I have a moment at the computer lab while waiting for an individual appt so I’m going to take the opportunity to write all the little things it’s too much trouble to write via iphone.

I’ve been here a week now. Things are settling into a schedule. The chaotic inprocessing is done and all the annoying labs and answering the same set of questions for 5 different departments is finished.
NOW we can start to work on the issues that I’m here for.

Every monday they have us fill out a questionaire that measures depression and PTSD symptoms. We’ll fill it out every week to see how we progress and to get an idea of what’s working and what isn’t helping.

I noticed that my own questionaire was better in some sections because being here has given me hope. Hope that there will be some relief, that things will change. That if I work hard, I’ll have a better life when I get back home.
Hope goes a long way to defeating depression.

My roommate and I are getting along tremendously well. I got VERY fortunate in my roommate. We hit it off almost immediately. I can’t emphasize how fortunate I am.
And the dogs are hitting it off as well. They don’t play together, Keegan is 13 years older than her dog and she’s not interested in playing with a puppy.
BUT… the puppy has a case of hero worship. 😀
Seriously! The puppy watches Keegan like a hawk, everything Keegan does the puppy does. When Keegan gets up, the puppy gets up. When Keegan sits, the puppy sits.
I’ve told Keegan that she’s responsible for teaching the puppy good habits whether she wants to or not, because the puppy is learning.
It’s absolutely adorable.

It’s a lot of work for the dogs though. Being on duty for 12-14 hours a day. And in an environment that is emotionally charged.
I’ve had to up Keegan’s feedings to three a day as well as increasing her amount of food. I’m also feeding her a couple raw eggs a day and a spoonful of peanut butter.
I’ll keep this up until she puts some weight back on, I don’t like how thin she is currently.
My roommate has upped her dogs feedings too.
I never thought of how being here would affect how much food they needed. Right now Keegan has a box of “The Honest Kitchen” raw food but I’ll have to switch to Solid Gold kibble or something when she runs out since I don’t think I can find the “Honest Kitchen” brand here.

I got to walmart over the weekend and got some instant coffee so hopefully I’ll be a bit more alert in class. I was drifting off standing up last week. That’s also where I picked up an 18 count carton of eggs for Keegan.

I’m starting to deal better with the bedchecks. I still wake up but I’m getting back to sleep faster. The dogs are better with it too.

We’re on a break now and it happens that the Reading Room/Computer Lab is open so I’ve got the opportunity to type this out. I don’t know how often I’ll have this opportunity so most of my updates will continue to be done with the texting keyboard on my iPhone.
But now I need to take Keegan back to our room and see if she’ll eat some more.

Toodle-loo!