[For the past few days, three days, the microwave in the kitchen was acting weird. The date was always off in the mornings. And the computer in the middle bedroom was beeping.] This morning I got up as usual, thanked God for being alive, did some stretching exercises, turned on the radio then worked at the computer on one of my children’s books. After spending an hour at the computer, the radio went off, and my computer issued weird messages. At about 9:30, the lights went off, my computer battery started beeping, and the cordless phone quit working. I woke up my husband to tell him that we were experiencing a blackout or potential brownout, and reported it.
I was hungry. Fortunately, Denny’s was nearby. We had a nice time eating eggs and pancakes. Afterwards, I suggested that we should go to the nearby Goodwill store to look for items for our antique business because there was a possibility that the electricity would take a while to come back . The trip to Goodwill was rewarding. I found a few children’s books and my husband found some Windbergs and pottery that he could sell at our antique business.
In the Goodwill parking lot, a young lady approached us. Her car was parked beside ours and she had bought some items also, but she wanted to see what we had purchased. It turned out that she was an illustrator. She had an art degree from Denton. We talked for a while and we had some common interests because both of us were artists. Well, she was. I was just a potential watercolor illustrator. Anyway, she gave us her personal information, phone number and email address which was very nice of her. We also shared family remembrances. Her father was a firefighter who passed away from cancer. My brother, also a firefighter, passed away in 2016. The lady was from Lipan, a city near Granbury, Texas. She told us to call her in case we needed any information about art or the usage of water colors etc.
I am happy to report that Twister looks fine. He acts like a normal dog. He wants to chase squirrels and lizards. In short, anything that moves. He doesn’t limp or hurt when we examine his leg. My husband walks him with a leash in the backyard as often as possible.
In about 2 1/2 weeks, an ultrasound will determine if there are any changes in his leg that the CT scan didn’t capture. In the meantime, we wait, pray, play with Twister, and keep him happy.
May 14, 2018. Twister’ s oncologist and surgeon called to tell us that the results of the biopsy had come in and that they showed no cancer, only fibrous tissue. . When my husband and I heard that they had not found any cancer, we were so relieved.
Twister finished taking his medication and antibiotics yesterday. He is in good spirits, The incision is healing properly, and the swelling on his leg is decreasing. He will wear his plastic cone for another week, then the oncologist will remove the stitches and give him another examination. As a precaution, the doctors will perform an ultrasound in about a month to make sure the tumor has no changes.We can only hope that everything will be fine. And again we ask all the animal lovers to pray for his complete recovery, and that he won’t need any further treatments.
The day Twister had his CT scan and biopsy, I pulled out the prayer book that my sister had given me so that I could pray to the Lord to help me recover from fibromyalgia.Inside the prayer book is a long ribbon, a relic from a saint, SAN Charbel. The evening before Twister had his surgery, I massaged Twister with the sacred ribbon. I remember looking at my husband’s face when I was doing this. He must’ve thought I was crazy but I did it anyway.
Also, there is a comment in the prayer book that says, “Every eighth day of the month at noon at the parish of Nuestra Senora de Libano a mass and a procession are celebrated for parishioners, dead or alive, and for anybody who needs the Saints help.” Since Twister’s surgery took place on May 8, I strongly believe San Charbel, prayers from animal lovers, and ours, played an important role in Twister’s recovery.Thank you for your prayers on behalf of us and Twister.
May 8, 2018, we took Twister at 8:30 AM for his biopsy. The surgery was supposed to take place at noon. That day I didn’t know what to do with my anxious self. Moreover, the fibromyalgia pain was having a fun time with my body. I wish the pain would tone down. It has been very intense these past few days, and I assume stress is playing a major role. To ignore the pain, I concentrated on things that had to do with writing, such as looking for a place to submit my short stories. The phone rang several times that day, but they were those blasted Robo calls. Finally, that afternoon we got a call from the emergency clinic telling us that we could pick up Twister.
When we saw Twister, he was his usual self, perky, and happy to see us. As he quickly and methodically inspected the doctor’s office, we noticed he had a bandage on his left hind leg, I suppose this is where blood was drawn, and his right foot was bandaged also. He was also wearing a large plastic cone to keep him from unwrapping his bandages and of course from pulling out his three stitches. We thanked the surgeon as we parted with Twister. He came home with medications and antibiotics.
As Bob took Twister to our car, a man stopped me and asked me about my experience with this clinic. I told him this was the first time that I had had to bring one of my pets to the clinic. The man told me that his dog who was 11 years old had glaucoma, and I sympathized with him. His dog was not with him, but I could tell that the man really loved his dog. He was pacing in the lobby.
I was using my Rollator and was trying to figure out how to open the doors to get out. The man pushed a button to open the doors. And then we both laughed when I said, “I was assuming the doors would open automatically.”
“If they did, it would be difficult to keep the dogs in the lobby, ” he commented smiling. He followed me outside. That’s when he asked me what I was doing at the clinic since the clinic only saw animals by referral.
I explained about what had happened to Twister and the very nice gentleman told me, “Tonight will be a prayer night for animals.”
“Thank you,” I answered almost in tears because the man was so gracious to pray for my dog and his. I walked to my car. thinking that if it was God’s will, Twister would be fine, but if it wasn’t, I prayed for strength because I really love Twister.. He was near death when we rescued him.( With tears in my eyes, I wrote a short story, “They Call Mr. Twister” of how Twister came into our lives. The story is written from his point of view. But, I must warn you, if you are an animal lover, the story might make you cry.)
A about 4 PM, we were on our way home with Twister, who behaved as though nothing had happened to him. He was his usual self, inspecting his surroundings and being playful in the car. Bob removed his bandages later that evening. Or was it the following day? I really don’t remember. What I remember is seeing the bandage on his right leg where the biopsy was performed. When we removed that bandage the following day, we noticed the three stitches where the biopsy was performed. We didn’t remove the cone. It keeps him from messing with his stitches.
And now we are waiting for the result from the biopsy which will be here tomorrow, Friday or next Monday. The waiting is killing me. It’s a good thing that I like to write. The activity keeps me busy and sometimes makes me forget that I physically hurt.
Twister finished taking his medication and antibiotics yesterday. He is in high spirits and the swelling on his leg is decreasing. He will wear his cone for another week, then the oncologist will remove the stitches and give him another examination. We hope that he will be fine. Again, I ask my readers, especially the animal lovers, for your prayers.
May 7, 2018. Monday, we took Twister to see a veterinary oncologist at the emergency veterinary clinic on the south side of Fort Worth. After a thorough examination, the oncologist recommended a biopsy which would take place the following day.
Monday afternoon, I had an appointment scheduled with my massage therapist, and I almost didn’t go. Physically and emotionally, I felt lousy, but I went anyway. And I’m glad that I did. My massage therapist is a wonderful lady who not only listens to me, but also gives me an excellent massage. Worried about Twister I told her what had happened to him. I cried, but she comforted me ( she has a dog too) which helped me a lot.
That evening in of spite the fabulous massage, the fibromyalgia pain intensified. I suppose worrying about Twister’s surgery didn’t help me relax or calm down my pain. When I went to bed that evening, I couldn’t fall asleep. So, I spent most of the night praying for Twister, my husband, friends, and relatives. In addition, I occupied my mind thinking about storylines for horror short stories. I recorded the plots on my digital recorder and eventually, fell asleep.
May 3, 2018. Thursday, at about 6:30 PM one of Dr. Jason Doolittle’s associates, Dr. Roller, called to give us the bad news: the needle biopsy indicated that Twister had a spindle cell tumor.
May 4, 2018. Friday, Dr. Doolittle called us and referred us to the emergency clinic on the south side of Fort Worth. The clinic only takes pets by referral, but isopen 24 hours. Dr. Doolittle had already notified the clinic about Twister, and he told us to make an appointment for Twister right away. We called and got an appointment for Monday at 11 AM.
May 5, 2018. Saturday afternoon, Bob toook me to St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church. I needed God’s help. I was so stressed out. That afternoon in the confessional, I talked to the parish priest, Father Manuel Holguin, who is a good listener and empathetic. He prayed for us and Twister.
Sometime on March 2018. My husband told me that Twister had jumped on top of the patio table last night and released a loud yelp. After carefully checking twister’s foot my husband determined that twister had broken a nail; however, it was not bleeding. So, he assumed that Twister was all right. Twister was fine for about a month. Then, around April 6, he started limping.
We carefully inspected his right foot and leg again. Twister did not indicate that he hurt when we touched him. But we still suspected something was wrong because he would occasionally limp and sometimes would not put any weight on the right leg. We Suspected That Twister had hurt himself when he sneakily tore a large hole on the back end of our tool shed. I suspect he was trying to get to an animal that had snuck into the shed.
The next day when we examined his leg, I noticed that an area on Twister’s right wrist was slightly swollen, and he was still limping. His injury concerned me because a few years ago one of our cats developed a limp. We hadn’t noticed that a very small lump had appeared on one of its hind legs. We took our cat to a vet who told us that she had a tumor and that it was malignant. There was not much we could do except to keep her comfortable. The days went by and the tumor kept growing. One day our little girl let us know the tumor was hurting. We had to euthanize her. This was a heartbreaking experience.
May 1, 2018, we took Twister to the vet to check his right foot. (Because of my fibromyalgia pain, I had not gone with Bob when he took Twister for his regular checkups. This time, even though my pain level was a six, I tagged along.) Our veterinarian, Dr. Jason Doolittle, checked Twister thoroughly, but I kept telling my husband and our vet that I noticed there was a small difference in size between his front legs. The right leg appeared to be swollen.
Neither my husband nor our doctor noticed the swelling. Besides, Twister didn’t indicate that he hurt when the doctor touched his foot and leg. Since I was very concerned about the swollen area, Dr. Doolittle decided to take some x-rays. When the x-rays were ready, he asked us if we wanted to look at them. “Of course!” I answered.
We went to another room where he showed us the x-rays on a computer monitor screen. As we saw the pictures roll by, Dr. Doolittle noticed the swollen area that I had been talking about. However, my heart sank to my stomach because I was right. There was a small mass in an inoperable area that could be a tumor. I hoped it was benign. Twister could lose his leg if the tumor was malignant. As these thoughts rolled through my mind, I heard Dr. Doolittle say that we wouldn’t know anything about the swollen area until we got the results from the radiologist, and that he would get in touch with us as soon as he received the results.
Dr. Doolittle was more than willing to answer any of our questions, especially mine. I apologized for taking so much of his time, but I told him that I was worried about Twister. He understood because he has a dog. Incidentally, all the members of the staff at the VCA clinic love Twister. He gets along with everybody.
The detailed examination of Twister was over. As we took him to our SUV, I was discouraged, frightened, and worried. Could the small mass be cancer? That was my concern. I didn’t want Twister to lose his leg. Thoughts about surgery, radiation, cancer pills, and chemotherapy ran through my mind.
That afternoon, I pretended to be okay, but I wasn’t. I played with Twister and the cats, tried to write, ate supper, and eventually went to bed. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Waiting for the radiology reports wreaked havoc on my body that evening. I’m sure my husband was also worried about Twister, but he didn’t say anything. He’s the quiet type.
May 2, 2018. The following morning, Dr. Doolittle called us early because the radiologist needed more information. So, Bob took Twister to the clinic. I couldn’t go with him. My fibromyalgia pain was close to a 7. With tears in my eyes, I watched Bob take Twister to the clinic for more x-rays. This time they also did a needle biopsy. Now we are waiting for the results which will come in 1 to 3 days. In the meantime, my husband is giving Twister his pain medication and we are watching him carefully.
Hi! Meet my friends and guardians, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a green, stuffed, frog.
When I decided to become a writer, my husband bought me a computer, a monitor, a printer, and all the items I needed.
I bought the Blessed Virgin Mary statue at a garage sale for ten cents. She sits by my computer, below my monitor. I’m not sure when I got the frog. I suppose this happened during the Beanie Baby collecting craze. Although my frog is not a Beanie Baby, I put it on top of every computer that I had ever had. I enjoy seeing the frog and the Blessed Virgin every day, plus I think they serve a purpose. The frog sits on top of the computer, and the Virgin sits on the desk by the monitor and computer. Both are ever so watchful of everything I do. They make sure I am working, especially when I don’t feel like writing or doing much because I feel bad. (I have fibromyalgia.) In addition, my husband periodically checks to see if I’m okay while I’m working .
I write regardless of how badly I feel. I write every day even if it’s a few hundred words but I write. Somewhere, I think I read that Stephen King writes every day except on his birthday. Let me know if this is true. I also edit my short stories, read, and always try to do something related to writing everyday unless I feel really bad.
Dear reader: When I finally got the courage to create a web site, the question: “Will I be able to maintain a web site?” constantly plagued me since I have fibromyalgia (Fibro). Eventually, I decided that I wouldn’t let Fibro take over. Why? It’s just that I enjoy telling stories, and I will continue telling stories until I croak. Perhaps my relentless interest in writing stories regardless of how I feel, might convince another writer, plagued with a chronic illness, to continue writing. After all, creative writing is a gift. My blogs in “Musings” will be brief or sometimes long, depending on my health. (I don’t intend to give tips on how to write. There are other writers who handle this topic very well.)
I often wondered what my first blog should be about. Then, I remembered that a while back my writers group requested that members submit pictures of their writing work areas. At the time, I didn’t have a camera, so I couldn’t submit a picture.
Consequently, I decided that my first blog would involve talking about my workspace. To write you don’t need a huge desk or a humongous office. As you can see in the picture above, an old dresser with a tall mirror that sits in a corner of my bedroom constitutes my writing workspace. The monitor, computer, and printer sit on top of the dresser. On either side of the dresser, there are two drawers that are pulled out. I placed some books on top of the drawers to establish the proper height so that I could keep from straining my back and neck while staring at the monitor. On top of the book-drawer arrangement, I placed a board to hold my keyboard and mouse pad. On the side of the dresser, by the printer, is an old floor lamp which lights up my work area.
On the wall to the left of my printer is a large picture of Pinocchio, one of my favorite books and movies. It keeps me entertained and happy, plus it also helps to cover the hole that the plumbers made when they busted the sheet rock to repair a leaky pipe in the bathroom shower stall. We were supposed to install an access panel, but never got around to doing it. And I don’t think plumbers were qualified to do it. And it would have cost us more to have somebody install it. We never checked, though. So we still have the hole in the wall, but it is covered with a large piece of cardboard which in turn is covered by the Pinocchio picture which I love to see every day. For the time being this arrangement works. Also on this side of the corner is an old floor lamp which lights up my work area. This is my my writing workstation. What does yours look like?
M. E. Murray 
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