enjoys watching movies. Often I find her asleep with a movie still running on the iPad on her lap. I'm growing bored staring at the ceiling, so maybe I'll give Netflix a try tomorrow. Lying on your back with your feet in the air probably isn't the best position to watch a movie, but I'll have to improvise.

Dash threw up again this afternoon. I was hoping that he wouldn't have any problems until Janet and I were both well again. Maybe that was too much to ask for. Dash has thrown up periodically for years. Usually he seems normal again within a few hours. When I take him to the vet they can never find anything wrong and usually just suggest changing his diet. Dash will eat bugs and dead things when he can find them, and eating something bad is often the cause of his stomach problems. Janet and I have been so preoccupied that we probably haven't been watching him closely enough when we take him outside to pee. At any rate, we gave him a Pepsid tonight and hoped for the best.

Dash's upset stomach reminded me to make an appointment for him at the cancer center. His oncologist likes to do a recheck every six months and we are a little behind schedule. Dash has been in remission for so long now that his doctors aren't really worried about the cancer returning. They are more worried about an enlarged heart as he grows older.

When I look at my calendar, it's nothing but doctor's appointments for Janet, myself, and Dash. Hopefully, this is just a temporary thing. Janet is starting to feel a lot better. I'm on the mend too, but dog bites are painful injuries that tend to heal slowly. I'll just need to stay patient. It would be nice if Dash would stay healthy too. We don't need a three ring circus at this point.

Tomorrow, I take my car in for a long postponed service appointment. It will be nice to get that expensive necessity out of the way. Pretty soon, we should have grass in the back yard again too. One step at a time, we're slowly getting back to normal. Just for the record, I didn't see this Great Egret today. I didn't even leave the house. I did see the bird pretty recently though and didn't feel like showing you a picture of my feet in the air.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2755

I was disappointed this morning that I wasn't improving faster. I seem to be getting a little better every day, but my wrist still feels shaky when I'm not wearing the splint and my legs still hurt. I thought the swelling in my left leg had subsided, but on further inspection, I've realized that gravity has just caused the fluid to sink down around my ankles. Both ankles are swollen and black and blue now. You're supposed to keep your legs elevated above your heart, but how long can you spend lying down staring at the ceiling?

I need to remember similar injuries I've had in the past and how long they took to heal. I think I was better off before the Internet. Now, whenever you research injuries online, you are presented with dozens of horrendous first-person stories detailing things that might go wrong. Today, I found myself reading about hematomas that had become infected and required surgery. It was not very reassuring. I think everything is going fine, but to keep from fretting all the time, I made an appointment to see my primary care physician when he returns later this week. I also made an appointment to see the orthopedic specialist the emergency room referred me to. Hopefully, I will feel better when they, just like the emergency room doctors, tell me that this is just going to take time.

When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to see that Janet had already walked Dash. She said that she didn't want to wake me up and that Dash was very good and didn't pull or tug at all. I was a little worried that Janet was using her arms too soon, but later in the day when she went to see her doctor, they gave her arm exercises to do, so I guess she's ready.

I was surprised to receive some new writing jobs today. It's been a while. I was even more surprised when I tried to open Microsoft Word and was presented with a screen saying that I needed to enter my 25 digit activation code first. Jeez, this software has been registered for years. What could have gone wrong? I had installed the software in 2011 and had no idea where the activation code was. After a Google search and a call to Microsoft, I received the bad news. Microsoft software activation involves linking the software to the serial number of the physical hard drive or network card on your computer. When I cloned my hard drive, it was physically a different disc, so Microsoft Office didn't recognize me. Even worse, Microsoft keeps no records of these activation codes when you register your software. The only place you find them is printed on the install discs themselves. This was all very frustrating, since I'm dead in the water without Microsoft Word.

I never throw anything away, but that didn't make it any easier to find the illusive install disc. It took hours of searching, which only made my leg hurt worse. Eventually I found the stupid disc. It's a good thing I did, because my only other alternative would have been to purchase Microsoft Office all over again. Actually, I would have had to subscribe to Microsoft Office 365. The company doesn't even sell or support the stand-alone product anymore.

I guess everything is OK. My leg isn't red and doesn't look infected. It's just swollen more than I'd like. I'm back in business with Microsoft Word and can start my new writing jobs tomorrow. I've been so preoccupied with the dog bite that I didn't even tell you that the landscaper is scheduled to put in new grass early next week. I've even made an appointment to get my car serviced.

I"m going to sleep with my leg elevated tonight. Hopefully, it will look a little smaller in the morning.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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