Friday night I slept well in Alpine, I usually catch up on sleep there. Even having a car up there, I don’t go and do much, I just sleep. That’s precisely what I did this trip. I called to check on Amanda when I was up. She was doing good and not much was going on with her, she had the same nurse and hadn’t seen any doctors yet. When I checked the train lineup to see when I would be going home, I noticed another couple of crews went home behind me and another was lined up for a deadhead home in a van. That was more salt in the wound with my train inching closer! Surprisingly, I was called for a deadhead just before my train was called. Now I had plenty of time to bathe Tank and prepare for our trip to Houston. I’m hoping he does well in the apartment and isn’t too much of a fuss bucket when I’m gone, these neighbors are real ones and not hotel ones that come and go!
I called the dog sitter that had texted yesterday. She was sweet and a talker, we chatted for 15 minutes. I think she’ll do great. She lives in the complex but on the other side. She is retired and just works on the weekends, handing out samples, she didn’t say where but the locations she mentioned sounded like Whole Foods. She did doppler scans for work and had worked at St Luke’s before retiring. Her price was reasonable and she had a flexible schedule even when she was working. She doesn’t have pets but had dogs before and just seemed not to want any now. She mentioned that all the neighbor dogs know her apartment since she keeps treats out for them! She also said she could help with Amanda if I was gone and she needed someone. I think she’ll be a God sent for us and was such a relief to talk to her.
When the transplant team rounded, they noticed Amanda had gained three pounds, so they upped the Bumex drip and gave her a push as well. Jenny was in the area and stopped for a visit with Amanda. She stayed for about an hour, visiting with her. The afternoon was traumatizing for Amanda though. The nurse changed the dressing on her central line. The sticky tape used to hold it down tore her skin clean off, making her cry, she said. So traumatizing that she needed some emotional support fries with her dinner delivery! Amanda said the diver was good and delivered the food to her room. She was worried because the messages they had sent were translated to English, so she hoped the delivery instructions would translate well. I have extra cash tip if you deliver to the room, was probably understood in the universal “green” language, though!
When I got home, the first thing was to bathe Tank, well, brush first, bath second. The dude is hairy and dirty when I pet him the night before, he felt grimy! He was confused, but while he was drying, I got his go bag out, and then the confusion turned to excitement. He was a little worried that I might leave him though, he would whine loudly when I was on the opposite side of the Yukon loading things! I loaded all the extra junk we needed along with the excited pup and hit the road. I don’t think I was in Brackettville more than 5 hours counting sleeping before I was called to work on Thursday.
Even with a good night’s sleep, I was still dragging and had 5 hours before we’d arrive, so I got a little hit of caffeine from Starbucks and Tank got a forbidden in Mom’s car, a puppuccino. I forgot she had forbade them and sent a cute picture of him eating it, instantly ratting us out! I did get it in a large cup, though, so he wouldn’t sling it everywhere. We fought the wind the whole way to Houston; it was cutting us sideways, then head on, and then sideways again. That eventually turned to rain, the closer we got to town. I tried not to holler at traffic too much and not to stress Tank out, but I didn’t do a great job. Some drivers are just idiots! I was hopping around on stations and schooled Tank on 90s alternative for a while.
The dog sitter called to see if I was close so she could come over for a meet and greet. We were still almost two hours out, though. I chatted with her for a while. She was so sweet and told me we needed to “slow the roll” on what she’d quoted me. She was worried about our mounting expenses, that it would hurt us, saying we could see how things go and it would make her get out and exercise since she needed to anyway. I guess she had thought of how expensive things are, even mentioning parking, and that she could take me to the hospital and back to save on parking. I’m telling you this lady will surely be an answered prayer. I told her that I already felt she was a God sent and I was okay with what she quoted me, which was just a little over what most dog walking services here charge per visit, for what a daily rate would be for her.
I got Tank out and in the apartment, he needed no tour, he took himself on one, wagging the whole time. I guess he recognized some of his stuff! I unloaded most of our stuff and set our Tank watching Ring camera up. I went to run some laundry for Amanda and was watching him. I had pulled the blinds just where he could see out, so he was enjoying the courtyard view, waiting for me to return. I guess he was relaxed because he let our a fart so loud I heard it well on the Ring, it sounded like door creaking loudly for about 10 seconds! The laundromat is very close by, almost next door, it’s one of six on the property. You can pay with a credit card or an app, and just scan the washer or dryer you have loaded, then it will start. I opted for the app; shows you what is available and not being used, and it also sends an alert when your clothes are done. It’s very fancy.
As I ran the wash, I ran a dryer load of pillows that had arrived and needed a dryer fluff before use. I also fluffed a new comforter that had arrived, as well. After that, Tank was glad it was bedtime, he kept giving me a look like I was keeping him up too late. He’d gotten used to this early bedtime and not having company till after midnight! By the end of the night I had driven almost across the state, close to 600 miles.