On infected knee

Sometimes, when things are busy and emotional, its tough to post here. Time doesn't always allow it, and sometimes I'm just emotionally drained.

And sometimes its bad luck.

Yesterday, I post about Duke and kinda how we are almost out of the woods. Then today the Veteroo tells me that Duke has a medicine-resistant form of bacteria growing in his knee (of course he does). Only one medicine on their shelves can knock it out. The pills cost $5. Not too bad, I'm thinking. He'll need 11 pills. Ok, that hurts, but all things considered... what is that you say, that's per day? For 2 weeks?

Reread those last few sentences. I edited it twice to make sure it was right and I wasn't confusing anything.

$5 x 11 x 14 = bankruptcy.

Only Duke. He's one of the happiest, most obedient, fun-loving, eager to please dogs you'll ever know, but if something can go wrong with him, it will. I'm convinced that he's from a bad breeder. One of those breeding farms. I'll never buy another dog from the place we got him, and I'll probably never buy another dog period (rescue, yes; purchase, no).

To finish this story: I think the vet took pity on me, because she's writing me a script for human medicine for Duke that is supposed to work according to the charts.

I've read that no blog post is complete without pictures of dogs, so here is Duke during happier times:

On bended knee

So two Mondays ago, Duke had an appointment to see his surgeon because his repaired knee was bothering him. He had begun limping again and really favoring the knee and an X-ray showed advancing arthritis.

So the surgeon took out the titanium staples (which had been pulled out of place) and elastic bands (one of which ripped) he installed last year. The hope being that the foreign bodies were bothering the knee. The knee was now supported by scar tissue so it was fine.

Or at least it was until Duke tore out or overworked the stitched area. That was a fun find: We came down to go to dinner Friday night to find blood on the floor. No problem, quick trip to the vet, one stitch and some liquid skin and its all fixed up.

Till next morning, when I come down to blood soaked fur below the wound. So I schedule an afternoon appointment.

And good thing I did, because by the time I got Duke there, the wound, all 3 or so inches of it, had opened up and no stitches held it closed. You could see into his leg. If you know how much I love my dog, you know it was kind of traumatic. Kind of.

So that's where we've been over the last week or so. The stitches come out early next week, at which time, hopefully, this ordeal will be over.

I can't post much for the moment

I had a post about the story I wrote in my last post, but its going to have to wait. I could tell you what it was about, but that would ruin the fun.

Even if time permitted a real, thought-out post, the emotional toll of everything prevents such. I'm going to need time to sort stuff out and figure out how all the post-worthy events and news come out.

Till, perhaps, tonight, then.

Lift the rock, watch the bugs scurry

Someone lifted the rock I was under. So now here I am. A small, hard-shelled bug, scurrying along on my twelve furiously moving legs to escape the sun and once again find shelter in the dark, dank, wetness of the shaded mud under some rock.

I know I haven't written in ages. I spent a significant amount of time on a project for this blog, and then the whole thing just went dark.

My schedule is really being rewritten right now. Duke is up to two 15 minutes walks per day plus 15 figure 8s three times per day. I've kinda combined the two for the sake of my own sanity. And by kinda I mean I sure as hell combined the two and dropped one of the figure 8s. That is not only a time suck. Its a reordering of my entire day that can cause the other items to spiral madly out of control and collide into each other, if not careful. (Ok, ok, my life is neither so filled nor so important or busy that its items spiral out of control or have any chance of colliding - or at least of the collisions having any real effect - but I wanted to write that line).

Duke loves it. He's outside exploring and walking around for significant amounts of time for the first time in a month. And he's finally excited to walk and not constantly looking to go back inside. Who can blame him? He's probably feeling better walking around than he has in a year. Still a little limp - maybe arthritis, maybe lingering surgery pain, might just be phantom pain; who knows?

Only ... 3 more months until he can walk "off leash."

Duke rehab. Christmas prep. Life. That's pretty much the extent of what I'm doing. Oh, and I've been sick since the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That too. I slept for like 12 hours the Monday after Thanksgiving. Seriously. I took two naps in one day.

I'm back to reading. I really like Compulsion. I've had the book on hold for months, but every time I read it I really, really like. Its a style I aspire too and a good story. I just find that I don't read it. I usually have good intentions and anticipate joyfully reading it at night before bed, and then I find that I just don't read it.

Whatever. I'll be finished it, and Falsley Accused, by Christmas. I'm not promising Christmas 2009, mind you, but Christmas in general.

Caffeine-Free Days: 10

So, yesterday was 10 days without a drop of an "as advertised" caffeinated beverage. 10!

I had 4 cups of decaf tea, 1 decaf iced coffee from DD. I wasn't really counting solid foods in the abstinence program, but I also had a box of junior mints and, last night, a 2 Buck Choc./Peanut butter bar, if you must know. And after that, I guess you must.

I type this as I'm preparing to make a cup of tea for the first time in 11 days. Probably my longest non-vacation time away from hot tea since I started drinking loose leaf.

If its a life-altering experience, I'll post something.

As for the results of the caffeinelessathon: I was sleepy last Friday, as I noted, but thought I was getting better. Saturday was fine. Sunday included a 12-mile bike ride, so it was hard to tell. But I wasn't sleepy at all at work so far this week. So its probably out of my system. I'm sleeping well. Working well.

And I would say the "new normal" is a lot like the "old normal." I'm the same. With one exception that I'll get too. I chalk the "sameness" to my body having adjusted to the caffeine. And now it's "reset."

Now, about that exception. I feel a little less frayed at the edges, I suppose. That could just be psycosymatic. But I feel a little more focused at work. A little more hard working. A little less distracted.

Other updates - NaNo - A big no. I've done nothing. I have a story percolating, but I've written nothing.

Which is kind of fine. Duke is back from ACL surgery and needs quite a bit of care. Three days of 3x daily ice packs (you ever tried to ice pack a dog where it is hurting from a knee reconstruction/5 inch scar?). Followed by 3x daily heat wraps for three days. No walking for a week except for potty breaks. Then there is a rehab program of gradually increasing walks, starting at less than 10 minutes, 2x day. No off-lease walking for 4 (four) months. And because he pulled out 3 sutures, he's wearing a cone nearly the size of a kitchen sink. For 10 days. Fun.

He's getting over the grogginess of the anethsia, but he's in pain and saddened/confused by the cone, which he rams into most everything, leaving alone only those items in which he plans to entrap himself on. And since we are largely ignoring him so won't do anything but lay down, he is somewhat confused by the lack of attention.

Oh, and he's not allowed to jump onto his second favorite sleeping area: the couch. Nor is he going to be making the 3-foot jump into his favorite sleeping area: the bed.