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Plague Time Dentist Visit

26 Sep

I go around thinking I’ve got this new way of living figured out and can’t be phased by things any longer then something happens and it makes me realize all over again just how much things have changed. Does that happen to you?

Yesterday I had a dental appointment, nothing major, just my regular cleaning. It was cancelled when most everything was shut down and they eventually got around to rescheduling me. I wasn’t upset they took this long to get to me and would have been fine if they took a tad longer, though I’m glad to have gone before the second wave hits.

They phoned me two days prior to my appointment and went through the questions you would come across on a disclosure statement, making sure I had no symptoms, hadn’t been in certain areas, or traveled, or been near people who had tested positive. I fill out a similar form every day for work so not a big deal.

I got to the office and of course there were plexi glass barriers all around the reception area, they were definitely in a little bubble. They were also masked and gloved. Its interesting trying to talk with someone through my mask, and the plexi glass, and then hear them through their mask and the plexi glass. We all need to learn sign language.

I was asked to come around to a side area, I was still separated from them by the plexi glass and was told I had to use the hand sanitizer, which of course I did. Next they took my temperature by putting one arm around the plexi glass to aim the thermometer at my forehead. Then they handed me a form and a pen and asked me to answer all the questions on the form. It was basically the written version of the disclaimer I had answered over the phone two days prior.

After all of that I was allowed to sit down, in one of two chairs that were spaced far apart from each other. It felt very much like a “sit there, don’t touch anything, don’t move” type of thing.

Once my hygienist came and got me I was taken to the little area where the evil dental work is done and shown a hook I could hang my purse and jacket on. Next step was washing my hands with a hand soap you usually only see in doctor’s offices, there was a foot pedal to get the water running so I wouldn’t have to touch the tap. Or rather, so I wouldn’t touch the tap and then they would have to sanitize it lol

I thought that was it but nope. There was a pre-measured portion of mouth wash I had to swish in my mouth while the hygenist timed me. She said it is strong, I can’t remember what she said was in it, but it is known to kill, I dunno, everything? Basically, swish it around and it helps lower the chance of my exhales spreading Covid if I happen to have it and not know.

So I used a hand sanitizer, then a strong hand soap, then something super strong as mouth wash. Nice and shiny clean at this point!

The check-up and cleaning for the most part were normal except there are certain things they don’t do now unless absolutely medically completely and totally necessary, because they are considered an unneeded risk. This means there was no teeth polishing, which is sorta the point of the twice yearly cleaning is it not? Oh, and there was something else she mentioned that doesn’t get done now but I can’t remember what.

You still have them poke around and scrape your teeth and gums with the pointy metal tools though, that didn’t go away.

I think the biggest thing that shocked me was what my dentist was wearing. He always used to wear business pants, a button up long sleeved shirt, and a tie. This time he was in scrubs. I know it seems silly that is the thing that stuck with me the most but it is. I’m assuming he wears the scrubs now so his own clothes don’t potentially get exposed to Covid, the man has quite the wardrobe, makes sense he’d want to protect it, but it was still weird seeing him dressed like that. Wasn’t at all upset at getting to see his biceps though… 😉

So there ya have it, if you go to the dentist during Covid plague times you may not get some procedures done, you may have a few more sanitizing steps to go through before anyone will touch you, and you may see more of your dentist’s biceps. You can decide how you feel about all of that. 😀

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Self Isolation Day 10: Symptomatic or Paranoid

24 Mar

We’ve all gotten a bit paranoid, wondering when we sneeze, or cough, or have a body part ache, if we are experiencing a Covid19 symptom. Or ya know, we could just have allergies, swallowed water wrong, or be getting old…all three of those can cause what appears to be a Covid19 symptom.

So how do we tell?

For most of us, we probably don’t, and never will. And ya know what, there is nothing wrong with that. If you have something that might be a symptom that just gives you one more reason to self-isolate, so please do, if you can, I am aware not everyone is able to self-isolate.

Because there is no sure way to tell, I am not sure if today I am normal sick, just having an off day, or experiencing Covid19 symptoms. None of those options are great, one is decidedly worse than the other two, all require the same action from me.

Stay inside. Avoid humans. Don’t spread my germs. Oh, and take care of myself.

Which is exactly what I did today. I am already in self-isolation so that part took care of itself. I rested, did almost nothing (mostly because my energy level is zero and just getting a cup of tea was almost too much bother), drank fluids, and rested some more.

The cat has been comforting me all day, which I appreciate.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel fine and this will just be a little blip. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be worse. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow gets here to see what it brings and stop being paranoid every time I cough or blow my nose.

day 10

 

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Doctor’s Advice

3 Mar

I’ve been sick for a week, which sucks but is not the point of this post. 😜 It is however what had me going to a walk-in medical clinic on Sunday to be seen, verified as sick, and be given a doctor’s note for work on Monday.

I had never been to this particular clinic which means the doctor was new to me. Because of this I was all prepared to explain that I’m not some worry wart who thinks they have coronavirus, just someone who has been sick with eerily similar symptoms and needs a note.

At first the doctor seemed fine, asked the usual chatty questions at the beginning of the visit where they pretend they want to know how you’re doing. Then asked about symptoms. I explained the progression of my symptoms, and that I wasn’t looking for medication, just a note for work. Honestly I expected him to be happy he had someone who didn’t want to take up a lot of time and that he’d write the note and send me on my way. Though I was a little surprised he didn’t at least ask if I’d been travelling or exposed to someone who’d travelled lately, considering what’s going on but fine, whatever.

He did ask if there was anyone at home. I figured he wanted to check if it was possible I infected someone else so I made the joke I always make about how it’s just me and the cat. Instead of laughing like I thought he would he stopped typing on his blue laptop (blue!) and started telling me that I work too much and I need to take time to have fun, get out there, socialize, date a man.

I’ll admit I was a bit stunned and just sorta nodded. Who says that to a stranger? But then he kept going! Informed me that it’s not too late, he didn’t get married until he was 38 and his wife was 37, and they still managed to “fit in” having 4 kids. Like I want any kids, let alone four? Ugh.

It gets better!

He then said, and this is an actual quote not me paraphrasing like I usually do:

“When you have children you are poor in life and rich in retirement.

When you don’t have children you are rich in life and poor in retirement.”

Gee, thanks for that. Really what I wanted to hear on a Sunday afternoon when I feel oh so incredibly sick and in desperate need of a nap, and a tissue.

I’ve had a female doctor for so long that I’m trying to figure out if this is just what male doctors do, or is this one special.

Thoughts?

The only good part of that whole visit was I got my note and didn’t have to miss work for the appointment. But the unsolicited advice about needing to date, and get married, and pop out some kids, because that’s how I’ll be happy, I could most definitely have done without.

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Revamp the Week

2 Jan

I had this whole epic plan for how the first week of 2020 was going to go. I had errands to run, was going to recalculate my budget, stock up on healthy foods, meal plan for my work lunches, workout multiple times in the week. In short, I wanted my first week to be a perfect example of how I wanted all the rest of my weeks to go.

Oh how the universe must have laughed!

In comparison to how I intended the week to go it has been a bit of a fumble.

I worked an hour and a half late on Tuesday (my first day back to work after being away for Christmas), which means all the grocery stores were closed by the time I got off work. So no grocery shopping for healthy food! I had limited foods in my apartment, thanks to being away, so I ordered take-out for dinner, which made me sick and had me missing a day of work Wednesday. Sigh. One day into 2020 and already I’ve used a sick day, lame!

I did manage to meal prep the most boring of all meals on the Monday, so I’ve at least managed to take healthy lunches to work. Phew!

However, because the grocery shopping didn’t get done Tuesday or Wednesday I spent the time after work Thursday when I would normally be at the gym exchanging a pair of runners (that’s a story for another day!) and finally getting my grocery shopping done. And can I say I deserve a gold star for not buying any cookies even though they were on sale! Gold. Star.

By the time that was done it was home time for me, which is where I am now, cuddling with the cat.

I semi worked on the budget. And by semi I mean I filled in a 52-week savings challenge I’m taking part in. If all goes well I’ll have $2000 dollars saved by Christmas – which fyi, is 357 sleeps away…not that I’m counting…😉

So yeah, the week hasn’t shaped up like I intended it to, but that’s ok. Once I realized it was going a tad sideways I revamped my expectations for the week. No way was my week going to be all about clocking gym time and eating healthy and working on my budget, I had things to do to clear the way to working on those items. So instead I have made this week about prepping in general for a return to normal life. It has become about getting things in order, so next week I can exercise after work, and have a tastier (but still healthy) meal prepped for my work lunches, and have time to sit down and do the math (ugh, math) that comes with going over the budget to see what I need to change for this year.

It’s no biggy, revamping the plans you had made doesn’t mean you failed, it just means you have a better idea of what can be accomplished in the time frame given and you reprioritized what needs to be done.

So maybe, all-in-all, not a bad start to the new year?

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Necks are Stupid

14 Nov

You would think that evolution could come up with something better than a neck to hold up our weighty heads. sigh.

The other night I must have slept funny because I woke up with a sore neck and a headache. Not cool. But whatever right? I mean, the world isn’t going to stop and pat me on the head because I’m not feeling 100%…though, wouldn’t it be nice if it did?

On my drive to work I realized necks are stupid.

Follow my logic here…

If my shoulder was hurting I would rest my arm in a way that took pressure off the shoulder, so the shoulder could rest. Same with an ankle, an elbow, a wrist, all kinds of body parts But a neck or a head hurting? Can’t exactly prop it up on something to ease the pain while still going about your day. Well, unless your day involved not moving.

What the hell evolution, you couldn’t come up with something better? *rolls eyes*

So there you have it, my weird rant of the day. I’ve decided necks are stupid, and I’m keeping my eye on backs because they strike me as a bratty body part when hurt also. 😉

"To the right, stupid. . . to the right!"

Even giraffes know necks are trouble!

 

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Tuck Visor Review

9 Sep

I bought a thing called a Tuck Visor to help block the sun streaming in through my driver’s side window when I am commuting to and from work. It arrived on the weekend and today was to be the first day trying it out.

Tuck Visor 2

May I present…the…Tuck Visor!

Which means it of course was pouring rain when I woke up, and when I started driving, and for most of my commute. It would appear that fall is well and truly here…it also appears I should invest in rain boots…

Since it was pouring enough rain that there were flooded streets during my morning drive I almost didn’t take them with me, it was predicted to rain all day after all, but I’m lazy and figured if I don’t take them in to my suv now and tuck them away somewhere I’ll forever forget to take them to the suv and who knows how long it will be before I try them.

And yes, that really is how my brain works. shrug.

Good thing I made that choice because by the time I was driving home it was sunny. Well, sort of sunny. That type of sunny where it goes between so sunny you think your eyes will be burned out of their sockets and cloudy with the potential to start raining again at any moment.

I decided to put the Tuck Visor in to place before I started driving, figuring even if it wasn’t sunny enough to really need it, it shouldn’t be in the way, so what was the harm with having it up.

That thing is brilliant! It used a combination of static electricity and being tucked up in to the top edge of the window to keep it in place, it didn’t shift the entire drive, it doesn’t come down any lower than the sun visor when you have it swung to the side, and it blocks sun. What more could a sun avoidant ginger want?

Oh, and it was relatively cheap. Thank you Amazon.ca!

When I first put it in to place I worried about loss of vision out of the window, it is solid black after all. But then I realized it is only blocking the upper part of the window and when I’m looking out of the window I’m not looking at the sky, I’m looking at the road, and traffic, and all that fun stuff, and the Tuck Visor doesn’t block any of that.

One review I read said a negative about it is that you can’t have your window open and use it, which is a valid point. I don’t like driving with my window open so I don’t care about that, but if you like the window open than this won’t be for you.

The pack I bought has two in there, and when not in use I am keeping both in the packaging tucked in a pocket in my suv so they are out of they way and not visible to those who may look in. The ad on Amazon made it seem like it is easy to put in place when driving but I don’t know about that, I used two hands to get it in place which, in case you didn’t do the math, leaves zero hands for the steering wheel. Not a great equation. Maybe positioning gets easier in time?

This is what mine looks like when in place, apologies for the bad picture, I wasn’t willing to climb over the middle console to get farther away from the window to get a better picture, tsk tsk bad blogger.  😉

Tuck Visor

I’ll provide a link to the ones I bought on Amazon.ca…

Click Here!

The company itself does of course have a website, http://www.tuckvisor.com if you want to check them out.

They also have a version that is not solid black, it is a bit see through. It apparently also effectively blocks the sun but I figured I’d rather the solid black one than one that still lets some sun come through. It doesn’t take a lot to burn me so why chance it?

Hopefully this random little invention will be the end to my getting sunburned on my commute to and from work, oh wouldn’t that be nice! 🙂

 

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A Mouth On Fire

2 Aug

Last night I bit in to a Snickers bar and had the oddest thing happen. As soon as the chocolate was touching my lips it felt as if my lips were on fire. Tingling, painful, fire sensations all along my lips. Being the dummy that I am I continued to bite in to the chocolate bar and the “on fire” sensation spread to the inside of my mouth.

fire

How my mouth was feeling. Super pleasant 😉

For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was going on. This is not what a Snickers is supposed to do to your mouth!

I paused, read the package to see if maybe it was some weird special kind that is supposed to be a spicy or hot flavour, which yes, I realize makes zero sense, but I dunno, I couldn’t think of what else it might be.

While reading the label I was holding one hand over my mouth, as if that might magically make things better. (go ahead, roll your eyes at me, I’m rolling them at myself).

After I removed my hand I started googling to see if I could figure out what was going on and while reading horrifying articles about nut allergies I scratched at my cheek and rubbed my eyelid and omg fire! The fire sensation immediately started in those two spots also. My eye started watering, my cheek felt like it was under attack, and all the while I still felt like my lips and mouth were on fire.

So I did what seemed normal and messaged some friends, described what was going on, and waited for them to solve the mystery of why I was on fire. They didn’t know either but our best guess was I, over night, became allergic to peanuts.

I say overnight because I almost daily eat peanut butter, don’t judge, to me a day without peanut butter is just sad. Plus a week or so ago I ate some mixed nuts, and well, lets just say nuts and I have always gotten along juuuuuust fine.

The idea I might all of a sudden be allergic was not at all appealing.

My face started being itchy but whenever I touched it to scratch the fire sensation would spread to that spot so I did my best to resist and eventually things calmed down a bit.

By the time I went to bed my cheek had a rash, my lips looked like I had lip liner on because they were lined red, they also still felt tingling and fire like, my eye had at least stopped tearing up, oh, and one nostril felt like it was on fire. So ya know, great shape to easily fall asleep in.

In the morning I was happy to find the rash was gone and my eye seemed fine…don’t you love how my first concern was over vanity issues and not say, the pain issue? 😉

The fire sensation had gone down to tingling and my lips felt like how they do after they have been sunburned, they feel swollen but don’t really look it, and feel stretched a bit too tight when I smile. Something new was the fire sensation was in my throat in one little patch.

Except for the dreadful idea I might now have an allergy things seemed to be getting back to normal.

Well. Let’s just say your girl isn’t always the smartest, and when I got to work I snacked on a mini bar that has as its number one ingredient peanuts. Didn’t even think about the whole “maybe I have an allergy thing and should be careful for a bit” issue. Just bit right in. And what do you know, nothing happened, except my enjoying the snack bar.

Guess who isn’t allergic to peanuts? This girl! Yay!

I even made sure to eat some peanut butter at lunch just to make sure. You know, for science.

But now the Snickers Bar causing all that pain and weirdness is an even bigger mystery. Maybe it was contaminated somehow? Maybe they changed their recipe and some random ingredient in there gave me that reaction? Maybe my body was trying to teach me a lesson about eating chocolate bars late at night?

Before I ate the mini snack bar with the nuts in it and the peanut butter I was going to ask my doctor to set up an allergy test for me but now I don’t know that I need one. Instead I am going to contact whoever it is that makes Snickers Bars and let them know what happened and see if they know what is going on. Let’s see if they can solve the mystery!

 

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When I’m Old

25 Apr

How will you move when you’re old? How will you get in to bed? Or out of it? How will you maneuver around your home, your yard, your neighbourhood? What habits do you have now that you’ll have to change in order to be safe?

Do you ever think about things like that? I do.

I often joke that I’ll be that person who dies alone in their apartment from a totally preventable fall and is nibbled on by their cat before being found a week later. It sounds ghoulish and stupid, but is a thing that could happen.

I’m lazy, and used to being tall and able to reach just that little bit more so I can grab something I need. Which means, instead of walking around an obstacle to get what I want, I lean over it. Leaning to the point where I’m on tiptoes on one foot, while the other leg is kicked out behind me to balance out how far forward I am leaning and I’ve got one arm stretched out in the hopes I can reach with my fingertips what it is I’m after. If I try this when I’m old for sure I will topple over and if not die, get injured.

My thinking right now is I’m capable, so who cares? Except, what if I don’t recognize in myself the signs that signify change, that will make that maneuver unsafe? What if I don’t notice my balance isn’t as good, or my core strength, or my ability to stand on one foot? Maybe I won’t be acknowledging to myself how I am more prone to injury, or that my arm can’t stretch as far as it used to, or that the strength in my arm might not be good enough to pick up that item I want. There are a lot of things that change within our bodies as we age, some changes happen slowly and we either adjust without realizing or don’t realize the changes, don’t adjust, and then harshly get confronted with our decreasing ability when we have a fall.

It is so much easier to see the changes in others, and so incredibly easy to ignore the signs in ourselves.

It might seem obvious to you that a man in his late 80’s shouldn’t be walking a distance that leaves him shaky, weak and sweaty, to run a couple errands when he could easily have those items delivered. But to him, being able to make that walk, run those errands, is proof that he isn’t as old as the years say, he is still capable of taking care of his wife and himself, he has usefulness.

In our bullheadedness to prove we are useful, and not old, we make stupid decisions, refuse to make lifestyle changes, all to prove to ourselves and others we what? Have value? Are independent? Are capable?

Society takes away so many things from our seniors that we grow up thinking are markers of entering adulthood. Their drivers licence, living in their own home, making medical decisions, cooking, working. And sure, some of those things might not seem like a big deal to give up, I mean c’mon, who really wants to be cooking everyday? Not me! But if all of a sudden my microwave and toaster were taken away and my cook top was disconnected, so I can’t cook, even if it is for my safety, how will that affect my self-worth?

Just to be clear, I’m not saying things like licenses, and living alone, and solo medical decisions, are things that shouldn’t be changed. Eventually we all become unsafe drivers (some much sooner than others lol), we all become unsafe living without some level of care, we can become isolated and depressed from being alone so much (do you know how many seniors are isolated and depressed? A lot! Go visit your grandparents people!).

I thought, because I work with seniors, I already knew all this and I dunno, was aware? But oddly enough, I saw a series on YouTube by The Try Guys about becoming old that made me think about aging in a more specific, how will I be physically affected, kind of way.

There are four videos in the series, I recommend the first and the third. By wearing a special outfit they physically feel what it is like to be old, their range of motion is decreased, their stamina is lower, a bunch of things are affected, and they try to go through their regular day like this. It showed how grocery shopping, baking, exercising, simple walking, all these things are harder, and in ways I hadn’t really thought of.

Did you know your arm won’t reach as far up as it does now, so getting things from the top shelf at the grocery store will be difficult? Even though I have contact with seniors on a regular basis, I never put that together in my brain. Sure I know their range of motion for arms is less than mine, but in how many simple day-to-day tasks does that affect them? A whole bunch more than I ever thought of I bet.

The videos got me questioning things but it all culminated in my head when I was getting in to bed one night. I like a high bed, I climb in to my bed, one arm holding a hot water bottle, the other holding my iPad or a book or the cat, so I put one knee on the bed, and climb on to my bed with no arms keeping me balanced or providing aid. And remember, I like a tall bed, so I’m going up on to a bed, not down or level with where my knees are when I’m standing. I do this, every night, without thinking. Just sorta climb up in to bed, then scoot around, get comfy, and pull the blankets up.

One day I won’t be able to do that. Hell, one day I’ll have to acknowledge it is unsafe for me to be in a high bed and get a lower one, and the only way I’ll be able to get in to it is by sitting on the edge and slowly swinging my legs up on to the bed. The entire way I get in to bed will have to change to accommodate my aging body. It might seem a silly thing to be contemplating, how getting in to bed will change for me, but it is one small thing that will be part of a larger amount of life changes I will have to make.

I’ll probably have to change the style of living room furniture I have, I have a low chair but I’ll need to invest in higher ones, I’ll have to have less items in my little hallway so it can be clear of any hazards, I’ll have to have more lights because my vision won’t be as good, I’ll have to stop leaning over things to reach items, I’ll have to leave outlets exposed instead of hidden behind furniture, there’ll have to be fewer cat toys lying around waiting to trip me up.

All these things are silly I suppose, but they have been occupying my mind lately, the changes I will have to make to accommodate my body as it ages and becomes less physically able to do the things I want it to. I wonder, will I be the person who acknowledges the changes I have to make and adapt to them willingly, or will I be the person who insists on doing things I shouldn’t be doing anymore to try to prove I still can when in reality I’m just putting myself in unsafe situations? I think I’ll probably be a mixture, adapt well to some changes but poorly to others.

To think, all this introspection because of some YouTube videos! I should be more careful what I watch lol  I’ve linked to the two videos I’m talking about just below this sentence, in case you want to risk watching them. 🙂

 

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$1456.82

17 Mar

What, you may be wondering, cost $1456.82?

Was it a ridiculously over priced purse?

Was it a plane ticket to somewhere far away?

Was it a deposit on a new apartment?

Before you get excited for me and my shopping take a deep breath and calm down, because it was none of those things. Nope. That was the cost of the vet bill for my cat Striker. 

Yup, that’s right, my little bundle of floof just cost me $1456.82 and while he is worth spending any amount of money on, omg that is such an expensive bill! His appointment, while stressful, did have some funny moments so feel free to grab a drink, settle in, and enjoy our little vet adventure.

Striker has been feeling off for a couple weeks, not eating normally, not sleeping normally, not pooping normally (sorry for the tmi, he’ll kill me if he finds out I’m sharing his personal business online, but lucky for me he doesn’t know about my blog! lol 😉 ) just in general something wasn’t right. I started trying him with any and every type of food out there, hoping to entice him to eat but he barely touched anything. I didn’t know what was wrong but knew something was so I booked an appointment for him. About three days prior to his appointment I noticed a wound of some sort on his lower lip and over the course of the next three days it got noticeably worse. Me being me I started freaking out that he has cancer, severe infection of the gums, he’s gonna need his jaw removed, all sorts of things. 

We get to the vet and Dr. H takes a look, weighs him, tries to see the wound on his lip, manages to squeeze a bit of puss out and notices that the wound (whatever it is) is swollen and his upper canine has pierced it so every time he closes his mouth his fang is going in to the wound, effectively stopping it from healing and keeping it open to infection. 

The recommendation from Dr. H is that Striker stay there for a couple hours, be sedated, blood and urine will be drawn, the wound will be looked at and thoroughly cleaned, and we’ll go from there.

Dr. H brings me a contract to sign saying I authorize them to care for Strike and blah blah blah. Then he asks me if I authorize life saving techniques if they are needed or do I want a DNR in place. What?? Seriously? You’re asking me if I want to sign off on a Do Not Resuscitate while Striker is staring right at me?

striker sink vet

Striker watching me from the sink in the vet’s exam room

So I grill him on just what this all means. If life saving techniques are used does this mean that after he’s been gone for 20 minutes they’ll manage to bring him back but he’ll be half brain dead and have a shit quality of life? Does this mean he’ll be on the other side for 10 seconds and they’ll get him back and he’ll be fine just down one life? Is this basically CPR because CPR on people rarely works so does it work on cats? Just what is he envisioning here because this is not a yes or no question. Dr. H looks at me and asks “do you work in healthcare?” lol I said no, I just work with a lot of seniors and have to deal with DNRs often. 

In case you’re wondering, in the end I said yes to life saving techniques. Mostly because he said if something goes wrong they will start implementing life saving techniques and immediately call me to let me know what is happening and we can decide in the moment what to do. Which would be a horrifying convo but lucky for us we didn’t have to go there. 

I get a phone call after a couple hours that went something like this:

Dr H – Sooo, here’s what happened. Striker is a very determined cat, and he really doesn’t want to be here. He shook off the effects of the sedation much faster than normal and we were only able to get the blood drawn. We couldn’t get a urine sample because his bladder is empty and we never got a chance to look at the wound on his lip. 

Me – smiling and kinda proud at how strong willed Striker is

Dr H – We decided to take the catheter out and go from there. When the tech went to remove it Striker turned around and bit them. So we put him back in his kennel to give him some quiet time, help him calm down and regroup, but we can’t send him home because he still has a catheter in. 

Me – absolutely beaming at the vision of Striker defending himself. 

Dr. H – we instructed the tech to go to the doctor to have the wound looked at

Me – wait! Striker isn’t in trouble is he? This isn’t his fault. You’re not going to put him down because he bit someone the way its suggested with dogs right? It’s the tech’s fault!

Dr. H – No, Striker is fine, we expect this from cats. 

So there I am grinning like an idiot, so proud of Striker for defending himself when in a scary situation. He is much more prone to flight than fight when shit goes down so I’m impressed with his reaction. 

Dr. H then says they need to sedate him again to get the catheter out and hopefully look at the lip wound and do I authorize that. Obviously I said yes since I don’t want him sent home with a catheter in. 

I get a call a couple hours later, they got the catheter out but Striker shook off the effects of the second dose of sedation quickly and they still can’t get a good look at the wound. Dr. H feels that Striker would do better at home and even though they normally would want a cat to stay a bit longer for observation after so much sedation he thinks I should come get him. Teehee. They were kicking him out lol

The test results showed negative to cancer, hiv, all sorts of things. He did show as being at the end of a pancreatic flare up, which could be why he gets sick and throws up, and why he goes off his food. He also showed as having some sort of marker in his blood that indicates he’ll potentially have kidney issues at some point but right now he is fine. So they don’t know the underlying cause for the lip wound, and weren’t able to clean it out. The doc gave Striker an antibiotic shot and an anti-inflammatory shot in the hopes the lip would will go down in size and his tooth will stop piercing it and if there is an infection it’ll die and give the wound a chance to heal. He said he wasn’t going to send Striker home with medication for me to give him since he didn’t think Striker would be too keen on taking it. As if Striker treats me the same way he treats the vet and the tech? Pfft! I do appreciate not having to deal with medicating him though. 

I am to watch his appetite and the wound, if he doesn’t start eating I have to take him back, and I need to keep an eye on the wound to make sure it doesn’t get worse. 

So far his appetite has come back with a vengeance. He is eating way more than he used to, but I figure he has two weeks of barely eating to make up for so that’s ok. Would be nice if the only food he decided he will now eat wasn’t a $3 per can wet cat food but really, if that’s what he’ll eat, what am I gonna do, not buy it? 

Oh, and side note, he has let me open his mouth and look at the lip wound daily without issue. He’s such an awesome little guy. 🙂

 

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Sick Days

7 Jan

Staring down a serving of NyQuil is like staring down a shot of Tequila. You know it isn’t going to taste great, but it’ll help you attain your immediate goal, and then you’ll pass out.

sick day 2

We are 7 days into 2019, how is your New Year going so far?

Mine was going great until the evening of day 3 when I went from healthy to sick in the span of around 20 minutes. It is amazing how quickly your body can go from healthy to fevered and sick isn’t it? I assume the pesky germs that took me down had been fighting my immune system for a couple days, silently sneaking through my body and killing white blood cells whenever there was an opportunity, and when there was a weak spot in my defences they charged the wall and squashed a whole lot more of those white blood cells, thereby winning the battle against my immune system.

The battle but not the war!

With the aid of vitamins, Airborne (I swear by that stuff), a lot of sleeping, chicken noodle soup, and of course NyQuil, I am on the mend.

However, having four of the seven days of 2019 being sick days means I don’t have a whole lot of interesting things to write about. Le sigh.

I know it is old news by now but my New Years Eve was a lot of fun, I won tickets to a party downtown and it turned out to be pretty good. There was live entertainment, alcohol, a great view of the fireworks, and it was all inside a not overly crowded space so I didn’t even have to freeze my butt off at midnight. I think a good New Years Eve is mostly dependent on who you spend it with, if you’re with someone you want to be with and you have fun with, odds are you’ll have a good time. We could have done pretty much anything and had fun, it was just a happy perk we had such a good spot for the fireworks. 🙂

Then it was a couple days off from work, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and juuust before I was to head back to work I got sick.

So ya see, not much to talk about.

My mom reminded me to make this dish she used to make me when I was a kid and sick. It is warm milk poured over bread that has been cut in to bite size squares and sprinkled with sugar.

sick day 3

It is so simple, and yet so comforting. It however doesn’t photograph all that well lol I pretty much lose my appetite when sick so when she mentioned this dish I thought it would be ok to make, even if it is just carbs and sugar lol As with all dishes that my mom makes, her version is better, but this wasn’t so bad.

I’m hoping it isn’t raining tomorrow so I can go for a bit of a walk, get some fresh air in to these lungs, and get out of this apartment for a bit, I’m soooo bored, and yet, randomly napping throughout the day, so not quite fit for jumping back in to the swing of things just yet. Soon though, and then hopefully I’ll have more interesting things to blog about!

Hope your 2019 is starting off healthier than mine! 😀

happy-new-year-images-2019-gif-

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