It has been a busy week. Q's test pretty much showed nothing. His Cortisol levels were normal, but he has a small amount of albumin in his urine (very early kidney failure - common for a dog Q's age) and his liver enzymes were elevated slightly - again, Q is an old dog so it is not surprising. We are just going to have him tested again in six months. As for his nose, the vet has no idea what is wrong with it. I really think he got something stuck in his nose from sticking his nose into everything outside, but she does not think so. Oh well, we will just keep an eye on it.

I messed up my shoulder again. A few weeks ago, I went to retrieve a ball that had rolled under a pricker bush. I retrieved the ball, but the position I contorted myself into to retrieve the ball caused a muscle spasm in my shoulder. The muscle spasm caused some tingling in my arm that lasted a few hours then went away. I decided to swim some laps last Friday. I swam for probably a half an hour. On Sunday night/Monday morning my left shoulder started bothering me. By Monday morning, I had some intermittent numbness and tingling. Same for Monday night. After only being able to sleep for a few hours on Tuesday, I decided it was time to see the doctor. Of course my doctor didn't have any openings for two weeks, so I wound up going to a walk-in. They did shoulder x-rays there - which he said looked good. They don't do spine x-rays, so I had to go to an x-ray clinic to get x-rays. I am still waiting for results. They give you a phone number and an ID Number. You call, enter the ID number, and if there are any results then you have a message you listen to. That was Tuesday and it is now Saturday and there is still no results posted. They checked the box for a stat read and had results faxed to their fax number, so I am sure they have results. If I have no results by Monday, I will call them and make sure I have the right ID number. More than likely, muscle spasms are putting pressure on my brachial plexus which is causing the numbness/tingling - especially since it is not constant. The discomfort has been improving steadily. I am taking high dose ibuprofen and Flexaril. They gave me Vicodin as well, but it makes me way too sleepy. I would rather deal with the pain and be awake than take the Vicodin and be really uncomfortable.
- I just got a phone call from the computer saying a message was left for me. It says my X-ray was "negative for significant bony changes"- whatever that means. It probably means that I have some minor arthritic changes or something like that. No acute abnormalities.

Bob is getting really excited because in two weeks we are going for a ride on the Grand Canyon Railway ( www.thetrain.com ). I stopped at AAA to get a TripTik for the trip, and they had a brochure for the train ride. Bob has been carrying it around and he wants to "Keep it forever". It has only been two days, and we have already scotch taped it several times. I am going to have to stop by and pick up a couple of more copies of the brochure because this one is not going to last very long.

Bob gets very excited whenever I stay home from work. He asks me "You stay here lots and lots mommy?!!" I feel bad when I have to go to work, especially when he asks me to "stay here with me mommy". I explain to him that I will see him when he wakes up in the morning. He is usually okay with that. I use the direct-connect feature on my phone and I talk to him before I go to work - as I am walking from my car to work. It is really cute to hear his voice on the phone. He always says "Love you mommy, see you when I wake up in the morning".

Bob still loves his baths. Now he takes a shower when he is done with his bath to wash his hair.
Bob also wants to go potty on the big potty chair. The top of his potty comes off his potty to sit on the toilet, but it scares him because it is not steady - if he moves it rocks and he is afraid he will fall in the toilet. So, he won't use it. Needless to say, I went online and researched toilet toppers and read multiple reviews on toilet toppers. There a few that were inexpensive and highly rated for girls, but the splash guard for boys was poorly designed resulting in a mess to clean up every time a boy went pee pee on the potty. Baby Bjorn makes a toilet trainer that sits on top of the "big boy toilet" that comes highly rated by parents of boys. It is a lot more expensive than the other brands, ($30 compared to $10) but it has a good splash guard that actually works, and you tighten it to fit any toilet - even elongated toilets - so it doesn't wobble and Bob feels secure on it. Most of the reviewers said they balked at the price, bought other toppers, and wound up throwing them out and buying this one anyway. It just came in the mail today and Bob used it immediately. He is excited to go on the big potty like a big boy. He flushed his pee pee and was all excited. He is now trying to go make poo poo on the big potty. I think we are just going to leave that on that potty for now so it is always ready for Bob to use. Jim and I will use our bathroom to "go".

We also ordered some Hansman's pancake mix. Buck hill farms bought Hansman's recipe. If I don't work tonight (tonight is an extra night and the census is usually low on Saturdays), I think we will have Pancakes for breakfast in the AM. We are bringing a package with us to Utah with our in laws when we go in a couple of weeks. I told them they will have to supply the maple syrup.

I have to get going. I hope to "talk" to you soon.