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june 1, 1999 Geez, it's cool this morning. Brian said it might rain this afternoon. I hope this weather holds for a week. This is perfect Disneyland weather. Yesterday was a beautiful day.
Blackie was gone one week yesterday. And yesterday was the first time anybody was sleeping in his spot.
We let Ciara run in the yard yesterday, checking on her often. She didn't try to get out once. It was nice. We had the cat door working in and out, the sliding doors open for cats to go in and out. The cats were happy about this. I've let them out again and right now Ciara is laying by the side of the rosebox. I'm watering the roses and we have a small hose attached to the longer hose, and it needs a washer. It drips. She's been in the same position for ten minutes now, just watching the water dripping. She hates her nosedrops, but I think I notice a difference in her breathing. I was staring at her this morning and Brian asked why. I was watching her mouth, to see if she was breathing through it or her nose. It didn't look like it was her mouth. And her nose is a little moister than usual. Another thing. Her fur is changing. She's getting fluffier. I wanted to get started on this earlier, but she wanted to be held. We have our priorities. Smurgles first.
Well, I finally got Brian to say yes to 4DTV. Now, if only the company I'm thinking about getting it from would call me back. If they don't call today, I'm calling someone else tomorrow. 4DTV is neat. You can set a timer to have certain stations come on at a certain time. That would be great when I wanted to tape stuff. With the regular satellite receiver we now have, I can't set it to come on, only to go off and that's if it's on already. And this thing also has some other fun things. Yay!! They called back. We'll get it sometime this week.
I made an appointment for Buddy. I heard him coughing this weekend and after Sandy, this kind of scares me. He's eating and drinking and pooping and peeing okay. And he still barks with no interruption. I just don't like that cough. And I don't want him getting really sick while we're gone. We take him in Thursday.
Lisa is feeling better. She's not spending time looking in the litterbox. And she also is more active.
Something's going on with the outfront cats. Cleo doesn't come with them very much. All four were out there Sunday night, but I didn't see Cleo at all. There's also a little possom that's been coming over with them. I think that's so funny. S/he was a little late the other night and all of the soft food mixture was gone. I say her/him eating the dry food.
Red has started beating up on Bart. Oh, speaking of Red, he's been so darn lovable lately. I laid on the floor last night to pet him and he was purring up a storm. At one point, he laid down by my head and showed me his belly. That's not something he does when I'm close. He can be so darn sweet.
I changed the cover in the catcam chair this morning. I did this last weekend and within hours, someone had gotten up into the chair and sprayed. Mickey, I bet. And since the doors are all open and cats can come and go, nobody seems to want to lay in it. Brats.
june 3, 1999 Well, we got our 4DTV yesterday. It's pretty neat. And unlike the previous receiver, when there's a satellite that is no longer in service, or a new one added, it will do it automatically. During the night, when the received is not in use, information is downloaded. Wow. It doesn't seem that difficult to use at all. Brian got a little irritated when I was trying to explain how to use the remote, wouldn't listen. Then he got pissy when it didn't work right.
I'm worried about the out front cats. I hadn't seen Blue for three nights, when she finally showed up late last night. OC came over by himself, no Angus or Cleo. Angus did show up and OC came with him. No sign of Cleo. I haven't seen Cleo since Tuesday evening. Tuesday night, there were ten gunshots at around 8:30. Not real close together, but like 1 mississippi, 2 mississippi and so on. I sure wish Cleo would show her face. It's quite possible that the shots didn't even come from a neighboring street, the sound just carried. I'd feel much better if Cleo showed her tiny face. The little black girl was here last night, too, along with the possom.
Ciara got out again yesterday. She was so good Monday and Tuesday. Then yesterday, there she was, on the other side of the barrier by the gate. *sigh* Guess we can't let her out.
Well, I just called my gynecologist and made an appointment for June 30. My last one was sometime in 1988, when I had surgery to clear up my badly scarred fallopian tubes in hopes of having children ($18,000 out of pocket and it didn't work). Hopefully, I'll be better at this than I've been. I'm not good about health checkups. Funny, we take better care of our animals' health than we do our own. Neither of us were raised with regular doctor visits, I guess. Only went to see one when we needed to. Preventive medicine? What's that?
I'm looking forward to Disneyland. I called our friend last night and she's fine with coming over in the evenings. My mom will do morning duty. I'll have to list everything out for them. I checked the weather for Anaheim and they are predicting highs of 73 Monday. That will be perfect. Brian seems to be coming down with a cold, which isn't good, but we're going up there to relax and rest. If we don't do a lot of rides, that's fine with me.
Lisa is doing much better. She's even started playing again. We played fetch a little yesterday. It's nice to see her getting back to her old self again.
She's even been laying in the catcam chair again. Rusty is in it right now. It's about time somebody besides Pepper was in it.
june 4, 1999 I'm worried about Ciara. We took Bud to the vet last night and when we got home, Ciara was in front of the house. I called her, she ran by me and Brian grabbed her. She was okay last night, but this morning, she wouldn't drink any catsip, turned her nose up at tuna and when I tried giving her some chicken, she looked excited about it, but wouldn't eat any. So, as soon as the vet's opens, I'm calling them. I don't know what she did while we were gone, who's yard she was in, if any. I don't think any of the dogs got a hold of her (there are dogs on both sides), but I want to make sure it's just a temporary thing. I won't be able to enjoy our days away if I don't know how she's doing. And if she's sick, we won't go.
Buddy's doing good. His breathing problem seems to be a allergic asthma. The vet took x-rays and showed us the bronchi, which normally don't show up on x-rays. He said Bud has a strong heart and looks really good for his age. Buddy is on medication right now. The vet said this may come and go, but it isn't a fulltime problem.
I just got a hold of the vet's office. I'm taking Ciara in at 9. It's 8:10 now.
It snowed three inches in the local mountains last night. And to think, Brian wanted to move because it gets too hot here.
10:30 am Well, we're back. Ciara has a slight fever and he didn't like the way she was taking in breaths. I had told him the whole story of her getting out. He asked if any of her fur was stiff and I told him, that yes, there was some by her ear. He then decided that x-rays were in order, to rule out any internal damage or any broken bones, like there would be had a dog gotten ahold of her and shaken her. Luckily, she came up clean. He mentioned that her breathing itself sounded much better than before, that the nosedrops must be working. So, she has the "fever of unknown origin" that's so common with cats. Anyway, she got some medication that's in the same family as her nosedrops. I said something about our trip to Disneyland and the doc said "if you're worried about her, bring her in, and we can keep her here til you get home. That way, you know she'll be okay and you can have a good time." He also told me that if I become concerned about her, to not take her to emergency, call him. Give him an hour and he should return my call. He stressed "don't panic". I said "yes, sir." He laughed.
We get home and she went into the garage and went poop. It's very loose and it has blood in it. I call the vet. I'm put on hold. Suzanne comes back onto the line, come in and pick up more medicine. I'm getting very tired.
8:30 pm Well, Ciara finally started eating late this afternoon. And she's eating with gusto. But. Kirby is showing signs of blocking again. He always spends alot of time licking his penis when he's having trouble. And it takes him no time at all to block. I started him on both ammonil and amoxicillan, but I'm afraid that this might not do the job, especially if we aren't here to make sure he gets the pills. I called the vet's answering service and she told me that all calls were getting relayed to the Emergency Clinic, did I want their number. I said no. Leave a message for the doc that I called. When he calls back, I'm going to ask if Kirby doesn't show signs of clearing up, will he take him for the days we're gone. If we can't leave him at the vet's, I won't go. We'll just lose our deposit.
june 5, 1999 Well, the vet never called back last night. It's now 7:35 am. I called again this morning at 6:15. Kirby isn't doing any better. He's not continuously licking himself, but when I let him out, he went over to the area by the roses where the dirt is dry and squatted. Ten minutes later, he was in the same position. I took a shower and went back outside to check, still there, squatting. I talked to him and came back inside and he followed. Now, I'm just waiting for 8. I think that's what time his office will open. We can't cancel our reservations now, it's too late. Hopefully, if I can't get Kirby to the doctor today, we'll at least be able to go Monday night. It worries me that the answering service last night said that all calls for the weekend are to be referred to emergency. I don't understand why he would have stressed to me to call him before we go to emergency. I hate this waiting, I can't believe how slow the clocks move when I'm waiting. My stomach is in knots. Last night, I woke up around two and looked for Kirby and he was sleeping. I left him, but I had a hard time getting back to sleep. It was well over an hour. I told Brian this morning, that hopefully this is a fluke for Kirby, with all of the stress of the last few months bringing Blackie in. If this happens again, we will have to seriously consider the surgery.
8:15 am Just called the vet's office. He's in, already in surgery. That would explain why he hadn't returned my call. I talked to Jennifer, explained the situation to her. She talked to him and he said fine, to bring Kirby in. She said to get there around 9:15. They'll keep him until Tuesday. Whew. Kirby hasn't been licking and squatting since he came in, but he's definitely on his way to having problems. I doubt if he would have made it until this evening. And I can't depend on the catsitters to pill him. He's hard enough for me to do. Gosh, I could never ask my mom. She won't even pill Buddy.
10:12 am Welp, I'm back. I was back once before to pick up food for him. And I clipped a couple of fresh catnip stalks and took those with me. I told Jennifer to keep some for Kirby when he gets better. He *is* blocked. The vet tried to express him and only a little came out and his bladder wasn't full, but it wasn't empty either. We talked a little about Kirby's problem, that Kirby blocks with mucoid plugs, not crystals like Georgie gets. He said that some vets are thinking these are caused by a calcivi virus, but that there isn't any proof of this yet. I told him that Brian and I discussed the penis removal surgery and that if this happens again, we will seriously start considering it. The doc shook his head and said that's a ways away, not to even worry about it at this point in time. Whew. Anyway, I know that Kirby is in good hands now and that I won't come home to a very, very ill kitty. Oh, and I guess the answering service never gave him my messages. He wasn't happy.
june 8, 1999 We're home. It's nice. After all the cleaning I did, the house reeked when we walked in. We walked through opening all the doors and windows. Benny wanted out, didn't even say hello. My mom left a note that Ciara didn't get her medicine this morning. And I couldn't find Ciara. She was hiding in the rafters in the garage. I found one of Ciara's pills on the floor in front of the bedroom. And it looks like she still has the runs. They were almost gone when we left. I called the vet to see if I could come get Kirby. Yes. So, I went and got him. His blockage was total struvite. His urine was very acid. The vet said that he was wild. At one point, Kirby had gotten out of the cage and was running through the vet's office with a catheter out of one end and one of those collars around his neck. Kirby was jumping as high as the front door and the doc had to use a net to catch him. And Kirby didn't eat a lick while he was there. The vet said he didn't force feed him because he didn't want to traumatize Kirby anymore than he already was. Boy, was Kirby glad to be home. Jennifer mentioned that she sits for people, spending the night. After hearing about Ciara, I thought this might be a good idea and asked how much she charges. She said thirty dollars a day. Not bad, when you figure that she could have brought Kirby home where he would have been much more at ease and at least have been eating. And his hospital stay was thirty dollars a day. I told Brian, next time that's what we're doing. I sure wouldn't worry so much. After all, she knows our animals. And she can open the windows when she's here, to help keep the place aired out.
I'm glad to be home.
We had fun at Disneyland. My feet didn't hurt at all, well, at least not the weird hurt, but the regular hurt from being on them so long. And it was nice to be able to eat breakfast that had eggs. There has been a couple of times in my life where I get this egg sensitivity and I can't eat them at all without feeling like I'm going to throw up. The last bout lasted about seven years. And carbohydrates leave me drained, so try to find a good breakfast out. Sure, there are fruit plates, but somehow, they just don't seem like "breakfast" to me. We did really good not eating any junk. The first day we each had a peanut butter cookie, but that was it.
The weather was nice, really nice. We took it easy. We spent a little time at Disneyland Sunday, ate dinner, then went back to the room so that I could put on a sweatshirt. We ended up staying there. I was fast asleep by 8:30. We got up early Monday and were at the park by 8:15. We went on a couple of rides until they opened the park at nine, the regular opening hour (hotel guests can get in ninety minutes earlier). Then we had breakfast, hit a couple of more rides and at 12:30 we went back to the room and took naps. Talk about a restful weekend. We ate dinner at the monorail cafe, then went back to the park, a little after five. We stayed until 9:30 then came back to the room. This morning, both of us sore, well, we decided to just come home. We took showers, got everything packed up, had breakfast and came home.
There's no place like home.
june 10, 1999 Okay. More about our trip to Disneyland. On May 30, Aunt Flo came to visit me. Great, she's early. Hopefully, she will be gone by the trip. Yay, I'm thinking. Well, she wasn't. And Saturday, I started to have a little spotting. Great. It didn't look right. I looked in my health books. Spotting between periods can be a sign of cancer. Oh, no. The drama queen in me kicked into high gear. I talked to some of my friends who are near menopause or have friends that are going through it. They said it's probably just hormonal. I think, well, I hope so, but I just know I'm dying. I was in the bathroom, every ten or fifteen minutes, checking. Sure, stress can do this and I've been stressed, what with Blackie, Ciara and Kirby. And I'm stressing over this visitor that doesn't seem to want to leave. And I can see me dying by period. I've had the damn thing every 24 or 25 days since I was in my twenties. And I've never been pregnant. And I've hated every minute of it, my monthly song was "I Enjoy Being a Girl", sung sarcastically. And now, it's killing me. I was on the verge of tears all of the time. Sunday morning, I realized that I needed to get some different pads, smaller pads for the trip. My normal ones are too big. My flow has always been heavy. This thing that's going on isn't heavy, it's a drip. My life's blood, dripping away. I just know it. At the store, the checkout clerk asked if I had my discount card. No, it's on my keychain and the neighbor has it. If I had it, I would save over $1.00. *sigh* The woman behind me let them scan hers for my purchase. This really touched me and I started to tear up. That wraps it, it is hormonal. What a dumb thing to get weepy about. Geez, I can't even believe how goofy I am. I leave the store, somewhat relieved. Then, when I get home, I start worrying again. Brian says "do you want to stay home?" "No," I say, "it's okay. We should go." He said that my body is probably making blood faster than I'm losing it. "Yeah, you're probably right," I mutter, still having doubts. Finally we leave around 2:30.
The drive went smoothly, nominal traffic. We get to the hotel at about 4:30. Check in. I race to the bathroom, not having been in almost two hours. Shaking, I look. Not much new to see. This is good, I think. We go to the park and there I am, at every darn bathroom, doing a pad check. I'm telling you, I was pathetic. But I was happy because the dripping had almost stopped. When we went back to the hotel to get my shirt, I was exhausted from worry. No wonder I was asleep by 8:30. But, I was happy. I wasn't gonna die because of my monthly.
Monday morning, I awoke, happy. I went to the bathroom, as I usually do first thing. No. Please, God, no. There it was. That awful smear on the toilet paper. I went into the room and sat on the bed. I started to cry. "I'm gonna die," I weeped. "I'm gonna die. Death by menstruation. How ironic. Will you miss me when I'm gone?" I asked my extremely patient husband. He put his arms around me. "You aren't gonna die," he said gently. "Yes, I am, we all are," I cried into his shoulder. What could he say to that? "You aren't going to die soon, honey," was his reply. Anyway, Monday was much better and that was the last little bit of crud I've seen. I'm not gonna die by menstruation. And I'm sure this whole thing is hormonal. But, ya see, if I had been a good girl and been going to the doctor for checkups like I should have been all these years, I wouldn't be in this position. It was my own damn fault. And if you're the same way I've been, please, make that call. Get in to see the doctor. Believe me, the worry isn't worth it. Whatever your excuse, please, rethink it. My excuse has been my weight. I didn't want the doctor to yell at me. My friends tell me that now, if you say "don't weigh me", the doctor won't weigh you. He's more concerned with your internal workings. So, please, once again, don't be a bonehead. Call the doctor. Make that appointment. Better to catch something before it's too late. And I sure bet the peace of mind is worth it. *sigh*
Something else happened Sunday that could have been depressing. We're on the Monorail. Sitting across from me is a grandmother, looks to be in her early fifties, with her two grand daughters on either side of her. Next to me, is her daughter. We talk a little. She remarks that she was born the year that Disneyland opened. (Excuse me? Did you say the year it opened? Oh, man, then I'm older than you and you look older than me and oh, man, I must be in worse shape than I thought. Now, I know I'm gonna die. This is just the worst thing I could possibly hear right now, I think.) I kind of laughed and said "then I'm two years older than you!!" The little girl on her left was her daughter. She had her first child at 37. I looked out the window and said, into Brian's ear, in a very low voice, "Holy, moley". He snickered. We got back to the room and I'm saying "tell me I don't look as old as her, please, tell me I don't look that old". He said "you don't, not even close". Whew. Not that I'm a vain person and I know that I'm getting older, but this was a little disconcerting, to say the least.
After my nap Monday afternoon, I sat looking out the window at the construction going on for the new California Adventure. At the Disney Pacific, the windows only open up about 4 inches. Not nearly enough to let any kind of fresh (?) air in. Brian said next time he's bringing his drill, so that he can unscrew the board that keeps the two windows from opening. Monday, he popped one of the windows off of the track and set it on the floor. We certainly got more air that way. LOL!! It was very entertaining to watch them work. And they are very, very organized. But I guess they would have to be.
Then Monday evening, we went into Pirates. We hadn't been on that for a while, because the "smoke" bothers Brian. But he said what the heck and we went in. There were two teenage boys sitting behind us, in the last row. Once the ride was well under way, one of them, the kid behind Brian, kept leaning over the boat, doing something in the water. All I could see was his back and his butt. And it annoyed me, because I didn't know what he was doing. Inquiring minds and all of that. So, I said something to Brian. He said "well, if it bothers you to look at him, then don't look at him." Okay. So, then Brian started looking at him. Everytime I looked in Brian's direction, he was looking at this guy, trying to figure out what he was doing. And I got the worst case of the giggles. I was snorting, they were so bad. People were turning around, looking to see what was so funny. For some reason, Brian telling me not to look, then he starts looking, just struck me as funny. I guess the guy must have thought I was giggling at him and he sat up in his seat. Looks like those hormones were at work again. Gonna have to see if we can fix that. Later on, we went on the Jungle Cruise. That was fun. I love to play along with the "guide". You can almost recite the spiel, but every once in a while, they change it a little. Always pretty punny.
We also went into "innoventions", where they have online access. Except you can't send email. I tried sending a card from my site to a couple of friends and it didn't work. And I guess it's kind of hard to get into personal websites. The guy that was showing us how to use the little computer was really surprised when the cathouse came up. The Disney page came up. I'm thinking I should have left a Disney Memory on the book, but I didn't think about it until too late. Brian and the guy looked at the past pictures, Brian saying that was Boney and I said, no it isn't, that's Pepper, Boney is much larger than that. Maybe I should start putting the signs back up.
Monday night about nine, we decided we were tired and were on our way back to the room. We were waiting for the Monorail when Brian looked over at the Rocket Rod ride and said "look, there's no line". He must have said this at least six times. So, we left the monorail platform and went over to the rocket rods. Yeah, there was no line. Outside. It was as long as ever inside. We had gotten about halfway through when Brian said "let's leave". So, we left. Rode the tram back to the hotel. Watched a little television, then turned of the lights and tv.
It was nice this weekend, because in the past, I've had a hard time sleeping away from home, as well as the other natural bodily functions. I slept soundly and everything else worked as it should (except for my dying problem....*grins*).
And here at home, things are back to normal. Ciara is still taking her medicine and she still has dirty pantaloons. I wish that she would let Junior clean her like he cleans Lonee. Lonee has the cleanest cat butt of all the cats. Kirby is doing better. I think he's getting use to being pilled. I gave him some fresh catnip this morning, he ate a bunch and he's sleeping it off right now. He's not as skittish about being pilled, which is nice.
The last time we both went to CostCo, I bought some of those new Ziplock containers. Fifteen bowls (five of three sizes) for $5.99. I put DeeJay's food into two of them and wrote his name on the top with a magic marker and did the same for Georgie. This is more convenient than using the other bowls. And this way, Brian won't get confused as to which food is for which cat.
Tuesday night, Brian said we can get some HEPA machines. I've been after him to buy at least one for a while now, I think it will help to keep the house smelling better. If they work for cigarettes, I'm sure they would work for cat urine. We'll probably get three of them. One for the living room, one for the tv room and one for the office. I would like to see if I can find replacement filters for the one my mom gave us. It really smells like cigarettes. She got it at a yard sale years ago and gave it to us. But because it smelled so bad, we never used it. It's out in the shop in the rafters. It's a good sized one, too. If I can find filters, I'll put it in our garage, where the litter boxes are.
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