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whitereflectionThe alleged winter storm that was supposed to bring blizzarding and freezing rain and whatnot seems to have kind of petered out--just got about an inch or so of snow. Is cold, though.
Bit of a long haul, yesterday. Was up at 5:30, picked up Dave at 7:30, got to Seward about 9. Did some more miscellaneous clean-up stuff, but mainly it was the expected painting--except for an hour break for lunch, we ended up working about 10 hours, leaving about 8. Got the majority of it done (basement, LR, 3 BR, kitchen), though they'll need to take tape off later, and do touchups. Also the bathrooms need edging, and a redo of the paint--Dad should not be allowed to paint when he's rushing and tired. -_-; I think we would have kept going until later if that storm-that-wasn't hadn't started to hit. As it was, between drive time, dropping Dave off and the trek across town after, plus a grocery store stop, we didn't get home until near 10:30. Usual tired and sore, but at least it's not so bad today. I guess there's more work planned 12-6, but I won't be able to go to that (between a glass blower's open house I need to go to for cheap Christmas shopping, and starting studying for finals)...James might, though, depending on Amptguard. Maybe after that they can list the house for sale.
Got an update about the Bebop situation. Seems that the problem is not chronic renal failure after all, but most likely is acute RF. He is perking up and eating and whatnot, with the fluid therapy, and his BUN and other blood levels are coming down. They want to keep him until Tuesday, do blood/urinalysis work again and see if they can get those levels down more. If so, they may send him home, with us having to start him on special food, perhaps some meds, and start a daily injection of fluid under the skin. Seems that from an abdominal x-ray, one kidney is avg/slightly enlarged, and the other is definitely small and shrivelled, probably non-functioning. Their theory is that it wasn't caused by something in our house--but that before we found him as a stray, he perhaps got into something like antifreeze. And thus there was damage, but it didn't affect him right away (he had slightly high kidney blood levels when we first got him, but both we and the vet didn't remember to have him rechecked the next year). But they think the kidneys were going over the time we've had him, and the blood levels slowly rising, and that it finally all got too much recently, and caused the shutdown.
So basically, it's going to be wait and see, I guess. After sending him home, they'll want to check him a week later, and then monitor him for a month, see if things stabilize. If not...well, we'll have to reevaluate then. But if he does stabilize, we'll just keep up the food/injection regimen, probably for the rest of his life. They also would then do an ultrasound/biopsy of some sort, to get a better picture of how damaged each of the kidneys are. So...right now, we're sitting on about 800$ of vet bills, looking at some ongoing costs, and I do not doubt that ultrasound thing will be quite expensive. It's definitely going to hit our savings hard, though Dad does say there is some inheritance money coming from Grandma, so that will help--not like Christmas is going to be impossible, just...we'll have to keep things low-key. I want to be able to find something special for those I care about but...it's definitely going to have to be just little things. Definitely not the way I'd been planning/hoping for things.
One thing this all really impacts is our intended trip to Seattle over the winter break, to spend time with Mom. With finances so uncertain, it's already made more difficult. But if Bebop will still be in the 'monitoring' stage, I don't know if we can just leave him like that. Even if someone like Anj or Kelly petsits, I think he may still be needing too much observation at that time--not to mention those injections. I know both of them could do that sort of thing, but I don't know if he'll be used to it enough by then to allow others to attempt it, much less us who he's around every day. Maybe someday later when it's become a routine thing... So...I'm gonna have to talk to Mom. We may not be in a situation where we can leave town. Which bothers me a lot--I did not want Mom to be spending Christmas alone this year.
Mmph...am rambling and not being fully coherent. Feeling rather groggy. Anyway...am skipping Don's DnD game today so I can get things done--I need to finish homework/study, launder bedding, do dishes, and all that. Would like to watch some PoT if I can work it in. But I may need to sleep some, too. -_-; Got other Don's movie night tonight, and still wishing I didn't have to go to that--but he asked me last month what would be a good date, and I said the 23rd. Didn't know it really wouldn't be a good date, but is too late to change it now. I was kinda hoping we could cancel because of the weather, but it didn't end up that bad, so...
Wow...Thanksgiving coming up this week, isn't it? Guess I will have to work out with Pat if she wants me to help prep Wednesday night, and what time she wants us over to assist Thurs. am. Only have class Monday and Tuesday, so will nice to have a bit of a break from that--am thinking that maybe I could take off Wedneday from work, too. I need a break of some sort, kinda bad.
Strange quote from my brother, telling a story: "You know, Mike...this watermelon is weary of this world...." (In which he and said friend several years ago ended up tossing the watermelon and some pumpkins off a bridge.)
...one last thought, something that's kind of been...in the back of my mind for several days. You know...if we weren't able to tap into a bunch of money for so much in vet bills...our vet originally had been telling us the only option was to euthanize Bebop. What if we couldn't find the money? Would they have just had our cat die, with a potentially treatable condition, if we couldn't pay? How...how damned right or ethical is that? There seems really something wrong with that sort of thing. Can't afford it--dead cat. Can come up with much--live cat. I just...apologies, stupid to stew and fuss about it. It just seems wrong to handle a living thing like that--worse is the feeling that I think we treat people like that, too. Pfff, anyway. I should just be glad things are cautiously optimistic, instead of so grim as they stated Thurs night/Fri am--things may still go bad, that does loom, but at least they think we can keep him well, just with a bit of effort.
Right, too much from me, need to shut it.
Bit of a long haul, yesterday. Was up at 5:30, picked up Dave at 7:30, got to Seward about 9. Did some more miscellaneous clean-up stuff, but mainly it was the expected painting--except for an hour break for lunch, we ended up working about 10 hours, leaving about 8. Got the majority of it done (basement, LR, 3 BR, kitchen), though they'll need to take tape off later, and do touchups. Also the bathrooms need edging, and a redo of the paint--Dad should not be allowed to paint when he's rushing and tired. -_-; I think we would have kept going until later if that storm-that-wasn't hadn't started to hit. As it was, between drive time, dropping Dave off and the trek across town after, plus a grocery store stop, we didn't get home until near 10:30. Usual tired and sore, but at least it's not so bad today. I guess there's more work planned 12-6, but I won't be able to go to that (between a glass blower's open house I need to go to for cheap Christmas shopping, and starting studying for finals)...James might, though, depending on Amptguard. Maybe after that they can list the house for sale.
Got an update about the Bebop situation. Seems that the problem is not chronic renal failure after all, but most likely is acute RF. He is perking up and eating and whatnot, with the fluid therapy, and his BUN and other blood levels are coming down. They want to keep him until Tuesday, do blood/urinalysis work again and see if they can get those levels down more. If so, they may send him home, with us having to start him on special food, perhaps some meds, and start a daily injection of fluid under the skin. Seems that from an abdominal x-ray, one kidney is avg/slightly enlarged, and the other is definitely small and shrivelled, probably non-functioning. Their theory is that it wasn't caused by something in our house--but that before we found him as a stray, he perhaps got into something like antifreeze. And thus there was damage, but it didn't affect him right away (he had slightly high kidney blood levels when we first got him, but both we and the vet didn't remember to have him rechecked the next year). But they think the kidneys were going over the time we've had him, and the blood levels slowly rising, and that it finally all got too much recently, and caused the shutdown.
So basically, it's going to be wait and see, I guess. After sending him home, they'll want to check him a week later, and then monitor him for a month, see if things stabilize. If not...well, we'll have to reevaluate then. But if he does stabilize, we'll just keep up the food/injection regimen, probably for the rest of his life. They also would then do an ultrasound/biopsy of some sort, to get a better picture of how damaged each of the kidneys are. So...right now, we're sitting on about 800$ of vet bills, looking at some ongoing costs, and I do not doubt that ultrasound thing will be quite expensive. It's definitely going to hit our savings hard, though Dad does say there is some inheritance money coming from Grandma, so that will help--not like Christmas is going to be impossible, just...we'll have to keep things low-key. I want to be able to find something special for those I care about but...it's definitely going to have to be just little things. Definitely not the way I'd been planning/hoping for things.
One thing this all really impacts is our intended trip to Seattle over the winter break, to spend time with Mom. With finances so uncertain, it's already made more difficult. But if Bebop will still be in the 'monitoring' stage, I don't know if we can just leave him like that. Even if someone like Anj or Kelly petsits, I think he may still be needing too much observation at that time--not to mention those injections. I know both of them could do that sort of thing, but I don't know if he'll be used to it enough by then to allow others to attempt it, much less us who he's around every day. Maybe someday later when it's become a routine thing... So...I'm gonna have to talk to Mom. We may not be in a situation where we can leave town. Which bothers me a lot--I did not want Mom to be spending Christmas alone this year.
Mmph...am rambling and not being fully coherent. Feeling rather groggy. Anyway...am skipping Don's DnD game today so I can get things done--I need to finish homework/study, launder bedding, do dishes, and all that. Would like to watch some PoT if I can work it in. But I may need to sleep some, too. -_-; Got other Don's movie night tonight, and still wishing I didn't have to go to that--but he asked me last month what would be a good date, and I said the 23rd. Didn't know it really wouldn't be a good date, but is too late to change it now. I was kinda hoping we could cancel because of the weather, but it didn't end up that bad, so...
Wow...Thanksgiving coming up this week, isn't it? Guess I will have to work out with Pat if she wants me to help prep Wednesday night, and what time she wants us over to assist Thurs. am. Only have class Monday and Tuesday, so will nice to have a bit of a break from that--am thinking that maybe I could take off Wedneday from work, too. I need a break of some sort, kinda bad.
Strange quote from my brother, telling a story: "You know, Mike...this watermelon is weary of this world...." (In which he and said friend several years ago ended up tossing the watermelon and some pumpkins off a bridge.)
...one last thought, something that's kind of been...in the back of my mind for several days. You know...if we weren't able to tap into a bunch of money for so much in vet bills...our vet originally had been telling us the only option was to euthanize Bebop. What if we couldn't find the money? Would they have just had our cat die, with a potentially treatable condition, if we couldn't pay? How...how damned right or ethical is that? There seems really something wrong with that sort of thing. Can't afford it--dead cat. Can come up with much--live cat. I just...apologies, stupid to stew and fuss about it. It just seems wrong to handle a living thing like that--worse is the feeling that I think we treat people like that, too. Pfff, anyway. I should just be glad things are cautiously optimistic, instead of so grim as they stated Thurs night/Fri am--things may still go bad, that does loom, but at least they think we can keep him well, just with a bit of effort.
Right, too much from me, need to shut it.
