mental illness

the poor dog, happiness, is reaching a stage in his life where he has many ailments... major loss in hearing and eye sight, kidney stones with blood spotting at the end of urination, frequent diarrhea, a heart murmur that's gradually climbed up to #5, chronic skin issues that are only visible when he chews a patch raw and are just getting worse with age, and serious anxiety among other mind warps (which he gets from his mom, of course, cuz i am the picture of calm rational sanity, right?)... since his hearing and sight have diminished his anxiety is ridiculous and he reacts as if he's been seriously abused to anyone approaching him, including his mom, which is so sad and can be quite annoying, especially in public when other react with the assumption that we abuse him... his latest mental illness seems to be reactive attachment disorder as he goes quite off (ranging from bonkers to depressed, did i mention he also has bipolar disorder?... yes, he is quite the disordered pup) as his behavior changes radically every time jackson goes away from a few days... last week he surprised me as i forgot how oddly needy and wacko (a technical term in the mental health field) he is getting and he peed and pooed and puked all over the house and himself... this week has been a bit better, just two pees and one poo and one puke so far...

missing his mom so much, he alters his eating and drinking to the point where he either gets sick from not eating and throws up yellow bile and gets diarrhea or he eats too fast, too much, scavanging for anything outside (including cat poo from the litter box inside) and unloads even more pee and poo and puke... he's gotten to the point where he doesn't last a full day at home anymore, so jackson usually drives home (half hour each way) from work to let him out during the day (adding more expense to a budget already way in the red... she needs gas money many weeks) but with her being away and me not able to take the hour to rush home and back to work every day combined with his altered eating behaviors, i've got major clean ups and the place stinks (jackson barely smells it anymore) and the carpet is definitely goind to need replacing if we move out (and the lease is due for renewal any day now)...

it's enough to drive anyone crazy (another mental health field term, in case you wondered)... alas, he is fifteen going on sixteen (like the old show tune says) and for a dog, that's well into his senior years...

and how are you? :)