Tales from the Steppes

2005-07-22

10:56 a.m.
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I called the vet this morning to find out how Max was doing and the news was not good. His white blood cell count went back up and a number of indicators showed that his organs were being damaged by the autoimmune disease. I talked to the doctor about other drugs and treatment options, but there really just aren't any available. So I made the decision that I really didn't want to have to make. Poor Max.

Play that funky music whiteboy

- Wild Cherry

Things mostly look better. Sort of. Mostly just my attitude about things is better. Max is still at the vets and it is unclear what will happen from here. He is responding to the treatment, just not enough. If his white blood cell count is still really elevated today, the vet has said this will cement the diagnosis of myositis. And if it is myositis, he will have this reoccur periodically and quite possibly have a much reduced quality of life. So I might have to make a decision about this soon but I am not going to worry about it until we get to that point. I am certainly not going to force Max to live in pain but I am also not going to give up on him yet.

I spent most of yesterday out doing fieldwork. I love wetlands and apparently I am not alone in this. Mosquitos the size of carrier pigeons. I had doused myself in Deet before heading out to check some wetland delineations but that was apparently not enough. Of course, I made that my first stop of the day so I had a swampy odor clinging to myself as I made more stops. I had this vague hope that maybe I could get out and back before it got too hot and yucky. Fat chance of that!

I got back to my office to find that my supervisor had finally gotten around to reading the memo that I gave him on Tuesday. A memo about a site that I have been going on about for more than a month. It seems that he finally clued in that when I said 70% slope on unconsolidated fill with an open stormwater channel at the base, I wasn't kidding. Of course, the memo was due yesterday to someone further up the line. So now there was a wordsmithing emergency for how to craft our conditions so that this cannot happen. Next time, instead of just waving my arms, I am going to jump up and down while waving them. Perhaps then I can get his attention prior to the day the memo is due.

Yes, the mongols are still alive and well. They have been kept very busy with camp and mostly have not been getting in trouble. Their evening are mostly filled with trying to get summer homework done. I have been working with the YM to teach him to read. It was definitely a shock to me when the EM went to public kindergarten that the school did not teach the kids to read. That was the parent's job. It was no big deal at all with her - she had the basics down already and needed just a little help and then she was off on her own. The MM took more work because he was not interested in reading at all. When he decided to read, he did so with great speed and skill. The YM is more problematic because he is not traditionally motivated.