october in review

October's weather was kind of all over the place. We had a lot of really nice summery days and a few "oh my god, it's so cold it's going to snow any minute" days. Vic and I have gone thru a heap of wood already making fires. Every year we rent a wood splitter to split the larger pieces of wood so they'll fit into our little wood-burning stove. (We haven't split yet this year.) We moved the remaining outdoor plants inside and put away any patio stuff that was still lurking about. We had a really good wind last night that knocked down any of the little yellow leaves that were clinging onto our backyard trees, so now we have a yard filled with yellow and red. Autumn is always my favorite time of year ~ I love the leaf colors and the crispness in the air.

One of the two big events this month were the addition of our new family member, Erin. She is a black lab we "rescued" off of Craigslist. I don't think her previous people took very good care of her at all. She's about 17 months old and has a great disposition. We got her mainly as a companion for Meg and the two of them get along wonderfully. She's been with us now for a week and there haven't been any fights with any of the kids. She does have some sort of skin condition, but the vet thinks it should be cleared up easily enough with some antibiotics.

The other major event is Vic's health. She has been out of work since the beginning of September. After many x-rays, MRIs, and blood tests, the doctor seems to think she may be suffering from fibromyalgia. Vic suffers from all the symptoms of it and pretty much confined to the house due to the terrible pain she's always in. Hopefully we'll know something for sure in the next couple of weeks so that we can begin to actively treat it. Until then, she's a house-wife. And we are a one-income family. Not such a good thing to be around the holidays. I'm hoping for a merrier November.

Work is still going well. I'll be leaving the world of 12-hour shifts and will start my 8-hour days in November. I really looking forward to getting home while it's still light out. I'm starting to feel more and more confident in my surgical abilities with each passing case. I actually had a patient code on me a few days ago. The doc started administering CPR and there was just total controlled chaos for about 15 minutes. My job in those situations is to just get out of the way, which I did. She came in for a "routine" procedure, but the day was anything but routine for any of us. Just goes to show you how precious life is.

september in review

September was definitely a "do nothing" month. My brother and his wife came for a visit last weekend, so the few weeks before that were spent cleaning the house. I think we need to have guests come more often ~ it's really the only way the house ever gets cleaned! They just came up for the day. I think they wanted to get away for a while and our house was within driving distance. It was a nice visit ~ nothing special.

Vic's been off work since Labor Day with her back problems. She sees the neurosurgeon next week. I hope he can offer an alternative to back surgery. Now that I know a few more things about surgery, I think it should definitely be a person's last resort. Right now, there's no telling when or if she'll go back to work, so most of my month has been spent working and worrying about money problems. Actually, it's an all-consuming thought. And Vic isn't really one to make sacrafices. We still have to buy the most expensive fucking cigarettes and we still have to have cable TV.

We STILL have dog issues. I think Megan has actually gotten a bit worse. Before, she never wanted to leave the living room. Now she refuses to leave the couch. We have to drag her outside to go potty. She doesn't look or act sick, she eats and gets plenty of water, and once outside she chases squirrels and runs around the yard, but she won't play ball and refuses to walk thru doorways. I'm so incredibly frustrated by the whole thing that I've just given up completely. She's Vickie's dog now.

September was not a good month.