Still Standing

I was doing so good with this blogging thing, and then I had a bad week, or um week and a half actually. I was called in last week for one of my days off and stayed late for a few others. After giving most of my energy to the job, the housework is piling up. I'm just too deeply exhausted at the end of the day to come up with anything interesting or positive to write about. I haven't even logged on at all most days. Hope everyone is still out there.

I did pop in to read my e-mails this week-end and found that Connie had picked my blog to receive a (giggle) Stylish Award. Now in addition to all my catch up posts I have to write a post about this and find (narrow down to) fifteen other blogs to pass this on to. Gee thanks for the extra work, Connie. Just kidding, I am truly honored. Just forgive me if I officially accept in a few more days.

Mother Connie Sez

I helped my son purchase a car so he could receive his promotion. He is now third key in the pet food store where he has been working. They held the position for him until he had a car because they didn't want him riding to the bank at night with deposits on his bicycle. I didn't want him doing that either. He's catching up financially, and I think he'll do much better.

A few days ago I picked up insulin for Chloe. We do this every week and a half. The very next day she stared refusing to eat, and she started drinking a lot, and peeing uncontrollably all over...everywhere. Today we took her to the vet. Every time she gets sick like this I cry and worry and bring her in thinking it might be the last visit, then the vet does something miraculous and she comes home. She had an x-ray and a shot. She has so much going wrong, but she is very tough and still finds joy in her life. I don't think it's time yet.

The doctor needed pee to check while were there. He asked if we could collect it for him. I thought since my home now smells like a public urinal in a busy city bus station it would be easy to get but of course my husband had just walked her. We gave her a bowl of water and then took her out. The theory was we were supposed to walk her and when she squatted to pee one of us had to hold a clear plastic tray under her to catch the drippings. Guess who got to hold the pee tray? So my husband walked her and I followed behind with my little tray poised and ready. She would start to squat and then change her mind, or worse she would start to squat and the my husband would say "Nope it's poop!" and I would jump back and try to hold the pee tray steady so I didn't spill what little I had collected so far on myself. Well I can add that experience onto the list of things I never imagined myself doing. I can put a check next to followed blind dog in busy parking lot with pee tray.

She is on medications to fight several infections, and we have to give her more insulin now. She was used to the shots but now she seems to be frustrated with the whole ordeal and wiggles and complains every morning and night when it is time for a shot.

When my husbands income dropped to one third we made the difficult decision not to have cancer surgery for her. She has breast cancer and cancer polyps in her ears. My son told me several of his customers had elderly dogs with the same health issues and they died within months of the trauma of surgery so I feel a bit better about that decision. The doctor today said at her age it is an understandable decision and that could very well be the case if we did opt for surgery. It was good to hear because I was feeling all sorts of guilt for not having surgery. She had surgery for cancer on her arm several years ago so it is probably incurable with surgery anyway. If she makes it to February she will be thirteen. I hope she does well, I just don't want her to suffer.

Silver Lining Found

Today was another of those days. It started yesterday when my sister called to let me know our father was in the hospital. She was going to call me this afternoon to let me know how he was.

This morning we had workers in our back yard bright and early to repair our septic system. Tree roots had grown throughout the drain field and destroyed it. We had a nice view out the kitchen window before, a lush lawn with birds and squirrels. Now we have a big dirt mess. Only one tiny corner of our backyard was spared. I imagine it will take sometime to repair the damage and we will have to wait a few months before things start growing in again.

At some point in their work they cut our cable. We were without phone, Internet, or cable. As I'm one of those strange people that detest cell phones I had no way to hear from my sister until this evening. Dad is back home after having three units of blood and the rest is a mystery. He's kind of funny about his doctor visits. He just won't talk about them. I have no idea what treatment he gets. He says he gets "juice" through an iv drip. That is the extent of his discussions.

My husband must be catching on with optimism. Sometimes he can be a bit grumpy when things do not go as planned. I was expecting a negative reaction to the backyard devastation. This afternoon he gazed out the kitchen window and a big smile spread across his face. He said, "You know, I won't have to mow this for quite some time."