Life Lately: MS, Allergies, Emergencies & A Whole Lot of Dog Drama

This isn’t one of my usual posts—but I figured it was time for a little life update. It’s been one of those stretches where everything hits at once, and you just try to keep your head above water.

First off—Oklahoma, what is going on with your allergies? I swear, the air has been out for blood this season. I’ve been surviving on a steady cocktail of allergy pills, nasal spray, and the trusty Neti Pot. Some days I wonder if I should just live in a bubble with an air purifier strapped to my face. If you’re also battling the pollen monster, I see you.

But the real heart of the chaos lately has been Ghost.

Ghost is our dog, and he’s been pretty sick the past week or so. What started as a cough quickly turned into something scary. The vet initially thought it was pneumonia after his X-rays, so we started him on antibiotics—but instead of getting better, he got worse. A few days later, we found out he has what's called tracheal collapse. If that wasn’t dramatic enough, we also learned the left side of his heart is enlarged.

He’s back home now and on a handful of medications to help keep him breathing comfortably. We have a specialist appointment next week to figure out a longer-term plan.

Pile that on top of his epilepsy and he is just a walking, barking hot mess. But we love him. He’s only five—still young for a small dog—so all of this has been a lot to take in. He’s family, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure he stays comfortable and happy.

As if we needed more surprises, my car battery died out of nowhere—as we were getting in the car to take Ghost to the emergency vet, of course. Luckily we have two cars so we just hopped in the wife's and hit the road. Thankfully, I had my portable jump starter with me (Shameless plug for the X2Power jump starter from Batteries Plus. They are life savers.) and was able to get to the store and replace the battery myself in a matter of minutes. Perks of knowing your way around this kind of thing.

On a more personal note, my walking has been getting worse lately. It’s subtle (sometimes not so much), but I can feel it. My legs just don’t want to cooperate the way they used to. I’ve got MRIs scheduled next month—brain, thoracic spine, and cervical spine—to see what’s going on. My gut tells me the MS has progressed a bit, and while I’m trying not to spiral, it’s definitely been on my mind.

Weirdly enough, one of the things I’ve been clinging to is mowing the lawn. I actually like cutting the grass—it’s good exercise, it gets me moving, and there’s something kind of meditative about it. Plus I get a chance to wear my cowboy hat. I’d like to keep doing it as long as I can.

A silver lining moment, if you can call it that, was that when I looked at the bill for my latest treatment, the cost went down a bit, and I mean a bit. Instead of almost $125,000 billed to my insurance, it was $99,000 and some change. Progress? The sad part is that 3/4 of that is just the cost of the medication. Not the hospital costs, just the drug itself. Crazy.

So yeah. That’s where things are at right now. A little chaotic, a little stressful, and a whole lot of nasal spray. But we’re hanging in there—and if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading.

Sometimes, life’s messy. That’s okay.

Honestly, I'm probably forgetting something, but it's been so hectic lately that I can't even think straight, so if I forgot something, it'll give me something else to write about.

I am making more progress on my book though. I've written about 80 pages, and I'm getting close to where the action is going to start to really pick up. I'm excited about the next part.

Ok, I'm going to bed. Talk to y'all next time!