Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Big Chill

Brrrrr. I was talking earlier this week about how cold it was going to be in Minneapolis this weekend, totally ignoring out weather. Silly me. It's supposed to be below 0 tonight, and a couple nights this coming week. At least Steve's home to keep the woodstove going. After he gets back from his stupid radio show in St. Joe tomorrow, that is.

I got up early this morning to go to a doctor's appointment in Fremont and it was snowing like crazy. Bleah. I wasn't really looking forward to driving so far in the snow, but luckily by the time I got highway 275 (not even halfway) the snow had stopped and it was just blowing around. I think that's the worst part of the cold - the wind. It's not so bad when it's just cold, but when it's cold and windy, the cold just cuts through you and makes your bones ache. As if mine needed any encouragement! We're supposed to have more snow on Sunday and Monday. I invited my brother to come back this weekend for another visit so we could build snowmen and make snow angels, but he "respectfully" declined. Imagine that!

Congrats are in order to my brother and Rick, who reached level 40 on WoW yesterday! Way to go guys! I've never been a great one for video games, other than Scrabble and Mah Jong, I have to give credit to someone who can stay with it for so long, especially now that they got their "craws" - apparently that is a Big Thing! Yay for you guys!

So, the trip to the new doctor went very well today. I didn't know doctors still actually sat down with their patients and listened to what they had to say. I told him what the ER doctor told me a couple weeks ago, about how I was sick because it was my body reacting to all the medication I take. Dr. S. sat down, discussed all my past diagnoses and what medication I was taking for what and we decided together (hard to believe, isn't it?) that I really can't cut anything except probably the Ambien. We're going to work on weaning off that and try using melatonin. I'm also going to try to switch antidepressants to something that will work more with anxiety and possibly even pain management, like Cymbalta - although he says usually secondary uses for those medications isn't very effective. At least he's willing to talk to me and let me have a choice in my treatment. I know that always supposed to be an option, but I think finding a doctor that doesn't zoom in and out of the room with white coat flapping is a rare occurrence.

I've also decided to take the bull by the horns so to speak and try some therapy for anxiety. I'm really finding it harder and harder to deal with the older I get. I spent totally too much time worrying about nothing. I know that, but I can't stop it. That's annoying - to say the very least. Hey, at least it will get me out of the house for an hour or so a month!

Toby was very glad to see Steve come home. I'm a little worried about him though, I'm pretty sure that for some reason he's losing his eye sight. That's all we need a blind, paralyzed dog. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. He's always nipped our hands when we give him treats, but that isn't too odd when dogs are as zealous about treats as he is, but a couple weeks ago I noticed he wasn't jumping off the sofa anymore. That's really not as bad as it sounds, we always kept cushions on the floor in front of the sofa when he was on there alone, in case he took a flying leap, we sure didn't want him to break a leg or something, but he would hear a noise and off he'd go. Even if we were sitting right beside him, he was so quick that half the time we couldn't catch him in time. I know, I know, why would we put a paralyzed dog on the sofa to begin with... Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've listened to a dog progress from a quiet whine to a full-fledged howl when he wants to get on the sofa with you - and he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. Worse than a 3 year old in a candy store! I thought he quit doing it because he finally figured out he'd get hurt - stupid me. Anyway, tonight I heard him whining and I thought he was in the hallway, so I stopped work to see what was wrong with him. Turns out he wasn't in the hallway - the door to my office wasn't open all the way and somehow he had gotten behind the door, between the wall and the door, and couldn't figure out how to get out! I've also noticed that he has to sniff around for his food bowl when we put it down on the floor, as if he can't quite tell where it is. I just took him to the vet on Monday for his rabies shot and he got a clean bill of health, this is really bugging me. Poor guy, no wonder he's so crabby, I'd be crabby too. It's bad enough to be so dependent on someone, he can't even pee by himself, can't walk, and now he can't see. I'll have to call the vet tomorrow and see what he says. It couldn't be caused by the rabies vaccine, could it? That sounds a little far fetched to me, besides I think it started a couple weeks ago at least. If it's not one thing... I swear.

I guess that's my novella for today! More from the frozen tundra later!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow Mindi - what a time you've had. I hope for the best for you. Thanks so much for dropping by my blog so often. It always brings a smile to my face to see your name. I hope that everything works out for you, your fam and your dog. IN the meantime, have a great week. It's cold here too!