It's Just Another Manic Monday!

Not manic Monday yet, but it's getting there.

I took Joe in this morning for a long overdue haircut [read: prep for summer shave] and his annual vaccinations. Meagan, the groomer, called me an hour and a half after I dropped him off. He has 3 fleas on his body ~ FLEAS!!! We don't...or at least we didn't have fleas...but I guess we do now. I'm guessing they came from Crack Dog in just the short amount of time he was with us. Now we need to give Joe 30-day meds for flea protection and I have to search the internet for non-toxic flea control. Crap!

And, Joe has a little red rash spot on his skin and needs the medicated healing bath. Jesus, he gets a freakin' day at the spa...and I haven't even had a pedicure in over a year! How is it that a person can be jealous of a dog?

On a good note, it appears it's going to be another beautiful day. Yesterday the high was about 82 degrees and after I finished making the salads to go with burgers for dinner, I spent the rest of the afternoon working outside instead of vacuuming and dusting inside. We even ate dinner outside on the patio. Just gorgeous.

It's supposed to cool down somewhat later in the week, but it's spring and I'm ready to plant. We went to Lowe's yesterday morning and I bought some tomato and poblano pepper plants, along with a few herbs, parsley, thyme, Thai basil, Texas tarragon to go along with the chives and sage already growing in pots on the patio. That's all I'm growing this year and I'm putting all of it in pots. I hope I have more luck this season than I did last year.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Karen's angiogram last Friday. I posted a short synopsis on Facebook for my family, but I forgot to do it here.

The angiogram went well. No more stents or bypass surgery. The doctor was very satisfied with stents placed by Karen's previous physician. He increased the milligrams of two of her meds, but reduced ingestion to once per day instead of twice. He also gave her a new, stronger diuretic because her blood pressure was pretty high (214/89). It did come down a little while she recovered from the angiogram, but not very much.

What we know now: the mini-stroke Karen had was NOT heart related. It is a separate issue that needs to be addressed with another physician, not a cardiologist.

What we don't know now: the cause for the angina she's been having. Karen's theory involves a recent increase of dietary fiber and medicines moving too quickly through her system, but she will further discuss this issue during her follow-up visit with her cardiologist.

So, she is down to 13 medications plus a couple of fish oil capsules per day since her prescriptions for the two anti-depressants and two anti-seizure meds have expired. I have yet to find an answer to the question that burns my brain: At what point do all the combined medications cease being an antidote and become poison? I don't think anyone can give me an answer and I find that very unsettling.

This morning I am thinking about my kids and grandkids and how much I am missing them, so I will go for my walk and attempt to clear my mind and find my Zen place. That may be quite a challenge. My mind is pretty cluttered. I might be a thought hoarder.