Shawna!

As is my practice, I am now posting that I have been away on a business trip. I arrived home from China about 9am today.

The jet lag monster had me in its grips until late afternoon. But, that makes sense, late afternoon in California is morning in China.

Why the title Shawna! on this post? Because she scared the you know what out of both of us today.

Today, I decided, was the day to recommission the hot tub. I've had all the maintenance work done over the past weeks so now it was time to get it going again. It has been filled with water for a few weeks so the teak could soak and swell and make itself watertight. Frankly, it has been dry since the autumn before Mary's symptoms appeared so that is 2.5 years.

First step, drain the two week old icky 'saturating' water. With the help of gravity, that takes several hours.

Two, clean the filter. A 30 minute job

Three, go buy new chemistry. Three plus year old stuff can be questionable.

Four, fill the tub. Using a garden hose, that can take well over an hour.

Five, as the jets are nearly submerged by the rising fresh water, turn on the heater. This involves going downstairs, turning on the pump and setting the soaking temperature. The temperature indicator show the starting point of our tap water here is 61 degrees as I set the use temp at 99 degrees As I climb back up the stairs, Wiggles is barking and dancing and acting nuts.

"Oh, white dog, what IS your problem?" I say to the deaf dog. "It's too early for dinner". I realize she is not dancing towards the open door and the feeding area. Rather she is dancing towards the hot tub. Strange, I think.

As I walk towards the tub, the water level is still a good 1.5 feet below the rim. (The tub is set nearly flush with the deck.) I see something my brain cannot process at first. What is that large shape in the water? Moving, doing laps? Then it hits me, its Shawna! She fell in! Now Shawna has been around the hot tub since it was installed six years ago so clearly her balance is still not good after her bout with old dog vistibula disease last year.

My next thought is hypothermia. 61 degrees for a seventeen year old dog is too cold.

As I get down on my hands and knees to grab her, I see she is vey tired already and having a tough time keeping her mouth out of the water. She is starting to drown! I reach for her and miss the first time. The second lap I grab her and pull her to the side of the tub, holding her by her rib cage so she can cough and breath--which she does. Finally I lift her and run her into into the utility room sink to soak her in warm water to get the chill off of her.

Her heart is racing, she is having trouble breathing and she is shivering like there is no tomorrow. I am thinking heart attack any second now--she is 17 years old!

After towel drying, I turn away in preparation for using a hair dryer. With my back to her, she jumps off the 36 inch high counters! So now I am thinking major bone breakage plus a heart attack.

But, no! Shawna is fine. She has been quietly laying in front of the fire for the past couple of hours--and she is very much alive.



Shawna!

Pat

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Los Gatos

Day Trip to USC

My recent tript to China was to visit several universities to see if we could arrange funded research.  The trip this week was to another university, USC in Southern California.  USC is known for its famous Heisman Trophy winners like the one who gave his back (Reggie Bush) and that other guy, OJ Simpson.  

From 2011-05 USC

From 2011-05 USC

One of my work compatriots is a USC graduate and suffers a religious experience during football season.  So, when it was time to do the tour of the electronics laboratories, he insisted on a small detour to this statue, Tommy Trojan.  In the picture are four of my coworkers and four professors from the EE department.  And, of course, a beautiful sunny California day. 

Another Anniversary

Two years ago (May 2009) was the surgery removing 78% of Mary's liver in a hepatic trisectomy at Stanford with Dr. Visser. Later that week was the episode of SIADH and then a week later her release to come home. Hard to believe its been two years. 


If you'd like to read the May 2009 blog, click here.  


I haven't dwelled on the surgery and the SIADH aftermath like I have on other events. I guess it was part of the success of giving Mary her one year instead of the weeks that are more typical for a diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma so it was a joyous event. 


As I read the two year old blog, I could only be so thankful for all the support from Ingrid, MaryR, Terry and all the good wishes from lots of friends.  She gave it a good run, didn't she?  But cholangiocarcinoma is a devil of a cancer because it attacks the liver, an organ that defines the workings of the body's chemistry.  


As one of the doctors told us near the end in April of 2010, "We've had patients with tumors the size of basketballs but they were attached to the body in a non-threatening way. Mary's cancer (tumor) is so small we cannot get an image of it via MRI, CT Scan, X-Ray or any other technique. But, it is located in an absolutely essential and irreplaceable part of the body's workings such that it threatens life simply by being where it is.  

Saturday and Shawna

It is a quiet Saturday. And a weather deficient weekend. Imagine, they are predicting rain! How dare they?

Shawna's urine tests are showing a slight abnormality. Dr Weise suggested I put her on a special renal dog food and after a week collect a new urine sample. She is now on k/d renal dog food. I will have to catch the urine later this week. So much fun collecting urine from a female dog.

I have written about Dr Weise before, right after Mary died and how she took the time to make sure I was ok every time I took a dog in.
This time she said, "You know, Shawna is a really old dog" at least four times.
I finally said, "yes, I wake up each morning and study her ribcage for movement before I get out of bed"
"Oh, you know!"

I was talking to a friend and mentioned that Wolfie (Shawna's half brother) died in 2009 and Mary died in 2010. At that point I felt like I had put a jinx in Shawna for 2011. I hope I am wrong.

Anyway, time to start my Saturday errands.

p

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Project Completed!

One of the "mistakes" we made when we remodeled the house was to put very nice carpeting on the stairs leading down to the lower level. 

Why, you say? Because those stairs not only lead to the downstairs wreck room (it wasn't supposed to be that way) and the dog room. Well, I am sure the dogs didn't know it was a fine wool carpet because over the last ten years they have made multiple deposits of various 'doggy' effluent on the carpeting. Yuck! 

Two weeks ago, the carpet was removed and I had Brazilian cherrywood stairs installed to match the living room. Well, broke my heart watching Shawna do a faceplant a the bottom of the stairs her first time down. Ouch! 

It also made my heart (and nose) soar when I realized the 'doggy odor' was gone from the house! hallelujah! 

This week, I had a simple industrial indoor/outdoor carpet runner installed. This gives the dogs the solid footing they need and when they are gone, I can remove it and the glorious cherrywood will be visible. 

OK, bottom line is that I had a real tough time with this. Why? Because this was the first real change to the way Mary had designed and decorated the house. The TV thing I did before was simply swapping one TV for another. This was truly changing something we had talked about and she was firm about the carpeting for the ease of the dogs up and down the stairs in spite of the olfactory problem it created. 

But it is done now and the dogs are easily navigating up and down the stairs and the house smells springtime fresh! (Well, except for the used baggie from last Monday's fish I forgot to throw out and well...it took a few days...) 

Ciao!

How did it get to be May 10?

My best guess is that I have been really busy and it hasn't all been for work!  


My last blog entry described how I felt as I went to see Kelli the last time. That is really a "planned" last time for Kelli made it clear I could call and make an appointment anytime.  Whew!  I must admit when I arrived at her office, we got our tea and I sat down, the emotion of "finishing" my first year of grief and ending our sessions washed over me in huge waves.  As always, Kelli waited patiently and after I regained my composure, we had a great last session.  


Again, thank you Kelli!  


Last week, my daughter, Erika, arrived from Manhattan for a quick weekend visit.  It was a blast. On Thursday, I had reservations to attend a reading by Armistead Maupin of his latest book, "Mary Ann in Autumn" in San Francisco. He is absolutely entertaining and having him tell stories of his life as well as doing the reading was absolutely wonderful.  Erika got a big kick out of it too.  

On Friday morning, we took Erika's bicycle to the shop where she purchased it for a tune up and replacement tubes and we hoped they would have a box we could use to take it as luggage to NY. Best news was that they routinely ship bikes UPS and its cheaper than the airlines luggage charges these days!  Erika filled out the paperwork and the bike is now on the way via UPS. 


We also hit my bike shop and bought her a new helmet and the gloves that protect the nerves in the hand and wrist joints.  


Friday night we had a nice dinner at Fontana's. Make sense, we had had Japanese on Thursday so we did Italian on Friday.  On Saturday, Ingrid hosted us for breakfast on our way to SFO.  This worked out as Ingrid's "American Mom" arrived at SFO on Saturday for a visit with Ingrid for a few days.  When Ingrid arrived here from Germany as a single Mom with a 7 year old Maurice decades ago, Claire was Ingrid's coworker at AMD and Claire sort of adopted Ingrid and Maurice.  


I cannot tell you what a joy it is to see how Erika has grown into a wonderful adult woman. She is composed, thoughtful, funny and a joy to be around.  And, I am just tickled pink she made time to come visit her old man!  


On Sunday, Ingrid had invited me to a Mother's Day brunch with Claire at Il Fornaio in San Jose. Later, we attended a concert by the California Pops Orchestra in Los Gatos. It was a fun Mothers Day. 


My grief group is still meeting on Tuesdays and we have just four sessions left before that process is done too.  Again, I know the timing is right for me but at the same time, I am expecting a strong reaction as the official end happens. The group is discussing how to keep it going on our own. We shall see how that works. 


I saw my neighbor Jane this week and she asked if I was traveling much.  I said, "No, just China, Taiwan and Peru before the end of summer, not much."  I guess it depends on one's perspective.  


My friend MaryR has good news too.  She starts her new job on Monday the 16th.  That is a great situation after seeking employment since last fall.  Better yet, the job description reads as if it was her resume. I am very happy for her!  


Speaking of new jobs, my son, Christopher, has started a new job as well. Its another emerging software company and it fits him to a T as well.  Good luck to Chris and to MaryR!


I am out of time so I won't be able to tell you about my great weekend adventures around the Golden Gate bridge.  The sea air and the lovely views are just stunning.  


That is all for now! 


p