Liz is showing signs that she’s in the final stages of old age. In a short time, she’s become lethargic, uninterested in food, and is having difficulty moving with her limbs looking like they’re made of lead.
These factors, among a number of others, mean that she’s in the last several weeks to months of her life, and this scenario will ultimately end in renal failure as her body shuts down.
I’ve had her for over 9 years, a “very good” lifespan of a bearded dragon is 8-10 years, with old age beginning at 6-7 years.
It’s very sad, and according to what I’ve read the best I can do is make sure she has enough water, and make her as comfortable as possible in the lowest stress environment I can create.
Cuppycakes went to the vet today, she has a urinary tract infection. She’s been peeing all over the dog room which, with a seven week old baby, is a bit more than should be going on at the same time.
Since my wife was gone for the day, my son rode shotgun (actually backseat rear-facing carseat lockdown mode, but on the shotgun side of the car nonetheless). Getting everyone in the door, into the exam room, and back into the car, and back into our home, was quite a challenge.
Cuppycakes got some antibiotics, and we got to breathe easy. She rode in the trunk both ways, and would pop her head up every once in awhile to make sure she wasn’t missing anything.
We dressed L up for a little holiday cheer. The only thing missing is the miniature sleigh and the other seven (and Rudolph).
Things have been good. L is sleeping better at night, thanks to staying on breastmilk only. He reacts poorly to every type of formula we’ve tried so far. I guess he inherited my startlingly absurd allergies. His acid reflux medicine has also helped, he is spitting up and uncomfortable far less of the time.
We’ve found that his swing and bouncer are magical, and he sleeps for several hours while the lullaby music is on. Some nights are still rough, but between me and Eilene we seem to have things under control.
The only problem so far with the swing we bought is that the lullaby music has an auto-shut-off every 15 minutes. So I’ve either tuned the radio to Classical 101.1, or woken up every 15 minutes to turn the music back on. The other night when the radio was tuned I woke up to hear the traditional funeral procession music.
This used to be his standard face. Now with some of his tummy problems solved, he has gone from having two modes (asleep/screaming) to having three (asleep/fussy/awake and wide-eyed). It’s much more gratifying.
I stopped by the supermarket to get our usual weekly 55 pound bag of dog food, when I passed the chickens section. The score of the evening was a ready made roasted chicken, which had been labeled Beef Tenderloin. It was priced US$1.51.
I’ve found motivation to finally start drinking more water again. I used to drink a few gallons a day, and then found sugar free Fresca and that era was over.
These canisters of Crystal Light imitations are $1.34 at Wal-Mart Food Stores. There are six cuppies in a canister, and each makes 2 quarts, which is 2/3 an Ozarka bottle.
The only question will be whether or not it gives me the red mouth corner marks, like when we drank Kool-Aid as six year olds. That will be the fatal flaw, and a total possibility as this stuff has stained my countertops before.
L’s hobby for the past few weeks has been screaming inconsolably from 11pm until 4am, every night. We started trying to solve this by process of elimination.
Since I was allergic to cow’s milk as a baby and didn’t respond well to soy, we made two formula changes for L and wound up with meat-based formula.
When that didn’t work, we assumed it was colic since it happened the same time every night. Colic and anti-gas medicines, however, did not work.
Jumping at the chance to see the doctor again, we found it is most likely acid reflux. The doctor suggested Maalox/Mylanta to see if it quells the problem before moving to prescription medicine. It has.
Hopefully now we can get some sleep. We’ve been zombies.
“Divorce is not an option for us. Marriage is the hardest thing any of us do in our lifetimes. If you have a couple where divorce is an option, they’re getting divorced.”
Will Smith
We just confirmed our plane tickets, we’ll be spending 9 days in New York and Connecticut for Christmas. My sister and E’s father have never met L, and I haven’t been home since I proposed to E last Thanksgiving.
I have no idea what it’s going to be like travelling with the little one, I imagine it’s going to be pretty rough. We went to E’s aunt and uncle’s house outside Dallas for Thanksgiving, and it took us two hours to get out of the house with all the shit we needed to pack.
Hopefully he’ll at least still be in his “sleep all day up all night” mode, since our flights are rationally right in the middle of the day.
L turned one month old on Friday! Here are mommy and L the morning before, on Thanksgiving.
We went to an appointment with our new pediatrician, and L has grown from 7 pounds 2 ounces to 8 pounds 6 ounces in two weeks. Since he was a bit underweight while her milk production was gaining, this much growth was a great thing.
I was finally off from work today, so our friend shipped his ugly mug over here this afternoon and managed to hold our son. It was very touching, since I know that in about 1.5 years his wife will turn 29 and suddenly be obsessed with nesting and having babies. This was good preparation.
