Stuff ‘n’ Things

A snap shot from the middle of today. I’ll fill in some gaps and elucidate tomorrow if i get some sleep. If not – more rambling…

– –

I am borderline delirious in my lack of sleep and feel very uncomfortable in my skin today.

Lucas has diarrhea again and in addition to the immediate trouble and discomfort that causes him – it presents some difficult to solve diagnostic problems.

Vance is going to be in the hospital overnight (this was semi-planned not a fluke thing).

Pappy and Lucas and i have spent a lot of time alone in the house together the past 48 hours or so and it has been a little Flowers For Algernon up in here at times.

Part of me just wants it to be next week already, but them’s the breaks. The final season of Friday Night Lights premieres this Friday (for those of us without Direct TV), so it should be on iTunes Saturday. There is an excellent sale at my REI Saturday and i have a career counseling session set-up on the 19th with one of my favorite professors. So it ain’t all bad.

– –

Since about 9 pm last night, Lucas has needed to go out every 45 minutes to hour and a half. I did get to close my eyes from time to time, but i have not really slept. It started raining about 9 pm last night and has not stopped yet. In order to save time, i quit taking my clothes off after the second or third trip out last night and i slept in my damp outfit. Now i am feeling less than super, but i can’t tell if i am sickish or just overtired.

Luc had the diarrhea a few weeks ago. He and i had been largely alone in the house for a week or so with my dad and grandpa on the road to Mississippi, and my mom working a lot. The boys came back and Lucas got diarrhea in under 15 hours.

Luc and i just spent a nice weekend in NOVA celebrating a friend’s birthday. We get back and he gets diarrhea in under 24 hours. It could be my grandpa and/or dad feeding him. I don’t think it is my dad. He is a little more on alert now than before. But it is hard to say with my grandpa. It isn’t his fault, but there is no telling what he will or won’t remember from one minute to the next. Maybe he remembers me asking him not to feed Lucas, maybe not. Maybe he doesn’t remember feeding Lucas. Who knows.

And one of the rare but potential side effects of Cosequin, the doggy glucosamine/chondroitin that Lucas started taking on the 7th – diarrhea. Dogs’ systems are generally pretty quick, so it seems wrong to me that the Cosequin would be the culprit 6-7 days into taking it instead of 1-2 days – but what do i know? I stopped the Cosequin for now.

And, from time to time, there are outbreaks of giardia in NOVA in places where dogs and animals congregate. My buds and i have both abandoned the Dog Park and the adjacent woods, but even though we have shifted the walk-zone, there are no animal free areas in NOVA. So, it could have been something he picked up from the creek.

I have a detailed but brief email out to my vet and some oatmeal in the dish for Lucas. It is unlikely that he will eat the oatmeal. He is picky, and while he went through far fewer of these times with me than Guthrey did, oatmeal is our “poor” food. If he does leave it alone, i will try some rice tonight. If he skips that then perhaps a very small dish of each in the morning.

– –

Vance has been recovering well from the heart surgery and valve repair last October. He finished the physical therapy, played a little golf, and has resumed his usual schedule of going to the gym. But, during one of his last check-ups there was some activity that his team of doctors did not like. Today he had a dual catheter procedure where they went up into the chest cavity from the groin area of each leg to investigate and cauterize a few areas. It sounds grosser, cruder, and scarier than it is. The docs say that it went well. He has been out of surgery for a while in the recovery area, and will be moved to a private room later for overnight observation and monitoring. He will probably be released by noon tomorrow, but we will have to wait and see.

My mom has been there with him. He can’t have any more visitors until he gets to his room later anyhow. Mom and i will have to figure out a way to shuffle things around so that she can have a break, Pappy and i can see Vance, and Lucas doesn’t get abandoned for too long and have some kind of indoor problems…

– –

I am still pursuing some leads in “Big Consulting Firm” as well as leads with “Competitors of Big Consulting Firm”, but on a different track

– – (cliffhanger)

Stopped there to go see Vance. He is doing great. Lucas ate some oatmeal.

I call upon The Powers That Be to grant Lucas enough peace in the bowels that we might sleep tonight – i have been up since 5:30 am Tuesday