The Tornado Lands in Oz

Like the Wicked Witch of the East, I have been feeling like a house has fallen on my head. Not in a bad way, really, just loads of various occurrences forming an event horizon with ground zero in my living room.

1. Cruise - GREAT! Loved every minute of it and am already considering another trip next summer. Perhaps the Scandanavian region.... Only downside was that I got a cold on the trip and it lasted the entire voyage.

2. Cold - The cold that wracked me on the cruise exploded when I got home. This was likely facilitated by the 38 hours without sleep that I endured during the homeward travel. I felt like an exploding water balloon and found myself returning to couch confinement for a few days while I emptied my head and chest of mucous and engaged in Olympic-level power napping.

3. Preparing for work - school starts next week and I am woefully behind in my preparations. Normally, I get a jump-start on the next schoolyear as the old year ends. This past year found me missing the terminal 1 1/2 months of work, so I accomplished nada. So, I now have to make sure that I have sufficient curriculum ready for the first week....

4. Continuing with the medical train ride - Back to that particular grindstone. Further meetings with my hematologist/oncologist and treks to Mass General Hospital have found continued enlarged liver, chronic anemia and, a new wrinkle, depressed antibody levels. The cause? They still don't know, but they're still working on it with gusto!

But, the biggest event is that I have a new man in my life. Dark and handsome. Silent type, too. Very smart, fun, active. Not the biggest guy around - tops the scales at 3 lbs right now. Already, we are the star couple in town and EVERYONE loves him. His name - Perkunas. The best little puppy in the world...

Went shopping for shoes one day at the mall and passed the pet store window. There he was - an all-black toy poodle puppy. Energetic, with a gleam in his little black eyes. I had no choice - the energies of the universe simply overtook my body and moved me through the procedure of purchase. Of course, I also had to get all of the items that one needs to own a dog, and also some luxuries such as a car seat and a very stylish carry bag. We go shopping and run errands all the time and he is the perfect dog to tote around department stores as he really doesn't bark unless he is very excited, so he goes quite unnoticed by store personnel. His first vet trip provided him with a glowing health certificate, which made me very proud...

He is smart and loves people and other animals. Independent, yet enjoys down-time on the couch with me. I have already enrolled him in day care for when I start school again. We stopped by for him to visit the other dogs in the program and he had the best time playing with them, although they are all larger than is he. The only negative aspect is that his romping will make for a daily dirty doggie...fortunately, he likes his bathtime.

So, I have had little free time to do anything but reconnect with the medical community, prepare for work and create my new family routine. I am actually looking forward to the start of the school year. Forced structure of time - not always a bad thing...