Today is a brand new day. A good nights sleep. A new perspective. A visit from Grandpa for Thane and housekeeping on my computer that needed a sighted techie.
Thane has exhibited some good energy today. He has slept much less and has spent a lot of time playing. There were times when I saw his normal ball obsessive self emerging just a bit. I was afraid at first to read anything into this as he has seemed to have more energy for a couple hours after his meds. When the energy remained much the same through out the day, I felt a little twinge inside myself- you know that one where you realize the down days are numbered and the work days will possibly be resuming soon within moderation of course.
There also have not been any lameness incidents today- though those seemed to be fewer as the neuro symptoms began to set in so this in itself was not something that I was using as a guide to ascertain how he was really doing.
There's still some very obvious factors that are not my Thane. Thane has had a number of occasions over the past couple weeks where he went off his food. He would eat some- mostly the Nupro and organ parts, but it was like a child playing with their food when it came to the main course. Two of these incidents have happened yesterday and today. I'm trying not to make a big deal out of them. I just grab the food, wrap it back up, and set it in the freezer for another day. Today, I decided to just set it in the fridge and offer it when I had my dinner. Yeah! He ate and was really eager when he saw what I had.
I am suspecting that the meds may be affecting his appetite. He has not puked or had diarrhea so its hard to ascertain if there are tummy issues happening without that. I've been trying to med him and then feed two hours later because he won't consume his Nupro later than meal time and he can not have his probiotics with Doxy either. By doing it this way, I've been less likely to forget something crucial like his probiotics which he must have for gut and skin health due to previous history. I suspect I may need to go to giving him food at the time of the dose and if I thought my life was made complicated by these meds now, it certainly will be later.
As a person with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity), I need to do my outings early in the morning so that I am out when crowds are not as intense. On days when I don't have to head out, I could care less what hour Thane gets done eating. On days when I need to go out however, even with dosing him at 7AM, it still pretty much means that I can't get a bus until at the earliest 9:45. By the time I get anywhere this way it is downright crowded and the toxicity effects for me are substantially raised. It'd be one thing if this was just a one week antibiotics run, but as my good friend Sharon at After Gadget blog said to me recently, this is a marathon not a sprint. I will figure this system out- we will make it work. If it means Thane prefers to eat mid day or when I eat dinner because he just feels better then, then I will figure a way to make that happen.
This is the time of year for adventures. My idea of adventures is trapsing to parts unknown to explore. I guess in a rather twisted, distorted way of looking at things, Lyme Disease could be considered an adventure. After all, it does have us trapsing into the unknown!
My Dad was telling me a recent story about my mom. She does a lot of work in her yard and a critter she did not know got onto her while she was working in the yard. She quickly put it in a container and rushed off to the vet with it to find out if it was a tick. I am sure that she shared about Thane in the process- but hey, if Thane getting Lyme makes her more aware of the *unknown species* of critters in her yard, then to me it is worth the journey. I did not know what a real tick looked like. Oh Thane has some cute stuffed ticks that he absolutely loves, but I had no idea what a tick was like. If I can make even one person more aware then this journey of ours is beneficial.
Dad went on to tell me about when he was a kid. They had a bunch of ticks I guess where he grew up in Missouri. They just would find an adult with a heat source that they would hold close to the tick and they would back right out. I just thought they were crazy personally. He followed that up with a *don't do this at home on your dog and especially not when you are blind* LOL
If you are reading this blog and want more information on ticks, please see the postings on Ticks, Lyme and Related Information at After Gadget blog as well as her awesome blog on How to Tick Check Your Dog. If you are looking for a basic site that has some information but some of which is pretty superficial IMO see Ticks, Dogs, and Disease. Now if you are looking for good information that can help you understand what you are up against, as well as a support forum, take a look at the Tick-L links and forum. Though I am not a part of the forum, I found a lot of clarification on things that were so confusing to me through the articles here as well as Sharon's awesome support and further mentoring of me as I learn first hand about a disease we both wish we never had experience with (I am sure)
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