Thursday I woke to find dog poop and vomit all over the dining room rug and even streaked across the wood floor. Joe and I cleaned it up. The rug is already ruined because Maddie chewed the edges, but it was usable; now it will need some heavy-duty cleaning.
I had to head to Dana-Farber, so Joe took Maddie to the vet. She got a shot and pills to slow her digestive system, and she came home with easier-to-digest dog food. She never got a diagnosis, because her stool sample showed no sign of worms and she checked out normal for everything else. Maybe she ate something. She seems fine now.
I knew I'd be late for my appointment, but I was even later than I thought. The traffic on Route 9 into Boston was bumper-to-bumper, and the "Boston drivers" seemed to be out in full force. I called Melissa to say I'd be late. By the time I got there, I was exhausted.
My hematocrit had fallen to 25.7, which seemed odd to me because I felt so energetic a couple of days earlier walking around Newport with Ben, and I still felt OK. White count was normal at 9.1 and pokey platelets were 72. (Better than single digits, but I keep wondering what happened to 100?)
My blood pressure was way high, and my sodium, at 124, was still low. (Normal = 135-145.)
Glucose was lower (164) but still high (normal is 65-105), and liver function was slightly elevated again. They put me back on Glipizide to lower the glucose, increased my bp medicine, Atenelol, from 50 mgs. a day to 75, and increased my salt tabs from two to three a day.
Arrrrrggggghhhhhh! Too much to keep track of. I've been demoted from going every other week to going weekly, so I have another appointment Thursday.
It was far from a terrible visit, but still frustrating.
Things went uphill from there, luckily. I had a lovely "al fresco" dinner at my friend Margaret and her husband Nick's house, where we had delicious crusty salmon on the grill. From Needham, Margaret drove me to Diane's in nearby Newton. I left my car at Margaret's, necessitating a car swap the next day, but Margaret said I looked too tired to drive. It's nice to be looked after.
I spent the night in Newton, and the next day, Diane drove her son, Sam, and me to the house they just bought on Cape Cod. It's in Wellfleet on what they call the Outer Cape. David caught up with us later.
There was a celebratory air, since it was my first visit to the house. The plan called for me to stay until tonight, drive back with them to Newton, then drive home. It was a longish driving day – two hours to Newton and an hour-and-a-half to South Hadley – but there was very little traffic, and it worked out perfectly. The house was beautiful, and we managed a good sampling of our Wellfleet favorites: pond, bay, ocean, town and ice cream, as well as walking alongside the beautiful marshes and enjoying dinner in and dinner out.
More on the Wellfleet weekend tomorrow.
