"Reduced calcium due to postnatal milk production"  --- don't think I qualify (recent discussion regarding BC not considered)

He says he hit the wrong selection on a drop-down, I can't say that increases my confidence --- note to self, is there anything that can now reduce my confidence in him?

I got my latest lab work back and t4 has increased significantly, maybe it's time to think about meds...

Electronic health records are what printed Wayne to retire. Two things I remember: first, he had a man come in with a large fishhook in his foot. The only diagnosis in the system that was remotely closer was "foot pain." The second, on the day he decided he was done, a middle-aged man, overweight, under exercised came in with chest pain, high total for heart attack. Wayne wanted to order an EKG but the system wasn't letting because of it's algorithms. Called me, asked if we had enough money to retire - I said, well, we wouldn't be living high of the hog but we certainly wouldn't go hungry, go for it. Best decision he ever made.

You're not alone in the disappointing lab results, Al. First my bone density came back with osteopenia in my femoral neck ( not really surprising given how much I've been hobbled by my knee.) Then my mammogram came back negative for cancer but a not with "vascular calcifications." Which apparently increases my stroke risk 51% over no calcifications. Then I had my eye exam. Possible glaucoma in my right eye, repeat the tests in 2 weeks before a lifetime of eye drops. Two tests corroborated each other, slight loss of peripheral vision inner top of right ey and things of the retina on the OCT scan.

Not a happy camper. And my knee shot is wearing off. Was hoping to get 3 months out of it but doesn't look like that's gonna happen. And wondering if it was the extra steroid that pushed me into glaucoma🤬

I'm not so sure that I'd call mine 'disappointing' let's say that the results were about what I expected - except for the low calcium. I'm not having postpartal anything at my age! Having to pull teeth with the doctor to get him to acknowledge his mistakes (Oh my G-d!) was an exercise I didn't expect or appreciate!

Was talking to VA Thursday and Friday about what I'd have to do to get travel pay (expenses to and from medical appointments) and I'll continue that on Monday ... I don't mind the travel to Midland area (at 300 miles one way) but it gets more than a little expensive when (living on SocSec) I have to pay out of my pocket.

I was gonna ask a stupid question about calcium and mammograms, I hadn't thought about how 'milk' gets to the mammary glands but I suppose it's not produced there <???> so travels in blood vessels? ( Feel free to tell me I'm ignorant ... admitted )

In line with your comment about life not being for sissies, I'll go along with GBS - "Youth is wasted on the young."

The milk is produced in the mammary glands, the calcifications I mention are in the blood vessels, not a good thing

Silly puppy (well, compared to the other two)   I have two who don't eat anywhere near as much as they should.  I feed her (Belle) in her crate and then put the food for the other two on the on the porch where it just tends to set.  They both nibble a little but neither of the are eating much - 'course I'm not eating much lately either - it's too blasted hot to cook.

Anyway, when Belle gets done she sprawls in her crate for a while - like about 1/2 hour - then she grumbles, then she whimpers, then she gives with a good bark to tell me that she's been good, but she's bored!  I let her out and, of course, she heads to the front door (which is open) and STOPS!  The old folks haven't finished their meal but there's no way that they're going to let her have any of it.  Impasse:  I want out; Don't you come near our bowls (which on a smallish porch there's no way ... she's got to come sorta close.)

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I've sent a couple of notes to family who are in the Atlantic coast (or have close relatives who are) and haven't heard a thing from anyone!  Kinda irritates me,  I know some aren't anywhere near water so they're in the clear (upstate New York doesn't get hit till Friday<????>) but I have a (half-)brother in N Carolina (area) and all I can do is hope he's got his feet tucked up out the water.

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Belle's idea of playing is to grab a hand / foot / ??? (or chew something to pieces); she doesn't hurt but I can't convince her not to (she's learning, just not fast enough for my skin).
If I throw something she'll run to wherever it is but won't even pick it up and heaven forbid that we think about her bringing it back to me ... stupid question for the day, how do you teach a dog to play?? I'm not that dumb but all the dogs I've had in the past either know how to fetch or they don't .... or maybe I am that dumb.

Neither Ami nor Z'ev were "play" dogs. Archer is. If I throw a toy for Ami, he runs to where it landed, looks at it then looks at me as if to say " it's not moving." Even when he was a youngster, with the Squawky chicken, Jeff play maybe a minute or two then stop, looks at me "what's the point, Mom?!!?"

Local, private forecaster, a man we met through a husky meet up, says Debbie remnants gonna dump,somewhere in a narrow band in the central finger lakes, up to 6" of rain tomorrow and most of us, 2-4". Given that our soil is saturated already, flash flooding is in the menu tomorrow. But, at least we're on the west side of the approaching storm and wind/lightning/ tornados won't be our issue. Everything is damp without air conditioning and condensation in house becoming a big ICK.

Saw the endodontist today about the tooth under the bridge. She said she could do a root canal but it would only be a temporary fix, there's not much tooth structure left under the crown. Her recommendation is to section the bridge, leaving the good tooth under the front crown, ditching the pontic and pulling the bad tooth. Then, in a year or so, when the bone has filled in, one implant where the first molar would be. She was ever so polite - asked about my dentist "what were his thoughts about the tooth." I think she was really meaning, "what was he thinking?!!?" I'll need to get it done before mid October, I want to schedule my knee replacement then. The steroid shot is wearing off and I'm almost back to where I was. But it later long enough that I could have a good few days with the Massachusetts kids Son #1 rented a lovely place on a lake quite close to us. Unfortunately it rained the whole time they were here and the place they rented was strictly no pets. We were over there because at least they had a covered pavilion with a grill and table, which we thought would allow us to cook outside. Unfortunately, at that particular point, a very strong cell came through, driving, horizontal rain, soaked is all till I sent them inside and I sprinted to the 4 Runner with Ami (he can't stay alone at home in a thunderstorm, he'd shred the house trying to escape. And his dog house is under tall pines with a metal roof and about 15 ft from old fashioned power lines that are live when the come down. It was a nice visit but a very wet one. The grandchildren loved fishing

Just found out that the little idiot will play! Of course it's on her terms!  
I've had a rope toy that's been hanging around for a year or two and no one's done anything with it 'cept to toss it away from time to time.

Anyway, it had found it's way outside and I picked it up to toss it onto the porch when she grabbed it and damn near pulled me off balance since I wasn't expecting *that*!  It's now inside and we play with it ... when the mood strikes the old man.

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I've been having a real hard time trying to teach her that going across the road and bringing back the neighbors trash doesn't make me happy.  I'm pissed when she brings back a sack of trash (at least it is in 'grocery store size' plastic bags) and I'd be even more pissed if she was in the middle of the road when someone comes zooming through and she got herself run down.
I get 'things' from Amazon to test and review - good freebies (sometimes) - and I had been sent a 'training collar' so I decided to see what it and she would do.  Charged up the collar, adjusted the setting on the 'remote', put the collar on her and pressed 'beep' which very nicely beeped.  Pressed 'vibrate' which, in turn, very nicely vibrated and Belle decided she was going to see what this thing 'under her chin' was, couldn't get to it so in short order left it alone.  (And I owe the girl an apology) Later, after she'd relaxed (read sprawled on the living room floor) I then tried the 'shock' and she tried to crawl out of her skin ... I had set it at 75 (out of 100) which was just maybe a little high.  
I've now got things turned WAY down ('shock' is at 15) and she's responding nicely to it.  We've worked out the 'I'm gonna get me a treat', if I see her head toward the road, all I have to do it tap 'beep' and she turns around and comes  back to the porch.
What I found surprising - but probably shouldn't have.  I had the collar and remote on the charger with her sprawled on the floor so I decided I'd see if she could hear the beep and if she'd react with it off.  Pressed 'beep' and she just looked up at me ... good girl!

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Your tail about the trip to your son's rental is funny / interesting, and of course prompts "the grandkids loved fishing" was that from the porch or the couch?

Kasper is the first playing dog I've ever had. He will fetch in the house, not so well outside, and he loves play tugs with a rope. It's been kinda nice to have a dog that will play some because it offers a nice alternative way to exercise when it's raining.

We are supposed to get some rain over the next few days. Don't think it will amount to too much. Maybe a couple inches. We could use it. Haven't had anything for a couple weeks now so we are getting a tad dry in spots. I need to burn trash. We are almost done with the new floors in the basement and that old carpet needs gone.

The grandkids were fishing from the dock - with all the rain, they were able to easily dig a good supply of worms. It was intermittently misty but they didn't seem to mind.

And Ami,damn him, went walk about again. yesterday. His collar was way too loose. Fortunately he sticks to woods and fields and not the roads. Josh found him, trapped in an empty fenced pasture. Josh said he was a doofus, happy to see him, wagging his tail "Hi, Josh - where ya been?" kind of thing. And he stinks. As in STINKS. Massively. And I'm in no shape to bathe him (steroid should was great while it lasted but it's not working anymore.) And Wayne's hip and back won't allow it either. So I'll spot clean him douse him with corn starch baby powder and look online for some sort of waterless, spray on/run in deodorizer. If such a thing exists.

Sigh. We've had two young adults (to me, anyway) deaths this past month. The first a week loved young woman in her 30s, beautiful in soul and face. The daughter of a local retired teacher and veterinarian, both equally as loved in the community. She was a social worker, did Peace Corp, a talented, driven athlete in school. She leaves a husband, a newborn baby and and a toddler. The second, the 45 year old son of close friends. Mantle cell lymphoma. Leaves a wife and 3 kids. Again a well loved family in the community - Josh and Wayne went to the calling hours, line was 2 blocks long and the had to extend an extra hour. We went to their wedding - they were a beautiful couple, something straight out of GQ. And so very socially adept. They knew us only as their parents friends but still, in chatting, made us feel quite welcome, honored that we came to their celebration. I feel so badly for the parents in both, I cannot imagine the devastation of burying a child his,/her prime. Not too mention the children growing up without their parent.

My grandma outlived 2 of her children (1 drowned at age 13 and the other was at least an adult) and 2 of her children's spouses. She also outlived 2 of her grandchildren who were killed in a house fire at 11 and 16. She said it was the hardest thing she ever did and she felt every wound as if fresh every day. My mom still has her struggle moments over the loss of two of her siblings and it's been a long time. As an only child I struggle to identify with sibling loss, but my husband has a brother that was killed in a car wreck several years ago that when we first met he would be a mess over every year near the anniversary of the crash, so he and my mom can commiserate on the hole of that relationship.

I have some spray cleaner that smells like blueberries for my dogs. Works alright. Got it at Walmart. Daycare wipes the dogs down with baby wipes if they get dirty and then I have to spray him with the blueberry cleaner once home because I can't stand the smell of baby wipes. We did get some of the water wipes during prime day sale for actual baby. Unscented but I haven't opened to see how true that is. Traditional baby wipe smell makes me gag. Even before getting pregnant.

Wow, Jenn, your grandmother went through the wringer. I remember years ago, when I was a teenager, we thought number 4 sister had a brain tumor. My father didn't say much about it, not even to my mother but I had just finished reading "Death Be Not Proud" and all the test my father was ordering and taking about on the phone have me rather devasting picture. Just before they were going to do myelogram, she woke up, hungry. The myelogramwould have involved shaving her long beautiful hair, my mom told my dad that sitter would be very upset with her hair all gone. My dad was very grim and said if she survives this, I'll buy her a wig! Turns it, she had Eastern Equine Encephalitis, came in suddenly, very sleepy than coma. For me, having just read that novel with the boy dying of brain cancer and seeing all the same tests being ordered, it was devastating. I was quietly subbing my heart out in corners of the house by myself. I don't think my mom has any inkling of what my father's diagnostic thinking at the time. So, I have a hint of your husband's grief, thankfully, for me, only a brief hint. But, my sister's and I are entering that stage of life where nothing is a given anymore. Even walking, it seems. All the stairs at my son's rental, various chores I do before and after their arrival have really done a number on me. I've been mostly chair bound for a week. And though I'm now recovering from all the activity, I can see the atrophy in my right lower leg from disuse. I started doing calf raise yesterday, hopefully the muscle will come back. I'll probably need to increase my protein intake as well. Sigh.

Also, Jenn - I tried to find that blueberry spray at Walmart and was unsuccessful. Do you remember it's name?

Just out of curiosity I also looked for that blueberry spray and while I  found a few blueberry sprays I didn't find any I'd consider putting on one of my hounds.  One of the benefits to having smoked for years (yes, there is at least one) is that I have almost no sense of smell so a pup's gotta get really rank before I smell it.

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Belle and I have been walking out back of an evening, we both need the exercise and she's been good until we get down to the brushline.  I try to wait till it's starting to cool off - like down to 100° or so. I'm not sure what she's chasing, she's never come back with blood on her muzzle so she's never caught it/them.

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Sky's gone out a couple of times and she wanders around the trailer, seldom even over to Darryl's place.  I'd like to let her wander if she stays close, but I've had a couple of older dogs who, apparently, have decided that they're old enough and they can just go walk off and no one's supposed to care.  

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Parents outliving their kids ... my grandmother outlived three of her 5 daughters ... but shoot, she was 102 when she died.  
On the other hand, a lady friend who is about my age lost one of her sons before she passed.  We tried to see if we could get him to consider the tilt of his head but he was more interested in what he could ingest ... the last I saw of him was when he stopped by to see if I'd give him some money.  Nope, I was fixing dinner and offered to share but he wanted money ... and that wasn't going to happen.  Bad scene and way too many years ago ...

After I hit preview and make sure everything is readable ----- remember to hit send!!

 Send helps I've done that with texts. Pisses me off when I find it a day later.

Phew. Four birthdays in the past 30 days, two this week both sons and two grandsons. One of whom got his driver's permit today. His mom sent me a picture with him beaming in the driver's seat. That picture came after I said you know you're getting old when your grandkids have their own phone numbers.

And Al? These days, I wish my sniffer were less sensitive! I thought we got rid of the odor this morning but tonight?!!? El skunko

Got good news yesterday - no glaucoma   But still glaucoma suspect. Gonna rain for several days then Tuesday? High temp of 64⁰ expected. Sigh. Summer is over. We put the electric blanket back on 3 days ago.

What I have I got a long time ago. Looks like it might be discontinued. "I Love Pet head - Dry Clean" in blueberry muffin. Never really paid much attention to what was in it since I don't use it much but the smell was nice while it lasted and was good for taking on vacation with us in case I couldn't stand to be in the car with them.

At this point Kenzi would probably walk off if I let her out and not know how to get back. She would always like to wander but has always had good recall for me. Her dementia though is to the point where I'm not sure she really recognizes people all that well anymore, me included. There's just a way she looks at you that suggests not everyone is home. She doesn't see all that well to begin with and then it's like she's seeing something unexpected when she comes up to you. I'm not sure how long to go on with this. Calling it for physical medical reasons I can wrap my head around better, but at what point does the mind need to be considered. Physically she's still getting around. We do our walks morning and night (she is getting slower now), her kidneys are still working fine, she's eating fine. Sometimes I feel like her bowels work too well but that's where the mind is coming in again. She will kinda let me know when she needs to go out to pee, but she will not let me know if she needs to go out to poop, and often she won't get both done in one trip. She' will pee then need to poop like 10 minutes after and will try to do that in the house and it has me at the end of my rope. I'm so tired of smelling poop in my house. I'm tired of getting up at every little sound all night long thinking she's sneaking into the kitchen to poop rather than letting me know she needs out. Kye is only a little better but he's always been touched in the head so nonsensical decision making has been his thing forever. His body is failing so i think he will give up physically before I have to think too much more on his mind.

I feel horribly guilty but I'm hoping kenzi will go peacefully before the baby comes. I just don't know if I can handle her routine and a baby routine. They aren't overly different. I've been getting up with her multiple times a night for at least 2 years, but the way I know it will go is that she will sleep while baby is up and the instant baby is down where I could be sleeping then she will be getting me up and I will be left with nothing, and I can't run on nothing. I can run on very little as I've done for the last couple years, but I can't do it on nothing. Then I'm really hoping Kye will go before she starts walking. I feel like I can't give my kid a well cleaned environment in the current pattern in which for her to explore in. Kye currently is less issue in the house but he has never been one to get off the patio and into the grass to poop and I'm constantly cleaning the concrete in the backyard. i just don't know how much time I can expect to have to put toward bleaching the back patio daily so i feel like it's okay for my kid to crawl around on it. And I'm not at all a germaphobe, but I draw the line at poop for my kid. I hate being this frustrated by old dogs that can't help it. Well, Kye could help it, he's just always been mentally deficient and we've not found a way to counteract it.

Sigh. Old dogs...I have to say, Z'ev's passing and not dealing with poop in house anymore has it's benefits. No issue with that with Ami yet. He's just about 12 now (we don't know his actual birthday date, just estimated by vet when he was neutered.) And I hear you on crawling baby and dog pooping on house. Definitely an ick factor there. And, another month or two you are going to need infinitely more sleep.

Our cellular Internet has been absolutely abysmal of late. Josh bit the bullet and went with Starlink. I've been waiting, hoping Amazon's Project Kuiper would be up and running soon but looks like their first customers will be commercial, their license says half in service by the end of 2026 and full service not until 2029. Not sure I can wait that long. And at the moment Starlink equipment can be had in our area for 299 with one month free for both us and Josh if I use his referral link. Though I loathe everything Musk , I may hold my nose and go with it. I dunno if it's rain attenuating signal, tourists using up bandwidth or tower maintenance but damn, many days cellular data is just not working at any speed. Josh was here yesterday visiting and I thought he was gonna have apoplexy trying to use our Internet. That boy can cuss

Ugh. A friend's mom had a knee replacement earlier this summer and is now in hospital - she fell and broke 5 ribs, very well. This woman is a bit younger than me. The thought is she wasn't eating it drinking enough and BP was low. Hubby is suspicious that her husband may be abusing her but this fall supposedly happened when he wasn't home. Whatever, gives me even more determination to get stronger before my surgery. I'll be scheduling it this week once I know the date for my tooth extraction. Tooth is not bothering me now but it's a reservoir of infection that they won't want in me. Can't say that I disagree, either. Also gonna have to mention to surgeon about my foot, that may interfere with my ability for much weight bearing post surgery. At least it is now. The forefoot was actually swollen the other day, not sure what that was about.

Rain today and gonna be cold tomorrow - high of 60⁰ expected. Sounds like a spaghetti and meatballs kind of day. Maybe even a poor of soup of some sort (I love hot soup, one of the few perks of cold weather!)

We are lucky. Our electric cooperative has run fiber in our area which is really how internet should be done. They have the equipment. They have the right-of-way. It helps them offset the cost of the electric equipment that has gotten insane due to supply issues and the moving target that is EPA regulations. We pay $60/month for 500mbps. If we wanted a gig we could get it for $80/month. We used to pay $70/month for 3mbps line-of-sight that was down during foggy weather. Paid more than that for HughesNet that was just down all the time because it was awful.

We are almost done installing new flooring in the basement. I'm so ready to be done with that project. Just have about 10ft more to go in the 'man cave' area and then have to install quarter round then we can put everything back where it belongs. I miss having my gym and access to my dumbbells and weight bench. I feel weak since I haven't been really getting to lift outside of just the lifting I've been doing installing floors, but I miss structured weightlifting. I keep little 10 pound weights in my office upstairs and I've been doing yoga upstairs but still not what I want. And I need my dehydrator that is currently buried down there. I have cucumbers running out my ears I need to do something with and was going to make salted vinegar cucumber chips. Don't really want to do it in the oven. Still getting a little warm here to be running the oven that long, though it was 60 degrees this morning. High of 80 today but we are going back to upper 90s for the weekend. Ready for fall.

If I could get the rain, I'd take one day of 60° weather - though I'd have to get a good jacket for that temp!

I don't know what was going on with Belle last night. We all went out about 11:00 - just after last treat and take care of business and then came in to go to bed ... let's say 11:30 or so. Now she normally sleeps the night through without too much squeamishness but not so last night. She woke me up at 03:00 (what is it with three in the morning??) I figured she wanted out so put her out on A's lead and she stayed out till after 04:30 when I let her in. Apparently something was bugging her - but JUST her - till I got up at 08:00, she kept whining and grumbling and barking (blast that girl has a bark on her!) so I'm going into town (80 miles) with a friend today to do some shopping and I may sleep on the way in. (( er, not the first time I've done that. ))

Knee surgery? Is that anything like my femur repair? a year and a half (or so) later and most of the time it doesn't bother me but there are times when it feels really sore and sitting on my wallet doesn't bother me much but then there are times there too. Seems to me as if the powers that be could find a better way to fix things when they break ... something that doesn't hurt as much or for as long ...

Kenzi used to have select nights where she would just be restless and extra on alert but it was always during a full moon (like now) because more wildlife moves when there's extra light at night.

The very few times Ami was restless at night turned out to be a cow (actually, a bull) crawling under the pasture fence and feeding on our lush, lovely backyard grass. It was a very wet summer and not only was the grass thick, green and full of clover but the ground was saturated, Me. Bull just stick his head under the lowest wire and lifted, the post came right out the all the wet soil.

And Al? 58⁰ at 2:30 PM.

I will NOT turn on the heat on in August!!! I will NOT turn on the heat on in August!!! I will NOT turn on the heat on in August!!!

@Amymeme let's try for 104° at 6:20 PM ... and we hit out high at about 3:00 PM so it's been cooling off for 3 hours ...  this isn't even funny!
Why not turn on the heat in August ... oh, because it's over 100 out??  

I remember your chat about the bull and Ami ... of course I had to be concerned for him but I do have to admit I laughed at a lot of your comments about the situation.

Last night I went to bed early - went to town and came home tired - Avalanche at about 1:00 AM - was standing at the door talking about something that was outside.  I have no idea what it was but it had him really worked up.  I think that @Twisterii might have the right idea, Avalanche is a sight dog so when there's more light for him to be able to see stuff, he's more apt to make noise.

I'm hot, rambling .... sorry

It's still cool today but not quite as chilly as last night. Hubby, granddaughter and I were all giggled together on the couch under a pile of down throws. Watching Men in Black 2. I do believe Steven Spielberg never grew up beyond age 8!

As they say on game of thrones "winter is coming" or rain at the very least here. Temps have been more normal for here lately.

Usually july is the only month the heater is completely down. Whats really funny is when the door open in the living room kicks the heater on the same time the ac is running in the bedroom.

Having some major issues with spider im trying to problem solve. Problem solved is that jerry is a huge factor and to an extent its resource guarding. Jerry was holding spider and my stepdad had splinter and me and my mom went to get drinks at the coffee shop. She pulled jerry (3 weeks after neck surgery) off the bench and dragged him about 10 ft to try and go after another dog. When i got back and grabbed her she was still being extremely reactive to other dogs. We left jerry at the bench and walked down the path and once we passed the earth tube domes and jerry was out of sight she went 100% non reactive. Other then i need to work with her in jerrys presence how do i really address this? Most of what i have read about how to handle it does not pertain to the resource being a person.

And jenn i totally feel you about the doggy dementia thing. Although shadow its mostly getting lost and behavioral changes. Hes doing physically ok now on gabapentin, carprophen, amantadine, librella and cbd, but i morbidly keep hoping to find him dead on the couch in the am.

"Winter is coming!" if you don't mind, I think someone's got it messed up.  We've been at or over 100° for too many days this month ... if this is a predecessor of winter then someone needs to go back to climate school!

Well, Belle's going back on the collar for a while - I'm getting too much of the neighbors trash again.  I walked out back and she didn't come with so I called her and I've got this small, black greyhound zooming past ... she can definitely put some distance under her.  In general she's a good dog, but in specifics she can be a real pain in the touchas!!

I'm glad I'm not the only one.  Avalanche and Sky are both 13+ and there are times when they both have trouble getting up stairs (to the porch) and getting into the Jeep is a two person affair - them and someone to help them.  Both are still in good physical and mental health - thank the powers that be for that, but like @lostmaniac said it wouldn't surprise me to see either of them not wake up some morning and, with luck, they'll pass with little pain.  I won't put either of them down until they can no longer take care of themselves ... and then I'll have to think long and hard about it.  I don't like making that decision.

ETA:  Last evening I had a medium sized chicken that I broiled (I think, slow cooked in a covered, deep skillet?)  I couldn't eat all of it so I dropped it in the fridge and pulled it out tonight.  Like many foods, it was better the second day and didn't need warming to make it better. I got my portion and ...
Of course my counter surfing mutt got supper (or is this desert, she already had supper) and I really hope that she's got a good gut.  I'd taken off the breast and legs so there wasn't a whole lot of meat left and now there's nothing left and, like I said, I hope she's got a good gut!!
I swear there are times!!!!! I swear!!!!!