Poor Sasha.  Right after Bailey died, I noticed she had a few lumps on her breasts, and my vet was concerned and wanted to operate.  We just got around to it on Wednesday.  She's had this done before, but for some reason, she seems more patheic to me this time.

The main reason she probably looks worse is because we've had to resort to the Cone of No Licking this time.  She seems to be licking more than she did before, and this is bad, because she has a 3 inch incision that we don't want her to rip open.  She also has her little leg bandaged where the IV went in.

The vet also did some dental work, and so any pain she was having in her mouth is gone.  In the last couple of days, her appetite seems to have returned (she had lost three pounds prior to her surgery, a combination of grief for Bailey, a staph infection and bad teeth.)  I feel glad that she's healthy.

I'm NOT so glad for my bank account.  I almost had enough money for my trip to Houston in my savings account, and of course, it went to the vet.  I'm still going, but dang... that's a lot of money.  That said, I would pay that every single month if I could just have my baby with me.  Don't tell my vet, though.

In other news (because I don't want to make this some sort of Dog Blog or something) I made a decision about five months ago that I have't shared here: I decided to leave my fingernails to professionals and stop biting them.  This has been largely successful, because my nails look nice when they are professionally manicured, and I don't bite them.  I always take good care of things that I'm paying good money for, so this seemed like a good thing.  And it is--except I went too long and my nails got unkempt looking and I bit one.  Stupid old habits!  So yesterday, I was in San Antonio and had a few extra minutes and decided to go have my nails done at a place I don't ordinarily use.

I had a guy who'd never done my nails, and he was apparently very, very upset with them.  My nails were apparently recently under a plant in Joan Crawford's mansion.  When he was buffing them with a tool that woodworkers use to grind corners on furniture, he didn't even apologize for the fact that I could feel the heat through the nail.  He seemed so take secret delight in my pain.

You know what?  My nails look fabulous.  What price beauty...

This Valentine's weekend, I have few plans except to visit a dog breeder to make sure my new dog is not the product of a puppy mill.  Have a great weekend whether or not you are in love.

AAAAND... I'm back.

I actually took some time off on purpose, but I didn't announce it because I hate those drama-filled "I'm going to have to take care of myself now and can't do this" messages.  I fufill enough sterotypes, I didn't want to fulfill that one.

So what has happened?  A lot.  Nothing.

There were no major life changes like a new house, new car, new job or new love.  But there was mucho stress as my agency underwent a drastic change: a migration to computer charting.  We put laptops in the hands of a clinical staff that largely had never used a computer, ever.  And I'm the agency's IS guy, after all.  So anything that went wrong?  My fault.  At least that's what SOME people thought.

So work was/is stressy.  I didn't mention it, but despite all the work stress, I had a very nice holiday season.  Lots of family time and the like.

One very, very sad thing: in mid-December, one of my dogs passed away.  Bailey was 11.  One day she was running around, and the next day, she couldn't breathe.  The vet said her heart was enlarged.  She died peacefully in her sleep.  I haven't been able to talk about it much, because I still cry.  I miss her very much, as does my entire family (including Sasha, her best friend and my other dog).  Sasha howled the night she died, I think she knew.  She's lost weight since then and once ran away, presumably to look for Bailey.  Sad stuff.  I think I'm getting a puppy in the next couple of months, and then I'm sure you'll be sick of hearing me talk about it.  I want a silver poodle, and plan to name her Mokey (as in... Smokey.)  So my gay card is safe: a poodle and a shih tzu.  Not very butch, huh?

Because of work and the holidays, I have sort of fallen off the Earth, I guess, as far as some of my friends are concerned.  I haven't been to an Austin Journaler's gathering since November and many of my other friends have wondered what has happened to me.  I plan to rectify that very soon, and will be my usual social butterfly very soon.  I have that big gay party to attend at the end of this month, so that'll be some good social time.  I have another on a month later, so I should be both broke and social. 

As for my plans for writing here: I don't know, honestly.  I like to do it, I just need to make the time.  Bear with me, and I'll still be around.  Thanks to all the people who emailed me and asked me if I was okay.  That was awesome.  Here I am.  I'm okay.  And the beat goes on, dah de dum de dum dum...