2021 Life Logs, Day 12: Shadow is Fine
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 42, Low 27 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night was long and scary, but Shadow seems to be fine today. Thank you to all who contacted me directly to check on Shadow. The doctor finally called at 1:30 am to say that the x-rays did not show any obstruction in his throat and that the constant hard swallowing and drooling had subsided. I went to pick him up and he was a very happy puppy. The young man that brought him out to me just said, “He certainly is energetic.” Yep. The doctor did see a shadowy area in the esophagus and asked a pathologist to examine the x-rays today. I did get a call saying it was nothing. The doctor thinks Shadow’s problem was a severe attack of esophagitis and she is treating him with ten days of Omeprazole, more commonly known as Prilosec. I can think of at least four things that happened yesterday that might have contributed to this. So maybe it was just a perfect storm and I will avoid those things in the future. Once he threw up his dinner, he continuously kept swallowing hard. I had an attack like this the morning Heather and I flew back from my brother-in-law’s memorial service in the summer of 2019. That was also scary and I was given the same prescription. So Shadow is on the mend and I do hope we can avoid any incidents like this in the future. I certainly don’t want to have another scare like that and I’m not sure I can afford one. The hours at the veterinary hospital were extremely expensive.
I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and today was extremely busy. I had a 10:15 am chiropractor appointment and was ‘graduated’. Evidently my alignment looks better than it ever has. So I am to keep walking, riding the exercise bike, and doing my morning stretching exercises. It’s working. As soon as I got home, I had to get on Zoom for my monthly book club meeting. This month’s book was News of the World that has been turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks. It comes out on Xfinity On-Demand in a few days and I am anxious to watch it. I cannot imagine Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kidd. 
As soon as the book club ended, it was time for me to go pick up Ollie. Today was an early release day and he wanted to come do some work at my house. But before heading to the cottage to work, we went to Mahoney’s Garden Center. I wanted Ollie to pick out some house plants for a project at his house and I wanted him to see the koi (Japanese carp) in their indoor water garden. Mark and I used to take him there when he a wee little thing, but I’m not sure how many times he has been there in the past four years. We had a great time at Mahoney’s and then headed to the cottage and attacked the list of twelve things I had for him to do. Among those twelve things, we finally got the kayaks covered with a tarp for the winter and finished getting the bean towers and tomato cages put away. He did all but three things on the list which we will save for our next workday. I then took Ollie home and got back just in time for a public policy discussion group on Zoom. It was a good day, but I am exhausted. So, the plan is to head to bed a little early tonight and vow to spend the day relaxing tomorrow. Or, if not relaxing, at least watching the impeachment proceedings while riding my exercise bike.
