Saturday, May 2, 2009

Bloodwork

The doctor called with the results and all looks normal (including liver enzymes??). This means it was probably neither a virus nor appendicitis. He says it may have been a partial bowel obstruction that resolved from my 36 hour fluid fast. If I am not better on Monday I am going to go back but meanwhile am trying to sip applesauce and see if that is OK. I'm supposed to remain alert for signs of appendicitis even though its unlikely now.

I feel better having eaten a bland chicken soup with mushy carrots for dinner.

Update on me

The doctor took an X-ray to rule out a bowel obstruction. It looked fine. I may have appendicitis or an intestinal virus.

He is not sure.

I will hear the results of bloodwork this evening. Still sipping gatorade and chicken stock. I am starving.

I'm sick

Sorry for all the silence - email, phone, blog. I have been feeling really lousy since Tuesday night. After two days spent largely on the couch moaning and sleeping I have figured out that I am fine as long as I don't eat anything except clear fluids otherwise I have awful intestinal cramping that lasts 5 hours. Ugh.

I am going to the doctor today. This afternoon was the first appointment I could get because doctors are fully booked seeing people who fear they have swine flu. Double ugh.

To reflect Wren's mood (cheerful and enjoying an excess of Sesame Street on TV) here are some pictures taken on Monday walking to the park when we were enjoying the spring weather:






Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Geographical confusion

Wren is very muddled about geography. While reading bedtime books Wren said: "I love this big book. Lets take it to America."
"We live in America, right here" I said.
"No," said Wren. "This is Mummy's house. This is round the block!"
"Its in America," I insisted.
"No," said Wren.
"Well, where does granny live?" I asked.
"Granny lives in Australia." He replied
"Ah!" I said, "you know it!
"Yes...Its in America!" added Wren.

Um.

Walking around the block Wren was avidly watching the tall trees for .... koala. "There koala in that one?" he asked, peering up a tall cedar. "No," I explained. "There are NO koala in all of America." "At Granny's house?" he checked. "Yes," I agreed. "In America" he concluded. "Nope." I said. "Far far away."

He is sure Granny is a short distance away and will reappear at any moment. He is less concerned about Roy although he was taken by the idea that Roy (Mum's dog) was "sad" and "want to find Wren."

The cat has diabetes

Well, the fat cat was just diagnosed with diabetes. She is to be put on a twice daily insulin injection and blood sugar monitoring. I am to report to the vet at noon for a demonstration on "the shop cat" wherafter I head to Costco for our first fatcat insulin prescription. It is expected to cost around $80 and last 1-3 months depending on how much insulin is required to regulate our cat.

I have considered doing dietary changes only and letting her decline slowly and then die young. OK, there will be cat people out there who are appalled but frankly I do not have a huge amount of sympathy for the advanced treatment of (most) pets. BUT we have decided to try this out and see how much and how complex is the treatment.

While at the vet I sat next to a dog undergoing chemo. He has a monthly CBC before his monthly chemo. I have no words.

Frost is concerned that kitty is sick. Wren was very worried that we had to go to the kitty doctor and much preferred when I used the word "vet". I used the word "ethical" with Frost in reference to the question of what amount of money to spend on a pet's health versus donation of money to a human or other cause. He took a while thinking about it and had some good questions. His solution was to spend half your spare money on the pet and half on your own needs or in the case of helping starving people elsewhere versus computer games he felt that he could have half the number of games and help half the people.

I told Wren he had to have a bath after his late nap / vet visit / gardening and he said "Why bath?" [weeping]
I told him he needed a bath to get clean. He asked "why need I clean it?"

It is a good question too.

The cat is hiding because it senses my murderous intent.

Happy birthday, diabetic cat.

Its ten past 5 and Wren is asleep on the couch. I took him for a drive to fetch our cat from the vet and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. I poked and prodded and carried him in from the car but he refused to wake up so I plonked him on the couch and turned on Bones and he is still sleeping. I guess my plan to stop his daily naptime in exchange for better nighttime sleep is premature.

Anyway, it seems the cat may have diabetes. When we returned home she seemed a bit unwell and had a strange low-slung swagger to her back legs. The vet is waiting on blood test results. Our mail hold which should have stopped on Saturday is still in effect (due to some postal service glitch) so I have seen no mail yet AND IT IS JOSH's BIRTHDAY and the icecream cake is freezing a hole in my pocket (well, my imagination) because Josh is home later from work than expected.

We are still jet lagged and very overdue with blog posts. They are lining up in my mind as I go to sleep.

Today, Wren and I did gardening and mowed the lawn.

On the way home from the vet Frost made a geek joke:

Frost: Shannon, why can Father Christmas breathe anywhere?
Me: I don't know.
Frost: Because he says HO HO HO....
Me: I don't get it.
Frost: Hydrogen = H, Oxygen = O - he always says OXYGEN!

I thought this quite funny. We debated whether he could really SAY "ho" underwater.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Home

Its a day late and a timezone or two out of whack but WE ARE HOME. Wren slept till 9am yesterday and 8am today and I woke him out of deep slumber both times. Don't ask what time Frost went to bed.

More later. I am enjoying being home and hoping to catch up with you all.