Yesterday at about 11:30am (my day off… thank GOD I was home/around), due to the rapid deterioration of what had previously been our dog’s slight limp, I rushed him to our Orthopedic surgeon vet. It came out of nowhere… it was almost like he was getting worse by the minute. By the time we were at that vet he was completely dragging his back right foot (not the leg he’d had ACL surgery on).

The orthopedic surgeon, who had repaired dogger’s ACL just five weeks ago, quickly assessed and determined this was neurological, spinal related issue and referred us to his colleague, the Neurologist Surgeon Vet at the Specialist/emergency pet hospital clear across town. He called his direct line and got us right in. We headed over. I did my very best to use every rapid but gentle code 3 low g-force driving maneuver I had in my arsenal because poor puppeh quivered and shook in pain with every single bump and turn.

After a very detailed assessment the surprisingly (!!) young and handsome Neurologist informed me that the dog needed to have surgery that night, asap, and he could hopefully repair him to full function. He gave us a 90% odds of a full recovery. “Recovery” in this case meaning the dog would be able to walk and urinate on his own. The alternative to the surgery is that the dog would be paralyzed, not able to walk, urinate or defecate on his own, and would most likely have to be put down.

By this time Linus couldn’t even walk with EITHER back leg, he would just drag them behind him… sadly all askew at odd angles and folded over onto each other all mangled up looking

It was getting late (3:30pm). The neurologist had scrubbed out from supervising ANOTHER surgery to see us. He would have to go finish that one 1st then call in his Emergency Night Surgery Team to work on our pooch- they would start at about 8pm through midnight or whenever they were done.

“I’m going to give you a few minutes to decide what you want to do.”

Fucking hell.

The projected cost was 6k. Have I mentioned that you have to pay the entire cost up front?

He’s 7 years old. We’ve only had him 2 years. He’s a HUGE part of our lives… a beloved member of our family. But 6k isn’t mere pocket change to us. It was really tough decision.

Particularly when your significant other is at his office, ducking out from a meeting to have this conversation over the phone, can’t look each other in the eye or give each other a hug, and you both feel totally blindsided because this decision just came out of absolutely no where.

Remember this cheesy but kinda nice 90′s song…?

Specifically, the part where it says,

“The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind: the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.”

…. seems pretty darn accurate right now.

We decided to do the surgery.

In a nutshell, our rationale was basically, “he’s been a good dog.” Linus has been nothing short of incredibly loyal to us. We would be loyal to him.

Could you say no to this face?

Sticker shock?

itemized breakdown:

Back on the homefront, kitten (sportin her OWN post-op cone of shame) swooped in to enjoy her newfound status as Sole Possessor of All Beds in The House:

Today we sat on tenterhooks for call from the surgeon about how it went, and if he’s walking yet. I was participating in (trapped in!) this all-day mandatory training session with these tough macho Paramedics and firefighter-type dudes. Didn’t know many of them that well. Was the only girl at the meeting. Every time my mind would drift off protocols and wander to Buddy, wondering how he was doing and if he was gonna pull through… my damn eyes would start tearing up. Not exactly the best environment to bring on the waterworks!!! Tried to play it off like allergies and my sniffles like a cold. Don’t know if I fooled ‘em. Freaking sucked.

Got off work, met up with nerdlove and beelined to the good meat market where we stocked up on thick cut, high quality bacon. Cooked it up and off we went to visiting hours at what is basically the doggy ICU.

He’s not walking yet, but he’s alive and his ears perked up when he saw us.

Rear legs still sadly draggin. They psuedo-carried him out to us in sort of a rear end hoist, with him walking on his front legs only.

ze coup de grâce:

If he doesn’t walk within 2-3 days, we’ll know the surgery was a failure. Can hardly bear to write that out, it’s deeply troubling just to contemplate.

I guess… if he doesn’t make it and after all this we still have to put him down… (not like in that case we would get reimbursed for the procedure!) I won’t regret it. Ultimately I guess it’s good to err on the side of your heart when making a decision like this, and not your wallet.

3 days. 3 days to walk on his own.

Please send vibes for Linus!

Walk, Linus, Walk…

PLEASE FUCKING WALK, dammit.

good dog.

We whiled away the afternoon and into the evening sipping coffee and reading at a cafe (one of E’s very favorite activities) and then caught a late dinner at The Mountain House, which was romantic and wonderful. We had a candlelit corner table overlooking the redwoods- it was so gorgeous!

Cartoon Earl

In honor of my nerdlove’s 30th birthday today, here are
30 Things I Love about Earl!

1. If I was going to sum up Earl’s personality in four adjectives, they would “integrity, kindness, intelligence and quiet strength.” What’s amazing is that so many people who meet him always mention the “integrity” and “quiet strength” descriptors as well. They truly do shine through.
2. He reads advanced calculus on the beach, for fun.
3. Occasionally, he sings, and when he does it always surprises and delights me.
4. Devout loyalty to his friends and loved ones.
5. Extremely disciplined about working out.
6. That slightly crazy, oh so frumply hair.
7. Lover of animals
8. He’s great with my family- everyone from my nieces to aunts and uncles adores him.
9. Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence.  Did you know Earl has a patent?  It’s for something he developed at his company last year called “The Algorithm.”
10. He tries all the wacky food when I drag him on culinary adventures, although his absolute favorite foods remain apples and vanilla ice cream!
11. Loves sitting in coffeeshops reading- this is one our of favorite ways to spend a lazy afternoon.
12. He’s the biggest supporter of all my dreams.  He comes and reads and snoozes in the car while I trail run, came out to visit me twice when I was at EMT school, and encouraged me to pursue my  career change.
13. He believes in me. For example, it was his idea that I pursue med school.
14. Extremely hardworking- he works 13 hour days without complaint and also lately has been working weekends.
15. I don’t know what the trait would be called, but he’s very persistent and always stands up for things that are wrong. Earl is one of the only people I know who will take time out of his day to actually write his senators and congresspeople.  He also is that person who fights for the $2.48 rebate.
16. He always volunteers to brush Linus’ teeth and cut Linus’ nails!
17. That scent on the back of his neck.  I love to stick my nose in there, give him kisses and take a big inhale.
18. The size of his hands. Earl has enormous hands and they are great to hold.
19. His embrace.  He’s so tall that he completely envelopes me.
20. Little things he does to surprise me.  For example, when I was away at EMT school and my phone charger died, he ordered and sent me a new one without ever telling me.
21. The way he gets roped into helping EVERYONE move.  It’s SO funny.  I think it’s because he’s so big and tall, and also nice.  He says yes to everyone who asks!  Normally I then get roped into helping, too.
22. His best friends.   They say if you can tell a man by the company he keeps; Earl’s friends are smart, interesting, loyal and fun.
23. Nerd hot.  He’s got it.
24. How when i first met him, I took my laptop (with his pictures on it) into my neighbor’s apartment and showed them the photos “Check out this guy! Look how hot he is.   He’s 6’3 and gorgeous.   Do you really think a MATHEMATICIAN could really be this good looking?  I can’t believe it!”  My former neighbors tease me about this to this day.
25. The sheer quantity of food he eats never ceases to amaze me.   I’ve never seen a human being consume that much food.
26. He makes my body sing, and I still feel my heart race when we kiss.
27. Earl supported me through an enormous change in my life and unfailingly stayed at my side during many dark hours of self doubt.
28. No matter how pointless and mundane, he always manages to feign interest every morning (or sometimes halfway through the night) when I ramble on filling him in on the senseless dreams I’m having.
29. He’s fun to cook with, and he makes the perfect taste tester.
30. I love taking Linus for walks together- the crook of his arm is perfect to hold as we amble along arm in arm.

Happy, Happy Birthday Earl

Superhero Earl

Now that I’m back here at the comfort of my desk, five times doesn’t sound like all that much, but by the time I had ascended my fifth trip, man those quads were burning!

The Vulcan Stairs are one of those unique-to-San-Francisco types of neighborhood gems.  There are lots of little hidden streets and alleys in the city, and the ones on Vulcan Stairway have no street access.   This means the people who live there must trudge all of their stuff up and down the stairs every day. Now, I’m not sure why this amazes me so much, particularly because I’ve lived on the top of a fifth floor walkup in Manhattan for three years, but still. Shesh.

After I finished my running we spent the afternoon- as my parents would say- “bopping around the neighborhood” which consisted of exploring, taking photos, holding hands, and of course letting Linus make friends with every single dog we passed.

Some photos from today:

Earl and Linus coming down the Vulcan Staircase

This photo does NOT give the Vulcan Stairs justice. They are quite a bit longer than this and actually turn, split, and have many other landings proceeding out of the bottom of this photo.

View from the top looking down

Who can resist a cheesy celebratory “Vulcan” pose on top of the Vulcan Staircase after running repeats? Not me!

Please pardon the sweat and fatigue shown here.

Celebratory "vulcan" shot

Eagle-eyed Earl spotted this striking blue bird hiding in one of the gardens off the stairs. I wonder what kind it is? We were amazed that Linus didn’t scare it away.

what kind of bird is this?

Whereas the Vulcan stairs are surrounded by private gardens and have a bit of a secretive, enclosed feeling, the nearby Saturn Stairs afford expansive views. I guess you could say I really ran 5.5 lengths of the stairs, because when we finished the Vulcan stairs, we walked around the corner and spotted the Saturn Stairs down the street, and I decided to run up them just for fun and to check out what was at the top. The Saturn Stairs aren’t as long as Vulcan- only 1 block compared to 2, but they did boast this lovely view of the Castro and out to the bay:

view from the Saturn Street Stairs

Done with stair-mania, we refueled with some scrumptious fresh-squeezed juices from here. Earl had mango/apple and I had watermelon. As the moniker justly implies, they were stupendous

love the name

Earl loves the look and styling of this yellow home on Lower Terrace. And check out their view!

cool house

We came across this monument in the middle of the turn-around on Upper Terrace.  The monument wasn’t labled as to what it represents, however when we got home I googled and learned it represents the exact geographic midpoint of San Francisco. This conflicts what I had previously been told- that Buena Vista Park was the exact center of the city. However, venture that fancy official-looking monument trumps zen-like park when it comes to official midpoints.

Monument on Upper Terrace

Here’s a cool plant from the corner of Ord Court. What kind is it? Some sort of aloe vera?

what kind of plant is this?

Speaking of cool plants, how neat is this lemon tree? Must be because I am from New England, but I am just flabbergasted that it’s warm enough to grow a LEMON TREE on the sidewalk out front of your house here. By the way, it was 67* out today and gorgeous.

test

Take down your Christmas decorations, people! Here were some crazy ones in the Castro district:

crazy christmas decorations

We made a stop at the Seward Street Slides. How fun! There were little kids playing, so we grabbed some cardboard and just did ONE quick slide, as not to interrupt them. It was super fast and we even saw some of the kids getting air off the dips. Amazing how these slides still exist in today’s litigious world.

the Seward Street Slides

We grabbed lunch at Ike’s Place. It was disgustingly crowded, even at 3:30 in the afternoon. The place was packed to the gill with people pouring out onto the sidewalk and even eating sitting on the ground outside because there were no tables. Fortunately we snagged two seats and Earl enjoyed a #5 while I feasted on a #25. Yu-hum. We will be back!

Finally, we let Linus run around and play in Duboce Park. He held his own with the big dogs.

Duboce Park

But he was pretty tuckered (so was I at this point) when it came to that last final climb back over Buena Vista Hill to our apartment.

tuckered out on Duboce Ave

Just a quick hello and an update. I got my laptop back from HP! And it is refurbished, (for free!), with a new motherboard (WHY did it need a new motherboard when it was only a month old?).  I also got a new phone from Verizon, also covered, that needed new “software.”  The verizon store was PACKED with people all crazed to buy the new Storm.

We put up our Christmas tree and it looks wonderful in the big window, I will put up some photos tomorrow.  I have some many pics on my camera which aren’t uploaded that the memory card is completely full.  Ack!  Very behind on blogging.

In the meantime, I have been learning the city in the style of a tentative housecat… slowly exploring, venturing out into our neighborhood further and further each day.

*me- Elizabeth, a bio of Elizabeth Taylor, E- Finite-Dimensional Vector Spaces…heh, my reading seems quite the fluff piece held up to linear algebra.

heeheehee.

huggled

But, I’m allowed to break the rules today, because I’m really sick.

snuggled

I’ve been out of commission all day. This nasty cold/sinus infection with lots of snuffy, headaches, nose blowing and lethargy. Most likely a product of too much running around, throwing nutrition out the window during the roadtrip ( !! ), lots of changing climates as we drove around the USA, and things having been pretty hectic since we’ve arrived here in Cali. So, I know I did this to myself.
Oh well, a day in bed to recoup. Poor Earl flew out at 6:30am to pick up the cat and is flying back right now with her. His flight’s already been delayed twice so he should get in around 2:30 or 3am! Aye!

Here’s the schedule for the next few days:

• Tuesday: delete files off my old laptop, de-authorize itunes, pick up trial contacts, pick up ordered contact lenses, do laundry, clean apartment so it is not gross for tenant and computer tech coming over, meet computer tech who is installing/preparing my new laptop at 4:30, swing dance, meet tenant to sign sublet and give keys, respond to emails, confirm going away party at Carlyle, install new printer to new computer and E’s computer.
• Wednesday – 12:15 hair appointment to get my roots done and haircut, 3:00 meet Lauralea for our “last” matinée at Lincoln Center and martinis at Vince & Eddies (ie- our final girltime hangout in NYC!)
• Thursday - pack! Also have friends from Miami who may be crashing with us (haven’t run this by E yet)
• Friday - pack! Go out to dinner with our friends from Miami
• Saturday- Linus’s Herding Aptitude Test on a sheep farm in New Jersey. We are THRILLED about this! I don’t care how busy we are, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. It’s two hours away, and he goes on at 9:30am. We’ll probably want to stick around and watch all the other corgis have their herding tryouts as well.
• Sunday - finish packing?? 1-3:00, Dog Park Halloween Howl at Carl Schurz Park. I have mentioned before, I have something really special planned for this year’s Halloween, so I am completely psyched for this. Then Sunday night we are meeting my brother in law and sister who insist on taking us out to dinner “one last time” and “sending us off in style” at my bro-in-law’s brother’s restaurant, the Redding Roadhouse. It will be great seeing them and honestly I have been very sad about leaving my nieces and nephew on the right coast, so I turn into a basketcase thinking this will be the last time I see them for a while. When we get back from dinner, probably drunk knowing them but most likely will be pulling an all-nighter finishing packing because the movers are coming first thing Monday morning!
• Monday- Movers coming first thing in the morning! We have to get all our posessions into two 5x7x8 crates which will be shipped across the country. I have to say, using Door to Door has been a great experience thus far. They are helpful and responsive and hopefully this moving debacle will continue to be painless. Also packing up the Jeep for our roadtrip. Then Monday evening we have our NYC-based going away party at Bemelman’s Bar in Carlyle Hotel. It’s dressy and we have to look smashing, which will be a bit of a task after feeling disgusting and moving boxes all morning!
• Tuesday- we’re out of here! Heading to DC on the first leg of our roadtrip, with Linus and Lucy in the car. Lucy will be being dropped off in DC and then flying out to meet us in SF when we’re done with the trip.

And here’s the “To Do” List of items which haven’t been added to the schedule yet:

• change of address form online
• change address with the bank
• join triple A
• print out all the directions for the roadtrip
• confirm all of our places to stay during the roadtrip
• get absentee ballots
• vote
• finish reading all the roadtrip books and planning the roadtrip route
• take photos of all the furniture we are not taking and post them in the FREE section of craigslist

So, tonight, when Earl and I realized we have a shit-ton of stuff to get done, I asked him if he wanted to skip dance. This is how it went:

earl: agh

fucking printer is huge

Sent at 10:10 AM on Tuesday

me: oh yeah?

YAY! printer!

do you need help getting it home?

why don’t we skip dance tonight? since we are just so busy?

earl: no

me: i will call margaret and tell her

earl: I want to go dancing

no

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

dance dance dance

me: okay okay okay

Sent at 10:13 AM on Tuesday

Hey is there room for me on there too? Shortly after this photo was taken, I squeezed my way up onto the couch as well. My poor $600 LazyBoy cannot take all this abuse!