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Lucy update: 05 March 2011

Pink

Lucy went to the surgical center for a check of her incision from the surgery to remove the metal plate from her leg. They also replaced the bandage and checked her lab culture results. Bad news: She has an infection of a type of bacteria that is very resistant to almost all medications. The only one which is capable of treating the infection is a very strong antibiotic that has severe potential side-effects, including kidney failure and deafness. She will have to receive an injection of this medication daily for the next week to ten days. The vet says that there is not a high risk of side-effects during this short dosage but there is a risk.

Let’s just say I am not in a great mood today after receiving this news. At least Lucy is keeping her spirits high.

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Lucy update: 01 March 2011

IMG_0553
Lucy’s surgery to remove the titanium plate from her leg was yesterday and it went well. She was very groggy from the anesthesia when I brought her home last night but today she is more alert and acting like herself again. I’ve had no issues so far getting her to ingest her medication, and the day has been very warm and sunny so she’s spent a lot of time in the yard sleeping.

The infection should subside soon with the removal of the growth medium (the plate) and hopefully in about six weeks she’ll be a “normal” dog again.

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Happy anniversary

I took the dogs up to Guanella pass today to hike around in the snow. I’ve been ill for a week so I needed to get out of the house and be active in the sunshine. The girls have suffered, too, since I’ve been a lot less active while sick. Additionally, Lucy is having a surgery to remove the titanium plate on Monday so this was her last “hurrah”. Both girls had a great time running in the snow.
Fabi found a bone

After the hike I drove up a few forest roads scouting out some camping sites for later in the year. One road was a single lane and had quite a bit of snow along the sides. I pulled over to let some oncoming traffic pass and got the truck stuck in about three feet of snow. The traffic passed me by without noticing that I was stuck, so I had to get my shovel and dig the wheels out myself. Luckily after about twenty minutes of digging and moving dirt and gravel under the tires I was able to move the truck out of the snow. Yay.

We made it home late in the afternoon and had a little nap. When I woke up I was thinking a little and realized it’s been ten years this month since the ex left me. That’s a long time to be single. Now that I have the dogs I’m not really alone but it still gets lonely from time to time. I decided to head out to a bar to be around some people. I like the place but I’d never been there on a Saturday night. I’m actually a little sweet on one of the waitresses and she’s normally very nice to me despite the fact that I’m older than her and ugly, but tonight she pretended she didn’t know me. I guess she has a rep to uphold with her cool customers. I don’t know.

Snowy nose

I had some beers and chicken wings and suddenly all of the televisions in the bar were showing a UFC match. Wow. You can call me a snob but WTF is appealing about this “sport”? I finished my beer and beat a path to the door. Back home, my dogs were happy to see me and I went to bed early. That seems to be my place in life.

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Lucy Update: 17 Feb 2011

Lucy had a visit with the surgeon today. He took some x-rays of her leg and decided that the bones had fused sufficiently to remove the titanium plate. The plate is apparently the cause of the infection, or rather the medium upon which the infection is growing. Until the plate is removed we cannot fight the infection with antibiotics.

The surgery is scheduled for Monday the 28th of February. Although this additional surgery wasn’t in the original plan for Lucy, I welcome it if this will resolve the infection issue. She’ll wear a split/cast for another six weeks or so, which means she’ll be out of it right as springtime is breaking here in Colorado. I can’t wait.

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Subliminal advertising?

I was driving this afternoon and saw a sign like this at a local McDonald’s:
but what my brain “saw” was this:

It’s sad, but my first thought wasn’t “Gee, that seems like an odd item to sell in a fast food place.” Instead, I thought “No amount of BBQ sauce can make that appealing.”

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Well that’s a bummer

Here in Denver we had a winter storm roll through early yesterday morning that didn’t dump a lot of snow but enough that I had to shovel. My heavy gloves were in my truck and yesterday I grabbed them out of the back seat. I did notice that a couple of books that normally are in the seatback pockets were on the floor but I had a passenger back there on Saturday so I didn’t think anything of it, nor was I suspicious when I noticed that all of my gloves were on the back seat and not in the front center console storage where I normally keep them. Wasn’t anything abnormal enough to get my attention.
Today I got in the truck to clean the snow and ice off so I wouldn’t have to deal with it tomorrow morning in -20 ° F weather. In the front seat I immediately noticed my XM Skydock was missing, although the antenna cable was still in place. I quickly noticed papers sticking out of the glove box and several items on the floor and I realized that I had been robbed. No windows were busted so I assume I forgot to lock the doors Sunday evening. I do this sometimes if I am unloading stuff from the truck. I’ve taken an inventory and so far I am missing:

Luckily, the thief didn’t notice the storage bins under the back seats where I keep all of my first aid and winter survival gear (first aid kit, ropes, leather gloves, Gerber multi-tool, collapsable shovel, and much more).

I called E-470 to report the transponder as stolen. They verified it had not been used this year and told me they would list it as stolen so if it is used it will be sent straight to the Colorado State Patrol along with the photo of the offender’s license plate.

So I learned a lesson and it didn’t cost much too much. I have to make a better effort to remember to lock the doors every time I get out of the truck, and I have to remember there are scumbags who roam my neighborhood at night looking for unlocked vehicle and house doors. I hope somebody catches the douchebag.