Day 4277

I got a letter from the new editor at SpaceFlight Magazine today hoping that I would continue to be a contributor to the magazine and asking if I had any ideas for new articles. This was definitely encouraging news. It kind of keeps the dream of being a space reporter alive. I still have no plans to return to Kennedy Space Center any time soon, but eventually the pandemic will be over. I am confident that there will be future articles.

The weather has been really nice this week. When we took our sunrise walk with Dawn this morning it was only 69 degrees. The weather was still cool enough for me to take a nice long walk after breakfast. It's pretty evident that I enjoy walking outdoors more than going to the gym. Extreme heat isn't fun though and it's nice to have the gym as a backup, even though I might not need it again for another year. I may be wrong, but I think Summer is finally over.

I'm still not doing much during the day. It's nice to have a doctor's excuse to be lazy. I've still got a week or so to go before I can lift anything, but my recovery is proceeding nicely. Eventually I'll have to get the lawn mower out and cut all the tall grass. The only useful thing I did today was spray for spiders under the eaves. Hopefully, now that the windows are clean and the spiders are gone I won't have to do this again for quite a while.

Dawn is weird. She gets excited when I get her leash for our sunrise walk. She gets even more excited when I begin preparing her dinner. When I want to take a nap with her during the day however, she immediately moves to the far corner of the bed. She'll stay on the bed with me as long as I don't look at her. If I stare at her, she'll get up and go to her bed in the kitchen. Doesn't she know by now that I actually like dogs, especially Dalmatians? I'm still waiting to win this dog over, but I think she's made up her mind.

I wonder who sold my number to the telemarketers. There has been a huge increase in telemarketing calls this year. AT&T is supposed to block these calls, but they don't do a very good job. I get spam text messages and cell phone calls as well. I wonder who actually answers these calls? I don't. If I don't know you already, I don't pick up the phone. Somebody must be picking up the phone though. I can't believe that so many people would be spamming me if it wasn't profitable.

When I was ready to take the trash to the curb this evening I discovered that Janet had already done it. She's making the bed in the morning too. I like this, but don't want to appear lazy. That was always one of the best things about making my living as a writer. I could stare at the ceiling for hours at a time and everyone would always think I was working. Pretty soon I'll be able to lift things again and I'll resume my household chores. Personally, I enjoy doing nothing. It's an acquired taste though. Most people I know like to stay busy.

Dawn took a new route on her sunrise walk this morning. She ended up walking an extra half mile. This was the first time she's done this in over a month. I wonder what she'll do tomorrow morning?

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4276

The days are starting to run together. I'm having trouble telling one day from another. Long walks in the park are normal again. I still have some discomfort in my abdomen, but it is indistinguishable from a mild upset stomach. We still start our day with a sunrise walk, but Dawn isn't adventurous anymore. She's stuck to her basic one mile loop for several weeks now. I'm still having shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast. The Vitamix hasn't sat unused for this long in quite a while.

The missing Amazon package mysteriously appeared in our mailbox this morning. We have no idea whether Amazon redelivered the package or if a neighbor brought it over. If it was a neighbor, I have no idea which one. The house in the Amazon delivery picture wasn't remotely familiar. All is well though. Dawn now has the medicine she needs.

We woke up to a severe storm warning, but even though the storm was headed directly toward us in the weather radar, we got surprisingly little rain. For some reason the storm broke up and dissipated just before it reached our neighborhood. Although all we got were a few light sprinkles, the storm did keep the temperature cooler today. It felt more like Fall than Summer when I took my walk in the park.

I felt like spending another day sleeping, but Janet kind of shamed me into working. She's always busy around the house. I helped clean the windows which I should have done weeks ago. The outside of our windows get covered with spider webs in the Summer. The windows are a mess to clean which is why I tend to ignore them. The windows look great now, although I spent the afternoon covered in spiders and webs. Some of the spiders were pretty big. We have lots of glass in the house and the spiders like to build their web next to the windows because that's where the insects congregate at night. I'd like to think that there is some sort of benefit to having all these spiders, but so far I haven't found any.

The grass is looking pretty ratty. I don't feel up to pushing the mower yet, but I don't want to hire a lawn crew either. I'm trying to convince myself that the tall grass is developing equally deep roots. Maybe this is true because the grass still looks pretty green. Actually, everything is pretty green this year. Usually by mid September all the vegetation is dry and brown.

The current Covid surge is kind of weird. According to everything I read, hospitals are overflowing with Covid patients and things have never been worse. If this is true, why are cruise ships operating, why are stadiums full, and why are hotels, airlines, and resorts all running commercials urging people to travel again? I think the State Fair of Texas is planning on a normal in person run this Fall. Something is wrong with this picture. I still don't know anybody who has gotten sick, but maybe I just lead a sheltered life.

I think tomorrow will be nearly the same as today. No window cleaning though. Hopefully what we did today will last for the rest of the year.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4275

There's a hint of Fall in the air. I think the worst of Summer is finally over. When we took Dawn on her sunrise walk this morning, it was only 70 degrees. It still gets a lot hotter later in the day, but this is a welcome relief. The weather was still pretty nice when I took my long walk after breakfast. I'm glad to be walking in the park again. A walk in the woods is much more enjoyable than circling around and around an indoor track.

We ordered some medicine for Dawn recently. When Amazon Prime left their proof of delivery photo, it wasn't even our house. It wasn't either of our neighbor's houses either. I have no idea where this package was actually delivered. You'd think that Amazon would have sent the driver back to retrieve the package while he was still in the area and redeliver it. Nope. Janet had to cancel the order and get a refund. UPS is still the best with deliveries. Amazon and Fedex, not so much.

I'm still not hungry for my morning smoothie. This seems so strange to me, since I've been drinking this concoction for breakfast for years. Maybe the desire for a liquid breakfast will return, or maybe not. I always thought my smoothie was very healthy, but it turns out that it contains too much fat and way too much sugar. Who knows if shredded wheat and fruit is much better?  It will have to do for now. I don't even like the smell of a fried egg in the morning and oatmeal doesn't sound so good either.

I wish I could trust Dawn without the cone when I take my morning walk. She really doesn't like it. Her paws look so good now that I just don't want to risk going back to square one. I guess the cone is OK. I check on her with the petcam occasionally while I'm walking and she's just sleeping. Dawn is more than welcome to go walking with me, but she's decided that one mile early in the morning is all the walk she needs. We were able to take a sunset walk with Dawn this evening though. Did I mention that the weather was quite nice today?

I think our lake needs to be dredged again. There is a small bay near where I always see the geese that has become completely dry. I wish this lake had crystalline waters and colorful stone beaches like Flathead Lake in Montana, but I'll have to settle for murky water and snakes instead. At least it's a real lake in the middle of a city. It would be hard to find a better place to walk a dog.

I'm really starting to miss my time out at the observatory. I'm not up for a long drive yet, but I bet I will be next month. I'm looking forward to volunteer opportunities again. I wish I had enough faith in my own car to drive it to West Texas. I could save a lot of money in rental cars if I just took my own. I just want to make sure I'm really healthy before I embark on another long trip. I'm a cautious person anyway, but my surprise hospital stay has made me even more cautious. 

I wish Dawn would be a little less cautious. She needs to be a little more adventurous on her walks. Maybe I'm a bad role model. I don't think I've been adventurous at all this year.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4274 - Labor Day

I'm making progress. I completed my full six mile walk in the park this morning. I was pretty slow, but who's counting. It helped that the weather was nice. For most of the walk it was overcast with a nice breeze. When I returned home, I felt no different than any other day. I'm still not supposed to lift anything heavy, but I think my recovery is progressing nicely. The big black and blue blotch on my belly is even starting to fade. When that disappears, I'll consider myself back to normal again.

The park was really busy today. I guess Labor Day is a real holiday after all. There were even a lot of people on the trails when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. When I took my long walk right after breakfast it felt like the Fourth of July. I wouldn't mind seeing a lot fewer people in the park, but it's still nice to have a huge wooded area right outside your back door. When we moved here many years ago I didn't realize that we'd accidentally picked the best part of the entire city.

When I left on my walk this morning. I had to put Dawn's cone on because Janet hadn't returned from the gym yet. Dawn was totally disgusted. Dawn hates the cone, but her paws are looking so good now that I'd hate to see all this progress go down the drain. Dawn could still do a lot of damage if she started licking and biting at herself again. Luckily, I'm never gone for long. I don't think Dawn has it too bad.

I need to find some new ways to occupy myself. For the past several years most of my activities have been centered around trips to McDonald Observatory and Kennedy Space Center. I've learned a lot about astrophotography and made some valuable contacts at the space center. I wrote quite a few articles and many of them got published. Somehow, that all seems to have disappeared. Many of my contacts have retired and Covid restrictions have changed everything. I kind of feel like I'm back to square one and I'm not all that excited about starting over.

It's way too easy to spend the day sleeping. You'd think that if I slept during the day I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. This doesn't seem to be a problem. I've been getting a lot of sleep lately. I've been able to convince myself that all this rest is helping my recovery, but I won't be able to get away with this excuse much longer. I'm either going to have to find a new project or just admit that I'm lazy.

Dawn and I should be soulmates. She likes to walk and she likes to sleep. This sounds pretty good to me as well. Dawn still seems a little miffed that she has to share the bed with me, but she's learning. The room is quiet and I never watch television. Dawn usually falls asleep before I do. It bothers her if I'm staring at her so I usually turn away. We coexist pretty well, although she still hops off the bed and races to the front door as soon as she hears Janet's car in the driveway.

I've got a pile of bills I need to pay tomorrow. I find no joy in paying utility bills. The gas bill is lower in the summer, but the water and electric bills are much higher. You've got to water the grass in the summer and the air conditioner is running non stop. At least the air conditioner is working. The house is nice and cool.

Tomorrow will be much like today. Probably the entire week will be much like today. You realize that it's been a slow summer when the only excitement is a trip to the hospital.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4273

I took my first long outdoor walk since I was hospitalized. I didn't walk as far as I usualy do, but it's a start. I have no real pain anymore. I'm just a lot more tired than I used to be. We had a nice sunrise walk with Dawn this morning and it was still cool enough to take her on her Sunday outing later in the day. I wasn't able to keep up with Dawn and Janet on the Sunday outing, but I didn't expect to. I walked about halfway and returned to the car. I think I had plenty of walks today.

When we went for ice cream cones on the way home, we discovered that the place was closed. There was a little sign on the window saying that due to a staff shortage, the place would be reducing the number of hours they were open. This seems to be a recurring theme. Small businesses just can't find or retain the staff they need anymore. We found a more expensive ice cream place that charged a ridiculous amount for a cone, but we got one anyway. Dawn waits all week for her ice cream cone. I still don't feel like eating ice cream for some reason. That saved a little money.

My unexpected bile duct blockage is making me a little nervous about returning to the observatory. If this had happened while I was out there, it could have been life threatening. Lack of decent medical facilities is one of the main things that observatory residents complain about. There is only one small hospital in the area and nobody seems to like it. Serious medical problems often involve a drive all the way to Odessa or El Paso and now those hospitals are full of Covid patients. It's a mess. A lot of my friends buy helicopter insurance so they can be airlifted out if something serious happens. 

I can't think of many reasons to like living in a big city but access to good medical care is still at the top of my list. I received excellent care during my hospital stay and didn't have to wait to see the people I needed to see. Janet had the same experience when she was being treated for cancer. I think it helps that our primary care physicians are associated with the hospital. It's doesn't look like we'll be moving to West Texas, but I knew that anyway. The older you get the more you depend on good doctors and having a major hospital nearby.

Since tomorrow is Labor Day, a lot of things will be closed. My gym is going to be closed, so if I want to walk I'll need to get out early before it starts getting hot. My walk in the park this morning wasn't that bad. Of course, I didn't really go very far. We won't be able to visit the Dalmatians tomorrow either since the kennel is closed for Labor Day. I'll still be able to take naps though. It seems like I've been doing a lot of that lately.

We might be able to retire Dawn's cone soon. She shows very little desire to lick her paws lately. Did her bladder stones cause enough discomfort to cause her to start all the licking? Sometimes licking is the way dogs react to discomfort. Maybe it's the new allergy pills she started taking. It's weird that we still don't know what was causing the problem. I'm glad she's getting better though. I'm glad I'm getting better too.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4272

It's weird how quickly things change. It seems like only a few weeks ago that virtually all the stores where I shop had gone back to their pre-pandemic days. Everything seemed normal again. Now there are fresh banners at the entrances requiring a mask to enter the building. I wonder if toilet paper hoarding is going to return? Most stores just got finished scraping up all those 'stay six feet apart' stickers on the floor. Are they going to have to apply new stickers now?

Some people are quick to blame the unvaccinated for the current virus resurgence. I'm not so sure. By any historic standards, the country is actually doing a pretty good job of getting vaccinated. At any rate, the wrong people are getting the blame. It's young people who still feel invincible who are not getting vaccinated. I have almost equal numbers of conservative and liberal friends and I don't know a single person who has resisted getting vaccinated. I do know a lot of people who were quick to travel, go to ball games, and start socializing again as soon as restrictions were lifted. Large groups hanging out together are still the real problem. Throughout this pandemic I've always thought that if more people were antisocial like me, we could have significantly minimized this mess.

I still go to the gym, but my gym is far from crowded. I encounter far fewer people at the gym than I used to walking outdoors in the park. There is the constant smell of disinfectant at the gym and some people seem to spend more time cleaning their machines than they do actually exercising. People have definitely gotten meaner. It's not just people on airplanes either. The other day a guy chewed me out for being in the wrong lane on the track. There were only three people using the track and there are three lanes. Get a life, buddy.

Dawn seemed eager to take a second walk today. We waited until almost sunset and made our one mile loop again. The days are still hot, but sunrise and sunset walks seem fine for everybody. It's nice to see Dawn healthy again. She has virtually stopped licking and biting at her paws and has a lot more energy than she did a month ago. Hopefully, this will continue. I think we are both getting better.

I'm having second thoughts about my 5000 day goal. Why am I even doing this? I've learned how to fill up space on days where nothing happens, but I rarely have anything important to share. I think I'm kidding myself when I say a write to keep my mind sharp. If I've proved anything at all, it's than in an average daily life, very little happens. I bet I could substitute a post from two or three years ago and you'd never even know the difference.

Tomorrow I'll continue proving that very little happens. If it's not too hot, we'll take Dawn for her Sunday outing. Maybe I'll be able to complete the full mile this week. Last week I had to turn around and wait for Dawn and Janet at the car. We'll see. I feel a lot stronger now. I'm not sure if I'll feel like ice cream. If not, Dawn can have my cone.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4271

Back to the gym again. I'm still not very active, but I'm trying. With each passing day I feel a little better, but I still have no desire to do anything. I'm trying to force myself to go to the gym everyday because otherwise I'd just spend the day sleeping. I'm actually surprised that I can still sleep at night. With all the naps I've been taking, my Fitbit has been registering more than 8 hours of sleep each day for the first time I can remember.

We still start our day with a sunrise walk with Dawn. If there happens to be a breeze, these walks are enjoyable but you can feel the heat as soon as the sun clears the horizon. Dawn still enjoys these morning walks but she has no desire to go any further than her standard one mile loop. I can't say that I blame her. Lately, I'm ready to return home after one mile myself.

I'm still having shredded wheat for breakfast. What happened to my smoothie? I have no desire for a smoothie anymore. This is one of the oddest side effects of my illness. How can a mealtime favorite for many years suddenly turn your stomach? I imagine that I'll return to having smoothies at some point, but for now this remains a mystery.

NASA keeps sending me invitations to apply for credentials, but always adds a disclaimer saying that due to Covid restrictions, almost nobody will be accepted. Why not just reach out directly to the ten people you want to cover your events. I have no plans to return to Florida anyway, but it is frustrating that it appears to be coming much more difficult to cover launches at Kennedy Space Center. I'm not even sure that I have a media sponsor anymore since my editor is no longer working at Spaceflight Magazine. I wonder how long it will take me to get to know the new editor?

I walked several miles at the gym today, but my pace was so slow that it hardly registered on my Fitbit. I was so cold today that I wished I'd worn a jacket to the gym. This is another odd side effect of my hospitalization and surgeries. I'm perpetually cold now. The temperatures outside are near 100 degrees but I'm wearing a jacket around the house. I guess I could turn the thermostat up, but Janet and Dawn wouldn't approve. The house isn't really that cold. It's just me.

I guess I'll go to the grocery store tomorrow. There are no restrictions on shopping, just on lifting heavy objects. I'm pretty sure I can still pick up a box of strawberries. Do I even need strawberries and blueberries if I'm not fixing a smoothie every morning? Who knows. I just wish that I'd get back to my old schedule.

I've got no real plans for tomorrow. I suspect that life without a gallbladder will be exactly the same as life with a gallbladder. Maybe one of these days I'll be enthusiastic about something again. I'm not feeling it now though.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4270

I went back to the gym today. All I did was walk around and around the indoor track, but it's a start. I'm still tired, but I didn't feel bad today. I actually think I look worse than I feel. I've got some nasty looking black and blue blotches on my stomach, but the pain is minimal now.

I called the surgical team this morning to schedule my post-op follow up visit and they told me that after reviewing all my lab reports, they didn't need to see me. Evidently, all my blood work is returning to normal and the cultured samples they took showed no growth after five days. This is all good. It appears that I am a routine case with no abnormalities at all. 

I'm glad I'm finished with the Cipro. I feel a little better already. The peripheral neuropathy I'd been feeling is much less evident today. The doctor I talked with this morning said that tendonitis wasn't much of a worry either. Evidently, a five day course of Cipro is very short. Problems with this drug are much more common when you have to take it for long periods of time.

It never got cool today. Even our sunrise walk was pretty warm. It was definitely too hot to take a sunset walk with Dawn. She doesn't seem to mind. As long as she has her spot on the bed, she's a happy dog. The heat was the main reason that I decided to return to the gym. I'm starting to get cabin fever and it's hard to stay active inside the house. I'll probably go back to the gym tomorrow. Walking around the indoor track is boring, but all my doctors says that walking is good.

Dawn seems to feel so much better now that her bladder stones are gone. I think the new allergy medicine she'd taking is helping as well. The paw licking has largely stopped and she has more energy on her walks. I wonder how long she had the stones? It could have been a long time. I've noticed that she's even been a little friendlier toward me lately. Maybe now that we are both free of stones, life will take a turn for the better.

It's weird not to have any travel plans whatsoever. Launches are still taking place at Kennedy Space Center, but Florida is such a mess that it's going to be a while before I get press credentials again. I have no desire to travel to Florida anyway. Truthfully, I don't have much of a desire to travel anywhere. There's no rush. Covid will eventually run its course and life will return to normal. In theory I'll be returning to the observatory in late October, but I suspect that this will change. With hospital admissions rising all over the state, I doubt that that they'd want to take chances with large crowds.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. Janet took the trash out to the curb this evening because I'm still not supposed to lift anything. I wonder if I'll ever feel like having a smoothie again. I've completely lost my taste for these things. This is very strange, since I've enjoyed my morning smoothies for years. I don't like change, but I think I've dealt with last week's changes fairly well. I'm very glad that I'm a reasonably healthy person. Illness of any sort is for the birds.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4269

Another long, uneventful day. I finished taking my antibiotics this morning, so hopefully the weird Cipro induced side effects will stop soon. For some reason I don't feel like having a smoothie for breakfast anymore. Very strange. I've been eating shredded wheat for the time being and having a very light dinner. I probably should be eating more, but my appetite is gone.

I drove to the post office after breakfast and mailed the letter to my sister. No problems driving. I'm not going to be driving anywhere far for a while though. My digestive system still hasn't returned to normal and it's still good to have a bathroom nearby. Janet thinks I ought to start going back to the gym and walking around the indoor track. Maybe next week. I'm still feeling a little nauseous even though the hospital drugs should be completely out of my system by now.

I think today might have been the hottest day of the year so far. We walked very early this morning, but it was starting to feel warm even before sunrise. I didn't take an evening walk because it was too hot. Dawn still wanted to go to training class though. Somehow she knows that Wednesday evening is her day and starts whining to go to class right after dinner. Janet said everything was fine because it cools off quickly after the sun goes down.

Now that the excess fluids the hospital pumped me up with have mostly been eliminated, I feel like my skin is one size too big for my body. Old skin is not very flexible. It's going to take a long time to get back in shape again. Oh, well. I certainly don't have much else to do this month. I'm definitely getting better, so I really need to work on getting strong again. Today I just felt like sleeping all day and that's not a good thing. There's really no reason to feel discouraged. I survived a somewhat serious condition and am on the mend.

I'm fully vaccinated and always carry a mask with me, but I'm getting sick of all the gaslighting and virtue signaling. Have you noticed that the people who are quickest to call someone else selfish are the very same people who were the first to resume traveling, going to sporting events and concerts, and hanging out with their friends. Who's really being selfish here? It's fine if you want to criticize the unvaccinated but let's get real. How about criticizing all the fat people, smokers, and substance abusers who have been clogging up our healthcare system for decades. It's easy to criticize others. A little harder to change your own behavior. 

I'm a bit conflicted here. I'm a very disciplined person, but did I do something wrong that caused my own hospitalization? How hard will it be to change my behavior? They say gallstones are primarily caused by when bile contains too much cholesterol for the liver to dissolve or bilirubin levels are too high. My blood work is typically normal and my cholesterol has been under control for ages. I think I have a healthy diet, but maybe not. My smoothie is probably way too sweet and I know I don't drink enough water. I eat plenty of fresh vegetables but I also love smoked meats, pizza and pasta. 

Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully I can find something interesting to keep me occupied. Recovery is slow and I'm not terribly patient.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4268

I really miss my long walks in the park. These walks provided a much needed sense of purpose. Sure, I was really just killing time, but it was easy to convince myself that I was doing something important. Hey, as you grow older, staying active and healthy actually is important. Sadly, I'm going to have to wait a while until I can get back on the trails. I can take short walks for now, but my doctors say it will be at least three weeks before I'll be able to resume any semblance of my normal activities.

With each passing day I continue to feel a little better. I think I can attribute most of the weirdness I'm feeling now to the Cipro I have to continue taking. Cipro has a number of unfortunate side effects and I seem to be affected by several of them. Cipro is known to cause peripheral neuropathy and I am feeling an odd tingling sensation in my fingers and legs when I am inactive. This may also be caused by poor circulation, since my resting heart rate is curently much lower than normal. I'm blaming the Cipro though. Cipro also causes headaches and I have one right now. Luckily, I was prescribed a short course of this drug. I only have three pills left and I'll be done tomorrow evening.

We are having a mild heat wave. The temperature got up to 97 degrees today. Our sunrise walk with Dawn was fairly normal, but you could tell it was going to be hot later in the day. We didn't take Dawn on a sunset walk because we were afraid the pavement was too hot for her paws. Dawn certainly didn't seem to mind staying inside. I should have stayed home as well, but I felt like I needed to move. I hate being cooped up all day. I waited until it was just about dark and then took a short one mile walk. I was a little tired when I returned home, but I got to see a pretty sunset. I definitely needed the exercise.

Today wasn't very productive. I watered a few plants, wrote a letter to my sister, and made an appointment for later in September to see my gastrointestinal doctor. They want to review their Barrett's esophagus diagnosis with me. I think they'll want to do some biopsies of the esophagus to check for precancerous cells. Unfortunately, this means another hospital visit, but I think the dreaded event is at least three months away.

I wonder where people find the strength to deal with serious illness? My Dad dealt with Parkinson's disease for decades and my sister has been in and out of hospitals for years. I've generally been the healthy one in the family. I did have Hepatitis C but that was the hospital's fault. It's hard to believe now, but hospitals used to routinely buy blood from winos on the street. It's amazing we all lived through the 60's and 70's. In the grand scheme of things, my surgery last week was minor. It has redoubled my resolve to stay healthy though. I don't have that much time left and I want to enjoy it.

Hard to believe that tomorrow will be September. Where did this year go? 2020 and 2021 have all just blurred together. I wonder if things will ever return to normal? Covid boosters will probably be just like flu shots in the future. The work world will never be the same. I never thought I'd see the day when companies of all sizes were begging for workers and the unemployed still didn't want to work. There is a tendency to blame someone else for everything now. Nobody wants to take personal responsibility for their own lives any more. It's all pretty sad. I'm convinced that the country will remain permanently divided and this won't be good for anyone. We live in strange times. I'm just glad I had a chance to grow up in world that was a much better place.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4267

Today's big event was the first shower I've had in over a week. It felt good to be clean again. Not only did I get the OK from my doctors to take a shower, I am also able to discontinue a lot of the meds the hospital prescribed when I was released. The only drug I need to continue is the Cipro. I'm not entirely happy about this, since Ciprofloxacin has a lot of dangerous side effects. I wish they'd given me something else. Once you start a course of antibiotics, you need to finish it though. I'm basically stuck with this. At least I can stop the laxatives, stool softeners, and the Tylenol. I have no idea why they gave me so much Tylenol. I took a ton of Tylenol last week and it basically did nothing.

I got a lot done today. I called all the people I was asked to follow up with. One doctor said I called too early and another never answered my voicemail. Hey, I did my job though. I talked to the observatory folks and told them I won't be able to come out in September. I talked to a nurse, who answered some of my questions about medications and bruising. Basically, I'm doing everything right and most of my worries are unfounded. It doesn't help that I'm a hypochondriac who is very good at doing online research. I've found all kinds of little inconsistencies in my treatment. I need to just let it go. The doctors still know way more than I do.

Life is fairly boring. There are still a lot of restrictions. No heavy lifting or strenuous activity is allowed. Janet even has to empty the dehumidifier. No alcohol either. That sucks. I'm not supposed to drive for a while, but I probably wouldn't de driving much anyway. A lot of these restrictions go away fairly soon since I appear to be recovering well. I can still walk, although one of the side effects of Cipro is tendinitis. I don't think gentle, slow walks would cause tendon rupture, but who knows. I can't wait to get off these drugs. 

We took our sunrise and sunset walks today. The sunrise walk was pleasant, but the sunset walk was a little hot. Dawn did well though and didn't get overheated. Our little one mile loop is just about right for both of us. It will be at least three weeks before I can begin walking longer. I think they want me to wait six weeks before returning to the gym. It's going to be a long, uneventful month. 

I didn't visit the Dalmatians today, but Janet did. Bullet has gone to his forever home. I knew he'd find a home fast. I marked Bullet as adopted on the website and keep hoping that Charlie and Cooper will find homes as well. They are great dogs, but both have had bite incidents in the past. It's a shame that their past is making it more difficult to find a bright future. Any dog will bite, given the right circumstances. Charlie and Cooper really deserve a second chance.

You watch a lot of television when you are housebound. I'm finally caught up on current events. All I've got to say is that when you sink the ship, you can't really brag about how many lifeboats you have. The way we exited Afghanistan was shameful. What a colossal blunder. We left people behind. We surrendered to the Taliban. And we're no better off than we were twenty years ago. I hope you guys who wanted 'an adult in the room' are happy now. Too bad you got 'Weekend at Bernies' instead.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4266

Illness teaches patience. I can tell my body is healing, but it's a slow process. There is no longer a need for laxatives. The puffiness under my skin is slowly subsiding. I'm feeling a little stronger, but it will take a while to get back in shape. It still seems unreal how quickly your body deteriorates when you are bedridden. I'm determined to resume my regular schedule as soon as the doctors say it's OK. I was headed downhill anyway and the past week has certainly accelerated the process. Muscle atrophy is common in the healthiest person as you grow older. You've got to work hard to keep from losing ground. I saw what happens firsthand when you don't do something. After a serious illness, my Dad stopped being active and spent his days watching television. It was unbelievable how quickly he went downhill.

I'll keep walking for my body. I'll keep writing for my mind. And it's probably important to keep traveling as well. As soon as Covid is over I'm going to be following rocket launches again and watching the Milky Way under the clear, dark skies of West Texas. Janet does volunteer work to stay active. I look for more solitary activities. I don't think it matters what you choose to do. You just can't let yourszelf go to seed.

According to the guidelines I've been given, it appears that my recovery is right on schedule. I still have a lot of unanswered questions though. I was reading through the dozens of lab reports are are available online at the hospital website and was quite surprised to discover that they found E Coli in my bloodstream. How could that happen? We are fastidious about the food we eat and cleaning things has been an integral part of food preparation for many years. We seldom go out to eat either, so it is doubtful that I could have gotten bad food from a restaurant. I suspect the problem is all internal. When a gallstone blocked my bile ducts, my entire digestive system got screwed up. My blood work was off the charts terrible. It actually looked worse than when I had Hepatitis C.  Probably the bacteria entered my bloodstream from my own intestines.

I took three short walks today with Dawn. Dawn got her special outing today, but I was unable to keep up with her. I returned to the car while Janet and Dawn completed the special Sunday walk. I didn't feel like ice cream after the walk, but Dawn certainly did. She seems to know I am sick and has been much more accommodating about sharing the bed with me. I'm glad that Dawn enjoys taking sunset walks now. It's an added incentive for me to keep moving. I walked 3.65 miles today. It isn't much, but it's a lot better than nothing.

I don't think I'll be visiting the Dalmatians tomorrow. It would be bad news if one of them jumped on my belly. Janet may still visit the kennel, but I'll just stay here and try not to do anything stupid. I need to call and make several appointments for follow up visits tomorrow. I'll need to see both the surgical team and the gastrointestinal team before I can be given a clean bill of health. It will probably be two weeks until I see anybody, but I hope the doctors are as pleased with my progress as I am.

I haven't been paying a lot of attention to current events lately. All things considered, that's probably a good thing. 

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4265

This will be short tonight. Literally nothing happened. The hospital drugs have worn off and I am feeling very tired and quite sore. There is nothing wrong. According to the 32 page post-op instructions I was given when I was released from the hospital, everything I am feeling is normal. The most noticible post-op complication is constipation. This is common after any type of surgery, but is almost inevitable when you've had abdoninal surgery. The intestines tend to stop working when your doctor has to move or shift your intestines during surgery. If the condition gets serious it is called ileus and can be quite serious. I don't think I have ileus because I can feel my stomach rumbling and have gas. Spot, our first Dalmatian, did have ileus after having a cancerous section of his intestines were removed and he almost died. He didn't poop for days. Maybe it was weeks. When he finally pooped, we felt like having a giant celebration.

I am following instructions and taking all my medications. Today I took two short walks and Janet is helping with any heavy lifting. The only medication I haven't take yet is the Tramadol. I don't know why they even gave me Tramadol. I have learned a lot about Tramadol over the years working with dogs and I am not a fan. Like any opioid, it is highly addictive and should never be given if there is a danger of paralytic ileus. I hope the over the counter laxatives I'm taking will work. They're safe and usually effective. It's going to be a long three days though. I"ve been told that almost nobody poops for at least three days after abdominal surgery.

I'm glad I like to walk. Walking is the one exercise that is actually encouraged after surgery. We took two short walks with Dawn today. One at sunrise and the other at sunset. Dawn likes the sunset walk, so we may add this to our regular schedule. It's the same little one mile loop, but the second walk doubles the amount of exercise she gets during the day. Dawn's early morning walks used to seem like nothing to me, buy now I feel them. It's amazing how rapidly your body can deteriorate after a week of lying in bed.

I may not feel normal yet, but I'm starting to look a little more normal. When I left the hospital I looked like the Michelin Man. My body was incredibly puffy after being pumped up on fluids all week. You gradually expel all these extra fluids, but it takes a while. I'm glad I can still pee normally. I have ugly bruises on my stomach, but this is considered normal as well. My arms look like I'm a heroin addict. At times I had three different drip tubes in me at once and I lost count of all the blood test I had. There were as many as four a day. I learned later that there was a reason for all these extra tests. The doctors had discovered bacteria in my blood and they were very worried about Pancreatitis and other infection risks. 

In the grand scheme of things, gallbladder removal is very minor surgery. I know so many people who have endured much worse. My sister once had an eight hour spinal surgery that took years to recover from. I don't think she ever fully recovered. Surgery is still very messy, despite all the high tech equipment in the operating room. We still depend a lot on the body's amazing ability to heal itself. I'm going to be fine, but I'm definitely not feeling 100% today. We'll see if I feel up to joining Dawn on her Sunday outing tomorrow. I think this slightly longer walk won't be a problem, but I'm taking things one day at a time.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4264

After a long day at the hospital, I'm finally home again. This is the longest I've ever been hospitalized in my life. You learn a lot when you are hospitalized during a Covid surge. Hospitals throughout Texas are operating near capacity. I was placed on a Covid free floor but you could tell that the disease was nearby. The hospital did a good job of keeping Covid patients in a separate part of the hospital. I was initialy treated in the emergency room, but couldn't be admited as a regular patient until I was tested and proved I was Covid free.

Not only did I have my first and only Covid test at the hospital, I was intubated twice. Both procedures required that I be on a ventilator. You are never even aware that this device is keeping you breathing. Most people are out cold when it is inserted. Breathing pure oxygen feels about the same as breathing regular air. You are only aware of the sensation for a few seconds though before the anesthesia knocks you out. Being anesthetized is still a very strange experience.

Large hospitals are really small cities. They are self sustaining, with their own power supplies. The hospital employs thousands of people. I was completely amazed at how many different people were involved either directly or indirectly in my care. Most of these people have good, well paying jobs and they know it. One of the guys pushing me around on a gurney said it took him a full year just to learn how to navigate the huge labyrinth that is the hospital campus.

If you want to see diversity in action, spend a week in a large hospital. I've never talked at length to so many black people in my entire life. It was a good experience. The lead surgeon doing my abdominal surgery yesterday was an Iranian woman. Most of my nurses were black. Lots of people with high level jobs were middle eastern or Indian. There were lots of white people too, but they were not a majority. 

It was interesting to spend a week with these people. I learned a lot. There are definite cultural differences, but it was all good. The young white nurses were very serious about diet and nutrition and were quite specific about what I should eat after I was discharged. One nurse had a Vitamix just like mine and we shared smoothie recipes. The black nurses told me to eat what I wanted and be happy. My favorite nurse told me to be sure to order the brisket for lunch yesterday and I did. It was delicious and of course the meat was full of fat. Everybody asks you to confirm your birthday when they do anything. When two young black guys who were transporting me to the operating room asked me for my birthday I said Juneteenth and they immediately smiled and started laughing. "Juneteenth boy," they said. "That's good."

My hospital journey isn't over yet. When the gastrointestinal team did their thing on Wednesday they discovered that something is wrong with my esophasgus. I have Barrett's esophagus, caused by years of acid reflux. They want to do an Endoscopic resection, which uses an endoscope to remove damaged cells to aid in the detection of dysplasia and cancer. This will take place about three months from now. What the hell. I've gone this far, I might as well keep going. I really do have a terrible problem with acid reflux and maybe these guys can fix it.

I became familiar with medicine by taking good care of dogs. Most of the conditions I was treated for this week were very familiar to me. Spot and Dash both had stones that had to be removed surgically. Dawn had stones as well. Dot had major abdominal surgery and almost died. All our dogs needed special diets at one point of another. The whole process of doing extensive blood work before administering anesthesia was very familiar. Every dog we've ever had has been under anesthesia. Our dogs made this weeks experience less scary to me. I'd been down this road before. I'm a grumpy person by nature and you'd think this weeks experience would have made me mad. It was actually kind of uplifting.  I feel a little better about everything today.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4263

The surgery team gets up early. By 7:30 AM they had me wheeled down to the surgical suite. First they took me to a waiting room where a variety of people came in and introduced themselves. Then I went to anesthesia prep, where various tubes were prepared and inserted. Finally, I was wheeled to the operating room itself. The room was big and very bright. There were four large very bright movable lights on the ceiling and lots of sophisticated looking machines. It looked serious. Everyone was very nice and surprisingly casual. I guess it was just another day at the office for these guys.

I got into a conversation with one of the anesthesia techs about the food I would have to give up after having may gallbladder removed. The tech said she loved nuts too, but loves chips even more. This started a general conversation about munchies, and pretty soon the anesthesia team started talking about how they hoped Texas would legalize marijuana soon. Jeez. I was about the be anesthetized by a bunch of stoners. No criticism here. These kids were young, but they were all very professional. When the head anesthesiologist entered the room they all got very serious and quickly quit talking about munchies.

Being anesthetized is weird. You talk to people about what's about to happen, they put you to sleep, and then it seems like you wake up an instant later and it's all over. Pain medicine is so good now that you feel no pain at all. The surgeon told me that if the procedure went well I would have four very small incisions on my belly. If there were complications, there would be one very large incision that stretched across my belly. When I woke up there were four very small incisions and I was happy. This type of surgery is done using a procedure called laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A small camera is inserted through one incision. Instruments that cut the gallbladder from the body are inserted through a second incision. The gallbladder is pulled out through a third slightly larger incision near the belly button. I have no idea what the fourth incision is for. All my surgeons have been women. I've heard that this is because they are generally more dexterous with the very delicate instruments that are used for laparoscopic surgery. The surgery evidently went perfectly. I feel about the same as I do after a strenuous day at the gym. There is a tightness in my belly that feels like I've done a hundred crunches, but that's about all.

Everybody here has been extremely nice and very professional. I still believe Baylor is the best hospital in Dallas. I changed my primary care physical several years ago to make sure that all my doctors were in the Baylor system and have never regretted my decision. I still hate going to the hospital and think most doctors over prescribe prescription medicine, but you've got to take care of yourself.

Hopefully, I will be out of here tomorrow. Basically being in a hospital for a long time is like being in a very nice prison. You do what they tell you. You eat what they tell you. You take lots of pills that you know in your heart are very dubious value. I take the pills though. I tend to trust the experts. I actually like talking to doctors. They are very smart and most lead interesting lives. Doctors are much nicer than advertising executives and not as arrogant as airline pilots. My little room is actually quite peaceful. I don't like being hooked up to tubes, but I'm getting used to it. Hospital beds are fabulous. I wish I could take one home with me because you can easily move them to a comfortable sleeping position without monkeying around with a bunch of pillows.

I've heard they won't release me tomorrow until I poop. That might be a problem. So far I'm feeling pretty good. Things go wrong as you grow older, but I'm trying my best to keep my ailments to a minimum.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4262

One down, one to go. I had a procedure today to remove stones from my bile duct and apparently it was successful. The procedure is called endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and involves passing an endoscope about the thickness of a finger down your throat, through your stomach, and into your intestine where it meets the bile ducts. Special tools are passed through the endoscope to grab and remove the stones. The process has been explained to me several times but it still seems incredibly complicated. The doctors seemed pleased with their results today. Tomorrow they will remove my gallbladder which is the source of these gallstones.

I've asked several doctors why we even have a gallbladder, since it is the most common organ to be removed. Apparently, you can live quite well without a gallbladder. Today I finally found an answer that made sense. The gallbladder only gets called into action when you eat really hard to digest foods. The bile the gallbladder produces breaks these foods down into compounds the body can digest. This is not good news for me. Among the foods that are hardest to digest are nuts and seeds. Jeez. I love nuts. They are my go to snack and I eat them every day. I had no idea that nuts are hard to digest. They are a healthy source of protein and much better to snack on than candy or chips. Oh, well. I guess I'm going to have to change my diet a bit.

I'm getting a much better idea of why medical care is so expensive. Every two hours someone is coming in my room and giving me some kind of test. I've lost track of how many blood tests I've had. Blood pressure and temperature are checked frequently and so are blood sugar levels. Every single time a nurse does something they ask me my name and birthdate and then check to see if if matches the information on my wristband. Sometime they give me little test to make sure I'm not senile. "Do you know where you are," they ask. "Why are you here?" Occasionally is gets ridiculous. "What month is this?" Can you remember what day it is without looking at your watch?" I'm not senile, but apparently the loud deaf lady next door is. I hear the nurses yelling questions to her, and the lady never knows the answers.

I can't figure out whether the hospital is padding the bill, or whether I actually need all this attention. I've never had so many meds in my life. I try to refuse some of the medication because I know from prior experience that it doesn't work on me or that I just don't need it. I wish they wouldn't give me so many pain pills. I"m not in that much pain at the moment. It's hard to get a nurse to change something that is one the schedule though. They follow orders.

I'm a little apprehensive about tomorrow's gallbladder surgery. This is real major surgery. I asked one of the doctors how long the operation takes. "Usually between 45 minutes and 4 hours,"  he told me. Wow. "Isn't that a pretty big range," I asked. "Sometimes there are complications," the doctor said. You always have to sign a ton to disclaimers and forms when you go to a hospital. I never read the fine print, but basically the hospital saying "is it OK is we accidentally kill you?"

I bet I've lost some weight. I haven't had any food today at all. I can't eat tomorrow either since I've got another surgery. A nurse asked me if I'd had a bowel movement today. Nope. Nothing in, nothing out. It's been a long day. You'd think it would be easy to sleep in a hospital since you are just sitting in bed most of the time. It's almost impossible to sleep though. Hospitals run on a 24 hour schedule and nurses think nothing of popping in at 3 AM. The machines I'm hooked up to start beeping a lot and have to be reset. Last night one of these machines had to be reset every two hours.

Pinkey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4261

Well, this was a big surprise. I'm at the hospital. It looks like I'm going to need surgery tomorow. I wasn't expecting this at all when I began to have stomach pains yesterday. Today the pain got a lot worse. Janet said that I'd better call my doctor and my doctor said I'd better get down to the hospital quick. The pain was pretty bad today. I threw up several times. I thought that I was throwing up blood, but then I remembered that my morning smoothie was pink. I'm pretty sure I just threw up my smoothie.

Janet dropped me off at the hospital and then I began the long wait as I was shuffled around from one department to another. The last thing I wanted to do was be in a hospital during a Covid surge, but here we are. After several blood tests and a sonogram, I finally talked to a doctor. The doctor said that I had stones in my bile duct that needed to be removed and that my gall bladder was full of stones. That needs to be removed as well. For the first procedure they will snake a camera and a thin wire down my throat, stomach and intestines to reach the bile duct and remove the stores. This sounds incredibly difficult to me, but the surgeon assured me that he does this every day. There is a small risk of pancreatitis and an even smaller risk of perforating the intestine wall, but the surgeon didn't seem worried. Surgeons never seem worried.

The next day I will have a second surgery to remove my gall bladder. This type of endoscopic surgery is supposed to be minimally invasive with a quick recover time. There is still cutting involved though. I hate the cutting. I'm going to be here a while. They said they planned to release me on Friday morning.

My doctor showed me how to use a special physician referral door to the emergency room. This saves a lot of time. Between some of the tests this evening I was pushed into the general emergency room waiting area for about an hour. This place seemed like one of Dante's circles of hell. People were coughing and half of them probably had Covid. For once I was really glad I was wearing a good N-95 mask. I was glad to return to a private room for the remainder of my tests. I heard that there was a six hour wait for walk ins  at the emergency room.

I wasn't expecting to stay overnight, so I asked Janet to bring me my electric razor, a toothbrush, clean underwear, a laptop, and charging cords for all my devices. My phone and watch are dead. I'm actually writing this blog entry on Wednesday morning and backdating it to Tuesday. With all the tests going on, there was no way to write this evening.

Hopefully, everything goes well tomorrow. I don't like hospitals and dislike surgery even more. It is what is is though. This needs to be done and it would be stupid of me to ignore the problem. The doctors said it was a good thing I came in today because if I'd waited there would have been a good chance for a severe liver infection. The last surgery I had was knee surgery back in the early 1970's. I guess it's finally time to do this again.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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