Ankle Fracture: 12 weeks later

I’m at the three month point since my ankle fracture.  This week I am out of 

the Airboot an into an ankle brace.  I can walk ar a slow pace in the ankle 

brace with a cane but it is painful.  I’m still using the Airboot if I go outside, 

e.g. to pick up my daughter from work, but that is because of the 2-3 feet 

of snow outside.  Once the snow melts, I’ll be able to use the ankle brace 

and cane to get around everywhere.

The problem with the ankle brace 

is that, though it is supposed to fit 

inside your shoe, it actually only fits 

inside certain types of shoes.  I have 

one pair I can wear with the brace

 - a running shoe by Merrell, not 

appropriate for snowy weather.  I 

need to buy another pair of shoes.

So this is progress. Slow, but still, moving in the right direction.  I found an

informative guide to ankle fractures online called So You Fractured Your Foot: 

Secrets to Hasten the Healing.  Wish I had found it earlier.

Other than my ankle, my biggest problem right now is the medical bills, which 

I’ll write about some other day.  But I highly recommend that if you live

within a days drive from the Canadian border, you head north when you have

a traumatic injury.

Raymond Carver Bio

I recently read Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life by Carol Sklenicka.  

Actually, it was about six weeks ago but I have hesitated to write 

about it.  I am a long time Carver fan and I immensely enjoyed the 

first 4/5s of this book, but I can honestly say, I wish I hadn’t read it.  

I was shocked at how he treated his wife, MaryAnn Burk, and his

children in his will, leaving everything but a few thousand dollars, 

including the rights to everything he wrote during the 20+ years he 

lived and was supported by Maryann, to his new wife Tess 

Gallagher, who later tried to cheat his children out of money coming 

to them from a possible movie project.

The biography is very well written and nothing can change the 

writing skills of Raymond Carver, but my opinion of him has changed

since finishing the book and I wish I hadn’t read it.

Teenage Valentine

It’s tough buying a valentine’s gift for an 18 year old girl.  Usually I just get 

some sort of bakery treats for breakfast and serve them on our special 

vintage red glass dishes, which we use only on special occasions.

This year, since my daughter has been doing so much for me during my 

recuperation, I wanted to do something a little more special.  

I found the lovely shamrock necklace pictured below at Emerson Made and 

got that for her.  I didn’t really like the muslin pouch the necklace came in so 

I made one of my own using vintage barkcloth with a pink satiny lining.  I 

couldn’t make it upstairs to my sewing machine so did the whole thing by 

hand (which I really enjoyed).

I put the pouch over an I Love You flyer with tear off’s so she can take an

I Love You with her if she ever needs a little extra affection.

You Tube

I finally opened a You Tube account and loaded some of the videos

I made over the past year.  

My first one was a video that a group of friends made for our

friend Susannah Conway, who we all met through an internet class:

Unravelling.  It was a great collaborative effort and turned out really well.

Then I made this one for my friend Barbara Ruiz in Madrid entitled Ella 
Sueña Con Su Cumpleaños  (She dreams of Her Birthday).  I incorporated 

her artwork and one of her favorite things: converse shoes.    

 I needed something with a dog in a car for a flickr group and came up

with this video of Seamus, Nosey and I (though Nosey avoided the camera) 

with a great song by Imelda May called Johnny’s Got a Boom Boom.

And this one is a sort of slide show of my trip to Coleman in Alberta, Canada 

to meet two of my fellow Unravelling friends - Sylvia and Tina.

I have a few others to upload and hope that having this account will motivate 

me to make a few more.

Benadryl for Dogs

Seamus


We had a scary evening with our pup Seamus on Monday. With no warning,
his face started to swell up - first around the eyes, then his jowls and forehead
and after about ten minutes his front legs started to swell. It was 11:30 pm, and
I am still unable to drive due to ankle issues, so my daughter called her boyfriend
who took her to but Benadryl.

I did some rushed research on dogs + allergies that night (here and here for example)
and benadryl is a pretty safe bet if you use it correctly. First of all - use tablets, not
liquid. Correct dosage is also important. Most sites recommend 1 mg per dog pound.
The capsules come in 25 mg so we gave Seamus two (he weighs about 60 pounds).

Within an hour of taking the benadryl his swelling started to go down. Tuesday
all of the swelling was gone except for a little around his neck and Wednesday
he was completely back to normal.

We don't know what happened exactly - allergies? spider bite? But from now on
I will make sure to keep Benadryl on hand at home.  Of course, if your dog has any
health conditions or is on any other medication, check with your vet before giving
Benadryl.