All year I have been saving the reward points that come with my credit card. I was hoping to consider those points Found Money spend them on a luxury – something I wanted but didn’t need. Last week I saw this decoration and thought, “I could give Christmas Puppy a family!! The cost is almost exactly the value of my points!”
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To his dismay, Christmas Puppy will have to continue being single, though, since in reality I will be putting those points toward Toby’s upcoming surgery.
I think Christmas Puppy would be have been more appreciative of my gift.
Of course he would be. I don’t want to have surgery!
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Toby and I had a misadventure a couple of weeks ago. While on a walk, two large dogs woofed at Toby and scared him so badly that he bolted. He pulled me hard enough to knock me down and flip me over. I was stunned, and it took a few seconds for me to be able to move. In that time my little stinker pulled the leash off my wrist and ran away.
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I landed hard on both hands and both knees. My knees were torn and bruised even through my clothes. This was one hand after cleaning out the abrasions. (I left a nice trail of blood along the way home.)
Unlike the last time I fell, kind people stopped to check on me while others went after Toby. He was so scared that he was over a quarter of a mile away – heading home as fast as his little terrier legs could carry him – before someone caught him.
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I wasn’t scared. I was just being prudent.
Very rapidly.
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Toby has always been a scaredy boy, but he was calmer and more willing to try new things when Geordie was with him. Human children may have security blankets, but Toby had a Security Geordie. I wonder sometimes if he might not be such an emotional mess if he still had a canine buddy.
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Come see how much braver Toby is when he is with this big brother Geordie as they visit the Museum of the Imagination. In Dream Our World they view the world of art from a canine perspective while enjoying a day of unsupervised fun.
Toby had to go to the vet to have some cysts removed. In the process, they also removed his fur.
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Now he looks an awful lot like me with patches of hair missing.
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Mom, stop trying to take my picture already.
It looks like I have nipples on my back, and I don’t want anyone to see.
Where Toby used to be.
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While we were at the vet’s office, I read to Toby from a copy of Poopiter that is in the waiting area. He seemed strangely interested when I pointed to the picture at the back of the book of Geordie and him sleeping. (Between nostalgia and the cost of the visit…I really teared up.)
Toby recently figured out where carrots come from, and I had to quickly harvest the whole crop if I wanted to have any myself.
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Carrots with Earth chocolate.
(Using the Vibrant Color setting on my camera didn’t change their appearance much at all, did it?)
When I sliced the big carrot into coins, they were as big as the palm of my hand.
Don’t worry, carrots. I’ll get to you next.
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Come see what my boys are up to when they are not stealing carrots. Inside Dream Our World, Bitey and Toby visit the Museum of the Imagination and view the world of art from a canine perspective. Dream Our World is fun for all ages!
Sadly those real gobs of hair keep falling out, and I’ve already lost about half of what I started with. I asked the doctor if Lyme’s were responsible for the hair loss since it caused so much pain to my head, but she said it was just the trauma of being sick.
Last night I was glancing over my hospital discharge papers. On them was a note about my blood pressure being HIGH at 144/77. (Normally mine is so low that it is too low.) I Googled whether Lyme’s can cause high blood pressure, and – no surprise- it can. The disease infects every organ and can affect the heart. The article I read said that the tiredness and fatigue that comes with Lyme’s is due largely to how it affects the heart.
Hmm, so if Lyme’s can alter the way the heart works, can it influence the appetite as well? I was curious because I find myself only wanting bland, unseasoned food lately. Off I scurried to Google that as well. While Lyme’s doesn’t cause an aversion to spiced or seasoned food, it can and does upset the GI tract. It can cause this lovely condition called “The Bell’s Palsy of the Bowel” where it can create some wicked bad constipation by weakening the muscles that move food through the intestines. Some people self-medicate for months before realizing that this is the result of Lyme’s and not something else. By the way, there is no reason that I bring this up. No reason at all. However, you may want to buy stock in coconut water and laxatives.
So, there is more than one reason I drew our dear friend Jabba today. I feel as disgusting as he looks.
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Don’t look at me. I’m good at pooping.
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Come see what my boys have been up to by picking up a copy of Dream Our World. Inside, they visit the museum of their dreams and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Every year I have to have something odd show up in the garden (other than me, of course). This year I got a sunflower that reminds me of Jeff Dunham’s character Peanut.
Since I took this picture, the birds have eaten all of the seeds on this guy’s forehead, but they are leaving the regular-looking sunflowers alone. Maybe they are trying to make him look more like Achmed?
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Seriously, just pee on that thing, and let’s get back to what is more important.
Me.
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Come see what trouble my boys can get into Dream Our World. Inside they visit the Museum of the Imagination and view the world of art from a canine perspective all while enjoying a day of unsupervised fun!
I blame my mom for this. I mentioned to her that I could really go for a brownie or a piece of cake but I didn’t think I could open my mouth far enough to bite one. “Oh,” she said, “cakes and brownies smoosh up really easily. Smash, smash, smash and they are ready to eat!” Turns out she was right. Dip them in coffee, and they go down even easier. Sigh. When will I stop listening to my mom?
Huh? Did you say something?
I stopped listening to you a long time ago.
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To find out what more my boys do when they ignore me, pick up a copy of Dream Our World. Inside Bitey and Toby view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Once again, this post is largely for me. I know I am going to want to remember these events, and Bitey Dog serves as my journal. Read only if you need a sleep aid.
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Weeks ago I had a bump on my head that brought fever, joint pain, swelling and a bright red insanely itchy rash that eventually covered 13% of my body (but thankfully the redness has faded.). For every one of these symptoms it is recommended that you call your doctor. I tried. I tried for three weeks, but the office refused to give me an appointment. When I called and asked if there were any appointments available that day, they told me to go to a practice 15 miles away- maybe they would take me as a walk in. When I asked if I could schedule an appointment for the next day, I was told to “Call first thing in the morning, bright and early at 8:00 a.m. sharp, and maybe you can get an appointment for that day.” When I asked to schedule for the following day, they said I should “Call first thing in the morning, bright and early at 8:00 a.m. sharp, and maybe you can get an appointment for that day.” On a different occasion I was told to go to the emergency room if I couldn’t breathe. Well, I could obviously breathe: I was talking to them. On another occasion I was told that the rash I had “was likely a granuloma because, you know, you have a history of granuloma on your face.” 🙄
So, I kept soldiering on until last weekend when family was in town. I was trying to socialize, but my facial deformities were so bad that family wanted to know if I were alright. No, actually I wasn’t.
Not only was my face drooping and paralyzed but my tongue was numb, my taste was screwed up, and I could not open or close my mouth. It was so bad that the next day I barged into the doctor’s office without an appointment and demanded to see someone saying that I thought I’d had a stroke. Someone showed up in seconds and said “What are you doing here? You should be at the hospital.” I wanted to know if there were anything that imitated a stroke that I might have. The only thing the doctor could come up with was to ask me if I had any tick bites. No, no tick bites. “Then get to the ER!’
So, off to the ER went Bitey Mom. When I got to the check in, they asked what was wrong, and I told them my doctor thought I’d had a stroke. “Stroke!” they yelled into their walkie-talkies, and I was quickly whisked away. After doing blood tests, pee tests, heart tests, reflex tests and a CAT scan, the ER doctor determined that I hadn’t had a stroke but had Bell’s Palsy and a whopping bad case of TMJ. I was surprised because I had been told I had Bell’s Palsy before, but this felt different enough that I didn’t recognize it.
To my surprise and joy, the ER doc actually listened when I told her about what had been going on with me. She even asked questions. After she told me I had BP, she said she thought it was triggered by a virus and gave me some comically oversized anti-virals.
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Even horses won’t take these.
Then the doctor asked me if I have any family history with autoimmune diseases and she listened when I said “yes”. (At least four doctors brushed me off when I told them about my family history.). She said that from the symptoms I have been having, it looks like I have lupus. I told her about being tested for MS last year because of how much my symptoms resembled MS. The last doctor I went to said that it looks like what I have is MS but pre-lesion. The ER doc reassured me that I don’t have any lesions.
Shortly after my ER visit I could feel that the Bell’s Palsy was not going to stay on one side. By the end of the day it had encompassed the other side of my face as well.
I feel really self-conscious because I can’t smile. My Resting Bitch Face is somewhere between pained and angry. I tried to engage Toby in some play when I got home from the hospital, but he misunderstood my facial expression (or lack thereof) and growled at me. I make sure to use a super cheerful voice and positive body language when I work with him now.
The Many Faces of Bilateral Neuralgia
I hadn’t realized until my ER visit that the nerves that controls the face and the trigeminal nerves are so close together. I have a lot of swelling in that area of my head that it has affected both. (As well as my ears. I am having hearing problems too.)For a couple weeks now I haven’t been able to close my mouth to chew. I was just swallowing chunks of food, but that led to stomach upset. Eventually I gave up and started pureeing my food. It looks like meal time at the old folks home, but it sure feels good to eat again.
I asked the ER doctor about the awful pain in my head (scalp) that feels like I have been badly beaten as well as the occipital neuralgia, and she told me that is likely due to the lupus. Out of curiosity I looked up how long lupus flares last, and most descriptions say a couple of days. What?! This has been going on over five weeks. I am exhausted because I can’t stand to put my head on a pillow. My neck hurts too much for me to sleep more than three hours. If this is what lupus is like for me, then it is going to be a difficult future.
Next I’m supposed to see a rheumatologist. I made a bunch of calls and ended up with an appointment for Dec 21. Yeah, something tells me that isn’t going to happen. My neighbor is encouraging me to do a televisit to see if I can talk to someone sooner. Evidently I look really bad, and she is worried about me. I’m going to see what I can do about that on Monday.
If you would care to see what devilment my boys get into when I’m not around, pick up a copy of Dream Our World. Inside the boys visit the Museum or the Imagination and view the world of art from a canine perspective all while enjoying a day of unsupervised fun.
The Adventures of Bitey Dog 