January Jubilation, Juxtaposition and Jive talking.

Well, the new year didn't fail to surprise us with more highs, lows and unknowns.

NYE was a bust for both of us, just way too sore and exhausted to even watch the ball drop or the stooges.

The cold weather and my knee injury really slowed us down a lot. My cortisone shot took a long time to kick in with only marginal results. Adding new pain and lack of sleep when you are already a chronic illness patient with incapacitating migraines is never a good thing. I experienced the worst case of exhaustion I've ever faced. Our world really shrank to bare existence this month. Poorly plowed streets and subzero wind chills making things worse; from parking and freezing in snow ruts and trying not to break our necks or hips didn't help much either. Sidewalks were not adequately cleared, HP cut-outs not cleared, HP spaces with snow plowed into them. I had to cancel PT, temps were too cold and dangerous to be out and about, frostbite occurring in a minute worth of exposure. Just not safe to be out in those conditions with a short haired dog or risk a car breaking down.

The weight of the legal ramifications from my injury also reared its ugly head as well. Paperwork claims, insurance inspections, lawyers, doctors & Medicare reimbursement forms. Ugh.

As if that wasn't enough... Housing surprised us yet again, with another "fire drill" where we had just ONE mere day to fill out and provide forms and six months' worth of documents copied for yet city/town in the local area, making life turn on a dime to fulfil this request while feeling and being at my worst. This happened last month as well and we're still in limbo waiting to hear back or wait for things to be processed. It's really hard to get your hopes up and then be left in the lurch for weeks on end for a 4th time in a year. Not sure where we'll end up when all is said and done, we have offers at all ends of The North Shore. All we can do is sign-on as hope's accomplice and pray the search ends with the right as best place for us soon and the packing can begin.

The Jive talking began when a third housing place sent a random letter requesting a phone interview regarding our "reasonable accommodations request" (i.e. service dog), and then through a volley of emails regarding this, they did the unthinkable - insisted that their policy demands they call my medical provider to determine if I really need a service dog or not. And that I had to sign waivers and consent forms. STOP the presses, I don't need to consent to anything, that's private medical documents. Further, they're not the ones qualified to make that determination about my needs. This in and of it-self is a violation of my rights, ADA Act, FHA laws let alone all the other hooey. I had already provided them with all the written documentation under all applicable the laws and then some. I cautioned them that their polices cannot and do not trump State and Federal laws, and they wrote back still insisting or they would not process my application further, albeit we were already on the wait list at several locations they own and operate. On principle alone this is egregious, but the fact that we are disabled and entitled to fair housing, even worse, as this can affect our lives for years finding the right place with a vacancy because they are excluding us. God help them, because we are filing claims with HUD, MCAD and DOJ. I've had enough of this nonsense.

Sven's cyto-point shot has worn off, the 8 weeks of coverage has come to an end and his skin condition is slowly returning, not as bad as before but still present. This tells me it's still a hive like reaction to either his food (as suspected) or his heartworm pill. I've come up with a food plan to make his own and go from there and she how he does. He was eating a kibble that didn't not contain any known allergens, but as we researched this more and more, we've cone to find that they use mixed tocopherols which are made with fish oils and/egg yolks. Ah-ha.... he's allergic to eggs and these preservatives are sprayed on each and every kibble. So, not really truth in labeling. Kind of pointless to keep paying for shots and continuing to feed him commercial dog food, even if it is organic. Knowing what we know this seems the obvious choice. We're in the process of gathering all the ingredients and making the transition slowly from 25% to 50% then 75% until we reach 100%.

Here's a few pictures from our travels this month.

NYE, Car Inspection Sticker, Lunch with Grammy, Snow, Pizza Pit stop on walk back from parking garage and looking out the window forlorn and Costco.