Poor dog

Last night I did another tic check and found two more on Bob, these in between his toes. Then I decided to really check both of the dogs' ears, since I found my tiny flash light and really could get in deep. I found a tic in Stan's left ear - in his ear canal! We tried for a looong time to get it out, but it was just way too deep. Stan was a very good boy handling it well, otherwise he is usually not too fond of being held down like that.

So today I had to take him to the vet, and he was very confident they would have it out in a jiffy. Not so! Unless they put him under, which seems a bit drastic, they could not get it out. Instead they drenched it in a tic medication called Revolution, and it should also kill ticks in general for a month or so.

I quickly bought a dose for Bob too, and when they have used up their current flea medication, Advantage, I will switch to Revolution. It is more expensive, but it does a lot: it prevents fleas and tics, plus heart worms and hookworms. I rather multitask with ONE medication than apply and give several each month.

So hopefully this will keep further tics off for the next month...

After the vet visit we went trough the car wash. It was very funny to see poor Stan growl and react to the car wash brushes, too funny!

I think Sarah and I are going to go shopping a bit now, and grab some lunch. Then I plan to clean the inside of my car and a little around the house too. Oh, and I re-caulked the bathtub this morning, looks like new!

More tics!

All the time I lived in Sweden I had to deal with tics, since we always had tics. It was a different story after moving here to Florida, even after long hikes out in the wild we never had any tics on the dogs. Over 13 years I had to remove just a few, as I mentioned before.

So it has been so weird that we all of a sudden the last few months have had such an onslaught of tics! Droves of them it feels like!

This weekend I found one on Bob's TOE. Do you know how you remove a tic from a dog's toe? Not very easily! I had to clip all the fur around it, and then be very firm. Bob happens to be very ticklish on his paws...

Then yesterday I was petting him and I found a tic on his back! But after a closer examination it was actually TWO tics, almost attached to the exact same spot!!! WTF?

I managed to pop one of them while I removed them with tweezers, so gross...

Here is a pic:







Last night Ken and I was petting Bob and talking about the whole tic thing, and while I was petting him I said "at least he doesn't have tics in his ears"... at the same time I flipped open his ear and saw a big, fat tic sitting in there! Poor dog!

And then Ken found one in his other ear!!!

I tried to tell the poor dog he is suppose to be a CHICK magnet, not a tic magnet... :-)


This weekend we are treating our lawn with something that kills tics. I am against poisons of all kinds and try not to spray for pests unless absolutely necessary, but I think it is time to get in control of the tics once and for all... I guess it is just really a tic year this year!

Teacher Conference

Yesterday it was time for another Teacher Conference. This is equivalent to the Swedish "kvartssamtal", a way for the teacher to update the parents on how their kids are doing in school.

I was happy to see she is doing great, and the teacher showed some tests (yes, they do both reading, writing and math tests for 6 year olds!).

Sarah has really come along way with both her reading and writing, I am really impressed! On Thursday next week the school will have its Quarterly Recognition Assembly, and I was informed Sarah will receive some kind of award then, so I will attend to show her some support, I am sure it will be a bit nerve wracking to have to get up on stage to receive an award in front of the entire school. Go Sarah!

Work is coming along great, I have been extremely productive the last few days. No more signs of whatever that was the other night, so that is good.

This weekend is Halloween of course, so there will be trick-or-treating for Sarah. Usually we all go, and after an hour or so the dogs and I will go home, and Ken and Sarah will continue on.

As a rule pretty much everyone follows, you only go to houses where the lights are on. Since we are out, we keep our lights off. Same thing when you run out of candy, you turn your outdoor lights off so kids will know. Great for people who don't want their doorbell rung all night long too!

We usually don't hand out any candy, since we are out trick-or-treating. Our neighbourhood is a very busy place during this evening!

I think the rest of the weekend will be for stuff that needs to be done around the house plus a bit of shopping. Next week it is back to work, work work again, so I better take the chance to get a few things done, like cleaning my car!

Hope you are all having a great day!

Vaccine?

Last night I had what I think (hope) was a lupus attack. Severe, severe body pain and a fever. Went to bed with chills and feeling miserable. But this morning everything seems normal, so I hope it stays that way.

It is of course a bit difficult to not think about the swine flu when stuff like that happens...

I just called our county's health department, and our county has so far NOT received any swine flu vaccine...

I did get the regular flu shot, and Sarah, who was on a wait list, is getting hers up the nose on Friday. I think it is lame they don't have the swine flu vaccine available yet, our neighboring counties are already in full swing vaccinating...

Now back to work.

Visit

Today President Obama is visiting the local area. Ken saw Marine One, the Presidential helicopter, and his escort fly over his office just now. They were apparently on their way from the Bradenton/Sarasota Airport to a solar energy farm out just east of us.

Tuesday update

I have been absolutely horrible when it comes to commenting on other blogs lately, but since I am so busy with work I barely have time to even read blogs...

This week will be particularly full, since I am doing a double batch for that casino job I have been working on teh last few weeks, as well as a huge (30+ hours) editing job...

Hopefully I won't get sick or anything, because I really want to work as much as I can right now.

I better get going, have a great day!

Updating

I am in the process of updating my computer to Windows 7 Ultimate. I wiped my computer clean and started from fresh, so I am now, with my fingers crossed, restoring all the software and files I want to keep from the old install.

Sure hope everything will be there... So far I really like Windows 7, very smooth.

Tic-o-mania

Since I moved to Florida in 1996 I think the total tics (fästingar) I have encountered are 2. And they were both attached to one of our dogs, Bob. No surprise there, since he looooves to lay out on the grass and sunbathe.

But over the summer, we have had a total of 9 tics in the house! What gives? And they are not just on the dogs; I found one crawling on the couch, one on Sarah and last night, one crawling on top of our bed!!!

YUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!!!!

I hate tics, they just freak me out! Sarah is sooo interested in tics, she want to see me remove them from the dog, see me flush them down the toilet etcetera. But on that one day a few weeks ago when I was brushing her hair, and I calmly told her: "Oops, I think you have a tic on your head!", she freaked out and started screaming "Get it off me! Get it off me!" I tried to do just that, but it was a bit difficult when she was running around the room in a panic.

And last night! It was just pure chance that I had the overhead light on and Ken and I were talking, otherwise I would just have slipped under the covers with that big tic...

So I guess there must be some kind of record tic year or something. Oh great, now I can just feel my entire scalp crawling, like I have a bunch of them moving around up there on my head... I shudder!

Now I am going to pick up Sarah in school and then straight to the eye doctor to get a prescription for new glasses...

AC

An air conditioner is a must here in Florida, we are still having over 30 C!

So yesterday when I was cleaning in the garage and heard some weird noises coming form it, it sure did not sound good!

Based on the basic technical knowledge I have, it sounded like it was the bearings (kullager) in the motor that power the large fan blades. Most likely it just needed a new condenser motor. I called an AC repair company, and sure enough, I was just on the money! Too bad these types of things are so expensive, the visit was $600... but a lot better than a brand new air conditioner that easily can cost around $10,000!

So I was happy to have to pay just the $600. With the new motor, some cleaning and refrigerant the AC now runs smoothly and quietly, and he was even able to lower its temperature, so now it should take less electricity.

How do you...

sit in a chair when sitting in a chair makes you feel like your hip is splitting apart?

I went to the doctor on Tuesday, and he gave me Daypro, which is a type of anti-inflammatory. It doesn't really work on inflamed nerves that good, but that was all he could come up with.

I am never going to take Daypro or Celebrex or anyone else of the meds in that category! First of all, they can cause severe gastrointestinal damage, even hemorrhage and death. Not a good combo with my situation being so delicate in there... ANd the second thing is that these types of meds can cause blood clots. It even says on the package, "Do not take if you have ever had a blood clot". So since I have already had 3 blood clots, that is a big NO.

WTF is he thinking, prescribing that? I know there is not much to be done for a nerve problem, but still... He also gave me Soma, which is a muscle relaxer that is suppose to relax the muscles around the inflamed nerves so they can move freely. Well, Soma is like a sleeping pill, so it can only be taken right before bedtime. Unless you enjoy being a drooly, foggy mess...

So no relief for me. Just pain, pain and more pain. The good thing is that these things usually come and go. The Lupus likes to move around, focusing on different things at a time. So next time it will be something else entirely, I am sure.

Sorry, just had to complain a bit. :-)