subscribing to this blog

So, apparently bloglet has been out of commision for a couple of years now... and no one told me. I guess that means whoever was subscribed to it before really didn't care that much!! Anyway, for anyone that feels the need to re-subscribe with a new service, there's a FeedBurner link in the right hand margin of the blog which should be functional. Google owns FeedBurner, so hopefully it won't disappear in the night on me...

Updates for 2008

So, happy day in our family, my husband starts his new job today! He's been nothing short of miserable in his last job, which has been sad for him, and also sad for me since it's no fun being married to someone that irritable. We had moved out to California because of how wonderful of a job opportunity it sounded like, and it's been hard to see him as more and more promises were broken, and the situation there was more and more uncomfortable. Happily, this new job seems right up his alley. The company is a large one, so they've got great benefits, and overall seem like a good place to work. His commute will stay about the same, so that's good. He won't have to cross any bridges now, though, so that's $4/day raise right there!

Speaking of the benefits, the appear to cover infertility treatments, so we'll be firing up that machine again. We've got 5 embryos still in storage out east at our old facility, and it'll be easy enough to get them transferred out here (apparently FedEx really WILL ship anything!) and do a couple of rounds of FET. The only problem with that is I'm pretty apprehensive about stopping my fibromyalgia drugs and starting the fertility ones again. I'm really not looking forward to doing shots and bloodwork, that was so miserable. On the plus side, the facility is a sister clinic with the place I used to go to, and their location is right by work, so it'll be convenient.

And as a reminder to myself, I should probably post something about the newest fibromyalgia drugs I've tried recently. We are trying the neural inhibitor ones (Lyrica and Neurontin), with limited success so far. The Lyrica worked, but had unacceptable side effects. The Neurontin we're taking it slower, and no side effects yet, but no really noticible benefits either. No notable flareups though, so I'll be thankful for that at least.

Spring is here and I love it. Took some pictures of our rosebushes in the backyard yesterday, got some lovely pictures.

RIP Joshua Calvin Bunch

Feb. 5, 1920 - Feb. 4, 2008

crafty me

So... sometimes I like to make things. Sometimes = always...

Right, so lately it's jewelry and woodburning (a likely pair, I know)

It's not Christmas without someone throwing up...

So evidently, even when you don't have kids, you're not immune to the "curse of Christmas puking". 5:30am Christmas 2007 I got woken up by Peeves throwing up on the bedroom floor (thankfully, it's laminate, so it was an easy cleanup). I figured he had just eaten something he wasn't supposed to and it upset his stomach, so I went back to bed. Two hours later, it happened again, not so thankfully on the downstairs carpet.

When I tried to get him to eat and he refused tuna out of the can, we knew something was wrong. When he started making a horrible crying noise a little later, we knew it was serious, and found the local 24-hour vet emergency room.

They were open on Christmas, and after waiting what felt like forever, we saw a doctor. Evidently Peeves' bladder/urinary tract was blocked again, and he needed to be catheterized immediately. Apparently his bladder was about the size of an orange. To put that in perspective, a human's bladder is generally about that size. Not fun for my 15lb. cat!

So, we left him there, and the surgeon called us back the next day agreeing with another recommendation of the dr - that Peeves was a good candidate for a perineal urethrostomy (or PU for short).

Here is what healthypet.com says a perineal urethrostomy is:"The surgical procedure is called a perineal urethrostomy. Your veterinarian will remove much of the penis and the narrow portion of the urethra and leave a wider opening for the remaining portion under the anus. Your cat may be hospitalized for several days, and often a catheter will be left in place overnight or longer. Afterward, Kitty may be treated with antibiotics, urinary antiseptics, and urinary acidifiers. Post-operative care at home will require you to carefully observe Kitty and his potty habits."

He had the surgery the day after Christmas, and came home the day after that since he was really stressed by being at the vet with all the weird noises (this is the cat that gets scared if you crinkle a plastic bag in his general viscinity). He's still got the collar on, and is in his last week of confinement. He's supposed to go in next Thursday to get evaluated and hopefully get his stitches removed so he can get the collar off. Boy does he hate that thing. Most of all he hates the antibiotics, luckily tomorrow is the last day for them. His happy medication has run out (picture above is taken of him high as a kite - hence the happy relaxed expression!), and he's very sad about being left in a room alone. I suspect I'll be spending a fair amount of time this weekend keeping him company.