latest happenings in the Big Apple
Yesterday we started Otto on Phenobarbital, for seizures. He’s been having an alarming amount of them since about a week ago. He does tend to have seizures most frequently at this time of the year, when the rains come. I read online that some dog’s seizures are triggered by mold, could this be Otto’s problem? Hard to say, he does still have seizures throughout the rest of the year but much much less frequently than in October and November, and he’ll go a couple of months in the summer without one. It’s very hard to figure out. I was journaling it for a while, but I couldn’t find any pattern. Coconut oil seems to help the severity of the seizures but does not altogether prevent them. Phenobarbital is harmful for the liver and obviously we don’t want this; neither do we want him to go through the terror each time, and suffer brain cell loss. There are many factors to consider: his quality of life, the many vet visits to check blood Phenobarbital level, the toll it takes on us (mostly me) when he has a seizure. Yesterday Otto helped us make the decision by having two seizures in one day. And in the days before, at least one seizure each day. I felt terrible giving him his first pill. Reading about the side effects didn’t help! However, I was encouraged that he didn’t have another seizure that day. Today he received his second and third doses; again no seizures. I feel so relieved. He’s sleeping more than usual but I know he’ll get used to it.
On to happier things. We are getting more and more used to riding the subways. Ingrid actually gets mad now when we have to drive somewhere. She loves walking the streets of Jersey City to get to the trans-Hudson subway. Then when we get to the city, there’s plenty more walking to do. But it’s fascinating, and fun. She complains about her feet getting sweaty but she’s always excited to go. I am loving jogging here, in a big city. I can’t tell how the dogs feel, I think they are constantly in hunting mode. They look very serious, no panting. I guess I don’t run fast enough to make them pant but I do wish they would relax a little. They’re very excited when I put on my sneakers. Maybe it’s the unfamiliar surroundings- they haven’t spent much time in cities. For me though, it’s a blast seeing the city up close. Everyday I explore a different route. There are tons of little niches, bridges, dirt paths, parking lots, even running alongside the subway is fun when you’ve been away from a city as long as I have! Sometimes it feels like I’m in a video game…
Yesterday we met up with Andrew’s old friend Janet. By coincidence, we decided to go to MOMA, the museum of modern art. She happens to work there, and she lives just a few blocks away! She met us there with her little guy Jonah, who’s 14 months I think. Ingrid and I loved him on first sight. I think I was more excited to hang out with a baby than I was to see the exhibits! (I know Ingrid was.) Anyway we breezed through the Tim Burton special exhibit. It was great, lots of fun, creative things to see there. We had to rush it because it was SO packed and not comfortable physically for Ingrid. The exhibit had just opened, and I’m sure there were more people than the fire department would have allowed; it was like a hundred degrees in there. Andrew and I took a quick stroll through the other floors while Ingrid played with Jonah and Janet in the atrium. It was pretty surreal to see some of the paintings I’d learned about in Art History, like the ones by Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Matisse. I was surprised they weren’t behind glass or anything, you could go right up to them. Afterward we walked to Janet’s. She happens to live right next to the studio where I was planning to take a dance class, home of the amazing Alvin Ailey dance company. I took a samba/afro-brazilian class, and fulfilled my dream of dancing in New York. The class didn’t meet my high expectations, but it was super fun and sweaty. The teacher was warm and obviously an accomplished dancer herself. And it’s hard to beat live drumming! It had been so long since I’d been in a samba class that I gave it my ALL, and I was nearly dead by the time I left there and walked to Janet’s. I had jogged earlier that day and done my strength training routine too! We were all beat but we had to pull it together for the hour ride/walk home. Coming home and seeing that Otto hadn’t had a seizure was a great ending to a wonderful day.
Speaking of the big apple, Ingrid and I are in love with New York apples. We cannot get enough of them. They are like candy to us. Today at lunch Ingrid ate one and you would think she was eating ice cream the way she kept going on and on about how yummy it was. Tomorrow, we are going to break the program for the first time, and cheat on a non-cheating day. The reason is that I MUST have New York cheesecake while I am in New York. Possibly also red velvet cake, carrot cake, cannoli, and one of those cupcakes from a store that is all cupcakes. And then I’ll leave New York happy :)