The Waiting Game

I went to the doctor's office yesterday for a routine checkup. I found out that I may have malignant melanoma. Next month, I am scheduled to have a suspicious mole removed from my neck. It is one that has grown bigger and has changed colors. It is not symmetrical in shape nor uniform in color.

When the growth is removed, it will be sent to a lab. Then I will know.

Until then, I sit and wait.

New Kid in Town

I have another dog. I did not intend to get another one since I have two delightful canines. However, I was taking my traveling dog to Petsmart this weekend. For those of you who are wondering, one of my dogs likes to ride in a car, and the other one hates it. The traveler especially loves to visit Petsmart. He enjoys meeting an endless array of dogs plus a few cats. My dog also dotes on all the attention he gets from humans of all ages. Petsmart is doggie heaven as far as my pooch is concerned.

We arrived at the parking lot and began to make our way to the front entrance. The local humane shelter was sponsoring an adoption fair. One humane shelter volunteer called out to me, "I have the perfect match for your dog!" True to his word, there was a female who looked like a slightly larger version of my dachshund mix. This little girl had been at the shelter for two weeks which means that if someone didn't take her home at the adoption fair, she would get the ax. I swear these volunteers could sell an eskimo an air conditioning unit. They gave me the hard sell about what a perfect companion she would make for my dog. They kept telling me that "it was meant to be" for the two dogs to be together. I am a total sucker. What can I say? I filled out the paperwork and took her home with me. She was given to me for free. Well, not quite.

This past morning I took the new dog to the vet. The news wasn't good. The dog has roundworms, kennel cough, and heart worms. To make matters worse, she is entering estrus. This is commonly known as "being in heat." The roundworms are easy enough to cure. Just pour some liquidy glop down her throat, and the worms go bye bye. The kennel cough will take seven to ten days to play itself out. In the meantime, she is on antibiotics. The real kicker in this case is that the vaccine she was given at the shelter might have caused the kennel cough. My vet told me that the vaccine uses a live but weakened virus. He said that he has seen numerous cases of kennel cough caused by the vaccine. Unfortunately, the kennel cough will delay her heartworm treatment. Heartworms are caused by mosquitoes that are infected with the parasite. The mosquito bites the dog who becomes infected with the worms that incubate in the heart. The worms can invade any organ in the body as well. If left untreated, the heartworms will eventually kill the dog.

Once the dog has recovered from kennel cough, she will have to spend five days at the animal hospital for intensive and toxic medicines. These medicines can cause kidney damage, so the animal must be watched very closely for renal failure. If there are problems, intensive IV therapy must be administered to save the animal's life. She will not be able get any exercise during this thirty day treatment period because of the potential damage the heartworms could do to her various organs by the increased blood circulation.

This treatment is going to be very expensive. Megabucks. But what price do you put on love?
One thing I do know is this: I am not taking the dog back to the shelter. That would be her death sentence. This poochie girl is very loving, has bonded to me and my other two dogs already, plus she gets along well with my numerous cats. She's a winner! You don't stop a winner. In ancient times a laurel wreath was placed on the head of an athlete who won a race or a wrestling match. This girl has a tough race to run. She will win that laurel wreath. On second thought, I guess she would rather have a dog biscuit or a nice squeaky toy. We are in this for the long haul. Woof!

Truth or Consequences

This week, my town is being graced by visitors fleeing from the path of tropical storm Ernesto.
The couple's name is James and Marjorie. James grew up in Clayton. For years, James, Marjorie, and their son would make the trek from their South Carolina homestead to visit James' mother, "Miss Effie" each summer. Oftentimes, James' brother would also stop by and bring his two children. Miss Effie's husband, Gilbert, built a grand tree house for all the neighborhood children.

The neighborhood children looked forward to the yearly summer visits from Miss Effie's grandchildren. We thought that playing in their tree house was the ultimate in childhood entertainment.

One time when I was about eight, I grew bored with the usual round of childhood games. I thought that the other children weren't paying enough attention to me. So I decided to hide and see how long it would take for the others to notice I was missing.

It didn't take Miss Effie long to notice my disappearance. She had a grease trap in her backyard that was open. Before we were allowed to play in the yard, Miss Effie rounded each of us up, and showed us the grease trap. She warned us to stay away from it.

At some point that afternoon, Miss Effie went out to inspect the infamous grease pit. To her horror, she thought she saw something suspicious looking floating at the surface of the slime pit.
Frantically, she called all the children to come to her so that she could do a head count. I am ashamed to admit that I kept on hiding, because this scenario was starting to get interesting. When I failed to show up, poor Miss Effie went into hysterics. She just knew I had fallen into that grease trap and had drowned! Bawling, she began to call for her husband to come dig my "body" out of the pit. By this time, her husband Gilbert was confined to a wheelchair, and there was little he could do to help her.

When I heard Miss Effie crying, I knew I was in deep trouble. My mama would skin me alive if she knew what a trick I had played on Miss Effie and the others. So, I cowardly sneaked off home without allowing anyone to see me.

Finally, my sisters went home and found me innocently playing. They fetched a very relieved Miss Effie over to the house so that she could see with her own eyes that I was okay.

I never told my parents what I had done until years later. Unfortunately, children sometimes fail to grasp the consequences of their actions until they can see the hurt it causes in others. Even then the baser aspect of human nature takes over, and the misdeed is often hidden because of the potential punishment that could result.

At least as a teenager, I was able to partially atone for my misdeed by volunteering my time to drive Miss Effie to Columbia, Georgia, to buy vegetables at the farmer's market. We spent some pleasant hours driving to Georgia. During this time, we had the opportunity to get to know each other better. I will always cherish this memory of our time together. Unfortunately, Miss Effie passed away in the 1980's.

Hollywood Comes to Small Town Alabama

Author Jean Sasson hails from a small town in Alabama. She has written the Princess Trilogy which is a three book serial that tells the story of Princess Sultana of Saudi Arabia. The princess reveals what it is like to be a woman living in a misogynistic, repressive society. The Trilogy made the New York Time's best seller list a few years ago.

Now Hollywood is knocking on the door. American Fork Productions and Framework Pictures of of Los Angeles will be touring her humble Alabama home on September 11 and 12.

Who knows what will come of this visit. Perhaps small town Alabama will become a permanent fixture on the Hollywood horizon. News updates at 11:00...