Watching & Waiting & Hoping

Rufus is in a bad way but his condition has improved this past week. When we returned home from Seattle last week Sunday he had a large mass over his chest and left shoulder and was unable to stand without collapsing under his own weight. When we left for Seattle three days earlier he was fine. What it was that could come on so quickly and present so prominently we didn’t know. We still don’t know for sure, in spite of x-rays, duplicate blood work, ultrasound, aspirates, and evaluation by two veterinarians. He continues to defy diagnosis. One hypothesis had it being a mast cell tumor. But if that were the case it was certainly a grade III variety, and you don’t get better with a stage III mast cell tumor, you go downhill, fast. Our vet who we trust implicitly thought it might be a very virulent infection causing massive inflammation and bleeding into the tissue (Rufus’ skin showed severe ecchymosis). Accordingly, he gave Rufus an injection of a long-acting antibiotic. That diagnosis may have been correct given Rufus is, like I said, improving steadily, though slowly. He’s able to walk on his own now, albeit feebly; he’s eating and drinking, and peeing and poohing (outside!); his skin discoloration is less and his spirit has clearly improved — he barks when the doorbell rings and gets up to greet visitors.

The bike fitting was a success. I spent nearly three hours with a physical therapist who also happens to be a certified fitter for Serotta. Every nook ‘n cranny of me was measured three times and averaged. Physiology was assessed, riding preferences discussed, and then I spent about 90 minutes on the fit trainer hooked to a software program to measure various power outputs while every dimension (e.g., drop, reach, setback, stack) was dialed in to precision, recorded, and eventually sent to Serotta. Three days later MySerotta appeared on paper. A beautiful thing. Now I must decide on which Grouppo and Wheelset to add, and then in eight weeks or more the beautiful thing will be a reality, in our garage, ready for me to ride.

Happy Wife and me at Trace and the next night at Purple. So much wine and so little time.