Rocky and Dottie are very playful, and they play well together when you use long string-type toys. They are lazy though, and lose interest pretty quickly. My husband is much better at playing with the toys. We've never found anything that Buddy seems to like or knows how to play with with us, but he likes to play with toys and random things on his own and goes spastic with them. He stops if he catches us looking at him, so we have to pretend we're not looking. It's pretty funny
I wish Dottie would stay interested for longer. She's really gotten fat and it's hard for me to pick her up now. She's giving Rocky a run for his money. It's funny because I never see her eating, and she won't eat treats or people food.

Doing the goal plan went well. We talked about the DRA (dual recovery anonymous) meetings I should be going to… but I have such a hard time knowing where the line is when talking about my drinking I'm avoiding going. I'm afraid if I start talking again, I'll trigger something, go to that dark place, and my OCD thinking will just torture me relentlessly. A lot of bad things are associated with that subject matter and it's so easy for my mind to jump in a million different unpleasant directions. The s/s attempt is obviously the biggie. The association is the 3-4 month manic period preceding it.

I had lunch there yesterday. They served grilled chicken breast with roasted carrots and rice pilaf. It was terrible, which is very unusual. I couldn't swallow the chicken because it was so dry.

I'm having swallowing problems anyway- fluids included, but it's not every time I swallow. It makes me think that the problem is with muscle coordination from MS rather than a narrowing of my esophagus or scar tissue, even though there is pain when it happens. The acid reflux is really bad again, but I'm not having the same degree of heartburn problems I was before. I don't know if the endoscopy is worthwhile, but it's scheduled for the 24th. I am considering canceling it.
My lower GI problems are better. I think it's a combination of all the magnesium I'm getting from the large quantity of antacids I'm taking, and the fact that I gave up on taking the amantadine in the afternoon. Increasing that really aggravated those problems.
I'm being careful not to wash myself out too much. I only had 6 pint glasses of water yesterday. I was drinking too much coffee and not enough water before. I'm hoping it will help with the reflux.

I spent a very difficult 21 minutes on the exercise bike yesterday. It's in the bedroom. We don't have AC in there, and the cool air never seems to find it's way in. We have a fan in there, but it's like a cyclone and would be blowing directly in my face, and I can't turn it or move it. It hit 88 degrees yesterday. Today should be cooler. We'll see how I do…