Day 2041

People give me Starbucks gift cards from time to time. I always used to use these cards for having coffee with friends. Today I used my gift card  to get more Keurig pods. I had no desire to chat with anyone over coffee. That pretty much says it all. I've gone from drinking alcohol alone to drinking coffee alone.

Dot still does OK on her early morning assisted walks. She's not getting any stronger though and it worries me. It's going to be a really tough choice if it comes down to continuing her chemotherapy and facing increasing lameness, or stopping it and watching the cancer become more aggressive. I have to remember that the Palladia may have nothing to do with Dot's recent difficulties, but my gut feeling is that there is a connection. She started having problems with her legs again about the same time she started chemotherapy.

It was a busy day. I took a small check to the bank and then paid the utility and cable company bills for July. A lot more money went out the door than came in. I picked up some more prescriptions on my way back from the post office. It's seems like I am always renewing prescriptions. All of the pharmacists know me by name. I filled the car up with gas, got Stevia at the health food store, and picked up trash bags and other staples at Sam's Club. Instead of mowing the grass, I watered it. Things are starting to look pretty dry.

There wasn't much point in doing yard work today. It was just too hot. After finishing my Saturday errands, I spent the rest of the afternoon inside. There are always websites to update, so I added some new dogs and cats to a rescue website I manage and then took a short nap with the dogs. I should have taken a much longer nap, because I've not been sleeping well lately. My Jawbone UP band says I'm only getting about five hours a night. Most of this isn't deep sleep either. If Dot starts breathing irregularly, I wake up. If her leg gets stuck, I get up and reposition her. If the temperature goes up two degrees, I wake up. Sometimes I wake up remembering that I forgot to wear my Essix retainer before I went to bed and I get up and put in in my mouth. I often wake up with a dry mouth and go to the kitchen for a drink of water. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to sleep at all.

We had Cowboy Burgers from Central Market again tonight. If you haven't tried these, they are the best hamburger patties ever. I don't know what kind of beef or spices they use, but to me, this is what a burger was meant to be. It doesn't matter whether you grill them or pan fry them on the stove, they always come out great. Having a big meal like this tonight almost guarantees that I will have to go to the gym tomorrow. With the complexities of my current life, I think once a week on Sunday afternoon is the only workout I'm going to be able to manage. It's hard to get Dash to the dog park too, but that's on the schedule for tomorrow as well. For now, it's about time go call it a day. Everyone else in the house has already gone to bed. I've still got to brush my teeth and take my evening meds, but I'll be joining them soon. Maybe watching some really old Dr. Who episodes on TV will help me get to sleep.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1693

I got up even earlier than usual this morning so I could walk Dash before taking Dot to the cancer center for her first re-check since the surgery. The doctors were really pleased with Dot's progress, but offered no easy solution to our current problems with incontinence and muscle weakness. It's going to take time for Dot's kidneys to start concentrating urine normally again and we should expect the weakness in her rear legs to gradually improve when she resumes her physical therapy. The good news is that Dot is recovering remarkable well from the surgery itself. After leaving Dot at the cancer center for for the day to get some additional tests, we got a green light to resume water therapy and we don't need to return for another recheck until early October.

I'm delighted at how well Dot is doing, but sure wish we could resolve her incontinence problems a little faster. I'm beyond tired now. Last night was exhausting. We had another major accident in the bed. It wasn't Dot's fault. We didn't waterproof the bed properly and forgot to take up her water bowl after 10 PM. After changing all the sheets in the middle of the night, I just gave up and slept on the floor with the dogs for the rest of the night. I'm thinking that it might be easier to just continue sleeping on the floor until Dot's condition improves. Sleeping on two dog beds pushed together isn't great, but it sure beats pulling all the bedding off the bed in the middle of the night while I'm still half asleep. So far, the mattress hasn't gotten wet, but it's only a matter of time if we let Dot continue sleeping on the bed at night.

I'm so compulsive that I kept waking up and throwing another load of laundry in the washer every hour or so for the rest of the night. The dogs were surprisingly good through all this. Dash curled up on one of the dog beds with me, while Dot lay by my side on a pile of blankets. It was a lot easier to get her out to pee this way, since we were already halfway to the back door. By morning I had all the laundry done and there were no further bed wetting incidents. I'm still not sure where I'll sleep tonight, but the floor is looking better and better.

While Dot was at the cancer center getting tested this morning, I had a chance to get out of the house and run a few necessary errands. I'm going to try to make an appointment to resume some gentle water therapy later this week. When Dot gets a little stronger and can dependably get up and down again, I'll feel a lot better about leaving her alone with Dash for a few hours.

I took several short cat naps during the day, but I feel like I could easily sleep for 12 hours straight if I was given the opportunity. The house is a mess, but I'm still getting my work done and Dot continues to get better with each passing day. I didn't really realize that the baby steps we're taking included cleaning up pee every night, but I'm trying to take it all in stride. Here's hoping that everything is peaceful, calm and completely uneventful tomorrow.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1691

Today was pleasantly quiet and uneventful. Dot had moments when she was shaky on her feet, but then there were other moments when she seemed almost normal. She still seems to be improving a little bit with each passing day. Both dogs got excited when a neighbor's cat unexpectedly appeared in the yard. I didn't want Dot to injure herself by chasing after the cat, but when I took her out on a leash to investigate, she was surprisingly nice. The cat eventually got tired of the barking Dalmatians and left. Janet would like to have a cat, but whenever Dot and Dash get near one, they prove they aren't up to the challenge yet. Both of them have a strong prey drive and think cats are just a larger member of the squirrel family.

I hope our unseasonably cooler temperatures continue. It was in the low 70's this morning when we took the dogs for an early walk. Even later in the day when the sun came out, the temperature only rose to the mid-80's. I can remember several Summers when the temperature was above one hundred degrees for the entire month of August. This is much better. It almost feels like early Fall.

Our list of weekend errands has grown back to it's normal size. After breakfast, I went to the vet to pick up some more phenobarbital for Dash. Then I want to the pharmacy to get my own meds, filled the car with gas, and got groceries. When I returned home, Janet left to do her errands. We still don't feel comfortable leaving Dot alone. Mostly the dogs just sleep when we're gone, but there's always a chance that Dot might fall and be unable to get up again. After Dot ate the carpet earlier this year, I'm not sure I'll ever be completely comfortable leaving her alone again. Thinking back, I'm beginning to think that frantically eating a hole in the carpet might have been an early sign of distress caused by the tumor growing inside Dot's intestines. How were we to know though? Dogs eat things they aren't supposed to all the time.

I discovered today that one of my former co-workers has written a book about his career in advertising. This guy became somewhat of a superstar after we worked together in the early seventies, so I imagine it is an interesting book. I bought a copy to see if I remembered any of the stories. If I wrote a book about my own career in advertising it would just be an extended version of that old Johnny Paycheck song "Take This Job and Shove It." I was a creative fellow, but I wasn't a very good employee. I worked at seventeen different agencies before I finally realized that the only boss I was ever going to take seriously was myself.

Maybe I'll finally get a decent night's sleep this evening. We set an alarm and remembered to get Dot up at 2 AM to pee last night. The bed was dry, but I had a hard time getting back to sleep after we all came back inside. Since Dot was having trouble getting back in the bed, I just got a blanket and went to sleep on the floor with her. I'm pretty sure she slept better than I did.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1644

So, what did we learn today. For starters, if the dogs don't sleep well, the people don't sleep well either. Dash woke me up three times last night, wanting to go outside. I don't know what goes through this dog's mind when he has to poop, but I wish he was more straightforward about doing his business. The first time he scratched at the door, he just stuck his nose outside and smelled the air. The second time, about ten minutes later, he went outside and stared at the moon for a while. The third time was the charm. I know he means business when he races around the yard four or five times and finally finds the perfect spot. I have to sit outside with him during this entire process or he won't do anything.

Shortly after I'd finally gotten back to sleep again, I was awakened to the sound of my car alarm. A large possum had either fallen or jumped on the car and set the alarm off. Strangely, this has happened before. Our yard is full of critters. Once or twice, racoons or feral cats have fallen out of a tree and landed with a huge thud on our roof. That will wake you up as well. You can tell that the dogs are getting older. Things that go bump in the night used to freak Dot out and cause a frenzy of alarmed barking. Last night, both dogs slept through the entire thing.

Summer has definitely arrived. Every day gets a little warmer and every walk gets a little slower. I try to get up early and make sure that the dogs get at least one decent walk before the sun heats things up, but even these early morning outings are starting to get hot and muggy. Dot tires quickly in the heat, so I have to be careful not to go too far. She still enjoys walking though, so these morning walks are an essential part of our day.

Today definitely lacked focus. I answered some of my e-mail, updated two websites, and at one point, became so bored that I went outside and washed the car. I'd like to be a little busier, but not too much busier. What I'd really like is consistency. The trouble with being a freelancer is that you are totally forgotten about until someone else gets themselves in a bind. This usually creates a feast or famine atmosphere where you are either working long hours trying to get your client out of a jam, or doing nothing at all. Maybe I'm being too picky, but I don't think so. There are times when being in advertising just sucks.

If I was industrious, I'd go to my storage warehouse tomorrow and start throwing away things that are no longer useful. Nah. That isn't very likely. Things just go in the storage unit. They never come out. It would be fun to get started on a brand new website project tomorrow as well. That probably won't happen either. I'm sure I'll design a few more corporate sites before I shut the business down for good, but these jobs are getting harder and harder to find. I've already worked with just about everyone I've ever met in my life and I'm not meeting many new people these days. The way I see it, I can either get depressed about all this, or just go to a guitar store tomorrow instead.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1507

The bad news is that I apparently did dislocate my right shoulder on Tuesday. The good news is that I probably won't need surgery. After spending the better part of the day reading old magazines in two different waiting rooms, I finally received some pain pills and a cortisone shot directly in my shoulder joint. I'm already starting to feel a little better, but I can't walk the dogs for two weeks. When I go to the gym, I need to forgo the upper body exercises for a while as well.

Last night was terrible. I didn't sleep a wink. I finally got so tired of the dogs bumping into my arm on the bed, that I pushed two of their dogs beds together in the living room and slept there. Well, I tried to sleep anyway. It was painful on my back, on my side, and on my stomach. There was just no escape from the painful shoulder. Janet walked the dogs and drove me to the doctor this morning, but it put her way behind at work. We're going to have to find a dog walker for a short time while I heal.

I got a call this afternoon saying that I had been approved to begin my Hepatitis-C treatment. It looks like I will begin taking the newly approved medicine next week. It is absolutely astounding how expensive these little miracle pills are. You could purchase a very nice new car for what it costs to take the new 12-week Solvadi and ribavirin regime. Luckily my insurance will pick up most of the tab. It's hard to believe that a few little pills could ever cost so much, but I guess the pharmaceutical company is trying to recover the enormous cost of developing these pills.

I didn't do well with my writing assignments today. It's hard to type with one hand. It's actually a lot easier to drive with one hand, although shifting can still be a little tricky. I drove to my second doctor's appointment myself and somehow made it home again in one piece. Hopefully, I will at least partially regain the use of my other hand by tomorrow. I have a big photo assignment on Saturday and I'm a little worried that I won't be able to pick up my five pound DLSR. A lot could change by Saturday though. I'm optimistic at this point.

You learn a lot about the healthcare system when you spend your day sitting in waiting rooms. Today, I learned that medicine is way too expensive, waiting rooms are way too crowded, and doctors are almost universally stressed and overworked. I asked my doctor this morning how Obamacare was working out for him.  He said it was total chaos at his clinic. He told me that nobody has a clue about what to charge patients, or even whether the patients are actually insured. The only person I know personally who is a fan of Obamacare happens to own an insurance company. If insurance executives actually like the plan, this tells me all I need to know. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when all those big insurance executives got together with the president. You know they walked away from that meeting with some kind of sweet deal.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day