First up was Abbie, who saw Dr. K on Monday for her next-to-last puppy appointment. She weighs 20.8 pounds, which sounds like a lot, but means that she didn't double her weight from Month 3 (12.4) to Month 4. Still, Dr. K feels that Abbs will top out between 40-44 pounds (supposedly, you can arrive at a good guesstimate if you double the dog's weight at 4 months). So, a few puppy shots and one rabies vaccine later...and a mani-pedi for some severely sharp little nails...and we were back in the car, headed home. Here's a pic I snapped as we buckled up for the ride.
While we were there, I tried to talk to Dr. K about ideas on dealing with the chew, chew, chewing. Abbs is such a sweetie-pie...most of the time. But when she is over-tired or over-excited, she puts those needle-like teeth into action, with painful results. Both Mr. T and I have the scabs, scars, and scratches to prove it. However, from the moment she entered the building, Abbie was a quivering jelly-belly...and Dr. K just laughed at me. "What? This sweet little puppy...biting?!" Right.
Next up: me! Saw my GP (do they even call Family Practice doctors "GPs" anymore?) today for my six-month checkup. Bloodwork taken on Monday was excellent, blood pressure and cholesterol great, and my weight continues that slow but steady drop (more on that in a sec). Biggest complaint? Ah-choo! Seasonal allergies...just like many of his other patients, I'm sure. I have been trying to manage things with a prescription nasal spray and Benadryl, although I did try (yet again) to use the Allegra-D he's prescribed before. I simply can't handle the "D" part...the decongestant that I need which comes in the form of pseudo-ephedrine, which causes me to want to curl up in a ball...so depressing. So he's changing it to just Allegra, and adding another nasal spray. We shall see...
I chatted with him about living with Bell's Palsy. That's how I've started thinking about it, you know...as opposed to "recovering from" BP. I still have some muscle weakness in my left jaw, my taste buds have never returned to normal (leading to a decreased ability to enjoy food...and a downright aversion to some things I used to love, like pizza...hence that weight loss I mentioned), and I deal daily with the synkenesis or involuntary muscle movements, like a twitching and winking left eye. In all my reading about BP, I'd come to the conclusion that whatever level you reached at the end of six months was what you were likely to have to consider your "new normal." Today marks 10 months for me, if you are still keeping count with me. So I assumed this is it...live with it.
Dr. K (no, not Abbie's vet...my GP...:-) said to give it some more time. His view is that it takes 12-24 months to recover completely from other neurological "events" like a stroke, so why should we cut off hope at 6 months. OK. I'm game if he is! He wants me to continue with my therapy exercises and start back with daily doses of Gabapentin (to help with the nerve recovery). And to "hang in there."
So, that leaves Mr. T. And this is a case of saving the worst news for last. Many will remember he endured a couple of surgeries on his right knee, including a total knee replacement, 8 years ago. Now it's the left knee. He's scheduled for an MRI on Friday to see what is going on in there. And then we wait until next week to hear the results from the orthopedic surgeon. And we all know how much Mr. T likes to wait.
What? You thought I was going to say "we all know how much I like to wait?" This one isn't about me...and, trust me, he makes me look like a most patient patient.
What is going on with all these knee replacements lately? Everywhere I turn, I hear about one. Friends, friends' husbands, cousins...well, technically one is a cousin-in-law. But MA has been in the family as long as I can remember, so I always forget to attach that "in-law" part.
Anyway, we have seen/will see our share of medicos this week. Mostly good news. Maybe our luck will hold through Friday. Fingers crossed...toes, too.
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