Friday, July 14, 2000 I'm so tired right now. I took Lola to the vet yesterday for fluids, since she's still not drinking. She lost another four ounces. I couldn't even believe it. I asked the vet how much food she should be getting. Now, earlier this week he said 48 ounces. But yesterday, he said at least a half a can of A/D, preferably an entire can. Well, an entire can is 120cc. Quite a bit more than the 48cc I was told Tuesday. He gave me another syringe, with a wider spout. He said that would be easier to fill and easier to give her. So, today, I'll be giving her 30cc every two and a half hours, starting at six this morning. I'll do this until she gets 180cc. A can and a half. If and when she throws up (and there is a certain trigger for this; I'll list out my last two days' logs and see if you can see what it is).

Yesterday morning, at 5:17, the sound of a cat puking woke me up. It was coming from the garage. I went out there and there was Lola. She had thrown up bile. She went back to the bedroom and I checked out the litter box. There was an older pile of vomit close to the litter box and there was a fair amount of diarrhea stool in the litter box itself. The stool wasn't fresh. Brian told me that Lola had gotten out of bed around 2:30 (I'm still sleeping on the couch to keep the other cats from walking on Lola while she's under the covers), was gone for about ten minutes and came back in. That's when she must have pooped and thrown up.

2:30 am Pooped, vomited
5:17 am In garage, had vomited
5:45 am 15cc of A/D
7:15 am Prednisone
9:40 am 15cc of A/D
1:40 pm Pooped
2:40 pm 15cc of A/D
4:05 pm Pooped, vomited
4:15 pm Vet appointment
5:34 pm 15cc of A/D
5:45 pm 15cc of A/D
12:45 am Pooped, vomited

Now, it's looking like the act of pooping brings on the vomiting. Like her puke muscles are attached to her poop muscles and using one jump starts the other. It's been over an hour since she got her first 30cc of food and she's back under the covers on the bed. I talked to her and petted her and she started purring. Besides the fact that she's skin and bone, her eyes look good. They are bright and alert. If all you saw was her face, you wouldn't know she's so darned sick. Unlike Bobby, I think I have a chance with her. I don't think she's ready to go to the bridge. I'm going to make a later afternoon appointment for her to get fluids today and hopefully, she'll have not lost weight. Yesterday, the vet offered to operate on her for free, just to see what's going on. I said no. Right now, I just want to get her eating and drinking again. She was doing fine before the chemo and I think that just shocked the heck out of her depressed system. She doesn't have any fever. The fact that she's pooping is good. And hopefully, getting more food will help firm up the stool. I'm sure the gradual introduction of food into her system was a good thing. Starting Wednesday with the 6cc every two hours, to the 15cc yesterday, to the 30cc today. She does seem to sniff the occasional other food I set in front of her with more interest. And she looks like she really wants to drink some water. I put a bowl in front of her, even get my face down and act like I'm drinking it. She sniffs it and puts her nose in it, but won't lap. She needs to drink. I have a couple of friends that are into the holistic and natural treatment and they are going to be giving me advice on how to try to bring her around. Of course, I'll still be taking her to the vet. One thing I stopped giving her was the anti-nausea medication. I received an email Wednesday after someone read my diary and said that the medication made her cat really nervous. Well, Wednesday morning, an hour after the medication, Lola went down back by the pool and spent a good three and a half hours pacing. She just couldn't get comfortable. That was the last pill I gave her. And since she's not nauseated, I don't think she needs it. I told the vet and he didn't have a problem with it.

Rusty was limping pretty badly yesterday. His right wrist was stiff. He had fallen in the tub the day before (the cats like to drink from the dripping faucet and he lost his footing on the edge of the tub and slipped as near as I can tell). I felt his leg, gently pressing on it, but there wasn't any part that hurt him really bad when I did that. It was only when he put weight on it. He's doing better today, thank God. It would have been horrible if he had done major damage to it. He's doing really well eating his kidney diet. He's even eating the dry with gusto.

This morning, while I was feeding Lola in the bedroom bath, Ciara got onto the bed and Brian mentioned she had been nailed in the face. A little later, I had a chance to check it out. Not nailed, not blood, some sort of pink stuff. I had no idea what it could have been. Brian did. She apparantly got up on the dresser and started playing with his red pencil. And there ya go. She looks like a little girl, playing with mommy's lipstick.

7:21pm Well, Lola did pretty good today. She pooped at 11 this morning, followed by her little vomit. One thing she did today, that she hasn't done in weeks, is she slept all day, with the exception of when I fed her and the one time she pottied. I put off her final meal until after I got back from the vet's office. Her appointment was for 5:15. I asked Elena to please weigh her. Now, when she was weighed yesterday, she had lost four ounces from Monday, when her weight was 7lbs 4oz. Yesterday, she weighed seven pounds even. The vet remarked that he did not want her going below seven pounds. Well, in the time between her vet visit yesterday and the visit today, I had fed her 168cc of A/D. Well over a can. And a can weighs 5.5 ounces. When Elena brought her back, she said "she weighs the same...seven pounds four ounces". I was thrilled. I asked her to repeat that, to make sure I had heard her correctly. She said it again. I told her that the vet hadn't written down yesterday's weight, but that it was seven pounds and he was concerned at the four ounce weight loss. This was very good news to me. I started to tear up as I left the office. Now I could understand why she was sleeping so well. It's easy to sleep on a full tummy.

When we got home, she sounded a little gassy. She farted. This is good. As anybody who has had diarrhea knows, a fart is a nice thing to have. It means that things are starting to firm up a little. Her stomach still gurgled, though and I figured she may want to throw up. She had looked uncomfortable at the vet's. She did go outside and puke a little, but not much at all. I fed her again at seven this evening, another 30cc, bringing her total for today up to 168cc. She's back in bed now, under the covers. I take her in again tomorrow for fluids, but hopefully, the weight loss is under control and she will start to want to eat and drink by herself. Brian and I discussed this a little this evening and came to the conclusion that she was slowly starving to death. She hadn't really eaten anything to speak of since he was in Ranchita. That was the first weekend of this month, two weekends ago.

Monday, I'm going to call and find out about a holistic vet in our area. One that may be able to give me options for her cancer. One can only hope. I admit, I'm really frightened of the chemotherapy now.

Monday, July 17, 2000 I took Lola in for fluids again on Saturday and she had gained an additional ounce and a half. I fed her on schedule all weekend long. She did throw up after we got back from the vet, but I feel that stress would account for that. Saturday afternoon, she squeezed out a little, tiny firm stool. Yay!! She still spent most of the day under the covers in the bed. She likes it there, feels safe, warm and secure.

Yesterday morning, she was purring like old times in the bed. That was pretty nice. I began her feeding regimen at 6:45, feeding the A/D in 30cc lots every three hours. She still hadn't really pooped very much and I was beginning to consider cutting back on what I was feeding her. What is the purpose of giving her more than she can process? Her belly is obviously full, why shove more down? And when she threw up at 3:30, I knew that cutting back would be the right way to go. She did poop more yesterday, twice what she did Saturday. I figured what I would do is feed her every four hours instead of every three. And not try for a can and a half a day, but just a can. And her last feed of the day would come at the same time as the other cats eat at night, to give her more time to get hungry. And yesterday afternoon, she started trying to eat kibble. She was showing a real interest in it, going from bowl to bowl. She didn't spend the afternoon in bed, but walking around.

She's already eaten a few bites of kibble this morning. She can't seem to handle the Nutro food, it's too big. I tried the Kirkland brand and she can eat that. Maybe this morning when I take her in, I'll see if they have something easier for her to eat. Since she is trying to eat dry food, I'm going to cut back on the amount of A/D I feed her. Maybe start with 20cc instead of 30cc. Brian said she got out of bed alot last night. He thinks she went to poop. The litter box did have quite a few stools in it this morning, but hard to tell if any of them are Lola's. I'm thinking she got up in search of food.

One of the people (male) mom met at radiation therapy has kept in touch with her. Friday, she told me that he had asked her out, to go to a show. I said "Oh, a date!!". She was adamant that it wasn't a date, but an "outing". Geez. So, I called her yesterday to ask her how her "not a date" was. She had a pretty nice time. I'm glad she went, because I think she's getting cabin fever and feeling lonely. There's really not too many people she visits with in her little community. And she doesn't go anywhere because she's afraid of leaving her dog, who isn't long for this world. I think she feels if she stays with him, he won't die, but if she leaves, he will. She won't leave the house anymore than she absolutely has to. The "not a date" was a good thing for her. This guy even held her hand. She wasn't to happy about that, she's not a hand holding type of person. At one point somebody referred to her as "his wife" and he didn't deny it. She didn't say anything. When they got back to her place, she got out of his vehicle (a brand new Ford Excursion) and said her goodbyes. He said "I'm coming in". And he did. He said he saw a white cat and she said "yes, that's Miss E". He said his cat was Missy, too, but she wasn't allowed outdoors. And she's declawed. Mom didn't make an issue out of it, she just said "I don't own anything that's worth doing that to my cat. Furniture can be replaced." He admitted that he didn't realize how much pain the cats are in after the surgery. Made him think twice about it. I think she handled that well. The show they saw was "Fosse". She enjoyed it.

Brian has something intestinal going on. He's afraid maybe he has an ulcer. And when his stomach hurts, his back hurts. I told him to go to the doctor, not just the chiropractor. He knows he should. He told me this weekend, he actually can now have sympathy for what I was going through with my sciatica. Which is doing great, by the way. I very rarely have any pain now.

Tuesday, July 18, 2000 3:45pm Well, Lola lost weight from Saturday to yesterday when I took her in. Three ounces. I just didn't understand it. I've also come to realize that withholding food is not a good idea. If she wants more to eat, then she'll eat. I still didn't understand the weight loss. Even though I was spacing out the feedings, she was still getting more than a can a day. She is showing more interest in the dry food each day, even eating a couple of pieces of kibble. Brian said that Sunday night, she got out of bed a couple of times, left, then came back shortly. He thought she was maybe going to the bathroom, which is possible. Last night, I slept in bed for the first time in week and at five this morning, I followed her when she got out of bed. She went into the tv room and sat hunched over the dry food feeder. She was hungry. I didn't really feel like getting her food ready this early, so I went back to bed. And so did she. She hasn't thrown up now in over forty eight hours (knock on wood). And no diarrhea since Friday. At the vet's this morning (10:00), she had gained back the weight she had lost this weekend. I've been putting a little of the A/D in my hand when I feed her, to see if she'll try it on her own. She will eat a small amount, but not enough to survive on. So, I will continue to force feed her A/D until she feeds herself. I haven't seen her drink any water as yet, but, like the food, she does check out the bowl. Since the food we feed the cats is Nutro, I'm thinking there is a problem with the size of the kibble. She doesn't seem to have a problem eating Georgie's food or the CostCo brand that we feed the outfront cats. I asked the vet yesterday if they had any sort of dry diet for cats like her. He said there is a product out for cats in recovery, and they ordered a small bag for me. I hope that she'll like it. I would sure like to see her eating again. Heck, this cat used to have a heck of an appetite. It's said to not see her eat like she used to. Right now, she's laying in the window in the tv room, in the sun. It's something she hasn't done for awhile. It's really nice to see her doing the little things she had been doing again. And it was really nice to sleep in bed last night. The couch was getting old.

Brian turned in early again last night. He said he felt a little better this morning. I feel bad for him, feeling like crap and having to work in this heat. And it is hot. And the work he's doing right now isn't any fun. They're in the process of moving the shop. They have to do a bunch of carpentry work at the new shop, so that they can store the stuff they need for jobs. He hopes to be all moved by the end of the month. The property management company of the shop he's in right now is pushing to get him to sign a new lease, which he's not going to do. Since the his rental status is month to month, he's not going to do anything until he says he's out of there. We'll give the notice on the 31st of this month, a Monday. He didn't want to give them advance notice because he didn't want people walking through his shop when he wasn't there. I can't say as I blame him. I'd sure love to see the management company's reaction when he says "sayonara". I bet they don't have tenants move out that quickly when they take over properties.

It is very hot here right now. And this is what we can expect through the end of September. Last Sunday was pretty nice, but it's heated up considerably. And with this heat, comes the humidity. It can be really uncomfortable. Because I paid company bills today and yesterday and had to stay inside, I've had the A/C on. I think tomorrow I may lay by the pool. I haven't done that since I got sunburned when Brian was at the sticks over the fourth.

Friday, July 21, 2000 Lola is doing much better. I caught her eating Nutro this morning. I figured that maybe I should not take her in for fluids today, but to see if she's also drinking on her own. That would be so wonderful. I called and cancelled today's appointment and made another one for tomorrow, just in case. I haven't force fed her since yesterday afternoon. I found that when I put the food on her paw when she's laying down, she'll lick it off. And she can eat as much as she wants. I think she likes it better this way. And she's grooming herself more often now. She's pooping nicely. Nice firm stools and she's not having a hard time passing them. She's looking all around better. Her fur is nicer, the hair on her belly where she was shaved is finally starting to grow back (that was almost a month ago) and on the back of her head, the fur is starting to lay down again. You know the little bump at the back of a cat's skull? Well, Lola's fur looked like bird feathers sticking up. Her eyes are brighter and she's much more comfortable than she had been. She still sleeps under the covers, but that's at night and it's not for all night.

I was awakened this morning at five thirty by the sounds of a cat fight. I got out of bed, grabbed the water bottle. The growling was in the dining room. I turned on the light and shooed the cats out of there. The tablecloth had quite a bit of blood on it. Probably less than a hour old. I checked all of the cats, still am, but none of them seems to have a problem. I looked at their paw pads and nothing. My mom said to check their ears. Good idea.

Man, it's been so darned hot here. And last year, our state legislature voted to de-regulate the power companies. Bad idea. Instead of prices going down because of competition, there is no competition and we are getting reamed. And it's not just the state of California that's paying. The northwest states are getting hit with the same rates that we're getting here. The power companies are charging as much as they want, with no end in sight. Think of the price of gasoline and how quickly that's being raised. Well, that's going up in increments of pennies. But our electric bills have doubled since May. Our last bill was $341.00, even though our usage was down. Two months ago, the bill was $204. (The pool uses up a lot of electricity and the computer is on from six am to eight or nine in the evening, but I do shut off the monitor when I'm not here; the computer is on so that the images can be sent to the catcam and weathercam.) The current mayor of San Diego, Susan Golding, (useless woman, too busy trying to raise money for ballparks; my feeling, let them raise their own, they gouge the consumer anyway) hasn't spoken out about these rates at all. But her predecessor sure has. And because of her speaking out, there's a push on to get something done about it. I understand that because of the high energy costs, some companies are not running twenty four hours and are laying people off. They started doing that in the northwest a couple of weeks ago and it was just reported recently here in San Diego County. The company where San Diego Gas and Electric buys it's energy from reported something like a 25% increase in profits the last quarter. Yeah. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. What about the people on fixed incomes? I'm afraid there are going to be an awful lot of heat related illnesses because of the greed of the companies. I'll be glad to see them back under regulation. I hope it happens soon.

It's turning out to be a much more pleasant day than the last couple. Lola is sleeping under the covers (I should see if she wants something to eat) and the other cats are stretched out around the house and yard. The catcam chair finally has a cat in it, Pepper. She's been sleeping on the towels I use to cover the monitor. *sigh* I moved those so she took over my chair when I wasn't in it. Now, I'm in it and I guess she figured the catcam chair was the best thing to be in.

Monday, July 24, 2000 And Lola just keeps getting better and gaining weight. I've cut back on how much I force feed her. I won't do it until later in the day and she hasn't had much to eat on her own, although I offer her food every couple of hours. I didn't see her poop or pee yesterday, which has me a little concerned. But we were gone for a couple of hours in the morning (needed groceries) and of course, she could always have gone while we were sleeping. I've put her in the box a couple of times and she isn't interested in going. I've taken her outside and put her in the dirt and she isn't interested in going there, either. I woke up this morning, a little before three and she was on me, purring away. I got up and took her to the litterbox with no luck. Then I warmed up some A/D and she ate quite a bit of that. I would guess she eats between fifteen and twenty cc by herself. She's also nibbling a little on the Eukanuba kibble. She didn't like it at first, but she seems to have gotten the taste. I still haven't seen her drinking. I took her in Saturday morning for her fluids and the vet once again told me how happy he is with her progress. And he mentioned started up her chemo once she gets over eight pounds. Saturday, I was surprised that she had gained weight, because Friday was when I stopped force feeding her on a schedule. It was an ounce, but it was a gain. The vet discussed the setback with me. He didn't believe it was from the chemo, because he gives at least three treatments a week, has for quite a while and this has never happened. His guess is that where he operated, the small intestine meets the large intestine and some adhesions or lesions must have appeared, preventing her from pooping. And this would also explain her throwing up. But he says, it looks as if they've self resolved or something. Whatever happened, she's better. And to think I just knew she wouldn't make it past that first weekend after her enema. When he told me that if she kept puking there wasn't much of a chance for her, I was a little surprised that he wanted me to bring her home and try feeding her myself. I thought he'd advise euthanasia right then. I'm glad he didn't. And I'm glad I had the chance to help bring her back. I can't help but think starting her off with smaller amounts of food helped get her tummy used to working again. Saturday, she was playing with a catnip branch. Not vigorously, but standing over it, she tried to catch it with her paws and pick it up.

And Ciara has the runs really bad. She came and jumped up on the desk and I started sniffing, checked my feet for unknown dog poop. It wasn't me. I looked at her backside and she was covered with yellow runny poop. *sigh* And she does this when she's eaten something that her tummy isn't used to. I thought back to anything it may have been and can only come up with the Eukanuba kibble of Lola's. I don't remember her ever getting ahold of the A/D spoon or bowl. It's gotta be the kibble. Spit.

It's been really hot here and is supposed to be miserable today. I have to do a bunch of laundry. Somebody peed next to my head last night. And Ciara was sleeping next to me this morning. It was probably her. I'm going to wash all the bedclothes and spray that part of the bed with Feliway. I hope that stops the pissing. Luckily, the mattress pad is pretty thick and stops any urine from getting to the mattress. And then Brian says he doesn't have any decent Levis to wear, did I do any laundry? Huh? I had everything washed last Tuesday/Wednesday. And at one point this year, he had at least ten pairs of wearable Levis. How on earth can he be out? Well, the washing machine must have put holes in two pair, because they didn't have holes before. Yeah, right. So, besides the bedclothes, I also have to launder his clothes.

We got some Sheba cat food (), which I'm not real fond of, for Lola. It was on sale at Vons. We got four different flavors. Well, she kind of likes the shrimp and sardines. She actually eats with relish. But I have to keep the other cats away, because she won't eat if she feels pressure from them and she really doesn't like having any doors shut. This seems to make her very nervous. It's not easy to do. One of the neat things about when she feeds herself is the fact that she grooms afterwards. Her poor little butt has no fur on it at all. She's finally pulled it all off from when it was stiff with stuff from the enema. She wouldn't let me help her at all. She would get mad and start growling, so I figured she could do it herself. The fur on her belly and legs is starting to grow back in. She's not sleeping under the covers at all now. Maybe she's starting to get a little body insulation back. She's still skin and bones, though. It makes me cry to feel her ribs and backbone. The picture below was taken the day I brought her home after her enema, when I was told she may not have long. You can see that her belly is shaved and also on both of her front legs, she's missing fur. And all of that fur is finally starting to grow back.

Well, got back from the vet and Lola actually showed some attitude. LOL!! She growled at Becky after she gave her her fluids. The vet couldn't find anything wrong in her ears, but said she may have a yeast infection, so I was to start her on the Otomax that I have from when Kirby had his problem. And, once again, she had gained a little weight. It looked like she was up two ounces, but Becky weighed her after she had gotten her fluids, so I'm not real positive of the weight gain. Charlene said the fluids were probably an ounce. At least, she's not losing.

Which ever cat is pooping in the laundry room is getting better. The blood in the stool isn't as bad as it was. I was pretty sure it was Lonee, but last night, Lonee was outside and there was stool in the laundry room. So, now I'm thinking maybe it's Lucky. But the stool is looking much better. That's good.

Well, I have a lot to do today and I may as well get started. This stuff won't do itself, that's for sure.

Thursday, July 27, 2000 Well, heck, I can't believe I haven't written here since Monday. I guess it's the heat or something.

I haven't force fed Lola for a couple of days now. She's eating on her own, but I give her the food. She's not eating as much as I was feeding her, that's a given, but she's definitely eating a little more each day. She's also a little more active each day, burning more calories than when she spent all day under the covers in the bedroom, only coming out when I fed her. This morning, I found her climbing around in the garage. Right now, she's curled up under the bedspread between the pillows. I don't blame her, it cools off right after the sun comes up. She's much happier, though. Still not drinking. *sigh* I took her in for fluids yesterday and we're going to cut back on them again, to twice a week. Hopefully, she'll get thirsty and drink on her own. The other night, she did lap up a little tuna juice and last night, she even ate a little of the food that the other guys get at night, the stuff that's really runny, so I know she's able to lap. She's most likely just not thirsty because of the fluids, so why drink? No reason to. When she was weighed yesterday, I wasn't surprised that she had lost a couple of ounces. I think that will even out soon, as she eats more on her own and she'll once again start gaining.

I had a chiropractor's appointment yesterday and asked if he knew of a vet who practices alternative medicine. I guess his sister goes to one and Darlene, the doctor's daughter and receptionist called her aunt and found out for me. I think that was really sweet of her. I called them and they had an opening for a consultation today, but I thought about it and decided I wanted Lola to have a break from trips to the vet. Her next fluid trip, should she need it, is Saturday. So, we set an appointment for next Tuesday. They're calling her regular vet for her records and I guess we'll talk about Lola's background and our home situation and what we want to do as far as treatment. I'm pretty sure that we'll still be doing the chemo therapy and this alternative treatment will work in conjunction with the chemo. What's important here is Lola's comfort and wellbeing. For an idea of what can be done, please click here. It's a pretty good article. I feel good about making this choice. The consult is eighty dollars and when I told the cowboy about it, of course his main concern was cost. I guess the price didn't bother him. But then, we're talking about a man who spent a hundred dollars on getting his tractor seat reupholstered. Like somebody said "hasn't he ever heard of duct tape?". I thought that was funny. And I did say to him that whatever we do with Lola and her cancer now, may help us, the humans, make decisions about our own care down the road. The clinic isn't all that far from here and I'm familiar with the area, so driving there won't be a problem. I'll be talking with their cancer specialist. I called my vet's office yesterday to let them know that I was seeing another vet and why. I didn't want them to get the wrong idea when they got the call for her records. Charlene assured me there wouldn't be a problem.

Next week, I also have my yearly pap smear (if you haven't had yours done yet, please remember to make that appointment; a problem found early is a problem more fixable than if found later and no problem found at all is good news). I have my chiropractic appointment at ten and the groinicologist appointment at ten forty five. So that my blood pressure will be down, I'll be doing the mantra thing (bp 110/70, pulse 70) to let my body know what we're aiming for. I'll also not have caffeine or salty foods a couple of days before. I've noticed that salty foods really drive my blood pressure up.

The other night, Brian said that we never go anywhere anymore. We don't go to movies. We stopped awhile back because I didn't like coming into our driveway at night because of the cats. I don't think I would worry about that now. But the theaters we went to are no longer opened. We used to take day trips to Disneyland (and boy, do I really want to go up there, I miss it) but this year I had the sciatica problem and Brian was spending all of his free time working on his tractor. Now, we have Lola to think about. But I'm sure that we're on the right track with her and we'll be able to get away for a day soon. I really do want to go up there and see how the park has progressed since our last trip.

The catnip I harvested a couple of weeks ago is dry enough so that I can take it down and put it in a box for further drying. You can't move in the exercise room right now because of the hanging nip. I need to get the winners' shirts made for the last couple of months. Bad me. And I can't do it if I can't get to the heat press, which I can't right now. I have much work to do. I'm ready to start doing more designs and will do my best to have the store up and running within the next two weeks. Even though there are only two designs up right now, I should open for business. I'm getting charged fifty bucks a month from the credit card companies, even though I'm not selling anything yet. That's a drain on the bank account. But it seems as if I'm slowly becoming more organized, have more energy to do stuff. I think much of that is attributable to the chiropractor and me having more energy. I've been keeping the house cleaner on a more regular basis and have been spending less time on the internet. That's a good thing. So, the sooner I get busy, the sooner I'll get done. It's funny how that works.

Monday, July 31, 2000 Well, here I am again. Been awhile. *grin*

Did I happen to tell you that last Wednesday when I went to the vet, my truck wouldn't start? No power at all. The door locks didn't even work. I took the car to the vet and Brian was home when I got home. I asked if he had noticed that I took the car and he said, yes, why? I said "truck dead". He said "what's wrong with it?" I said "truck dead". He ended up changing out the battery. Then, he said there was something wrong with the dome light, it wouldn't go out and that's probably what drained the battery. Great. To get the dome light off, he took out the light bulb. Then, when he told his brother about our latest problem, his brother said "maybe the switch is on". And it was. LOL!! Nothing wrong with the truck at all.

Yesterday, we went to Denny's for breakfast. Then we came home, Brian washed my truck and we went to CostCo. Once home, the truck was unloaded, we kicked back, Brian in his chair, me on the sofa. And we both fell asleep. At about four his brother called and asked if there were any hidden keys at the property. His brother had bought some disks for the tractor at an auction. He would have liked to drop them off before coming all the way home, but he didn't have keys to the trailer where the tractor was. Well, there aren't any keys up there. They hung up and I asked Brian how far away from Ranchita was his brother and Brian said about an hour and a half. I said "well, why don't we go meet him there?" So, Brian called him back and they made arrangements to meet. I got all of the cats in and off we went. It was a nice drive up. Going through Santa Ysabel was pretty warm. There's a little valley there and it got pretty warm. Once we were over the hill, it cooled off. The property was nice, too. Mark and his wife were already there when we showed up and the boys got everything taken care of. Then we decided to eat on the way back. We did, at Denny's. The cats weren't happy about having to stay inside all of that time, but it was much nicer for me to not have to worry about them while we were gone and worry about getting home to get them in.

When we got home, there was a message on the answering machine from one of our friends in the San Francisco area, one we met at Disneyland last October and one who we were going to meet up with this year. She told us that the hotel was booked for the weekend we wanted to go. Wow, this was the first time since we've been going up there for my birthday that this happened. Not good news at all. Brian and I have no problem going during the week, but our friends might. And Fantasmic is a must see. I don't think they show it during the week. Add to that our friends' airfare is a hundred dollars cheaper if they come down on Saturday. Enough to spend an extra night at the hotel. And this time, we wanted to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, not the Disneyland Pacific. We're planning on three days this year. At first, I was a little reluctant because I know how very expensive it will be (with the purchase of our new passports, it will easily be over a thousand bucks), but we have only been up there once this year and it wasn't for an overnighter. Now, a couple of weekends ago, I found out that the techs at the vet's are petsitting. Believe me, I was bummed when I found out, because I had already made arrangements with Jennifer to take care of the animals while we were gone. With Lola in her precarious state of health, I would much rather have one of the techs who's working with Lola's doctor take care of her. But I couldn't very well call Jennifer up and tell her she'd been replaced. I called my friend back last night and we threw out some different options. Brian's idea was to go the following weekend. So, this morning when I got up, I checked on the Disney website. Sure enough, both hotels were booked for the Saturday and Sunday before my birthday (which is on a Monday this year). Monday was open. I checked the following weekend and Saturday and Sunday were open, but Monday was booked. Odd, I thought. I checked to see if Friday was available and it was. But Friday was no good, because there was no airfare discount for Friday. I figure I'll call. What can it hurt? Well, guess what? That Monday is available. I mention the fact that it said unavailable online and was told that could mean that occupancy is nearing capacity. So, I made the reservations for us and called my friend up north, waking her out of a sound sleep. And they're supposed to be making their reservations today. Now, if we get something in the mail by the end of September telling us about special passholder rates, we'll be able to cancel our current reservations and make new ones with the special rate. That's what we did last year. Saving some money would be nice.

Now, Lola news. She's been eating pretty good. As I said last week, I've cut back on her fluids. I did start to add water to a couple of her "meals", so that I know she's getting some into her system. I think it's better for her to ingest them than to get them shot into her back. And I'm sure she's starting to think she's some sort of pin cushion. I took her in for fluids Saturday morning and I was a little concerned that she hadn't pooped since Thursday. I was really nervous about her getting weighed, I admit, because I hadn't been force feeding her all week long. Guess what? She had gained seven and a half ounces since Wednesday!! The vet said she had a little feces in her, about a day's worth. And after we got home, she had gotten rid of that within a couple of hours. One thing scary did happen. Her right paw started to swell. I got worried, thinking that maybe she had injured it somehow. I got epsom salts and put them in warm water and made a compress for her. I soaked her paw for a few minutes on, a few minutes off. And she licked it dry. Then, she threw up. I was pretty sure that was because of the epsom salts. She kept trying to puke and I thought that maybe it was because she had a nasty taste in her mouth and I put a tiny bit of cat food in her mouth. That worked. And she was eating heartily within the hour. There's been no problem since. And her alternative cancer treatment starts tomorrow.

I had decided to buy a case of A/D for Lola, since she's going to need all the nutrition she can get for a while. I went to the vet's office this morning and bought six cans each of two different kinds of kidney diet for Rusty and a case of A/D. I also bought eighty prednisone pills for Lola, seeing as she will be on those at least through the duration of her cancer treatment. While I was there, I asked if anybody wanted to petsit in October. And, once the dates were checked out, I found a taker. Cool. It's Becky, one of the techs who has been giving Lola her fluids. I told her we'd pay fifty dollars a day. When I got home, I called Jennifer and told her that the hotel was booked for the weekend we had wanted her to be here. I didn't mention that we'd be going the following weekend. I didn't want any hurt feelings, but I have to do what I feel is in the best interest of the animals. With the way things worked out, I didn't have to lie. And that's a good thing. I hate lying. Oh, and I did mention Lola's swollen paw. It could have been the fluids she was given earlier. That makes sense, I guess. She didn't limp and she didn't show any discomfort when I gently squeezed her paw. And the swelling was all gone by that evening.

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lisaviolet is fifty something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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