Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Five Cat-Free Days, and I Hate It

It’s been a long five days.

I dropped Molly off at the vet Friday morning to board her for our weekend away to Connecticut. I planned it a while ago and they knew my intention was to pick her up on Monday morning first thing as we’d be home Sunday and picking her up Sunday wasn’t an option because they were closed. This was the first time I ever boarded her and only did so because she’s on all that medication now and needs to be given it twice a day and even when the vet is closed, someone does come in to do it. Well, I managed to get the check-in lady at the front desk with no compassion, no soul, and frankly, no social skills. So when she asked me when I was picking her up I told her Monday the 21st. She tells me flat out well we’re closed Mondays. Great. I didn’t want her there in the first place but had no other choice, and now she’d have to be there nearly two full days longer because we both work on Tuesdays and the soonest someone could get there is 4 p.m. today when C gets out of work.

It’s one hour away and I can’t wait to break my little peanut head out and have her back at home. I just hope she doesn’t (a) think I abandoned her there and (b) hate me because I was the one who dropped her off and C gets to be the hero picking her up.

And did I mention I spent most of the weekend still not feeling well? Left a message for my doctor this morning but still haven’t heard back. I need to get better soon. This is all starting to get to me. Is this what happens as you near 40?

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound familiar?

So the first week Molly started the steroid she was taking it twice a day. She did vomit a couple of times but that was to be expected because she was just starting treatment. Then, after 7 days, we were supposed to reduce her dosage to once a day. That didn’t work – she started vomiting almost daily after the first two days. So last week she was back on the prednisone twice a day and lo and behold she didn’t throw up once in seven days. And on Saturday she was back to taking it once a day. And guess what? My cat who was enjoying lots of time spent outside of the cage she’s been held captive in, enjoying the country air of our new home, was fine the first two days, but then yesterday she threw up three times in eight hours. THREE TIMES IN EIGHT HOURS.

This morning I called the vet. Now my regular vet is on vacation until Thursday so I had to have someone pull her file, explain it to another vet on staff, and then tell me what to do and starting today she’s back to twice a day. And I have to check in with my vet on Thursday when she returns from vacation (lucky her).

Oh and did I mention I had that horrific back pain in my kidney area again for the past two weeks, and like last time I figured I really hurt it moving stuff with all the moving and cleaning we’ve been doing? Yeah no, results came back today. I have another kidney infection. What is wrong with the two of us? I know misery loves company but give me a break.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Grass is Always Greener ...

Yesterday morning I left my house to the best surprise – the landscapers finally came. Since the house we bought was in foreclosure the yard hadn’t been tended to in nearly two years. That meant the long, dead, overgrown grass that was nearly thigh high when we first saw that house late last summer, early fall – was now squished and looked like hay after spending the winter under snow that finally melted. It was desolate, but you could tell the yard at one time was a showcase (and the neighbors confirmed it). Trees lining the back fence were surrounded by brick, brick also trims several flower beds and the areas just in front of the house, along with the small Christmas tree-type trees lining the front of the house.

Last night after coming back from nana’s – where we had to take out more garbage (the garbage men must hate us) – we were so excited we were like kids going to the first carnival of the year. Then we pulled down our street and into our driveway and there it was. A perfectly manicured yard. I can’t even begin to tell you the different – but it’s absolutely beautiful and now the outside is really starting to feel like home. We aren’t done out there yet though – we have some bushes we want to plant and some mulching – and (I’m not sure if this is a blessing or a curse) but I have a lot of flower planting to do so hopefully I learned something from my experience last year as there’s lots to do and I can’t wait!

Friday, April 04, 2008

Molly Update

I had to call the vet last night and she’s so good – she called me back first thing this morning. Basically here’s the scenario. Molly started her medication almost two weeks ago to help heal the inflammation she has from her Inflammatory Bowel Disease. She’s currently taking prednisone, a liquid (Metronidazole) and a Pepcid (as an antacid). For the first week she was supposed to take the prednisone twice a day and then the others once. After that first week, she was doing pretty well considering. She got sick last Wednesday morning and then not again until Sunday morning. Plus she is eating much better and her coat looks and feels amazing (although I have to admit I never noticed it before) But after that first week she’d be taking the steroid only once a day – starting this past Monday. Well that does not seem to be working. She has thrown up (the poor thing) four times this week. To else it felt like she was taking a step backward.

So I called the vet and explained the situation and let her know the only thing that has changed this week is the frequency of her medication based on her script. She called me this morning and said we should, starting today, put her back on the steroid twice a day for another full week and also change her diet. Which, if you’ve been reading this blog, I’ve changed many times, but this time we are going with prescription cat food to help with her condition.

That’s where we are at today. Hopefully it will work and she’ll be healed. My poor kitty!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Moving/Life Update

I know I’m long overdue for a post so here’s a quick recap of what’s going on:

1. Last Monday I had to go to city hall to get stickers to dispose of all the TVs at my grandmother’s house. There were 9 total (and only 2 of them were hours). The rest were living in the garage for years. In her city, it costs you $20 to dispose of a TV so I had to buy the stickers and then call and make the appointment. C dragged them all out Monday afternoon for the Tuesday pickup and he thought we were messing with him and tied rocks to the bottom of them because they were so heavy – of course that wasn’t the case – they were just old and thus super heavy.

2. On Wednesday morning the movers came bright and early and by late afternoon we officially moved into our new house (whoo hoo!!!) and I absolutely love it. I couldn’t be happier. The boxes have had babies so there is still a lot of work to be done there. C and I spent the better part of Friday unpacking all the kitchen boxes and washing everything in our first dishwasher and thanks to my friend Jenn, she and I managed to whittle that pile down to nothing during the course of Saturday afternoon (of course consuming a bottle of wine between us didn’t hurt the cause).

3. On Sunday I met my folks at my grandmother’s house to start de-cluttering and with my mom we did a lot of that “sell this house” stuff along with making rooms that were jammed with so much look nice and spacious. Of course the garbage men this week are going to hate us, but it’s all good. We plan on doing the second floor this weekend. Fun!

4. Molly is still in the large dog cage we put her in when the movers came on Wednesday. We are keeping her in there until she’s feeling better (don’t get me wrong – it makes me very sad) but the vet actually suggested it. She only threw up once so far (knock on wood) Sunday morning. But the medication seems to be working. She’s eating much better than she has in months (or maybe even years) and she’s no longer throwing up on a daily or every other day basis.

5. C and I both came down with this horrific 24-hour bug yesterday. Thankfully I only spent a short part of the evening tossing my cookies. My poor C had it way worse than I did (though to me it was terrible because I never have a throwing up episode).

6. Work is kicking my butt – again. If you’ve followed the news you know that everything happening with the economy and so forth is affecting publishing. And thus it’s affecting what I do. Revenues are down and when that happens editorial (me) is affected in terms of page counts in my book, etc…

And that – I think – is the complete current update!