I haven't been posting lately because not much has been going on in my life, except:
- I went to NYC for 4 nights for BookExpo, and also gave a "Polish Your Pitch" workshop with Ron Hogan at Backspace Writers Agent-Author Day.
- Then I spent 3 nights in the Kingston, NY, area, where I hope to live in the not-too-distant future.
- Just as I was returning the rental car in Poughkeepsie, Darling Husband called to say that he'd been laid off his job of 8 years--the one we'd moved to Denver for 3-1/2 years ago.
- I have to crank out the text (some 17 K words) for the Bella Terra Massachusetts Lighthouses map so it can go to press in 10 days.
- I'm giving another phone seminar on June 28. (Details in sidebar.)
- Last Thursday, I had 3+ hours of excruciating nerve tests on my dysfunctional right arm, which has had 3 surgeries since I broke it 3 years ago. Preliminary results: Further neurosurgery would probably do more harm than good; my 3 middle fingers will remain numb forever.
- I had 8 days of debilitating headache (technically neuralgia), caused by Denver's unusually damp & stormy weather. On the plus side, my garden has never looked more lush.
- Tomorrow I go back to Dr #13, a hand/arm specialist at Denver Health's Center for Complex Fractures (which I wish I'd known about 3 years ago, GRRRR...), who will tell me whether further orthopedic surgery will help. If he says not, I'm giving up.
- My wonderful dog Jenny, who turned 13 yesterday, is rapidly succumbing to arthritis. Once upon a time she'd run for hours without stopping. Now she can walk--slowly--for 10 minutes at most, and can barely make it up the 3 steps into the house. We've tried all sorts of meds, to no avail. Today I started her on Dog Gone Pain as a last-ditch effort, and tomorrow she'll get codeine too. There's a wonderful new book, HOW SHALL I TELL THE DOG? I keep asking myself (and the vet): How shall I kill the dog? And when?
As a palliative, I've been gardening and immersing myself in novels written or set in the 19th century:
- PRIDE & PREJUDICE
- RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT by Laurie Viera Rigler
- CONFESSIONS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT by Rigler (again; even better after RUDE AWAKENINGS)
- LITTLE DORRIT, though Dickens's sentimentality & weakling heroines may have me reaching for Trollope's Palliser novels before too long
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10 comments:
I'm so sorry about your dog's pain -- and yours. It's been tough lately for you.
You've probably tried glucosamine for the dog -- you sound like the kind of person who would research everything. For the steps - have you considered putting in a temporary ramp? Maybe even a board you would only use when the dog needs to use those steps?
Here's hoping you get good news from the doctor, find something for the pooch to feel better, and your husband gets his dream job in the place you want to move to.
Take care.
Thanks, BJ! Starting glucosamine today. Vet says it takes 4-6 weeks to work (if it does; it hasn't helped me any). At this rapid rate of decline, that may be too late. Jenny will not walk on a board & HATES being lifted. Not that I can carry her w/ my sore arm, as she weighs 50 lbs.
This morning she couldn't get up the 3 front steps. I had to take her around to the back porch, which has 2 broader, shallower steps & then a step into the kitchen. She had a hard time even with those. The prognosis is not good.
I'm sorry to hear about Jenny! She's such a sweetie. They say glucosamine does wonders for them, so hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.
As for you-- you'd better not move! I realize the medical community here has not been kind (and you are very brave) but don't leave us Bella! Please.
Thanks, Denise, but I am SO over Denver. Who knows when I'll be leaving (I'm hoping months, not years), but whenever it is can't be too soon. So you'd better come over for coffee ASAP.
All I can offer after reading this, is my wishes for better times, and help. Whenever, whatever. I would anticipate you are looking at the East Coast, so let me know I can do any reconnissance. Though would the dry SW work better for the limbs?
Denver is plenty dry, except for the past couple of weeks. If only my psyche and sinuses were happy in the same place. But they're not, so my next move will favor state of mind over state of head. Not that Denver's been any good for my head either, given that shortly after moving here I broke my nose twice in 2 months, plus suffered concussion & smashed-up teeth, in addition to the broken ribs & much-surgeried arm.
Bella, I'm so sorry to hear about Jenny and your husband's job. We've always heard Denver is a wonderful city, but if it ain't working, it ain't working. You sound how I felt at the tail end of our stay in Tennessee--as lovely as it was, I was dying to get back to the West Coast.
Oh no - laid off. I am so very sorry. Is he OK? Are you OK? Is your son OK? Nothing is OK, today. Is it? I am sorry.
DGP worked well for quite some time for my dog (17 year old husky mutt) along with daily Rimadyl. I hope you both feel better soon. I am so sorry you are having to think about killing her. It was the hardest thing I ever did.
Teri
My son's fine, my cat's fine, my husband & I are taking things one day at a time.
As for Jenny, she has a month-to-month lease on life. I'm waiting to see if DGP works. She got worse on Rimadyl, so once it's out of her system she's going back on Prednisone. It's a helluva lot cheaper, happily, as she's also on expensive meds for diabetes insipidus.
The hard bright line is when she can no longer get up the steps--front or back--into the house. No telling when that will happen. Meanwhile I'm enjoying her as much as I can.
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