Miss Lucy enjoying the sunshine.  She is the sweetest little dog, slightly neurotic but oh so sweet.  She's a rescue with an enlarged heart, a bad back and a sensitive stomach which sometimes leads to bloody diarrhea.  When she's very excited and running around like a maniac she will chase the cat and ultimately hump the cat, something which deeply offends the cat I'm sure.

We had another meeting about Katie.  Social services is now involved which is hopeful.  Social services provides the money to the agency which cares for Katie.  For the first time in years, somebody actually asked questions about Katie's needs.  The agency which cares for Katie has undergone some changes in the past nine months.  The original owner has retired and her son has taken over.  He is also a very kind man but not the same as his mother.  He has given Katie until the end of April for her behavior to improve, otherwise they want us to find another agency to care for Katie.  In the meeting on Thursday we all agreed that Katie staying where she is, in her home, is in Katie's best interests.  Now we just need to make that work.  Suggestions were made, a plan will be made, emails will be exchanged and hopefully something good will come from all this.

Katie was started on valproic acid which is mostly used for epilepsy but is also used as a mood stabilizer, something I didn't know.  She seems better.  Her behavior is better but time will tell.  And of course she is a young woman so her moods cycle along with her periods.  She was in her glory on Thursday because there was a room full of people who wanted to meet her.  She loves people and if she wasn't disabled she would have made a wonderful politician, although a mental disability doesn't seem to handicap some politicians (cough, Trump, cough).

I'm hopeful.

Pain is inevitable.  Suffering is optional.

I've seen this quote before but just reread it in a book I'm reading right now and it somehow struck a chord in me that it never has before.  

Note to self, remember suffering is optional.