Well, it's not going to kill you

Well, where the hell have I been?

In the midst of the usual and unusual chaos that currently reigns in our house I totally forgot about all of you.

I've been busy driving, to my doc appts, to Larry's doc appts, to Larry's PT appts and taking Colin to dog school.

Also to the bookstore, the feed store and the grocery store.

AND DID I MAKE A SCORE AT WHOLE FOODS YESTERDAY!!

Yes my internet buddies it is fresh Dungeness crab season here on the north coast.  Local crab fresh from the boat, cooked on the spot and delivered to local grocery stores all in just a few hours.  Generally crab can run any where from 5.99 lb (and most of those places won't clean and crack it for you) to 7.99 lb but it comes cleaned and cracked.  I got it at 3.69 lb cleaned and cracked.  I went a bit crazy and bought 4.  We ate one last night, will probably eat another tonight and the last 2 will go into recipes.  How about crab and avocado enchiladas with green sauce, crab fishball soup, crab cheesecake or just plain old crab right out of the shell?

I almost lost in again today as the grocery store I was at was doing the same thing today.  I stood in line considering getting another couple, then came to my senses and decided I should deal with the ones I have first.  It's a time consuming job to pick all the meat out of a crab.  But oh so worth it.

Although we almost had a crab related tragedy today.  I was putting things in the fridge thinking wow there's lot of space here.  THE CRAB, WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE CRAB.  Larry had decided to clean out the fridge and decided that a bag full of crab looked like a bag of old leftover Chinese.  I darted out of the pantry, where's the crab?, where's the crab?  He claimed not to have touched it.  I said it was in a green bag.  Oh, I threw that in the garbage.  Fortunately it's wrapped in 3 separate bags one inside the other and was at the top of the garbage bag I was able to rescue it.  Let me tell you he's one lucky husband tonight!

It's the tradition of many households in the area to have crab feasts on Christmas Eve or Christmas and then of course any time you feel the need.  The season is short and we (an all inclusive Sonoma County kind of we) are a tad snobby about getting local crab.

So in short after a change in meds and fresh crab dancing before my eyes I'm a happy camper.  Even with my dog that battles walking on a leash.

I have BTW found my camera cable, read the instructions and still can't figure out how to download.  I figure the directions where written by an engineer.

For richer or poorer in sickness and stupidity

I can't recall ever being so angry at him (Larry).  The trainer told me today that we should feed Colin by hand the next couple of weeks.  I relayed the info when we got home as Larry had stayed home to give the cats sometime to hang all over him.  They really miss their connection with Larry because Colin is always there.

So he (the asshole husband) feeds Colin tonight.  He puts the dog dish down and I say NO. No Mike said we should feed Colin by hand the next couple of weeks so he understands who's in charge.  Larry just shrugged and rolled away.

I am so angry I could spit.  I'm seriously considering saying fine you take him out for his walk tonight.  Walker, wheelchair I don't really give a F@#K.

Stay tuned for the next "I'm going to kill my husband" update.

Here are my beloved nephews

 
Who are sadly part of the dark side (hence Sarah)  Eric, on the left is 19, Christopher, on the right in 21.  Egged on by their father I'm sure. I hold out hope that I may eventually lure them from the dark side back to reality.

This was their response to an email I sent.

OMG, this is hysterical, I think even the Republicans in the crowd will enjoy the read.  I KNOW the Democrats will.
Cath
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/11/25/notes112509.DTL

For those of you who are interested

This is an article from the Sonoma County Humane Society that features Larry, Colin and I.

I've been blessed with knowing Carol Rathmann for almost 20 years now.  I knew exactly who to turn to when Larry crossed his arms in his hospital bed and said I need a dog.  What would we all do without our dear friends to support us?

Colin is turning into a bit more of a hand full than we had imagined, nothing like a 110lb dog who hasn't had his bad puppy manners tamed to keep you on your toes.  But he's really mellow and even people who are not especially fond of dogs love him.

We went to dinner at a friends house last week and one of the guests not known for his passionate love of dogs was trying to figure out how he could smuggle Colin out without us noticing.

Even Dr. Sanity caught the bug

The new dog bug that is.  She allows her patients to bring their dogs to their therapy sessions if they choose.  Apparently a number of us have new dogs and it's made her long for a new dog herself.  She had to put her beloved dog down about 18 months ago.

She read in the paper about these puppies and went to visit them.  One came up wrapped herself around Dr. Sanity's feet and it was mutual love at first sight.  Dr. Sanity first said yes then no.  She told me how on fire she was for a new dog at my Friday session.  But she was going to wait for a couple of things to happen on Monday first.  She decided she couldn't wait, went to visit the puppy today who put her paws around Dr. Sanity's neck and snuggled up to her like a baby.  The wall fell and Dr. Sanity will be picking up her puppy next week.

I never thought I'd be a sucker like that until I met Max.  I'm not a dog person, I've ALWAYS been a cat person but Max was special.  When I was so sick during chemo all I coud do was lay flat on my back he laid on the floor on my side of the bed every single day from morning to night until I recovered.  He was protective of Larry but especially protective of me.  I thought I'd never even like a dog as much as Max after he died.  I really wanted another Pyrenees but the fates were against us at this time.  Larry, wheelchair, walker, crutches ...  Thus we ended up with Colin.

Yes Connie I've gone to the dark side again but my first loves are still Sophie, Ted and Emme.  You would get the greatest kick out of Emme.  She spent her entire life, about 16 months living in the shelter.  It's a delight to watch her discover new things. Now that it's winter of course fire wood is coming in.  There was a stick of kindling on the floor and she pushed it.  IT MOVED.  I thought she was going to have a heart attack right there but maybe she only needed a sip of champagne : )

A brief interlude ...  we went to meet the dog trainer last night because we had missed the first class, orientation. Our main event for the evening was going to a friend's for a dinner of choppino, OMGF it was go good but I digress.  As we arrived at the designated spot, Copperfield's in Healdsburg  we realized we'd forgotten the walker and the wheelchair.  How could we have possibly forgotten not ONE but both.  As a result Larry and Colin spent the hour I spent with Mike in Copperfield's in the car.

The three of us headed off to dog school this morning.  We knew we needed a training collar because 1) Colin paid no attention to the training harness and 2) he chewed through part of it so it's off for repair.  Apparently the hot new training collar is the Martingale .  It's basically a cloth choke collar that's easier on the dog than a traditional metal collar.  We purchased our collar and went off to class.  He was less than impressed with the collar and got bored toward the end of class because he already knows how to sit, is so smart that most of the training bored him - RAPIDLY.  The most hysterical was the one where you place a treat on the ground and as the dog goes for it you cover it with your foot.  If the dog looks away it gets rewarded.  He was very excited the first 2 or 3 times.  After that he laid down and looked at us as if to say "how stupid do you think I am?  I know you're going to cover the treat with your foot so I'm not even going to bother making an effort"  I personally found it quite hysterical and he got rewarded for it.

As it turns out Colin has converted me again to being a semi-dog person again.  He's big, only 13 months old and 110 lbs.  He's expected to gain another 20 to 30 lbs and grow a bit taller.  Currently he stands 31" at the shoulder and 36" at the head.  Yeah he's going to get bigger.  But he's the most mellow guy.  In fact one of the people we had dinner with last night tried to smuggle him out and Mike doesn't even like dogs!

Everyone at Western Farms, our go to place if Healdsburg dog house doesn't have what we need, fell in love with him.  He's generally calm and approachable for kids up to adults.  Now If we could just get him to stop using his giant feet when he's excited.  I have bruises down both thighs because he gets so excited and he doesn't realize the power he has.We're greatly looking forward to the next six weeks of dog school.  We may ever cure him of a kid's version of "I didn't do it".  His version is "duck did it"  Every time he does something he knows he's not supposed to do he runs over to duck (who was once fluffy and white) grabs him and either shakes him for all he's worth or makes him squeak.  You know he's feeling particularly guilty if he makes duck squeak - riotous.  He is a great lift to my spirits which as you know have been sinking of late.

Still can't find my camera cable but I'll update you on Colin anyway.

We have discovered that Colin was either not trained or not trained well as a puppy.  Technically he's still a puppy because he's only a year old.  The previous owner claimed he was leash trained - excuse me while I step from the room and laugh hysterically!

Of course Larry is in no position to walk or rather be dragged by him.  So it's my job.  We had gotten a harness that was supposed to make controlling him easier.  Not only did he not read the instructions, he chewed it off.  He also tore one of my slippers apart (ok they were barely held together but a thread but still), chewed through his leash, tried to eat Larry's slipper and then one of his shoes.  You get the idea that this dog is very mouthy???

I hate to do it but we're going to have to use a choke or prong collar on him for a few weeks until he understands that he is not head dog and he can't just do what he wants.  His feet are huge and when he get excited he flings them around.  My thighs are covered with bruises.

He's an adorable dog but just WAY TO BIG to be behaving in this fashion.  We are trying to make sure he gets socialized so we take him almost everywhere with us.  You should see the looks we get when "my little pony" rides along with his head out the window which is one of his favorite things.

I feel bad but I keep comparing him to Max.  Max was a few months older when we got him but was extremely well trained.  I thought it would be a snap to train Colin - yeah right.

Anyway he's a doll, it's not his fault he wasn't well trained - dog school here we come and luckily he's totally different from Max so it's pretty easy to let him run loose with his own personality.

AND YES ONE OF THESE DAYS I'LL FIND MY CAMERA CABLE.

We're all still alive reposted - spell checked this time

But exhausted!  Between Larry and I we've been to the doctor 4 times this month and that doesn't include visits to Dr. Sanity.  Oh and of course that doesn't include all the time he was in the hospital and rehab last month.  And Larry has 2 more visits next week.  One for his eye and one for physical therapy.  He's hoping to be transferred to crutches at the physical therapy visit.  I don't want to burst his bubble but I think it going to be a more gradual process so I just keep my mouth shut.

The other thing we did was adopt a dog.  We brought him home Wednesday and it feels as if he's always been here. No pictures yet, can't find my damn camera cable.

When Larry was in the hospital in Oakland he said "I need a dog"  I promptly got in touch with my friend who is the director of the hospital for the Humane Society and said "Larry needs a dog"  Carol is the person who found Max for us so I knew she would know the right dog when she saw it.  It had to be big and it had to like cats.  Well, he's definitely big, a combination of Brindled English Mastiff and German Shepherd.  His face looks very Shepard, all black and eyes that just make you melt.  He was raised with 2 cats and 2 small dogs.  The family had to downsize and there just wasn't room for 110 lb dog.  Carol said the owner was weeping when he turned him in and it's easy to see way.  He's about 18 months old as mellow as can be and CUTE.  She sent us pictures of him on Friday, we went to visit on Sunday and fell in love. I went to the shelter fully prepared not to like him but one look at his face and it was love at first sight.  Even better he walked over to Larry who was in his wheel chair and put his great big head in Larry's lap.  Larry just lite up like a Christmas tree.  It was the first time I've seen him really smile since he came home from the hospital. The owner said he was leash trained but my version of leash trained and his are 2 very different things.  I spent half the day yesterday yanking on the leash telling him "don't pull on the leash" and feeling terrible for doing it.   We solved that problem by making a visit to Healdsburg Dog House.  Natalie has a wonderful harness  that circles his body and the way it's designed you can very easily reel him in if you need too, teach his to walk properly at your side and we can leave it on for a long time as we want (I have a feeling it's going to be a long time, he's very smart but he's also 110 lbs and can be some what "difficult" to handle him.  We will be going to dog school but that will have to wait awhile as he's going to be Larry's dog I want Larry to do the bulk of the training.We'd been home about five hours when I glanced over at the couch.  Larry was sitting there, Colin had his head on his lap and was sound asleep.  Last night I couldn't get to my camera fast enough but Larry was stretched out on the couch sleeping and Colin was stretched out on top of him sleeping.The owner said he was leash trained but my version of leash trained are 2 very different things.  I spent half the day yesterday yanking on the leash telling him "don't pull on the leash" and feeling terrible for doing it.   He had to got back to the hospital yesterday to get his foot checked, they had removed a foxtail from his back foot when he came in.  In order to get in there on the appointed time I had to take him to Dr. Sanity's with me.  She frequently has other dogs come to sessions but I was a little worried about his manners of lack thereof to be more accurate.  He behaved very well. And best of all while Colin got his foot checked Carol and I got to spend some time talking to each other.

We used to talk frequently when I was doing volunteer work with Pets Are Loving Support.  But I stopped doing that years ago so our conversations have been via email and phone.  It was a total delight to see here happy and smiling.  Her husband died 4 years ago (hard to believe).  She still gets together with 4 other people that were in her hospice support group once a month which gives her great comfort. That's about it except for the ugly tenant wars and I've turned those back over to Larry.  My brain is fried to a crisp, I angry at them for being so stupid, and angry at myself for being so intolerant.  I'm perfectly happy going back to taking care the the money side.

OMG, I just got off the phone with my 21 yo nephew who is madly in love with Sarah Palin.  I keep telling him I'll eventually convert him from the dark side.  This kid is as smart as a whip, intelligent, funny, witty, loving, caring, supporting but he doesn't have a lot of guidance in  his life.  So while his little brother is attending UNR ( University of Nevada of Reno), he's still attending the local jc trying to find his way.  He's so funny he decided that his apartment was occupied by 2 ghosts so he went to the local Catholic Church he attends in Hollister, got a bottle of holy water and sprinkled it in all four corners of his apartment.  He says the ghost is now gone.  One I established the holy water was not stolen ( don't even ask) I agreed that the ghost was probably gone.  This is why I LOVE to talk to him!

I remember when had him up for a visit when he was about 3.  He's ALWAYS loved mechanical things.  We had a VCR that had died and Larry was going to toss it out, I said NO, let's keep it for Chris it will keep him entertained for hours.  And sure enough it did.  We started of just giving him a screw driver.  Pretty soon the questions started coming "what do you think will happen if I do this, or this or this."  He ended up with a pair of scissors and a wrench in addition to his screw driver.  He had the time of his life.

Well it's time to take Colin out, gee I wonder who's going to do that? So I'll close for now.  I think things have settled down enough that I might get some regular posts going.  But in the meantime I'm thinking of all of you.

If this post seems a little disjointed - it is there's been a lot going on and between dog wrangling and loading the wheelchair into and out of the car my lower back is killing me!

Well I just discovered I'm being followed by an award winning journalist - corrected*

How very cool!  Maybe she can help me spread the word on my latest crusade.  Yes you know me, the consummate tilter at windmills.

This one is the FDA.  Larry has to catheterize himself 4 times a day.  He is allowed 12 catheters per month.  So I wash them in the sanitary hand soap, dry  them and put them in plastic bags so he can reuse them.  To me this seems to me to be a walking invitation to a very  bad infection similar to the one he had a few weeks ago when he didn't know where he was, who he was or what year it was.  I was looking back at my archives but there's nothing really clear except he spent 4 days in the hospital getting pumped full of IV antibiotics.

So FDA here I come.  As I said I'll probably be tilting at windmills but when have you ever known something as small as that to stop me?  Also I have a question for you out there.  I'm putting together a wisdom box to send to my 18 yo niece at college.  Someone should benefit from our collected wisdom as women right?

So far I have one of my many breast cancer bears to remind her that young women get breast cancer as well and perhaps they should arrange for someone from a local breast care center or the ACS to come and teach a group of them the proper way to examine their breasts.  I know that wouldn't have helped me since mine was SO small and up against the chest wall but they should know the basics.

A copy of the Giving Tree so she remembers it's good to give but save some of yourself. 

A copy of the newest edition of Our bodies, our selves because she's only got one body and she should learn as much as she can about it

.And a funky little art kit of a wooden body with paints so she remembers she also needs to play.   She's a civil engineering major with a minor in concrete management.  She wants to build roads.

Any other ideas???  Jen, Eliza, Tiffany you're all way younger than I am, Connie, Erin, Nik, Little Miss Sunshine what would you at our advanced ages include?????  I was thinking of finding her a magic wand because every girl needs one - or at least a cigarette holder (She was Ursula in  her dance school's production of the Little Mermaid 
, the one with the grayish wig is Marissa and as she called them her unruly tentacles.  Notice the very long left arm trying to wrangle a tentacle?   After her performance her mother turned to me and said I bet you didn't know she had that in her.  My reply - oh yes I did.  She is truly her mother's daughter!  *correction, no arms are shown wrangling tentacles, that was another picture.  And I remembered to run spellcheck this time : )

Will someone please explain why people like this are allowed to have children

Case in point   www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idOw7yXOoyaU14MWjkJIllXXjMoQD9B5UTB80

A couple decided to ignore their 11 year old daughter's clear illness Madeline Neumann who died of an undiagnosed but treatable form of diabetes.

Instead of taking her to the doctor, getting her diagnosed and treated they decided to pray over her saying  they believe healing comes from God and that they never expected their daughter to die.  The Judges reply "God probably works through other people," Howard told the parents, "some of them doctors."

To my way of thinking healing comes from God by using the brain she gave you and getting yourself or your loved one to a doctor.  I am astounded that this kind of hocus-pocus God will solve every problem is still alive and well in this country.

Here's her parents take on the issue:

During the sentencing hearing, Leilani Neumann, 41, told the judge her family is loving and forgiving and has wrongly been portrayed as religious zealots.

"I do not regret trusting truly in the Lord for my daughter's health," she said. "Did we know she had a fatal illness? No. Did we act to the best of our knowledge? Yes."

Dale Neumann, 47, read from the Bible and told the judge that he loved his daughter.

"I am guilty of trusting my Lord's wisdom completely. ... Guilty of asking for heavenly intervention. Guilty of following Jesus Christ when the whole world does not understand. Guilty of obeying my God," he said.

Prosecutors contended the Neumanns recklessly killed their youngest of four children by ignoring obvious symptoms of severe illness as she became too weak to speak, eat, drink or walk. They said the couple had a legal duty to take their daughter to a doctor but relied totally on prayer for healing. The girl, known as Kara, died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone finally called 911 after she stopped breathing.

There are thousands of couples in the world that would dearly love a child, instead by some ugly twist of fate ignorant people like this end up with them.  You have to take a test to get a driver's license, a manicurist and a number of other jobs.  Why don't people have to take a test to become parents?

As you can see I'm feeling a bit more normal and have collected myself enough to get involved with the world again.

Yes, it's been a long time

Things have been a bit crazy around here what with Larry, the wheelchair and the walker.  The almost evicted tenant that is unclear on the concept of her rent and her power bill being 2 different things and me trying to keep all the plates spinning - remember Ed Sullivan.  

Last Thursday I went to a luncheon honoring my former oncologist Dr. Fun otherwise know as Helen Collins MD.  I also went on Wednesday but I was the only one there.  Does that give you a small idea of what's going on in my brain?  I did have to leave halfway through the live auction because I couldn't take the chaos.  Good thing I didn't spring for a Catwalk ticket, I probably wouldn't have made it into the tent.

I Friday then had my usual appt with Dr. Sanity.  By then I was so tired all I could say was I'm so tired I don't know what to do with myself.  She sent me home 10 mins early because, while I had thoughts I was too tired to articulate them.  She sent me home with permission, nay orders to sleep the entire weekend.  I have to get up to take Larry's leg brace on and put it back on, otherwise SLEEP.  And sleep I did.

I feel much better today.  Woke up to tenant hell but at least I had the resources to deal with the raving lunatic.  I'm being cruel to her because I expect her to pay both her rent and electrical bill.

So all and all the Carey household is running fine.  We have out first big adventure out with wheelchair and walker because Larry has an appointment with his ophthalmomologist that (as you can imagine) has been canceled several times.

Wish us well, it's a practice run for the first of many doc appointments I'm sure.