Thursday, June 1, 2023

Thursday, June 1, 2023

    I weighed 146.5 lbs. this morning after eating 23 nuggets yesterday.   

   My acupuncturist came over at 10 a.m. and worked on my left arm. In the two weeks since I last saw her, I discovered that my problem with my left arm was caused by problems with the right side of my neck and the deltoid muscles on the same side. I concentrated on relaxing those muscles, improving my left side's discomfort. She worked on that and the muscles running down either side of my spine.

       The acupuncturist told me her family just adopted a puppy. I told her about the loose dog in our neighborhood. I saw her for the first time last night as I walked with Darby. I learned Olga, Mario, and Carol were working on capturing this poor dog. When he was first noticed, people immediately assumed she was lost. Carol said he wandered up people's driveways looking for something. No one had been able to catch him, although many tried. Now, Olga is putting food out for him every day. She is hoping to get close enough to throw a noose over him.  

     I planned to call the Humane Society and the Police about the dog, assuming someone lost him. After speaking to Carol, I learned the Humane Society is on overload and will take no more dogs. Carol said everyone concluded this poor dog was abandoned. People are being forced off the island because of the housing shortage. Since the Humane Society wasn't providing refuge, people dropped their dogs off in a neighborhood where they hoped someone would take pity on the animal. That is happening here. Except for Lutz, who proposes killing her with one swift blow to his head because the dog chased a chicken, everyone wants to help the puppy.

I told the acupuncturist the story about our neighborhood dog. She told me about another no-kill shelter, Aloha Ioli, where she got her puppy. They try to find the owners, neuter the animals, and find foster care and people prepared to adopt them. It sounds like a good possibility. I called Carol immediately to let her know. She hadn't heard about it.

Paulette called to tell me they found a possible source of the infection, a boil. It hadn't been prominent before she went to the hospital. It developed while she was there. Noticing it, she pointed it out to a nurse. She saw a problem but didn't know if it was connected to her sepsis. The doctors ordered a CAT scan. The image showed it was nothing to get excited about. They assumed it couldn't be the source of the sepsis. However, they did plan to deal with it. 

Important relationships are not going well.  

My friend Melissa came over, as planned. She brought fresh flowers, freshly picked St. John's wort, and a new sealed box of tea. I served her some tea the last time she was here, and the bag fell apart. Our teas maybe fifteen to twenty years old. Mike and I weren't hoarders; we just didn't get around to throwing away things we didn't use. We talked about medicine, she's a doctor, and religion and told funny stories. We enjoy each other's company. Lovely! 

 Paulette called. She would be coming home on Sunday. They found an abscess, which was the cause of her borderline sepsis. Since they drained it, her white count had dropped percipiticiouly, from 30,000 to 13,000. She told me that under 10,000 is normal. The hospital will only discharge her once they know the type of bacteria causing the infection so they can target it specifically with antibiotics.  

 I found a second suspicious bump on Elsa's skin this morning. It was four days since I bathed her last. I was going to wash her at three while listening to Fresh Air. I forgot. I got it done shortly before five pm. I can see her skin clearly when she's wet. I could see patches of redness that were not there when I washed her every other day. I may have to wash her tomorrow, too. 

 I watched Call Me Kate, a documentary about Katherine Hepburn's life. Holy cow! Her life had its idyllic moments, and others were sustained agony. She coped magnificently.

Important relationships are not going well.