Day 3100

Every time I think we've turned the corner with Dash, something happens to remind me that he's still a sick dog. He must have had another vestibular episode last night. When I took him outside to pee around 1 AM, he was drooling a lot and wanted to eat grass. I thought he was going to throw up, but he didn't. We went back to sleep, but he had no appetite the next morning. It was really hard to get him to take his morning meds. He wasn't interested in anything. Eventually we were able to wrap the pills in small pieces of a leftover quesadilla. He still seemed eager to walk, but when we got home he wanted to throw up again. It was way too soon to throw up because his phenobarbital hadn't gotten into his system yet. I wouldn't let him eat grass in the yard, gave him a Pepsid AC, and went back in the bedroom with him until he eventually fell asleep on the bed. This was a little risky, since I didn't want to clean vomit off the bedspread. The plan worked though. When Dash woke up three hours later, he seemed fine.

When we went out to dinner yesterday I put on a shirt that Janet said was fifteen years out of style. It probably was. I have trouble throwing stuff away, so I told her she could go through my closet and get rid of anything she'd be embarrassed to see me wear in public. Janet loves to get rid of clutter, so I wasn't surprised that she took me up on my offer. This afternoon, there were three large trash bags filled with an odd selection of old polo shirts that looked like they belonged to a guy thirty pounds heavier than me. Jeez. Did I ever wear those shirts? I guess I must have. There were also a ton of old t-shirts I must have picked up at trade shows. Janet seemed delighted to pare down my collection of ugly sweaters. I must have been fond of loud, colorful sweaters at some point. I could never throw away this stuff myself, but I won't miss anything. Truthfully, I'm glad the stuff is gone.

When I went to the bank this morning, I stood in line behind a man who'd brought a shopping cart into the lobby with him. He looked like a homeless guy, but he must have had a business of some sort. I watched as the teller handed him bag after bag of coins. When he had filled the grocery cart with coins, he left the bank and started pushing the cart down the sidewalk. I have no idea where he was going. It's a strange world we live in. You never would have seen this at a bank twenty years ago.

I made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow, but I forgot to check the weather forecast first. It looks like there are supposed to be thunderstorms. I hope the forecast changes overnight. Weather forecasts change every few hours here in Texas, so it might be clear tomorrow. If there are storms, I'll have to cancel my appointment. Dash's storm phobia has gotten worse and I can't risk leaving him alone in a storm anymore.

Dash ate his dinner tonight, so hopefully he is feeling better. We still don't know what triggers these vestibular episodes. They seem to occur when you least expect them and they are always alarming. The vet says he will experience these periodic sensations of vertigo and nausea for the rest of his life. Luckily, they don't seem to happen too often. Lets hope he has a normal day tomorrow.

Alamo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3022

Dash was very weak today. Sometimes all he needs is a good night's rest after a bad vestibular episode, but this morning he seemed worse than yesterday. He still seemed disoriented and often had trouble standing on the slick brick floors. There were several times today when I debated whether to take him to the emergency vet, but I knew it wouldn't do any good. We've rushed Dash to the vet numerous times after a vestibular seizure and there was very little they could do. His initial seizure was so severe that he stayed in the ICU on fluids for four days, but subsequent seizures have been milder and the vet just took his vital signs and sent him home again. Traveling in the car is so stressful for Dash that I've decided that it is better to just ride out the small seizures at home.

If Dash doesn't have a fever, isn't panting or in distress, and is breathing normally when he is asleep, I can be fairly certain the the nausea and vertigo he is feeling will pass. Today I didn't feel this confident. In addition to the usually symptoms associated with vestibular disease, Dash seemed unusually weak. He could barely keep his head up. This weakness could mean that the blood clot in his heart was causing problems with his circulation again. The vets at the cancer center have already told me that unusual weakness could mean that his heart isn't pumping properly. Again, what could I do? Other than continuing to take blood thinners, there is absolutely nothing we can do about Dash's heart. Surgery isn't even an option. The combination of vestibular disease and a serious heart problem are kind of a double whammy.

Sitting with Dash and watching him twitch as he sleeps makes me sad. I wish there was more I could do. Dash's vet at the cancer center tells us we are already living on borrowed time, so keeping Dash calm and happy is probably the best treatment we've got left. We're learning to cope with the vestibular disease and are still hopeful the the blood thinners Dash is taking will eventually dissolve the clots in his heart. Something is working. Dash bounced back a little toward the end of the day. He ate about half of his dinner and Janet and I were able to take him on a short walk to the end of our street and back. He is sleeping peacefully now.

I discovered a cool app today that let's you instantly identify plants and animals by pointing your phone's camera at them. This would be great on my walks with Dash. I am always trying to identify birds and wondering what type of flower I'm looking at. I tried to download the app and I got a notice that I would have to upgrade to IOS 11.3 first. No can do. My phone is stuck on IOS 10.3 forever. That apparently is the end of the road for the iPhone 5. It seems stupid to buy an expensive new phone so you can use a free app, but that's how it goes these days. It's all about the software.

Maybe after I pay my accountant for doing my taxes, I'll still have enough money left over to get a new phone. Nah. That will never happen. There's never any left over money these days. For the time being, I'll just continue looking up wildflowers on Google. Some, like the Bluebonnets I saw today, are easy to identify.

I swept all the catkins off the roof today, so the water won't pond when it rains. I also found a suspicious area that might be the source of the leak in the living room. What I haven't been able to do is convince the roofer that my leaky roof is more important than the other leaky roofs he's dealing with. I'll call him again, but I'm not a miracle worker.

I hope Dash is feeling better tomorrow. Today was a rough day.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2965

The stars were definitely not aligned today. Everything seemed wrong. Dash is still not eating well. I've just about run out of options. Usually if he's not hungry when he wakes up, his appetite will return after a morning walk. Not today. I kept trying different varieties of food and eventually got him to nibble at a few things. He just wasn't hungry though. The tremors have gotten worse as well. Several times today, I noticed that he was shivering a lot. I tried putting a blanket on him, but he didn't seem cold. I went to the vet and got some more Cerenia pills, but I'm not even sure if nausea is causing his problems. I wish Dash could talk and tell me what was going on. His vets don't seem to have any answers.

I received another jury summons this morning. Jury services has taken away my ability to postpone the summons any longer, so it looks like I will have to appear this time. I think I have some perfectly good reasons to be exempt, but none of them qualify. I don't want to catch the flu by sitting with hundreds of people in the jury pool room. I have a sick dog to take care of. A sick person would be a valid excuse, but they don't seem to care about dogs. I don't think they'd even like to hear that I have no faith in the judicial process.

The stock market not only continued Friday's sell off, it had a spectacular crash, dropping over 1,000 points in a few hours. Not good. I'll be the first to admit that the market has gotten ahead of itself, but this is no justification for the largest intra-day drop in history. The business channels had all sorts of explanations for today's crash, but it all comes down to fear and greed. Greedy people pushed the market too high and fearful people are dragging it too low. I hate these wild swings, even though I've seen them many times before. I have no pension or retirement plan. The market is all I have and on days like this, it's of very little use. Ironically, one of the reasons that the market dropped today was the fear that interest rates will rise. Give me a break. Interest rates are still incredibly low. I actually wish interest rates were high. I miss the days when a simple, safe bank CD could earn you 10%.

It looks like I'm going to have to take the freezer apart and defrost the evaporator coil again. The refrigerator is starting to get warm. I guess it's still worth waiting for the President's Day sales, but trying to keep the current refrigerator running for another month is getting real old. I could do the defrost procedure in my sleep by now, but it is still a giant pain in the ass. I've tried keeping the freezer on a warmer setting so the coil won't freeze quite as fast, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Every week and a half, I'm faced with transferring all the food to a large cooler and taking the freezer section apart to expose the evaporator coil. Hopefully, by this time next month there will be a new refrigerator in our kitchen that will last until it's time for me to be shipped off to assisted living.

Today's events would have been bad enough on a sunny day, but cold temperatures and dismal, grey skies made things even worse. This weather is crazy. Yesterday I was wearing shorts and today it's back to long underwear and a down ski jacket. Oddly, Dash enjoys the cold weather. Even though he had an upset stomach and got me all stressed out with his shivering episodes, he still wanted me to take him on his daily walks. These two walks were probably the only things normal about today.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2963

Dash wouldn't eat this morning. It took forever to get a minimal amount of food in him so it was safe to give his morning pills. Since it is critical that Dash always takes his phenobarbital on a regular basis to control seizures, a loss of appetite can be pretty dicy. Dash wasn't even interested in banana bread this morning, so we knew this was bad. We decided to give him a Cerenia pill, even though he wasn't showing obvious signs of nausea. Cerenia was really the only tool we had. Three hours later, he started eating again.

Nobody has ever explained how Dash's various symptoms are interrelated. Maybe they aren't. There are so many things that can go wrong with this dog and some of them are life threatening. To me, it is very stressful. My best guess is that the periodic eating disorders are related to his vestibular disease. Depending on how bad the vestibular event is, it can appear to be a stroke, a seizure, vertigo, or an upset stomach. Dash's worst vestibular seizure put him in intensive care for four days. Today's mild event just gave him an upset stomach. By mid-afternoon, he was back to his old self again.

While I was running my Saturday errands, I did some more appliance shopping. I learned that it would be a good idea if I just put a hold on things until President's Day. Evidently you can get some of the best appliance prices of the year during President's Day sales events. I guess it is a tradition to lower prices on refrigerators on President's Day. I'm happy to wait. I wasn't looking forward to buying a refrigerator today anyway.

Now that I'm more or less living on a fixed income, sales have become more important to me. I'll be going to the annual Super Bowl Sale at my favorite clothing store tomorrow. This is the only time when I can actually afford these clothes. I realize that when someone offers you 75% off on anything, they're just trying to get rid of old merchandise, but what do I care. When you're almost 70 years old, nothing ever goes out of style.

Dash has become very needy as he's growing older. Janet is at an animal rescue event tonight and Dash has been throwing a tantrum since she isn't around to sit in bed with him. This is what they do in the evening. Janet watches Netflix movies while Dash takes a nap. He's more than welcome to come in the office and nap while I write, but apparently that isn't good enough. He want's me to sit in the bed with him now.

When I was taking Dash out to pee this evening, I saw a guy lurking around in the dark. He seemed startled when he saw Dash and I and told me he was looking for his Airbnb rental. Given the state of the world today, the guy could have been completely legit. He also could have been a burglar. I told the man that nobody I knew in the neighborhood had turned their home into an Airbnb and he got in his car and left. I felt like telling him that it wasn't wise to go lurking around in the dark in a residential Texas neighborhood. It's a good way to get shot.

I still don't understand the popularity of Airbnb, Uber, and all those ugly Limebikes that are littered around town. If I take a Yellow Cab, or stay at a Holiday Inn, I know exactly what I'm getting. I suspect that I don't possess the level of trust required to participate in the sharing economy. It all seems like buying a pig in a poke to me.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2910

I think I'm finished with my website project. I haven't shown it to anyone yet, so maybe being finished is just wishful thinking. Let's just say it looks nice, it works, and if the universe was fair, I'd definitely be finished. I have mixed feelings about work these days. I enjoy what I do and still like to stay busy, but I'm so close to retirement that it's getting harder to stay engaged. Does this stuff even matter anymore? I'm not sure.

Dash had me worried today. He was fine until right after lunch and then he abruptly became disoriented and started drooling. For a while I thought he was going to throw up, but he didn't. This was definitely a vestibular event, but it wasn't a severe one. I convinced Dash to take a nap with me and pretty soon he went to sleep. When he woke up a few hours later, he was fine. I wish I knew what triggered these vestibular events. He can go for several months without having any problems at all and then there will be periods where he gets disoriented almost every day. Luckily, his recent episodes don't seem to last more than an hour or two.

I was reluctant to leave Dash today, but there were prescription that needed to be filled. I picked up my own meds first and then went to the vet to get pills for Dash. I'm always worried that Dash is going to throw up right after I give him his pills. Timing is everything now. We've learned that he's more likely to throw up at night, so we've started give him his evening meds earlier. In the morning, we observe him for a while before feeding him anything to make sure he is stable. It's all a bit complicated, but Janet and I are getting better at anticipating when the next vestibular event will occur.

It's still too cold to go back up on the roof, but I managed to get quite a bit done today anyway. Breakfast was a failure again. My morning smoothie still has a weird, thick jello-like consistency. Is this week's fruit not juicy enough? Are the bananas too hard? Have the programmed settings on the Vitamix quit working? I can't figure this out at all. Maybe I'll just fix myself an omelet tomorrow.

Does anybody really know what a bitcoin is? The insane increase in value of these things recently has got me wondering. Is it a scam, or is it the future of money and banking? I still can't understand what a blockchain is and why it is so important. They say it takes a tremendous amount of computing power to make a bitcoin transaction. The whole process apparently uses up so much energy that bitcoin is supposed to be bad for the environment. If this is true, why are people in California fascinated by these things? Are bitcoins even real? Nothing tangible even exists. My own investments seem boring by comparison, but I don't think I'm ready to buy a bitcoin. I'm still getting used to Paypal.

I'll probably start on my next website project tomorrow. I don't have the job yet, but I'll have to put together a proposal. It would be tempting to utilize some of the things I've learned on my current website project before I forget them again. Then there's Christmas.  I haven't even started Christmas shopping. It's hard to shop for people my age and older. We don't really need anything.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2838

I think we've found Dash's Halloween costume. He looks like a pirate wearing his new knee brace. Hopefully, the brace will help prevent his partial ACL tear from becoming worse while we are dealing with his heart issues. The last thing we want right now is a situation that might require emergency surgery. Dash seems to walk fairly normally wearing the brace. The rubber boots on his rear legs still fall off, but we've got some better ones ordered.

Dash has finished his first week of anti-nausea pills. We are supposed to go without the pills for a while and see if the nausea returns. Although this makes sense and is something we need to do, it makes me nervous to go without the pills. They did seem to make a difference. Dash's appetite still isn't good, but at least he's eating now. I'd hate to be back to square one again. I guess we can always restart the Cerenia if the nausea returns. Both of his vets say it is very safe.

I did pretty well at the gym today. I'm burning more calories now and I may even extend my workout a bit next week. Physically, I don't think it would be that difficult to go to the gym three times a week. I just don't have the time. I wonder how people who go to the gym on a regular basis find the time. It's weird that even though my writing and website work has slowed down to a crawl, I'm still constantly busy. I've probably just slowed down a lot. I think it takes me twice as long to do just about everything.

I get twice as tired on active days too. Today, in addition to going to the gym, I cleaned the house, changed the sheets, and washed the dog beds. I was going to use some epoxy stuff I found at Home Depot to seal the leaky shower drain, but when I got my other chores sone, I just didn't feel like it. I hate working with epoxy, silicon, tile grout, and other messy products. No matter how hard I try, I always end up spilling something on my skin or clothing. I have a bad feeling about this epoxy. If it doesn't work as intended, it's going to be hard to remove.

I did finish my article today and shipped it off to the client. I wish I had more writing jobs. Writing is a great way to earn money when you're taking care of a sick dog. There are seldom any meetings, no fancy equipment is required, and it is a very quiet, peaceful activity. Writing was one of the few things I could do well while Dot was sick. I can leave Dash for short periods of time, but I wouldn't feel comfortable being away on an all day photo shoot anymore. If I leave the cone on Dash for more than a few hours at a time, he's going to get himself in trouble. We don't need the cone when I'm here. Dash usually just goes to sleep under my desk while I'm working.

It's hard to believe it's October already. It's been a rough year, but I guess there are still three more months for something fun to happen.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2804

Whenever there's a disaster, my first thoughts are about the animals. There's already been an amazing effort to rescue dogs, cats, and horses trapped by rising waters around Houston. Probably much more will be needed in the days ahead. Among the thousands of animals in danger today were three Dalmatians trapped in a kennel that was being flooded by water that was being released from a nearby dam. I'm not sure, but I think these dogs are safe now. I hope so. It was amazing to see the rapid efforts of many people, some of whom I know, to coordinate an immediate rescue by boat. I'm not a huge fan of social media, but this is where it shines. Not more than an hour after I began seeing stories about the dogs plight on Facebook, boats were on the way. There were probably hundreds of stories like this today, but this was the only one that involved Dalmatians. When a Dalmatian is in danger it catches my attention.

It's already been a week since Janet's reconstruction surgery. Her doctor was pleased with her progress today and even removed some of the stitches. The nurse said that we were doing a good job with the bandages. That was a relief. If all continues to go smoothly, Janet will return to work again in another week.

I wish things were going just as smoothly with Dash. He threw up again after eating a normal breakfast and having a nice walk. Like many of his previous episodes, there was no warning. He just walked calmly to the back door around 1 PM and threw up. Dash shows no signs of distress before or after these incidents. He's been fine for the rest of the day. His vet has suggested that we put him on a mild anti-nausea medication for a month and see if we notice any changes. The theory is that he might be mildly nauseous all the time as a result of his vestibular disease. I hate to add another pill to his already lengthy list of meds, but this might be worth a try. Obviously something is wrong, but it has been very hard to pin down the cause.

We had more intermittent rain from the outer bands of Harvey. It's nice that I don't have to water the lawn every day, but the rain is going to complicate the roof repairs I was planning on making this month. It's going to take an extended dry spell before I am even able to prepare the surface for the elastomer coating the roofers gave me. There's certainly not any dry weather in the immediate future. I should have checked the weather radar before I walked Dash this evening. We got caught in a sudden shower and both got soaked.

It wasn't a very productive day. I got the wet/dry vacuum out and removed another quart of water from under the shower tiles. I don't know how this water is getting in there. I've sealed all the cracks completely with silicon caulk. Things like this are why people eventually give up and remodel their bathrooms. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to locate the source of this leak.

It doesn't matter if it is a shower stall or an iPhone case. Old things just crack and break. I tried to repair my Lunatik iPhone case for the third time this afternoon. I bought this case because it was supposed to be indestructible, but it is so old now that it is developing stress cracks. I took the case apart and applied superglue to the tiny cracks using watch repair tools. It would have been easier to just buy a new case but they don't make these things anymore.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. One way or another, I'm sure it will involve water.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2675

I stayed home and made French Toast this morning. As expected, Dot remained active after her morning walk. She needed to go outside twice while I was fixing breakfast and then just as I thought things were settling down, she pooped and made a big mess as she struggled to get up. I took everything off the stove, got some wet rages to clean her up, and fitted her with the spare harness we have for occasions like this. After I got everything cleaned up and started a new load of laundry, I warmed up my breakfast in the microwave and finished my meal. Basically, it was just a normal morning.

The good news is that Dash seems back to normal. His appetite has returned and he didn't seem nauseous at all. By 10:30, both dogs were ready for a nap. I made sure they were sleeping soundly and then ran my morning errands. While I was at the bank, a teller asked me if I was trying to get everything done before it started to rain. "It's going to rain," I asked? She told me that there was a severe weather warning and that there was going to be hail in the afternoon.

Since I avoid rain at all costs, I hurried to get everything done before the bad weather started. I picked up dinner at Central Market and swung by the vet to get Dash's blood pressure medication on the way home. It really didn't look like bad weather was on the way to me, so I checked the weather radar as soon as I got home. The only storm clouds I saw were in Oklahoma. I wonder where the bank teller got her information? She seemed convinced that something bad was about to happen.

The only bad thing that happened today was that the automated garbage truck driver crushed my can again and failed to empty all the trash. There were still two bags in the bottom of the badly dented can when I went to retrieve it. I hope we haven't lost our good driver. For the past three months we've had a very good driver who knew how to operate the high tech truck properly. Now we're back to square one. I hope today's driver was just a temporary replacement. From the looks of things he made a mess of the entire street. After making sure the dogs were still asleep, I took the abandoned trash bags to a dumpster. I'll have to ask the city for a new can again too. I wish the sanitation department could master these new trucks they've got. It shouldn't be that hard to get the trash in the truck.

Dot slept for a long time today. She didn't wake up until mid-afternoon, but after that, she kept me busy for the rest of the day. Dot was eager to walk this afternoon, even though she can barely move. I really hope we are successful at fitting her for a wheelchair next week. Her rear legs have been weak for a long time, but now she is starting to lose muscle coordination. If I don't hold her up properly using the harness, her rear legs start to drag. It's amazing that she still wants to walk, because it seems so difficult.

It's been a long day, but at least we made it through another week. Next week is going to be busy. Dot has a major cancer recheck and we've got a lot of questions for the oncologist. Hopefully Dot will have a new wheelchair next week as well. At least we will test her to see if she would benefit from wheels. If I have time, I'm going to replace the hard drive on my office computer with a higher capacity drive. I'm out of space. I found a place that offers same day service on drive upgrades. I'm sure I can go a day without a computer these days. That's all in the future though. All I'm worried about tomorrow is making sure Dash holds down his dinner and Dot can swallow her pills.

Joe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2674

Good grief. Now Dash is throwing up. When I walked into the office early this morning and noticed last night's dinner on the floor, my first response was "which dog did this." It became obvious very quickly who the culprit was. As soon as we took Dash outside to pee, he threw up again on the porch. Unfortunately one of the symptoms associated with Old Dog Vestibular Disease is nausea or vomiting. When Dash had his Vestibular seizures back in February, I had hoped that he would make a full recovery. He still may, but his doctor warned me that sometimes symptoms could last for months.

I called Dash's oncologist to see what to do next and he prescribed an anti nausea medication. We're not supposed to use the medication unless he throws up again. At least we have a plan now. I feel better knowing what caused the vomiting and what to do when it happens again. Hopefully, we can keep this controlled. We have dozens of easily washable rugs throughout the house, but Dash inevitably heads straight for the carpet when he has an upset stomach. The pills are expensive too. Basically, every time Dash vomits it costs $20.

Dealing with two sick dogs at the same time can be nerve racking. If one dog is pooping in the bedroom while the other is vomiting in the kitchen, who do you deal with first? I usually have to stay with Dot, since she can't walk on her own, but I've got to keep an eye on Dash as well. I have to leave the back door open when I take Dot outside to pee, and often Dash will follow behind if he has an upset stomach and start eating grass. Eating grass is a sure fire way to start vomiting again. I waited until both dogs were sleeping soundly before I drove up to the cancer center to pick up Dash's meds. If the dogs are awake, all bets are off.

I didn't feed Dash much today and made sure he had a very bland diet. So far, he has held everything down. It's a bigger deal when Dash vomits than it is with most dogs. He takes phenobarbital to control epileptic seizures and it is important that he gets the proper dose every single day. If he throws up one of his pills, you have to skip a day and risk a seizure, because you definitely don't want to overdose a dog with phenobarbital. I probably know enough about pills now to pass a pharmacy exam. I never dreamed that keeping your dog healthy could become so complicated.

I doubt that I'll be able to go out for breakfast tomorrow. Dot's schedule seems to have changed. She is very restless early in the morning now. It frustrates her that she can't walk on her own. On most days she doesn't settle down and go back to sleep until almost 11 AM. I guess I could go out to lunch, but I never eat lunch anymore. We'll see what happens tomorrow. If the day is anything like today, it will be a three ring circus.

If burnout starts to seem completely normal, have you transcended burnout, or have you just entered your own private Twilight Zone? I really don't know. I haven't traveled down this road before.

Wilson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2627

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I've mentioned that Dash was becoming a finicky eater. Well, last night he threw up his dinner and this morning he refused to eat at all. We walked the dogs to see if this would settle Dash's stomach and then tried to feed him again. He still wasn't interested. We got him to eat a small amount of canned dog food so he could take his morning meds and then an hour later, he threw this up as well. This was not good. I called his oncologist as well as his regular vet and arranged to take him in so they could give him an injection of Cerenia to stop the vomiting. After waiting an hour, I had to give him a second phenobarbital pill, because he threw up the first one we gave him this morning. The other pills can wait, but the phenobarbital is essential.

Dash's vet thought that he was still experiencing symptoms from vestibular disease and when the oncologist contacted me later in the morning, he agreed. They both said that it could take from two weeks to three months to fully recover from a bout of old dog vestibular disease. So, here we are. I've got two sick dogs with very different needs. Both need a lot of attention and it's hard to deal with one without something happening to the other.

Dash seemed out of it for most of the day, but when I eventually fed him some bland food the vet gave me for a sensitive stomach, he held it down. Since Dash is still feeling some vertigo or motion sickness as a result of his vestibular seizures, we may have to put him back on an anti-nausea drug. Hopefully the Cerenia will stabilize him, since it is pretty mild and has few side effects.

I took Dash on a short walk later in the afternoon. Although he walked slowly and seemed a bit tentative, he showed no signs of another vestibular event. This was good. I walked very slowly and let him relax. When we returned to the house, I immediately noticed that Dot had knocked over her protective fence and was sitting in a pile of poop. Like I said, I've got two sick dogs with very different needs.

I hope we can get Dash stabilized quickly. While I was cleaning up vomit on the carpet last night, Dot decided to poop in her bed. It was hard to decide which mess needed my attention first. Needless to say, it was a hectic day. A continual barrage of poop, pee, and vomit can generate a lot of laundry and even more worry.

To cap off the day, I heard a giant thud on the roof as I was preparing dinner this evening. I went out to investigate and discovered that one of the dead limbs I've been waiting for the tree trimmers to remove had fallen. The wood was rotten and the tree limb broke apart when it fell, so there was no damage to the roof. I'm really glad the limb fell on the roof instead of in the back yard. It was large enough that it would have injured me or the dogs if we were underneath when it fell. Now, there is an added urgency to get the trees trimmed quickly, but getting anyone's attention lately has been difficult.

Stress eats away at you slowly. I wonder if I'll even recognize when I'm completely burned out. Maybe I'm there already. The past two years have definitely been a challenge. I know I complain too much and that there are many people with far more serious problems than I have. Nevertheless, it would sure be nice to have two healthy dogs and a little peace and tranquility.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2621

I need sleep. Dot gets frustrated now when she can't get up and circle around to find a new sleep position at night. All dogs do this, and Dot keeps trying even though it is difficult for her to move. Usually, I wake up before she has twisted herself into an awkward position. I help her do the little twirling motion that Dash does effortlessly five times a night and then we all go back to sleep. Lately, I've discovered that if Dot becomes agitated at night it is wise to take her outside to pee. If it's clear outside, I try to identify constellations in the night sky as she slowly walks around the yard, looking for the right spot. By the time I've gotten her settled into her bed again, I'm usually wide awake. Probably people with small babies find their sleep disrupted like this all the time, but it's a new experience for me.

Dash is acting weird again. We discontinued his anti-nausea medication a few days ago, so maybe he's feeling dizzy again. He didn't want to walk this morning and this afternoon he refused to leave the back yard. Sometimes it's hard to tell if Dash is sick or just being stubborn. I tried a second time to give Dash an evening walk after I'd had my own dinner and this time he was eager to go. He wasn't unsteady and nothing seemed abnormal at all. Go figure. I still think that the hesitation to move or walk might have something to do with his seizures, but I'm not a vet. Now I've got one more question to ask the doctors when I take Dot to the cancer center for her ultrasound scan tomorrow.

I wasn't really busy today and I thought seriously about taking a long nap to catch up on sleep, but Dot had other ideas. She's restless now during the day and frequently wants me to take her outside. Since she's incontinent, I don't want to ignore her, since it just causes her to pee or poop in the house. In and out we go, over and over again. When Dot is outside, she just wanders around aimlessly, smelling all the leaves on the ground. It takes a lot of patience to be her rear legs.

I wonder if life will ever return to normal again. Probably not. I feel lucky that I am still healthy enough to help the dogs during their senior years. Many of my friends have already had serious medical problems and would have difficulty lifting a Dalmatian. When I was a kid, my parents were healthy, but they both started falling apart when they were about my age. I wonder how many more good years I've got? Helping Dot walk is actually great exercise. Too bad the stress I'm experiencing probably negates most of the benefits of this strenuous physical activity.

I'm thinking of going somewhere new for breakfast tomorrow. I've been eating the same thing for several months now and even though it's delicious, I'm getting bored. I'm not even sure what I'm hungry for anymore. Maybe the food doesn't even matter. The whole idea of going out was just to have something to look forward to. A pleasant ritual that I can repeat on a weekly basis is much more important than the food.

I hope that Dot's cancer re-check goes well tomorrow. There have been some significant changes since her last exam and none of them are encouraging.

Joshua 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