A new friend came over and we talked for an hour about her end of life care plan. I gave her a lot of information and she is going to digest it all and get started making her plans. We will meet again once she has time to make some personal decisions. It was a good conversation and reminded me I want to do more of this work.
Kathy went with me and we took Sophia to the Vet. I had requested a particular Vet as the last one blew me off and said Sophia was fine. This one, Dr. Eric Hess listened well and asked lots of questions. He did a physical exam on Sophia and then we talked some more. He didn’t repeat the blood work that was done in October as he didn’t think it would show much. He offered to have me take her to Manhattan for an MRI but said it would cost over $2,000 and he wasn’t sure it would be helpful. He does think Sophia is having seizures of some sort. Her pattern of behavior fits with that. He wants me to try to record them on my phone. I’ve tried to do that before but it takes me a bit to find my phone and by the time I find it and get the video going she is usually over the episode. I’ll keep trying.
He offered a couple of drug options and we talked through them. One was a short acting drug and one takes three weeks to reach optimal effectiveness. We decided on the short acting one but not giving it until she starts showing symptoms again. I am to report back to him if the medication worked and shortened the duration of her symptoms. If so, then he wants to put her on the other daily drug as a preventive. If not, then we need to discuss what to do next.
We also discussed how far we want to take this. Sophia is eight years old and is considered a mature, older dog. Her seizures are increasing but at this point she still has lots more good days than bad days, even without medication.
I really like Dr. Hess and how he listened and asked questions and took me seriously. He gave me lots of options and didn’t push for lots of expensive testing that would probably not be helpful. Hoping we can come up with a plan that will lessen her symptoms and give her a better quality of life for as long as we can.
I came home and took a long, long nap. Both dogs were restless from the full moon last night and neither Kathy nor I got good sleep last night. I may not sleep tonight as a result of a too long nap but it does feel good to be rested right now.
I haven’t gotten my tax homework done yet but I still have tomorrow to do it. I need to have it done by 3:00 tomorrow so have lots of time to get it done. I may still get it done tonight – we shall see. It will only take me about 10 minutes to do it.
After the meeting tomorrow I don’t have anything else on my calendar until next Monday. It will be good to slow things down again and have some free days. Still feeling like I am running behind due to the busyness of the last two days.
I probably need to stop and get some groceries tomorrow after my tax meeting. I need to start fixing some real food and eating better. I am starting to have some acid reflux again and that is a sign my body gives me to tell me to eat better. I need to make a list and stop and pick some things up so I don’t have to make another trip to town this week.
I am still on my no spending kick. I’ve done a good job of not spending much money since I started the end of December. I thought of something the other day that I wanted and I went to the Amazon site and looked at it and then remembered I don’t want to spend unnecessary money for a bit and was able to back off. I hope to go until at least the end of March with little spending and I may be able to go longer than that. 2024 was a huge spending year for me and I need to change my ways for 2025.
It is slick as snot outside. The dogs have learned how to poop in their pen outside so we have been letting them go in their pen instead of walking them so much. It is too dangerous yet to walk them far. Hoping it will melt some more the next two days so we have some safe space to take them out. There is a cold front coming in this weekend that is to bring below zero temperatures for a few days. Hoping we don’t get more snow or ice with it. Looking forward to being able to safely walk the dogs again.
Feeling a bit anxious this evening for some reason. I got so used to having days with nothing on the calendar and it has been a bit of a struggle to step back into several things a day I needed to attend to. So far I have been able to stay above neutral doing the things and have been able to recharge after each day. Not sure what the anxiety is from but it seems to be hanging around. Lots of changes coming for all of us over the next couple of months. Doing my best to stay above it all and staying out of fear. Limiting my media exposure has sure helped.
Grateful for a kind and compassionate Vet today, grateful for the work I do with helping others make their end of life plans, and grateful for long winter naps.