dog problems

Poor Bella. She has had a hard life, and if dogs are reincarnated, she'll come back to live in the lap of luxury. Oh wait, she already does live in the lap of luxury, but NEXT time she'll be healthy and will always have a home.

I rescued Bella about 5 years ago. She was an abused dog who had been dumped in the pound with a litter of pups. When I went up to Kentucky to get her, Bella was so terribly thin and had kennel cough. She also had a terrible case of separation anxiety. We worked on it for a long time. I would leave and then pop right back in repeatedly. Then I stretched the time out and tried to have someone here when I left. Of course I didn't see this, but Jon and Rebecca told me that she wailed and cried when I left.

Bella gained weight and was truly doted upon. I love her so much. One day about six months after I got her, Bella got really sick. She was so tired, didn't eat, was thirsty all the time. I took her to the vet and he called to say that she was in kidney failure. How could that be? But then, he said that we should check her for Addison's disease, and sure enough, that is what she had. There was an amazing change in a few days. Her Addison's was managed beautifully with a monthly shot of Percortin and a small dose of Predisone.

Then in September of 2006 we rushed Bella to the vet because she had a urinary obstruction. She had bladder stones and an infection. The emergency vet performed surgery and Bella healed up pretty quickly. But then, she had repeated infections and last week Bella had surgery again for stones. The first stones were Struvite stones, usually caused by infections, but these were calcium oxalate stones. She had seen a vet internal medicine specialist, but she didn't really have any solutions.

Sadly my vet had a fit of frustration ,and told me that he didn't want to see Bella anymore. I won't go into my opinion of that behaviour. Trust me that it is pretty low, and I should have trusted some gut instincts. He was just in over his head with this complicated health problems with Bella. A good friend whose dog has Cushings recommended her vet. I took Bella today and he prescribed potassium citrate to prevent the oxalate stones, repeated urinalysis to check for infection, and to put her back on the predisone on a low dose. The internal medicine vet wanted her off of the corticorsteroids and only on the mineralcorticodes (percortin). In the end, I was receiving so many different orders that it was impossible to keep up with. I just want someone to help me to keep Bella feeling ok, and to let her live out the rest of her life as pain free and happy as possible. I hope that I have found this someone to help Bella and me.

I've mined the web sites repeatedly looking for a magic bullet. There isn't one of course, and I know that one day Bella will die. It is so hard to love your pet and then lose them. I'm old enough to have loved and lost quite a few furry children. If there is a heaven I just know it wouldn't be paradise without them there.

thinking about bladder problems

It has been a long time since I added to my blog. I guess Christmas was busy, and then I got in too big a funk to write. Winter is so boring when you can't be out in the yard. Now, I've been in a twist because I have been having bladder issues. About six weeks ago I started having sharp stabbing pains in the bladder. Finally I saw my doctor and he said no infections and prescribed Urospas to stop spasms of the bladder. it didn't work. I feel like I have to pee twenty four hours a day, and when I do go, it is just a little and there is stinging afterwards. I saw the urologist today, and he did a cystoscopy. The doctor saw nothing wrong, but I can tell you that something FEELS wrong. He prescribed Detrol, but after reading the drug information it seems that the side effects could be worse than the problem. I am really frustrated. I would rather not think about peeing at all. I'm hoping that it disappears by itself. Sigh. I've plumbed the depths of the internet on bladder problems. One thing that I can say for sure is that there are a LOT of people out there with bladder problems that defy medical treatment. Looking up things on the internet can be instructive, but it can also cause a potential nervous breakdown. There are a lot of horrible illnesses that maybe you are better off not knowing all about.

Christmas was nice. Rob and Amelia came in from Seattle, and I had the big Christmas Eve party here with all the extended family for a change. For many years we all got together- cousins, aunts and uncles, all living relatives. After my grandmother and grandfather died, the party was held at my parent's house. One year when my kids were still pretty young, my mother decided to cut out the extended relatives, and just have her three kids and their spouse and children. It wasn't as much fun after that, so finally I decided to take charge and have it here. At first Mom was all bent out of shape, but she came around after pouting a while at the party. It was a lot of work but worth it all. Rebecca broke up with her sweetie of three years, but is dating someone else now. Her sweetie wasn't ready to make a commitment after three years of dating. What can I say- he'd never be ready.

I worked on another birdhouse in my pottery studio. So far I am so pleased with it. It is an undersea birdhouse for Parrot Fish. I have fish, coral, an anchor, starfish, and shells. Doing clay makes me feel so calm (usually). I need to add some photos of my pottery. Yes, that is what I'll do soon. First I have to take the photos.

I wish that I had more exciting things to write about. I also can't forget the old Chinese curse, "May you have an interesting life." Dull is ok for now.

improving mood by talking to yourself

Can talking to yourself help your state of mind? I'm willing to try, and I'm starting small. Every morning I noticed that I would wake up stressed, thinking "Today I SHOULD do this or that, or everything. Supposedly, and I believe it, this is bad for your mental health. All those imperatives in your brain. It turns yourself into a slave driver. And the only person you're driving is yourself. Ok, so I tried to step back and eliminate the "shoulds." But they were always lurking in my brain- at first a subtle reminder, then an order. "Oh, go to hell" is what I wanted to tell my brain. Finally one day recently, it just came to me-- Hey, let's just substitute COULD for SHOULD. Amazingly, this works really well, at least with me. I Could iron today. I Could fire the kiln today. I Could swim today. I Could caulk all around the house. Etc. Etc. and whatever applies to you. I Could put this in my blog, and I did.

I Dream of Wienie in East Nashville

Going to East Nashville

56 years ago I was born in Nashville. I am a native- a rare and vanishing breed here. But there is one part of Nashville about which I know very little- East Nashville- across the bridges over the Cumberland River. I had never been to East Nashville until last week! Susan called me to go have brunch there and look at the cute shops. She wanted to know if I knew where this restaurant was. "Susan", I said, "I've never BEEN to East Nashville. My mother told me NEVER to cross that bridge!" Now I must tell you that it was a reasonable warning back in my younger days. Now, East Nashville is undergoing a rejuvenation, and lovely homes are being renovated and restored. There are some great restaurants and cute shops. But I really didn't know how to get there (other than crossing the river). So, I picked up another friend who was going and we decided to get lost together. We found the restaurant after being a little lost, and we all looked at "cute" shops afterward. It was just like going to a completely different city! I know that there is still a lot of crime there, but East Nashville deserves to come back strong and safe. Maybe I'll even go back there one day.

Beets and digestive tract

Fresh beets are such a great fall vegetable. Over the years I have cooked beets many times, but only last week did I roast some beets- and they were yummy! Here is how I did it: First I cut the greens off and scrubbed the beets well. Then, I parboiled them for about 10 minutes, dried the beets, and rolled them in olive oil. I sprinkled them with Kosher salt and ground some pepper, then roasted them in a 500 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Tasty. Rebecca was at the house for dinner and she snarfed beets too.

The next day I had the most horrifying moment of looking at the contents of the toilet, and thinking that I was bleeding from the colon. The whole business was red! I was already planning my funeral by the time I flushed. After a few minutes of hyperventilaing, I thought, "Hey, wait a minute- that must be beets" Or at least I'll THINK that it is beets unless this should happen again. Being the helpful person that I am, I told Jon, "Hey don't get all nervous if you have bright red poop- it's the beets. He just looked at me like I was crazy, and said, "Who looks?" Me, that's who.

Later that night before I went to bed, I was talking to Rebecca. We chatted about this and that, and then she said, "Mom, a little alarming about the beets." Immediately, I knew what she was talking about, burst out laughing, and said, "thank goodness, at least I know it wasn't just me, or worse, BLOOD!" Then we got the giggles which increased when I said that Jon never mentioned it. Bec said, "He must be one of the .2% who don't look." Exactly! was my comment.

So enjoy those beets, but expect the unexpected!!!

The end of daylight savings time

Time again for me to complain about the short days until December 21 when the winter solstice occurs and the days begin to slowly, ever so slowly, lengthen. Night just comes way too soon now. If I were in the mental institution (where I probably belong) I would be one of the people that the doctors call "sundowners". They go crazy when it gets dark. I love the light of daytime. When Jon gets up early, or I get up to go to the bathroom before the sun comes up, I open the shades so that the sun will awaken me naturally by shining on my face. When we built this house I had all the rooms except one bathroom and the laundry room have windows on at least two sides. Ah, the sun! I'm sorry, Rob, but I don't think that I can move to Seattle. They don't make enough Zoloft to keep me sane where the sun doesn't shine for months at a time. Also, we are on top of the hill where we get the last bits of sun much longer than the people in the valley. How sad it is to see the my friend the sun disappear. I love the moon too, but she can't compensate for it being dark. So time for us all to burn more lights, light more candles, and to look forward to when the days are long again.