Hard Week

Well, last week was hard. It began well enough after the weekend in Philadelphia, but it sort of slipped downward as the week progressed.

The main concern has been Meathead, my English Bull Dog grandson. He is in the third week on Phenobarbital and the drug has been hard on him. He is very lethargic. (Doesn't this picture just scream LETHARGIC! Hard to believe, but he likes sleeping like this!) He also lacks balance and is disorientated. Because he is so unsteady on his feet, we frequently need to carry him downstairs or lift him out of the car, otherwise he lands on his face. On slippery surfaces like the kitchen floor his feet just slip out from underneath him, landing him on his stomach. The best description is that he looks like a severely drunk person. Sometimes drunk is funny. But in Meathead's case, it is heartbreaking.

When I saw Meaty on Tuesday he was symptomatic, but when I picked him up again on Friday for the weekend he was scary ... zoned out like a zombie ... standing in the middle of my son's living room head bent down. I wanted to cry when I saw him. I don't think he even knew me. So Saturday I took him to the vet for blood work. I think the vet was expecting more improvement at week 3. Even without the lab results she backed down the Phenobarbital. (For the record - I hate that drug with a passion and nothing I have seen has changed my mind - but I am told it is a highly effective drug for epilepsy.) We started the new dosage on Sunday morning. Although Meaty was still very wobbly, his wonderful personality was back on Sunday.

To add complications, Milo was very jealous of the attention Meaty was getting. It was a struggle to keep peace when the 3 dogs were here. Clearly my dear Milo needs more restraint and training. But trying to enforce that while managing Meaty issues were impossible.

Last week also marked the return of my dear Maxine. Maxine is my 8 year old Maxima. I really love that car and the dogs have their dog scent all over it. Of course to get her back in good working order, we had to write a big check! I know that some would not have spent the money on an 8 year old car, but there have been no problems to this point ... a pretty darn good record, and she has many more miles left in her before I am forced into write a really big check to replace her. That will be a very sad day for me.

And today I spent most of my time getting mom to the places she needed to go: lab, bank for her, then bank for me, then store - we did take a moment to get lunch out. Home now and thought I would post something so that I don't start getting emails (again?) asking where I am. I am here - treading water.

I need to get back to walking so I can cope better. The glass of wine while making dinner just isn't enough.

Up side? Dancing With the Stars is on tonight. I love escapist TV!!

Got to go - the vacuum in calling and the rug steam cleaner needs to be used in a few places!!

See ya!!