The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
The Storm Defender on Does it Really Work?
I hadn’t seen the Does it Really Work? Blog on MSN until they reviewed a doggy cape called The Storm Defender that was developed to calm dogs during thunderstorms.
Shadow, our 11-year old, 60 pound mixed breed dog, has grown increasingly anxious during storms, so I checked out the article. The idea seems to be that someone on staff tries the product, the experts are consulted and then it is open to comments from readers. The reviewer was pretty satisfied. Here is what the experts said:
“It does work sometimes; it does not work all the time,” explained Bonnie Beaver, executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.
Whether the Storm Defender succeeds seems to depend on the level of static electricity that builds up in the coats of some medium- and long-haired dogs before and during a storm.
“The static electricity starts to tingle and they begin to dread that feeling when a storm is coming,” she said. “It’s a learned behavior.”The cape cuts the static, Beaver explained. It may also simulate the comfort of a hug, she said.
I sent the link to my mother, who thinks that for the price, it is certainly worth a shot. She happened to be taking Shadow to the vet for his annual exam that day. The vet wanted the link, too. Here is a link to the actual product website.
I’ll let you know how it goes. After I am done checking out the rest of that MSN blog.
At the Refuge – Peter
The answer is that the rain from Ike Weekend, that flooded out most of Chicago (and you wouldn’t believe it in NW Indiana), flooded the basement of the Refuge. All of the birds had to come upstairs. Already crowded because of the construction of the addition.
The good news was that I got to spend a bit of time with Peter, a relatively new bird that hasn’t been around much. Because at her intake appointment at the vet, it was determined that she was getting ready to lay an egg. The egg was stuck and there was an egg behind that and long story short, she had a birdie hysterectomy.
She looks great now. I didn’t try to touch her, but she approached me very gently to take a treat and was talking all night. I understand she can also sing – I only heard her chirping.
Peter the Girl Amazon is up for adoption and
you can read more about her here.
Killing Time for a Good Cause
Career Advice: Don’t Do This
One of the career blogs on Comcast.net was doing interview horror stories. I couldn’t believe this one:
I was interviewing a candidate for a mortgage sales position. She was dressed very professionally and had about a year and a half of experience. The interview was going very well for about 20 minutes when her cellphone started ringing. Instead of shutting it off, she answered it and began to talk (to her boyfriend) for approximately one minute. I was astonished and told her that the interview was over. She didn’t know why I canceled the interview. All the better!
You can find the piece in its entirety here.
Physical Therapy
Last week at my annual physical exam, I mentioned to my doctor that my back had been bothering me on and off all summer. He recommended physical therapy. I was all skeptical, thinking of electrode-stuff and twice a week foraboutever. Then he said, “I think you will get some educational value out of it.”
That got my attention. So I went. Here is what I learned:
1. There are about a million different kinds of pain that I haven’t even dreamed of yet.
2. My muscles are “weak” where I didn’t even know I had muscles.
3. I am “too flexible”.
“Too flexible?” I asked. “How can you be too flexible?”
“You know,“ physical therapist said. “Like Gumby.”
“Gumby didn’t have bones!”
As best as I could put together, “too flexible” is relative to the strength of the muscles that support the joints.
So it seems I have some exercising to do. And then PT says that she can feel a really tight spot in my lower back. She wants to do Ultrasound Therapy. And I let her.
Six hours later, I thought I was going to die. I dragged myself into the bathroom like Quasimodo trying to find my Advil. I feel somewhat better now.
Exercise, good. Not touching OtherTherapy again.
Austin
My friend Austin was in town this weekend from San Francisco. We went to high school together and he was here for his grandmother’s birthday.
Austin recently did battle with Cancer. Kicked its butt, if I can find something to knock on. I kept up with his struggle on his blog, and I was so proud of the way he owned the illness, as opposed to the illness owning him.
This was the first time I had seen him since chemo and he looked great. Except for the ridiculous beard, I mean. And as soon as I got into the car, he was thanking me again for everything I did while I was sick.
“Dude,” I said. “I sent you a few cards. It was the very,very least I could do.”
I remember I sent him things to make him laugh. I remember that I cheered for him when he shaved his head. I think I sent him some popcorn once. I don’t remember because I struggled with what he might want to eat while feeling all sick from chemo. Mrs. Field’s cookies? Malnati’s Pizza? Hell, I don’t know.
I am not the Hold Your Hand and Cry on My Shoulder Friend. Which is ok because it is hard to be that friend from across the country. I am the Here Are All of the Reasons Why We Are Not Going to Panic Friend. It is also hard to be that friend from across the country. So I settled for genuinely keeping up with him and sending him a card once in a while. Who knew that was going to be important?
As Austin was telling me the whole story today, he had a theme. “I’m not dead yet,” was what he said over and over again. What he needed from his friends was reinforcement of that idea.
Moral of the story: However little we can do is still worth doing.
Saving Horses
The summer that Barbaro, The Kentucky Derby winner, went down, the Arlington Racecourse in suburban Chicago had something like 23 horses break down on the track. So I followed Barbaro’s progress pretty closely, hoping that veterinary medicine was getting better fast enough. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it.
So this story means something to me. See these pictures? They are from Best Friends Animal Society. And that? Is a horse with an artifical leg. Here is what they have to say:
“It’s a practice so common in the horse world that it’s become a given: If a horse breaks his leg, or develops a severe infection in it, there’s nothing to be done other than put him down.
That conventional wisdom, however, is being challenged by Riley, a female buckskin quarter horse living at Horse Haven at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
Instead of euthanizing Riley for a severe leg infection, Best Friends gave her a second lease on life by having her leg amputated and fitted with an artificial limb. She is one of about 80 horses in the U.S. now happily living out the remainder of their lives thanks to this advance in equine medicine.”
It has only been a few months since the surgery, but so far, so good for this horse. Thanks to Best Friends for taking this huge step forward. You can read the whole story here.
At the Refuge – Angel
Angel the Umbrella Cockatoo is an excellent example of why these are often called “velcro birds”. She wants to be held all the time. I took her out the other night and placed her on the kitchen playstand with a treat. She isn’t a flight risk, so I went to back to the front room to do some cleaning.
Angel climbed down and walked across the floor to me. I placed her up on the staircase railing. She climbed down and walked over to me.
No screaming. No biting. But very insistent. And no treats would make her change her mind.
Angel’s feathers are pretty scraggly, but I am hopeful that she will leave them alone when she starts to get more comfortable in her new life. This picture doesn’t do her justice – she is going to be a beauty.
Angel is available for adoption and you can read more about her here.
At the Library – Technical Difficulties
When I arrived at the Library, I found a note from our director saying that the laptop was broken. She left me hers so that I could list books on our Amazon site. I wouldn’t leave my laptop with my own grandmother.
Actually, when I wrote my Marketing Plan last semester for the Used Book Store, I put the crashing of the laptop down as one of the Threats. As in Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and.
We are a small budget operation using a donated computer (which I do believe also belonged to our director). If the laptop crashed and died, I could just bring in my own. But the rest of the volunteers might not have the luxury. And I can’t tell you how much better sales and inventory control have gotten since we have more people reviewing the donations. So the old laptop is being repaired.
In other Library News, the ground breaking ceremony for the new building is set for November 1. That is actually moved up a week from the last I heard. And the Holiday Book Sale is set for December 6-7. Which reminds me that I have to update the web site.
And make some more labels for the shelves. There really is always something to do.
A Whole New World
I have been with my doctor since high school. He and a partner started a practice a few doors down from my parents’ store when I was 16. A few years later, they built their own space further down the street and grew to a five doctor practice.
Because I administer employee benefits, Dr. E and I would often talk about health insurance. I understood that it isn’t easy for five doctors to negotiate rates with BlueCross BlueShield. So when I heard through a co-worker that my doctors had sold their practice to one of the big hospital networks, I figured they were simply tired of the battle.
The first thing that I realized was that the hospital, which I will just go ahead and tell you is ENH, is all online. So I got on the web and registered. And found my records, including my prescriptions and get this – my lab results from last year. All online. I loved it.
I went in for my annual exam . There was a computer in the room, and the nurse logged right in, taking notes for my history and recording my blood pressure and stuff. She logged out and left.
The doctor came in, sat down and logged in. When I asked if he had just tired of arm- wrestling with BCBS, he said that was a part of it, but also that ENH upgraded all of the systems. He wanted the technology and ENH was offering to pay for it. I was all excited with him when he said, “This is the best part. Do you need refills of any of your medications?”
I said, “Um. Yeah. Allegra D.”
He said, “Shall I order it now or would you like to take a script with you?”
I said, “Now is fine.”
He confirmed my pharmacy, already in the system, pushed three buttons and said, “Done.”
“Are you even carrying a prescription pad right now?”
He was not.
So we did the exam and he took some more electronic notes and left. When the nurse came in to draw blood, she handed me a two page summary of the appointment. With codes. Codes! (These are handy when you are arguing with an insurance company).
I know the arguments about privacy, but I am just going to trust that ENH knows what it is doing. And the consultation with my doctor was no less personable than in the past. In fact, the computer looked like it belonged there to me.
I loved the whole experience.
The Next Dark Age 