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What? Beta-carotene is good for you. It even makes your fur all nice and shiny.
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Come see what other mischief my boys have been up to by picking up a copy of Dream Our World! Inside the boys visit the museum of their dreams and view the world of art from a canine perspective.
Dream Our World and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
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If you want to give your life meaning, get a puppy.
(Specifically a Cairn terrier. We’re the best.)
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Bring meaning to your life by reading Dream Our World. Inside, Bitey and Toby visit the museum of their dreams and view the world of art from a canine perspective.
Dream Our World and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios. (Dream Our World is also available through your local library!)
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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!
Dream Our World and other find gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
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Last week I had an appointment with my eye doctor. Unfortunately, the news wasn’t good. What I heard was:
You’re going blind!!
You have cataracts!
The Bell’s Palsy is irritating your eye!
You are diabetic!
Your prescription is off due to your blood sugar!
We can’t replace the lenses in your glasses!
Oh my gosh, did the doctor really say all of those things? No, but that is what I heard.
In reality, the doctor said that although my cataracts are worse than last year, they are still a young person’s cataracts. Also, they really can replace the lenses in my glasses despite me having rimless frames.
The other stuff has me upset, though. It appears that I have developed the familial inherited blindness. When I spoke to the doctor on Tuesday, the she didn’t think I needed to see a specialist about it yet, but after the week I’ve just had, I’m not sure. I plan to call her again this week. (The catch is that she is going out of town for a family situation and won’t be back until mid September.)
After checking my prescription, the eye doctor commented on how drastically different it was from the last time. What I took away from our conversation was that my eyes are acting like those of a diabetic. I had to go home and look up some of the terms she used, and it looks like I have had a number of diabetes symptoms….yet every doctor dismissed me when I talked about them. I am really confused because none of my blood test results ever came back that I have diabetes. Now I am afraid to eat anything. I feel like every carb is a threat.
One can’t help but be upset getting news like this. I know that it is possible that things may never progress or that as the BP improves, my symptoms in general will become less. For now, I fear that I will have another left turn coming up in my future. It seems like I’ve had nothing but left turns. I’ve had so many that I am constantly going in spirals instead of moving forward.
I’m tired. Can I get off this ride now?
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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.
Dream Our World is available from my shop at L Bowman Studios as well as Amazon and your local library!
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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.
Dream Our World is available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
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After two long and painful months, I might finally have an answer to what happened to me. Northerners will be nodding their heads in “Wasn’t it so obvious?” gestures while southerners will shrug their shoulders at what we’re talking about. Evidently I am a textbook case of Lyme’s disease.
Lyme’s disease is a stupid disease carried by stupid ticks that travel on stupid deer that for some reason we are not allowed to slaughter when they come waltzing into our yards. I haven’t been to any exotic locations or hiked in the deep woods. I am mainly in the yard and walking along the road in this neighborhood. Somehow while pulling weeds or playing ball with my puppy, a stupid tick bit me and gave me this stinking disease.
These blasted things can be pretty small when they climb up on you.
I was completely unaware of the bite, and I never had the tell-tale bull’s eye rash we are warned about. It turns out that the Luchadora red rash with purple splotches I had is actually more typical of the disease than the bull’s eye.
I wasn’t the only one to get a tick borne disease in the yard. When Toby had his physical in April, we found out he has anaplasmosis. Toby got lucky. Although he has antibodies, he didn’t show symptoms. Mommy on the other paw…all the symptoms.
I told you I was special.
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While northern dogs are now routinely vaccinated for Lyme’s disease, there is no vaccine for humans. When I asked the vet about this several years ago, she said that so far human vaccines just aren’t very effective. Treatment for Lyme’s is a course of antibiotics. I guess it is just easier to treat humans than to try to prevent them from getting sick in the first place.
Part of me is pissed at the way things went. If I had been able to see a doctor right away, I wouldn’t have had to go through months of misery (and exorbitant medical bills). I had a friend say something encouraging, though. She pointed out how much I learned from this experience that I wouldn’t otherwise know. That is true. I learned a lot of medical things, and I learned how to be annoying enough that people pay attention to you.
Nyah! Nyah! You can’t touch us!
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If you would like to help finance Toby’s and my campaign to rid our neighborhoods of Venison-on-the-Hoof, then pick up a copy of Dream Our World! At least part of the proceeds will go toward pressuring lawmakers into letting us sending these game vermin to deer-y Valhalla.
Come with Bitey and Toby to the Museum of the Imagination in Dream Our World where they view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun! Dream Our World (and other fine gifts) are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.
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For all of you who thought I was going
to be the devil in this story…pbxtkxt!
I blow you a big raspberry!!
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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.
Dream Our World is available from my shop at L Bowman Studios and at your local library!
Grandma got to see Toby stop the Fed Ex truck in the middle of an intersection with his antics. This was her comment:
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What can I say? I like me some Milk Bones.
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To find out what other things my boys have been up to, 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.
Dream Our World is available from my shop at L Bowman Studios and from your local library.
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In real life I look even worse than in these pictures. My camera seems to want to color correct. I guess “lobster” isn’t deemed an appropriate color for a human.
Mommy says I have to tell everyone that she has never raised a paw to me in real life.
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To find out what other mischief Bitey and Toby like to get into, pick up a copy of Dream Our World. Inside they visit the Museum of the Imagination where they view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Dream Our World and other fine gifts are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios or at your local library!
The Adventures of Bitey Dog 