Attention:

If you have time to read only one posting, click the following link to read the entry for the last day of our journey.


http://ontheroad6.blogspot.com/2013/10/day-59-th-trip-so-far-805-pm-saturday.html






August 12th- Decision day

Just got back from the vet hospital with Erde.  Both ear infections are still there, a record for Erde. Her ear infections always got cleared up within 10 days with aggressive treatment, but already it has been 14.  The vet told me to continue with the two different ear drops and the oral antibiotic and gave me still a fourth medicaiton, an anti-inflammatory drop for her ears.  I trust the vet's judgment, but I have to wonder what the environment we all live in is doing to our dogs' health as well as our own.  In 2000, during my first trip to Alaska with Sonntag, I took one medication for myself and one for Sonntag.I am shocked at how many I have to take now. Perhaps all of these things are what is keeping Leben and Erde here with me for so long (not to mention myself), but not only are we spending 17 percent of our GDP on medical and health items, but 17 percent of our time.  Today, in nursing homes, I understand that when people are asked about their future, the most frequent response is that they want to live to see their grandchildren graduate  from college (or whatever). Someday, when they are asked the same question, they will probably respond, "I want to live so I can take my next medications."  This is why I opted to postpone Erde's treatment for her tumor until after the trip.  I want her to enjoy life, not her surgery and medications.

I was wrong about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong already.  Although I just recharged my Matco automotive battery jumper several weeks ago, I wanted to be sure it was charged, so I went to charge it again because it is so critical for this trip.  I just bought it last September and used it once to jump a car and three times to power the portable shower.  Well, as I went to charge it, the two electrical prongs on the surface of the device that plug into an extension cord broke.  Now I cannot charge it from an electrical outlet.  Although it still seems to charge via a cigarette lighter in my vehicle, I flew out to auto-zone to buy a new one,  a different model, ust in case.  What a piece of junk the Matco model is, to have such a critical device fail because of a thing as simple as the irreparable electrical connection for recharging.

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