ROW80 Round 7: 6th Update

Even though I had so many ideas flying around in my head, I have done very little writing since the last check-in. Mainly because I've either been looking after Rex or worrying about Rex. He had to go back to the vet on Thursday evening because, although his eyes had mostly returned to normal, he was still refusing to eat or drink, and could not walk without tripping and staggering. The vet gave him some antibiotic and anti-inflammatory injections in case it was an inner ear infection, but it seems more likely that he's got vestibular disease. There's no known cause for it and there's no cure, but it is something that generally resolves on its own, though it can take a few days to a couple of weeks. We were really worried that it was something a lot more serious and that we might have to make the decision dreaded by all pet owners, but in this case, we were lucky.

He started drinking on his own late Friday night, and he started getting his appetite back on Saturday night (the whole roast chicken I bought for him may have helped; that dog doesn't know how spoiled he is), so that was a big relief. He's even managed to have a little wander around his back yard a few times. He still staggers occasionally and he's not yet back to his normal bouncy self, but at least it seems that the worst has passed. Which is good not just for him, but for me; getting woken up every hour or so during the night to check on him and comfort him when he started whining or crashing into stuff and having to half-carry him every time he needed to go outside has left me pretty tired. Plus he managed to canon straight into my dodgy knee on one occasion, which did not improve my mood in the slightest.

So, writing progress this week was next to nil. I've probably done less than 300 words since Wednesday. I decided on Saturday not to worry about it too much, though, since I was just too physically and emotionally exhausted to do anything. So I sat on my bum and watched TV with my Dad instead, getting through several episodes of Once Upon a Time that we had recorded. I have been picking at an old WiP I have on the side. It's the one I always seem to end up working on when I get stuck with Dark and Silent Waters. I've probably got more words for this than for DASW but since most of it is just random scene ideas, 90% of it will probably end up being obsolete; it was mainly just a way to get the ideas out of my head.

I haven't had time to do any painting or drawing, or even look at art supplies, which is probably a good thing since all my spare money has been eaten by vet bills. I'd be willing to bet that, thanks to Rex, we've been single-handedly funding the vet's next Mercedes or whatever.

And I still need to think of a topic for my Ph.D... It will most likely be something in the area of eBook interaction/interface methods, but beyond that I have no idea.

As always, Judgemental Dog provides some sound advice:

See how other ROW80ers are going here.