If it's not one thing...

Well, the other thing this time is that I have spots that look like canker sores all around my lips, and some on my tongue.

They began to pop up in the middle of last week. As per Melissa's instructions, I increased my usual dosage of the anti-viral Valtrex from the usual prophylactic dose of 2,000 milligrams a day to 3,000 milligrams daily. This hasn't helped, and last night I could barely open my mouth to eat dinner. Lucky Maddie had part of my hamburger. This morning's blueberry pancakes went down well. Yesterday I even had to drink a Coke through a straw, and this morning's coffee, which I usually like very hot, burned my lips.

Melissa said to get a viral culture, which Dr. Berger's nurse said he could try in Springfield this afternoon. Joe is using my car because his car has been deemed unsafe to drive unless he gets costly repairs which don't make sense given the age and mileage on it. He is picking up a new one over the weekend. So he is leaving work early to pick me up at 3:30-ish for a 4 p.m. appointment in Springfield.

Meanwhile even if I had my car, I wouldn't be driving it. Eleven in the morning is about as far as I can go without taking pain medicine. This is progress over last week. There is no sense in toughing it out, but still I did want to see how far I could go this morning before my incision started to hurt. When I noticed that I wasn't breathing in fully, I realized that it was time to take the pills.

The weather is so beautiful that Maddie and I sat outside while I read the paper and had breakfast. I am understandably paranoid about the road after she nearly got killed a few years ago. I didn't want to leash her up because that limited where she could lie. I called out every time I lost sight of her, and each time she was either under a bush right near me or resting the shade where I couldn't see her.

Good dog.