Dog Day of March

We have declared March 27 Anxiety Day. It ended well, despite soggy slippers, an emergency room visit, and a tasty bottle of antacid. With Adrienne and Greg away from home a few days, Linda and I had an overnight visitor: our grand-dog Jake (better known as Jake The Dog, or simply JTD). Jake doesn’t like going up and down our stairs, so I set up his bed in our living room. Not a big deal, but like any good drama, he provided some comic relief.

I did a load of laundry last night which included Linda’s pink bathrobe and slippers (her uniform for the last three months). Before she went to bed, Linda set the robe and slippers near the bed. I went downstairs, worked for a bit, and went to bed around 11:30. Jake was comfortably curled on his bed in the living room and barely opened his eyes to see me walk by.

Sometime during the night JTD made his way upstairs (lonely I guess) and curled up on Linda’s freshly-washed bathrobe and slobbered in her slippers. Meanwhile, Linda had a mostly sleepless night – the cumulative discomfort from acid reflux, Friday’s chemo, and Sunday’s booster shot which gives her flu-like symptoms. Unable to sleep, Linda got out of bed, found her robe under Jake, but didn’t want to disturb him. She got a different robe and unknowingly put on her now-soggy slippers in the dark. Jake kept a straight face through it all.

Linda’s discomfort worsened through the night (chest pressure, shallow breathing, and general soreness). Early this morning, fearing heart problems (a potential side effect of chemo), she called her Oncologist who directed Linda to the Emergency Room. We arrived at 8:30. (NB: if you want to move to the top of the list to be seen by an ER doctor, tell them you have chest pains – even if you’re there for a broken toe.)

In the next four hours, they did her blood work, an EKG, took X-rays, and did a C/T scan. The ER doc said he was looking for clots or other anomalies that might explain her discomfort. Stating that he was looking for clots was not a good way to reduce anxiety. Fortunately, he found nothing that serious. Apparently, she has a significant case of acid reflux. So, two prescriptions and a sigh of relief later, we got some lunch and went home where JTD greeted us with a wagging tail - a welcome sight and far better bed-side manners than last night.

The meds are working for Linda. The Woodford Reserve is working for me. Cheers.

Jake The Dog enjoying a walk this afternoon