Rest In Peace, Baxter

     He did the best that he could for as long as he could. Many remember that he wasn't expected to handle the stairs in the motorhome last year, but he managed somehow. He began to struggle in the start of 2016. Phenobarbital handled his seizures, but it was a prodigious effort for him to get to his feet.
     In the past month he could (would) not get up to go to his food or water. We had to place it between his paws. Because of my recent back surgery, I could not help him up. 

Fortunately, when he had to go out, Durelle discovered that clipping his leash to his collar usually provided enough additional motivation to get him to his feet. In the past few weeks his bladder was no longer able to last through the night. For all the time that we had him he would let us sleep in as long as we wanted, so for him to start that pitiful bark at four or five in the morning was totally out of character. During the day he was stretched out asleep and oblivious to the world. Occasionally he would rouse himself enough to rub the sides of his face on the floor to scratch the growths on his lower gum lines, but that was almost the extent of his activity.
     This was not the Baxter we knew and loved since 28 September of 2009. That Baxter was a loyal and adventuresome companion for thousands of miles in the motorhome.

     He was the typical Golden. In his eyes there were two categories of people: those he liked and those he hadn't met yet. There was never a shortage of volunteer dog walkers at the campground if we were going to be away from the bus for any length of time. He loved RVing in Maine.

     He had had a tough life during the eight or so years before we adopted him. He was picked up by an animal control officer in Hartford, CT with an embedded BB and a torn ear to show for his adventures. The Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue league rehabilitated him and we were the lucky adopters. You can be sure that the subsequent half of his life was spent in the role of pampered dog.
     So, today we made our last trip to the vet with him and left with a gnawing emptiness softened only by the knowledge that he is waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge. Dr. Lerma and his staff were both competent and kind. One of the techs rounded up a chocolate frosted doughnut! Baxter ate "the whole thing" one bite at a time. I got a chuckle when I said, "Chocolate is bad for dogs". Baxter went out in style

C-17 Day

     The paper gave us a heads-up that at 0700 this morning there were going to be thirteen C-17s taking off to go support a mass training jump at Fort Bragg. I got up hoping that the chosen runway this morning would be the one directly in line with our house. At 0650 as I was rounding up the camera, a lawn chair and a mug of coffee, the first four took off, and I missed them. Over the next twenty minutes the remaining nine took off, never close enough together to appear in the same picture. And they did not use the hoped for runway. Nonetheless, I got a few nice shots including one with an ibis in the foreground.

     While I was sitting there in my bathrobe waiting for the next aircraft, I snapped some other miscellaneous shots. Here's one of a daytime moon with a magnolia blossom in the foreground.

     Another ibis was making his way along the bank.

     And, there was an alligator lying in wait along the same bank.

     Progress reports on the back and the bus:
          Bus...some will recall that we almost had the Jeep come loose again on the way home last summer. The base plate has been checked and new attachment pins (pintles?) have been ordered for the Jeep. Instead of a new residential refrigerator, we decided to just spring for a new door for the Dometic. We are also replacing a non-functional radio. As we get closer to departure, the bus will be washed, waxed, and detailed inside. This is probably its last hurrah.
          Back...I'm wandering around without a cane for most of the time.  The only time I use the walker is when I climb out of the bed at night to go to the bathroom.  I feel like a bit more security is called for then. My gait is impacted by the neuropathy almost as much as by the back. I can stand, unassisted, for only a few minutes until back pain takes over. The back brace is some help. Driving does not seem to present any problems.
     We moved here in 2004 and have yet to spend a summer here. As we transition from spring to summer in Charleston, it's clear why we are longing for another Maine summer with great views, great food, and great friends.

Six Weeks Post-Op

     Springtime in Charleston means flowers. In our case it means that the magnolia tree we planted ten years ago is maturing nicely. As beautiful as the individual blossoms are, they are very short-lived...just a couple of days. To make matters worse, they turn an unattractive shade of brown. You can see both stages of the blossoms in the pictures below.

     Yesterday I saw my back surgeon, Don Stovall, for a six weeks check. They took several X-rays. He's happy with the progress of the bone-knitting process. I still can't do much of anything in the way of bending, lifting, or twisting for two reasons: it is prohibited and it hurts. I was given the go ahead to drive. So, this morning we ran a couple of errands with me driving. Everything felt perfectly normal. This afternoon I will make a solo run to a doctor's appointment in the Corvette.
     The next check is a three month check on the 27th of June. At that time I can expect a release to go to Maine. Does that mean we leave on the morning of the 28th? I wish. We'd like to get to Maine before the 4th of July. Durelle would love to make a New Hampshire stop to see Madeleine who will be four months old. I saw her in February, but Durelle hasn't seen her yet. The itinerary is still being discussed as is our start date.
     I am getting by with just a cane most of the time. I do depend on the walker for getting out of the bed in the night and when my back is tired at the end of the day, especially if I have been active at all. To be honest, I spend most of my time in the recliner reading. I just finished a 1200 page volume that claims to be the complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle, the father of Sherlock Holmes. Durelle does a diligent job of getting me on my feet on a regular basis. I am back to doing some meal preparation, but I have to use a back brace and a stool. Bone growth at my age is not quick, I can't complain and we are both looking forward to a summer in Maine.

Solar Power

     As anticipated in my 15 Mar post, we are now on line and generating power. SCE&G installed the bi-directional meter yesterday.

     I will be paying a fixed amount each month to Vivint Solar, but the reduction in my electric utility bill should be greater than that amount. Anyway, that's the plan.
     Yesterday was a tough day on my back. I had two doctors' appointments: PCP in the morning and neurologist in the afternoon. That meant a lot more walking than usual plus climbing into the Jeep a few time and sitting in the straight chairs provided in the waiting rooms. Then I had go out back to take the pictures of the meters so that Vivint could remotely enable the system with my help on the mounted control panel. When I had finally collapsed in the recliner for what I hoped would be the last time for the day, Durelle said that the cloud formations were a good photo-op. They were late afternoon cumulus build ups whose cloud tops were illuminated by the already set sun.

     All's well in Charleston with daily alligator sightings on the bank to the retention pond in our back yard.

Ahem, The Dog Ate My Homework.

     It has been brought to my attention that it has been two weeks since I posted a blog. I'm sure you can appreciate the lack of original material when the highlight of the week is a visit from an ex-collegiate wrestler, now physical therapist. A few days ago I thought I was going to have a "R.I.P., Baxter" blog, but the old son- of-a-gun made a liar out of us again. At the moment he is waiting for breakfast!

     He had a few seizures a couple of weeks ago, and the prescribed phenobarbital has diminished his coordination. It is very difficult for him to stand, especially when he is lying on tile or hardwood floors. You should see Durelle arranging a small rug under him so he can get some traction. There have been a couple of bedtimes when it appeared for a long time that he was just not going to be able to stand and go outside. I, of course, am forbidden to BEND or LIFT so I cannot help Durelle.
     I'm doing better than he is. I still can't take a step without using a walker, and I have added an opiod painkiller to my twice a day smorgasbord of pills, but, unless I stress or tire my lower back, I am reasonably comfortable. For the first two weeks the only PT was walking. Now I've added some squats to the list. With the aid of a good kitchen stool I have been able to resume some of my cooking duties. Yesterday Durelle asked me to find a use for some boneless chicken thighs she had bought, so I made some fried chicken. During mutterings of, "Never again!", she spent longer cleaning up than I did in preparation.
     I visit the surgeon again for another checkup in two weeks. At that time, with fresh X-rays, he said that he would be willing to talk about driving again if only for short trips. On that note I must confess (He doesn't have my blog address.) that this week I drove the old Corvette...sorta. A neighbor has been taking it for weekly spins to keep fluids circulating and the battery charged. Unfortunately, he hasn't been parking it as precisely as is necessary in our garage. Durelle has a hard time squeezing by with a couple of sacks of groceries! So, I decided to fix it! I climbed in, started it, backed it out into the driveway, straightened it out, re-parked it and climbed out. What was remarkable about that chain of events was how utterly normal each step seemed. It remains to be seen how soon and how relevant that will be to driving the bus. Our departure date for Maine is still unknown.
     I cannot end this brief dispatch without pointing out the obvious. My recovery is totally dependent upon Durelle's willingness to do both of our usual chores around the house. Plus, she handles a large assortment of "fetching" tasks that I am only beginning to do for myself.

Two Weeks Post-Op

     It is now two weeks since Dr. Stovall chiseled away a few pounds of bone spurs and realigned and stabilized some of my lumbar vertebrae. I guess that's as good a milepost as any to assess and report progress. Although I could, with the help of a walker, walk almost from the start, it has taken this long to get my legs, particularly my quads, to go along with the program. They have been tight and sore and have made it difficult until recently to stand up straight. I'm looking forward to walking more and easing the stiffness in my back.
     We have settled into a routine. For the first week I slept in the recliner. Then I returned to our big Tempur-Pedic mattress, sleeping on my back with a pillow behind my knees. Sleeping on my back meant mouth breathing and snoring, so Durelle used the guest bedroom. Given her role in this process, she needs a good night's sleep more than I do. Every other day I take a shower using a shower chair. Yesterday I went out to the street to get the mail and made another trip to the garage to hook up the battery charger to the Corvette which hasn't been driven since before the surgery. 

      
     I still can't stand without having my hands on something, but progress is happening. The physical therapist rolls his eyes when I talk about driving out of here in two months. We'll see. I am just beginning to help out with the cooking again.

     I've got a new definition for Wikipedia...Predicament:

     The state of affairs at 0400 when you are balancing on one hip while simultaneously protecting a tender spine as well as a half-full urinal and you get hammered by a hamstring cramp.

Post-op Report

          This is a test of whether or not I can put together a blog on this tablet instead of my usual computer. I reported in to the hospital at 0530 on Tuesday morning. The actual time in surgery was about eight hours! I didn't see Durelle and Cindy until 1000 Wednesday morning. I was in the ICU for Wednesday night (space issue) and then to a room on the sixth floor for the rest of the time. I came home on Saturday afternoon. Here's a couple of shots of my view.

     
     The fact is that I could not complete the job with the tablet. I'm sure that, with additional practice, I could get it done, but I really need a full-size keyboard. It's now Monday, but I have a couple of tales from the hospital stay.
     I showed up at 0530 Tuesday for 0730 surgery which lasted about eight hours! There were large amounts of bone spurs to remove, squashed and bulging cartilage to extract, two adjacent vertebrae to realign, and three vertebrae ( lumbar 3, 4, and 5 ) to be fused. Obviously, I was lying on my stomach for the surgery. Almost as obviously, I was not lying on s comfortable mattress. I was lying on a padded framework for stability and registration. The resting places included my collar bones, the ends of my rib cage, my shoulders and the side of my face. As the anesthetic wore off, I felt as if my front had been hammered more than my back. Good News I : the surgery had been a real necessity. Good News II: everything was accomplished according to plan and without drama.
     During my recovery time on the sixth floor, the staff in toto was competent, compassionate, and congenial. There just weren't enough of them, which segues into my second tale. A major post-op task is to get the plumbing working again. At one point I went to call for assistance in getting to the pot, and I could not find the call button. I looked up at the white board ( visible in the picture ). There was a number for the kitchen because you could order from a menu...sorta. So I called a helpful lady in the kitchen and asked her to call the Nurse's Station for the sixth floor. She did, and eventually someone helped me out. I spent an uncomfortable hour on that pot until I called for help in getting back in bed. Wouldn't you know? Twenty minutes later I needed a urinal. There was no urinal in sight and the call button was up behind the head of the bed where it had been placed on the previous visit to get me into bed. Guess what? I called the kitchen again asked the same nice lady if she would be my secretary for the day. She laughed and made the call.
     I've been home two days and am up walking around and typing. The back's uncomfortable. Durelle is being a great caregiver, and I'm still sleeping in the Lazy Boy. By the way, Durelle is also taking care of a 15-16 year old dog and Cindy's 22 (!) year old cat. Baxter has had a couple of seizures in the past week.
     So, if Durelle stays healthy, we are all going to make it.