To The Vet

(should have posted Tuesday but I fell asleep!)

For weeks, Phineas has been having a rough time. 

My vet is usually booked out 3 weeks for regular appointments. Annoying but, I'm glad they are popular and doing good work. If you want to try and get in on a cancelation, you call by 8am to get your name on a list. And if someone cancels you are in. 

I did that for a week, then my dad died, and then we were in Massachusetts (he was too), and while I was there I said "this is stupid, if I had just made an appointment we'd be in by the time we get home!"

So I smartened up, called from Massachusetts, and made an appointment for today. August seemed so far away at the time, like a dream. But time does fly, and here we are. 

Phineas has been peeing a lot. I mean, a LOT. 

Waking me up a couple times a night, going out every hour, sometimes twice. It is a good thing I am a very light sleeper. Doug sleeps right through him standing at the side of the bed panting, or tip tip tip the nails on the hardwood floors. Then there's pee in the kitchen. 

At the hotel he peed in the elevator twice because we didn't make it downstairs fast enough. Not just a little but all the pee. Or we'd get through the lobby and he'd start peeing right outside the sliding doors, not even able to hold it to the grassy area. 

He is unable to jump up on the usual low things, uncomfortable, fussy, panting. And he has been falling down the stairs, just wiping out. We have to walk behind him and sometimes grab his butt to help him get up the steps. He's overall just generally unwell and not himself. Add to all of this, he hates being lifted/picked up/helped and will start to flail like a 40 pound octopus, legs akimbo, head swinging.

I guess when you are 12.5 years old you get like this. 

I took him to the appointment today and the vet confirmed "He ain't right." She said every joint she could manipulate, shoulder, knees, elbows, hips, and feet are "crunchy." I told her we were worried about spinal stenosis, like what Jack had, and she said he responds to being touched and pinched so that's a good sign. I asked if he could have a UTI and she said she's actually more concerned about Cushing's Disease but he doesn't show all the benchmarks and symptoms. 

It took 4 of us to hold him to get 3 tubes of blood. He had to wear a muzzle. He vocally disapproved of everything. But we got what we needed, all except a pee sample. After the trauma of what we did to him she thought it wouldn't be smart to try and get urine out of him, so she sent me home with a tray. Of course, we walked right out the front door and he left a gallon right on the sidewalk. 

So he had a traumatic day. Send him some care and mojo. He's a good dog, he's just having a rough time. Here he is doing what he did best for the entire time we were at the hotel in Massachusetts. My poor bean.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 176
5:30pm: 154
10pm: 230

food:

coffee, water, iced tea
10am: pbj on 647 bread
1pm: Tuna salad quesadilla; metformin
6:30pm: big bowl of chili topped with cheese, fritos, sour cream; wine
7pm: Metformin+jardiance
8pm: a lot more fritos (big mistake)