A Really Rough Couple of Weeks

OK; so this isn't a normal post -- one more typically related to the Collective Mind. Or is it? Here's what I mean.

The last few weeks have not been the product of anything I have consciously engineered. I discovered that my father is dying of cancer, that I owe the IRS from 3 years ago, that my company is going to outsource my department, and my 15 year-old Golden Retriever had what we thought was a stroke.

My father, I knew he had cancer, and I knew that his surgery -- which by no means is a guaranteed solution -- had supposedly removed all the cancer. All but 2 of his lymph nodes came back benign, so he proceeded to take preventative chemotherapy. The doctors all said that he was doing well, great in fact, for a man of 82. But his weight never stabilized, and he began another round of incredible weight loss. After several months of chemotherapy, a few months of recuperation, and then several rounds of post treatment testing, the word was in -- the cancer had returned, and with renewed strength. After consulting multiple specialists, he has decided to proceed with a highly-experimental cocktail of chemotherapy drugs that are designed to give him a few more months. A FEW MORE MONTHS! Hardly a way to spend your last few months.

The whole IRS thing just complicates an already complicated life. I keep records, of course, but who can really go back 3 years and with a clear head figure out where they made mistakes. I don't even know if i still have that version of TurboTax. I'm screwed; I'm just going to pay it.

And I could spend days writing volumes of information about this whole outsourcing initiative. So when did we as Americans fall so closely into bed with India anyway? Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of friends who are originally from India, and I don't mean this in a bad way, but I have seen more outsourcing initiatives to Indian companies return such poor customer service, and in the end, cost the companies more money -- real money! Even after 3 studies have determined that we are already running with more efficiency at less cost than an outsourcing arrangement would bring, our management continues to march forward in an effort to claim the latest corporate buzzword for their own.

Perhaps the potentially worse thing that could have happened -- my dog becoming so ill -- turned out to be much better than we could ever have thought -- initially. Greta started her trek across the yard that sunny Friday afternoon, with firm footing, and completed it by collapsing. We had no idea what it could be, except she was exhibiting outward signs consistent with stroke. We rushed her to the hospital where they quickly ruled out stroke, but diagnosed her with a condition that is not too uncommon in very old Golden Retrievers -- idiopathic vestibular syndrome. This is an unexplained inflammation of the nerve that allows one to differentiate between up from down, and right from left. And although that was indeed the diagnosis, it was then discovered that its cause -- at least in her case -- was due to a ravaging infection in both her ears. The infection was significant enough to have eaten away both of her ear drums -- completely. With fiber-optic imagery, they were able to pass behind where her eardrums would have been, and actually resolve the nerve tissue, which was grossly inflamed. With time, lots of antibiotics, and physical therapy, Greta will once again trot across her yard, explore the pathways we created for her throughout the garden, and swim in the pond of which she is so fond. And she still will end up costing me less than the IRS.