The other day I found out my mom suffers from arthritis. So I sent her the names of the supplements that should help in slowing down its progress and ease the pain – glucosamin, chondroitin, MSM, vitamin C and fish oil. The reason I know about these supplements is of course because of Georgia’s arthritis. Then I remembered that I completely forgot about Apple Cider Vinegar, which I shall refer to as ACV so that I don’t have to type all that every single time. Yes, I am that lazy, why do you ask. Anyways, I had known that ACV helps arthritis in people and I planned on researching it for Georgia, but I never did. Since I wanted to send mom the correct dosage and usage instructions, I jumped on it right away to get the information.
I gathered all I needed and sent the information off to mom, which, if anybody else is interested, can be found in Earth Clinic ACV page. I was looking around Earth Clinic to get more information for Georgia other than the correct dosage of ACV since, on top of arthritis, she has allergies and is prone to yeast infection and of course has anxiety issues. And you know what caught my eye?
People take ACV to lose weight! Say what? Really? Seriously? Holy crap! Really? Seriously? Really? What baffles me is that there are so many people who obviously are not selling ACV are claiming it works. Out of those who either said Yea they lost weight or Nay they didn’t, about 80% said Yea and 20% Nay. Are these people joking? Are they delusional? One person actually wrote that he lost 12lb, from 193lb to 181lb, in 15 days by taking apple cider vinegar! Excuse me? Come again? Just by taking ACV? Unfuckingbelievable! Are you sure? Are you slightly loopy?
I’m very skeptical doesn’t even cover it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for ACV. There are just too many health benefits well documented to push it aside as some humbug. I know a lot of people are not keen on remedies from “alternative medicine,” which by the way, seems like a misnomer to me because in fact, these remedies have been in existence way waaaaaay before what we now call “conventional medicine” at present. So basically what we call “alternative medicine” really is conventional and vice versa. And I know many opponents of these remedies give an example of somebody’s experience in which a certain remedy has not worked. But people should keep in mind that what works for many doesn’t mean it will work for EVERYBODY and what doesn’t work for many doesn’t mean it will not work for ANYBODY. But I digress. I seem to digress a lot these days, but it’s my blog and I can digress if I want to, kk?
So… where was I? I think I was at skeptical but all for ACV status above. Yeah, and as I read more about ACV, it sounded more like a cure-all miracle substance that could be taken orally or topically on skin. At least according to the ACV enthusiasts, that is. A lot of side effects and warnings were posted as well, but after reading through a dozen or so pages, it seems they were mostly the results of incorrect usage or just plain stupidity. For example, some airhead said she wouldn’t recommend it because her kitten cried in pain and walked around howling when she scrubbed (SCRUBBED!!!) undiluted ACV to a sore with a toothbrush, the practice, by the way, she continued for a whole fucking week! Yes, there are people THAT stupid! But 80% of people who lost weight by taking ACV is too hard to ignore. Either ACV really does help you lose weight, or ACV makes you delusional and loopy.
So after looking at pros and cons, as a community service to you all at the risk of becoming delusional and loopy, because I’m just so wonderful like that, I decided to be the guinea pig and try it out for myself. I’m going to go get some ACV and start taking it. I’m very skeptical, but you know that if anything sounds too good to be true, I’d probably jump on it and try it. No, you don’t? Should I remind you of that gadget I once bought that you wear around your waist and the gadget itself does all the work for you and you get fabulous abs in no time without you moving a muscle yourself? I will record my weight and report back on my weight change if there is any, but there is a great chance of me gaining weight than losing because that has been the steady trend the last four years or so.
Cross your fingers for the day I announce I have lost weight, no matter due to real weight loss or due to delusional and/or slightly loopy tendencies because I’d be happier either way as long as I think I look fabulous.
I love love love my vet. After looking at the X-rays taken at the E-vet, Dr. L pointed out that Georgia has elbow dysplasia. Georgia was predisposed to dysplasia and hence arthritis because of her abnormal elbow angulation – whatever “elbow angulation” means. We will monitor her elbow dysplasia by taking X-rays every few months and if her elbow gets out of socket, she will need a surgery, for which case, I will have to prepare for since she won’t be able to or should not walk on that leg. Since Georgia has already been on all the joint supplements the vet recommends, the only other treatment we added is Adequan injections as needed.
The best part about the visit was that I finally had the chance to talk to Dr. L about her receptionists on how dreadfully difficult for me to talk to the vet over the phone or even leave a frigging message, the problem I had with Grizzley’s prescription renewal, the issue over dropping off Grizzley, and the issue I had when I took Foster in for his broken nail. I apologized for “complaining”, but she was all like, “No, no, no. Thank you. I want you to tell me. I have to deal with it. I’ll take care of it.” Then when I paid and came out and loaded Georgia in the car, a vet tech named Brian came out to talk to me, who informed me that Dr. L told him to talk to me and assure me that from now on if I call and have any trouble getting through, I can just ask for him, and he would relay the message!!! And if I have any other problems with receptionists, I should not hesistate. Did I mention I love my vet?
The new living arrangement is getting into some kinda routine. Not where I want to be yet. Foster, of course, being the royal pain in my big fat ass, keeps marking his territory! Not only that now he even started marking downstairs!!! Obviously I cannot be with him all the time to stop him when he does the deed, he keeps doing it. And when I find a little spot, he freezes in his tracks for a few seconds, lowers his head and tries to slink away! UGH! UGH! UGH!!!!!!!!
I’ve been busy setting up new living arrangement to accomodate Georgia’s arthritis. And it’s been hectic, frustrating and stressful for all of us. But I’m happy to report that I am able to fall asleep at night and get some sleep.
Last Saturday, starting around 10:30am, a friend of mine and I visited Home Depot and carpet stores multiple times and went to work until around 10pm. We installed the doors in the two openings in the livingroom and put cheap area rugs in two rooms. Since the openings in the livingroom were not made for doors, they look like some builder left without finishing his job, real eye sores, but they serve the purpose. So Brooklyn and Georgia have been staying in the livingroom since that night.
Blocking off one room downstairs doesn’t solve the problem entirely though. I still cannot feed Brandy upstairs because there is no comfortable chair upstairs that would fit both Brandy and me which is necessary for me to hold Brandy upright for about an hour after her meals. So Brooklyn still needs to eat upstairs and knowing Georgia is not upstairs with her, she’s not eating much and howls and eats the wall while I’m holding Brandy downstairs. The problem will be solved if I get an appropriate chair for upstairs.
I had to move Brandy and Foster to the master bedroom as well where Georgia and Brooklyn used to occupy because of a strange unforeseen problem. After blocking off the livingroom, the room doesn’t get any air from central air conditioner whenever the doors are closed even though there are two vents in the room. I don’t know why and don’t have the money to hire somebody to look into it, so I decided to leave the doors open during the day while I’m at work and confine Grizzley in his room, Brandy and Foster in their room. But to my dismay, I found out THOSE rooms are also not getting any air with the doors closed. Since I know the master bedroom and the master bathroom gets plenty of air with the door closed, I had to move all of Grizzley, Brandy and Foster to the master bedroom. So naturally the royal pain in my big fat ass Foster decided that he would have to mark this new territory and has been peeing on different spots at least once a day so far.
I was able to borrow $2,000 from a friend who I already owe $500 to, but he thankfully told me to take my time paying him back. After last weekend, I’m left with $1,000 and that will help me get the chair and more rugs and the vet cost. I also just received an upgraded credit card, which they sent me because my card expired a few months ago and I had not activated the new one they sent me. I decided to activate it, and happened to find out my rewards points made me eligible for a cash reward of $200, so that will help as well. I have been sleeping on the sofa with Georgia and Brooklyn since thy are more nervous about it than the others and since I can sleep on the sofa for now, I won’t have to buy a new mattress just yet to replace the one Foster marked all over.
All of us have been really uneasy about this new living arrangement because it hasn’t been quite perfected as a routine yet. I’m uneasy since I keep finding out some unforeseen problem after another. But I know everything will come together sooner or later and we will all settle into a new routine eventually.
Tomorrow I’ll be taking Georgia to Dr. L, our wonderful vet. Please keep your fingers crossed for Georgia. And then I’ll be doing more moving things around, carpet shopping, carpet laying, etc. I just remembered I was supposed to make a to-do list for this weekend. 
I have a bad update on Georgia. I probably got about 10 hours of sleep the last four nights combined. I am terribly stressed out I can’t fall asleep and keep waking up at the slightest noise or movement of the dogs. Naturally, I’m crankier and grumpier and bitchier than usual if it’s even possible. And this post is going to be very VERY whiny and might get depressing. You’ve been so warned.
Last Saturday, I noticed Georgia move around a little differently than her usual. It’s hard to describe it because Georgia, having only one front leg, already moves around quite differently from other dogs to begin with. By Sunday, she was hesitant coming down the stairs and I decided I should take her to the vet. I called the vet’s office the next day and made the appointment for August 9th because the vet is on vacation. But by that night, Georgia was not able to climb down the stairs by herself and couldn’t run, so I took her to the emergency vet clinic nearby, where I, by the way, would never take any of my dogs to any more unless it’s something very simple that doesn’t need a diagnosis, the reasons for which I will not enumerate here.
Anyway. The vet guessed that it’s Lyme disease and/or arthritis on her FRONT elbow which somehow got aggravated because her elbow was making noises. After a couple of X-rays, we found out she does have arthritis, which crushed me badly. For most dogs, it would not be such a devastating news, but for a three-legged dog with only one front leg, it’s a terrible blow. I cried all night and most of the day the next day. The impact on her lone front elbow whenever she takes one step is much MUCH greater than the impact on a dog with two front legs. To take a step, she has to lift her entire front body up from the chest and then come down with the front leg HARD. It’s much different from normal dogs who can just walk and run around with lifting one leg at a time. Not only that, because of the force of coming back down, the front leg tends to slide forward, which of course is extremely bad for arthritic dogs.
So I am looking into carpeting downstairs. I ordered two ramps (one for climbing up the car and one for inside) and a set of steps so that Georgia can easily go up and down the couches. I have been sleeping downstairs on the sofa because now I have to keep Georgia from going upstairs – the baby gates are useless against uneven surfaces of the banister if and when Georgia is motivated to climb up the stairs, so I have to look into redoing the banister and installing some kind of permanent barrier at the bottom of the staircase.
The part I’m having the most trouble is the logistics part of the new living arrangement. For Georgia to be downstairs full time, Brooklyn needs to be downstairs as well. Otherwise, Brooklyn would eventually be able to come out of the bedroom through the hole she would have made, then barf up the gray cement she would have consumed, and go after Grizzley or Brandy or Foster. But since Brandy and Foster needs to go outside too, Brooklyn needs to be confined in the room upstairs while that happens. Then the howling starts and the hole in the wall gets bigger and bigger. And there is the problem with Grizzley having to be confined while Brooklyn is downstairs, and having been the king of his domain, roaming the house as he pleased until now, he’s not happy about it at all. All in all, it’s very stressful to everybody and complicated operation if Brooklyn has to reside downstairs instead of the master bedroom because downstairs is all open. So I need to figure out a way to block either the living room or den or dining room area.
So far, my very rough calculation comes out to be about $2,000 to carpet the downstairs with the cheapest remnants advertised. I will be visiting the carpet stores tomorrow. I don’t even know what’s involved in blocking one room or installing new banisters, and I haven’t the faintest how to go about even looking for people to do it AND do it at the lowest possible cost. While I’m looking at spending a few thousand dollars to do this, last night Foster went around my mattress and a doggy bed in the master bedroom, and peed on them to mark this new territory. The mattress is about 15 years old and I’ve been meaning to get a new one except that I haven’t had the money to, and now Foster is forcing me to buy one and he got some major cold shoulder last night. So as of now, I’m looking at $5,000 at least to be spent in the very near future, and that’s about $5,000 more than I have.
I looked into dipping into my 401K, and it turns out that I cannot make a loan because I already have a loan that I took out when buying the house, which maxed out the number of loans I can make – a whopping one fucking loan! I cannot make a withdrawal either because if I make the hardship withdrawal, I have to take the entire balance out. I’m more than pissed about this because it’s MY FUCKING MONEY DAMN IT!!!!! **shakes fist** Well, now I have to ask friends if they can lend me some money, which I hate to do because it’s not something I can pay back in a few weeks or a few months. Hopefully a couple of them are willing to lend me money for a year or so until the tax season next year.
I’m tired. So. Very. Tired.
Serious Stuff. Seriously
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