Good News

Here it is almost the end of July already. It's hard to believe how fast time flies. I never seem to have enough energy or ambition for all the things that need to be done or things I want to get done. I won't even try to fill in the gap between Feb and now except to mention I've driven to Florida and back and been to a week-long Polymer Clay Mixed Media retreat. And of course many other happenings took place but that's water under the bridge now.

It's so hard to believe that Shamu had her stroke 2 years ago today. We still miss her terribly and talk about her often.

Chessie started acting weird last Wednesday night doing what we call "the lick, lick, lick, jerk and run away". We're wondering if she has Feline Hyperesthesia (FHS). Anyway, after a few days of not eating or drinking much and doing the lick-lick we took Chessie into the vet. They thought she might have an allergy or something and asked about what was new around the house. Nothing! The vet then started looking through Chessie's fur all over her head, back, and legs. When she flipped Chessie over started on her stomach she discovered a hernia in her abdomen. That was Friday and we scheduled her surgery for Monday. As long as she was there we also had a full blood work panel done on her since it's been 7 months since we started her on Denamarin. Poor kitty was miserable Friday & Saturday until Sunday morning when she was suddenly more or less her normal self with only the occasional lick-lick. Monday the surgery went well and the vet said it's a good thing she had the surgery done because "it was a nasty mess" (whatever that means). Now we're supposed to keep her in a crate (yeah, right!) and not let her run, jump, or climb for 30 days (in your dreams!). So if we can keep her somewhat calm and let the hernia sutures heal she should be fine. However, the really good news is that the results from her blood work is great! The vet was very, very pleased with the results. Chessie's liver functions are in the normal range except one is slightly below and that may have been because of the hernia and surgery. I guess the Denamarin and milk thistle must be working!!!

Rough time

Has been a rough week or so in the household. I came down with a nasty cold and of course shared it with Paul (he says he's going to kill me). We seemed to be getting better and then the next day were worse again. Haven't done too much during this time since neither one of us were too motivated.

I did some research on the Internet and ordered a liquid milk thistle (silybin) product for Chessie. We were giving Chessie 3 pills a day because we had to cut the Marin in half in order to get it into her. That did not make life pleasant for any of us. Boy, this liquid stuff makes life so much easier, I just hope it's as good as the Marin. There is no taste or smell to it so we are able to put it on her dry food and she eats it up. Now she gets her prescription drug, Denamiran, first thing in the morning, the milk thistle at cocktail hour and again at bedtime. In any case, Chessie seems to be back to her normal "War Kitten" status. We just wonder how long it will last.

For as nice as the weather was the other day, yesterday was as equally miserable. It rained, it snowed, it rained, it snowed and the wind was a howling. By bedtime all we had was a thin layer of snow on the deck.
Paul had to go to the oral surgeon yesterday to have the implant post checked. Everything is okay and he just needs the jaw bone to heal around the post now. He'll have to go back in about another 5 months.
The warmer weather has brought the starlings. Pain-in-the-*ss they are. Today they found the peanut butter log and I had to bring it in sometime in mid-morning. Spent the rest of the morning chasing the starlings out of the back yard. This afternoon I saw a young kestrel (hawk) sitting in the tree by the deck...no other birds to be seen!
Today was a nice sunny day but cold. Not much going on. Paul finished up on Cecily (the tractor) and got her running again and I strung a necklace that had been sitting for weeks. Our little possum friend has been around a lot lately so Paul set out the trap and within about 2 hours we'd caught him. Tomorrow he'll go for a ride to be relocated.

It's Not Fair

What a tease the last several days have been. First we started out with a day or two of temperatures above freezing, then we had a day in the 40's, and then the 50's and today we actually made it all the way up to 61 degrees. Oh, it was glorious out today. The snow is just in patches and piles now and we can actually see the earth. Of course, there's water, puddles and mud everywhere but it was so nice today. The weather forecast is for more freezing weather but we sure enjoyed the last few days.
Not much going on this week. Just the normal schedule of going to Scranton for shots and groceries. Did some research on the internet for other animal drugs that contain milk thistle and printed off some product information for Dr. Kipps to review. We are having such a hard time getting that Marin pill down Chessie and she's getting resistive to being picked up. I ordered a bottle of milk thistle drops today.

TGIF

Where did the week go? Not a whole lot going on this week. Had lunch in Scranton with Jeannie, my polymer clay friend and Paul & I went out to dinner last night. It's just been a very cold uneventful week of all the same stuff.

Pushing snow again

Seems like every morning Paul has to push snow off the deck and driveway. Looks like we had another 2 inches last evening. And of course it's been snowing off and on all afternoon but it's not going to amount to anything. Sure has been a snowy winter.

Drove over to the vet's today to buy the next 30 days of Denamarin pills for Chessie. Still trying to figure out how to easily give Chessie the Marin pill. Chessie is definitely more like her old self being the "war kitten" and terrorizing Lizzie.

Stopped at the deli, down the hill, to talk to the owner about ordering a bag of corn meal. Paul had talked to her the other day about where she bought her corn meal in bulk. She's going to order a 50 pound bag for me this week. At $15 for 50 lbs versus nearly $2 for 24 ozs it'll bring the cost of our peanut butter bird food down quite a bit.

Quiet Life on the Hill

Yesterday was another quiet day with the exception of running the "bird ambulance" out to the deck to rescue a little chickadee who'd flown into the window. He was in the box for quite a while before he started fluttering around but the noise got Chessie's attention and she wanted to know what it was all about. Sorry, little Chessie you can't play with birds. When we took the box outside and opened it, off he flew. We noticed that we now have eight bluebirds coming for dinner. Don't know where the extra one came from but word is out that the Frederick's have great food. LOL!
Paul's tooth seems to be doing well but he did cut off the knot of the stitches because it was irratating to him.
Made a nice homemade pizza and watched the Super Bowl game. Good game.

Today, Monday, I went down to Scranton because with all the appointments of last week I forgot to get my allergy shots. Argh! So, got my three shots and did a little grocery shopping.
Started snowing a little after I got home and everything is covered with a fresh layer of snow again. It's not suppose to amount to anything but we'll see. Ugh, The Groundhog saw his shadow today so Winter isn't over yet.