It’s been one of those stretches of time. We’ve had an intense period of vet care here. Ethel is fine; she had her blood tests last week after 2 weeks on Rimadyl, and she’s well within normal limits for kidney and liver functions. Not only that, we’ve been able to slowly reduce her dosage to 1/3 of the normal dose every other day. It’s clear that she is doing better on the Rimadyl, so we’ll keep her at this maintenance dose and check her again in 6 months. Fred’s mange is worse, and that’s a battle. He’s losing fur by the handfuls, and it (and he) reeks.
And to make sure we don’t get complacent, Mary is sick today. As soon as it’s light out, I’m headed out to the orchard to pick a guanabana leaf and brew tea from it. It works like a charm to stop vomiting.
Of course, none of that has any effect on the amount of maintenance that has to be done. fortunately, Darío has worked near-miracles around here. I also managed to sneak in an hour yesterday to fertilize the bougainvillea, fruit trees, and other plants that need feeding, particularly at this time of year. I have polyurethane to cover the tables, but have not had a chance to get out there and work on them.
Plus we’ve had some really severe rain here. Lloyd Cripe reported that Boquete last month received 3 times the average amount of rainfall for July. I haven’t been up to the Espinosas to get Ricardo’s final numbers yet for Potrerillos.
As a biochemist, I’m always intrigued by speculation based on actual data, not guesswork, fantasy, or fear. The Internet is a great resource, but like everything else, it’s a mixed blessing. I use it constantly for information, but one has to be careful. There is too much truly bad “science” (better: no science at all) and other nonsense hanging around out there; much of it makes the rounds of terrible warnings about something that has caused all the medical evils known to the world and some that haven’t been discovered yet. It’s easy to spot but it still irritates me.
However, I have read in various places speculation that it is no accident that some of the deadliest diseases have arisen in the equatorial region and spread outward. The AIDS and Ebola viruses come to mind immediately. It is a ‘law’ of chemistry that the rate of chemical reactions doubles for every 10 degree (Celcius) rise in temperature. Easy to see how the equatorial and tropical climates become literally hotbeds for mutations and provide various types of reservoirs for bacterial and viral infections and all sorts of ugly parasites. No cold to at least slow them down. So to me it’s no surprise that we would be under much more frequent health assault here in the tropics than we ever were at 48 degrees north latitude.
It’s part of the price we pay for our truly wonderful life here. At times like this, I like to reflect on Job. I can not remember the exact quote but to paraphrase: if we are grateful for the good things God sends us, should we not also be grateful for the trials, which ultimately come from the same source? Much better phrased in the original.
So–blogging is nice, but there are much higher priorities right now.
Filed under: health
