The hair of the dog!

Hi there -- I hope you are doing fabulous on this lovely evening!

As for me, I am sitting here next to the unhappy pup, listening as Dr. Phil fixes some rude teens on the TV. I love TV -- I watch it far too much. I think I am addicted to the hope that I, too, will tidily resolving all the conflicts of my day in a single 30-60 minute time slot.

Do you ever wish that life would imitate "art" in this way?

I think Brooklyn does. At the moment she looks like she has leprosy or something. I never knew a dog could be so vain! She has been skulking around the house all day. I think she knows it is going to take a good long time for her beautiful latte-colored curls to grow back. Those bald patches really do make her look like she got into a fight with a week whacker, and the whacker won.

Yesterday started out so uneventfully. Matt was playing his computer game, we had some coffee; I took Brooklyn for a nice walk through the park.

I was feeling a bit down, missing our family, and I shared this with Matt. I decided to work out since that never fails to make me feel better.

Matt decided that he would do something nice to surprise me. Brooklyn's coat was getting a bit matted so he set about giving her a trim.

This is not the first time Matt has cut Brooklyn's hair. He's done it a couple of times now, both with rather disastrous results. And yet, all I've been able to say is "Thank you, Sweetie, for taking care of that chore".

To be honest, I would much rather he vacuum the house. Or clean the bathrooms. Or do just about anything else that needs to be done. (and that's a list that has lots of choices on it!)

But do I tell him this? Oh, no.

Why don't I tell him this? For goodness sake, he spent nearly 3 hours shaving the dog and she looks WORSE than when he started. Heck, I finished working out, showered, got a drink, tidied up the downstairs, and then joined him for a good 45 minutes while he continued to whack at her curls. And I sat there while he kept chopping away.

This weird thing happens sometimes when Matt takes his "wakey" meds: he gets so engrossed in even the simplest task that he literally can not put it down. About 2 1/2 hours into Brooklyn's "trim", I realized that this was what was happening.

So I asked him "So, Hunny, how do you know when you are finished cutting her hair?".

The pup's ears perked up, and I blotted at a couple of bald patches that were starting to bleed a little.

"Uh, I don't know. I just keep pulling up the hair and trimming until it looks like it doesn't need anymore. Hmm, I've got a couple of bald spots here" Matt replied. "Maybe I should stop and just shave it all off the next time? It will be much easier next week now that I've done all this!".

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea" I said. But what I was thinking was "thank God!"

I don't think I can print what Brooklyn was thinking.

So now I need to figure out a gentle and kind way of re-directing Matt's attention to a different task next weekend. Perhaps the car needs an oil change? I really need to find a sufficiently manly chore.

Winter comes soon and that doggy is way too vain to let me put her in a jacket!

Dinner... on hold

Thank you all -- Matt and I both really appreciate your comments.

We, too, were a bit disappointed that the focus of the ABC program was so narrow, but they clearly wanted to fit our story into their theme for the program "The Brain and Love". We think it unfortunate and misleading that narcolepsy was portrayed as being "strange" and "rare". We really did try to communicate that it is surprisingly common (1/2000 individuals suffer from narcolepsy), and that informing others about this was the reason we said "yes" to doing the program.


Matt's case is a bit atypical in that the cataplexy is more debilitating for him than the excess daytime sleepiness is, especially when he is on his meds. We had about 10 weeks at the beginning of the year when he had trouble getting the anti-cataplexy medication (insurance company change) and that hit him very hard. After the first week or so he was unable to work and what work he did do was pretty much done from home. I hope we don't have a repeat of that this January!

So, about the meds (he has worked really hard to get the right type and balance of stimulants and Tx for cataplexy): he mostly does OK in terms of sleepiness (needs very few naps) and the cataplexy is pretty well controlled for most triggers.

The one trigger that overwhelms him still is very strong positive emotion. We had friends over for dinner last night (first time since last Thanksgiving!) and after visiting with them for about 20 minutes, Matt had to go lay down and was out for about 90 minutes. I had roast chicken getting cold on the counter, pasta water boiling away on the stove, muffins baking in the oven... and was really thankful I had thought to throw together some appetizers. The three of us chatted and snacked until Matt was able to get up again, then we ate dinner in stages, since the chicken and muffins were done but the pasta still needed to be cooked and tossed together.

Some of you had questions for us -- I am on day #2 of a migraine, and have to limit my time at the keyboard, but I will try to get back to you in a day or two.

Meanwhile, thank you for understanding.  And if you get the chance, please go hug someone you love for me. I'm gonna go cuddle the pup for a bit :o)  Isn't she just the cutest puppy ever??!!
 
Hugs!