Endings and Beginnings

 

I begin this blog with a beautiful picture from Mira Vista Park to remind myself that whatever happens, at least it's going to happen in a beautiful place. It was 72 degrees and absolutely beautiful. We walked 13.2 miles, biked 14.4.

It has been a very difficult week. Dee Dee is nearing the end of her life and has really struggled this week. The picture below shows her Thursday. She had no interest in food, she had two edemas under her throat and on her neck, her hips have lost muscle mass, and her body cavity is full of water and/or tumors, her eyes water, she coughs, and has trouble breathing and sleeping and getting comfortable.  

Two months ago the doctor said to keep an eye on the edema, but said he thought she was doing okay. He had diagnosed congestive heart failure back in October (stage 4 out of 6). She did okay until the beginning of the week when she started going down fast. You can see her rib cage in the pictures below even though her body cavity is swollen and her weight is normal.

My sister diagnosed it as fluid retention from congestive heart failure. The vet tends to agree, but the x-ray was inconclusive because all he could see was water and a windpipe. No visible heart or tumor. There was so much water that he couldn't even hear her heart murmur that he heard last fall. So the plan is to use a diuretic to draw the water out. Then take a proper x-ray to look for a tumor. If there is no tumor, then we can start her on heart medicine to help regulate her fluids. The reason he thinks it might be a tumor is that her belly is not swollen, which is typical of congestive heart disease.

Since we started her on the diuretics, she has improved. The swelling has gone down in her throat, coughing is minimal, and she's able to eat and sleep normally (except having to get up to go outside to pee every few hours). Below is a picture from today where she's sleeping curled up, which she could not do a few days ago because of the fluid build up.

 

And here she is this morning walking on Honeymoon Island, looking so much better. The swelling has gone down even more since this morning. (John's wearing a jacket because 72 degrees is cold in Florida with the breeze coming off the water.)

Most importantly, she seems more comfortable. So we'll see if the doc can get a better picture of the insides so we will know what to expect next.

We took a ride to Wall Springs Park, and I climbed the tower and took a couple of pictures while John made some phone calls below. This massive structure is quite impressive. I've forgotten the details, but I think the previous tower was struck by lightening and destroyed by fire. The insurance money paid for the new structure. Something like that. The temperature warmed up to 80 degrees.

The tower provides gorgeous views out to the Gulf of Mexico. Below is the island upon which the structure resides.

The beaches have opened back up, and the people are apparently very happy. The picture above is from an early morning walk sometime this week. I've been so busy, the days blend into one another.

This picture is from our morning walk today. We took a short cut coming back from Mira Vista Park and cut through Hammock Park. The city finally finished the new bridge in the park that takes us back to Michigan Ave and onward towards our neighborhood.

As almost a footnote, I finished the last week of the semester and my last semester teaching on a regular contract. I'll teach a few classes of summer school and then retire Sept. 1. As you can imagine, the end-of-the-semester drama has been multiplied times 100 with the COVID-19 problems and shift to online learning. I filled out the retirement form (stage 1) this afternoon and breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing like a pandemic to close out a career!

So, life has been a mess this week. Lots of drama, tension, and heartache--and even a few tension headaches.

But the neighborhood chalk artist reminds us that some people risk their own lives every day just doing their jobs taking care of other people. I shouldn't complain.