The cat is okay, the human needs help

Things were still a bit dodgy on Wednesday as she recovered from the surgery and tried fighting off the infection. I saw her that afternoon and she was sort of a lump, definitely not out of the woods yet. I was upset again, and Alli and Elaine talked me down - the cat had walked back into her cage on her own four feet, which they said "See, she wants to fight it".

Thursday afternoon was so much better. I gave her a flea brush (she had them bad before and of course had been immobilized) and she purred non stop.

Friday was even more encouraging - she was very alert. The vet said they would have released her if she had been eating on her own but she wasn't yet. I had brought in her blanket in case I got to carry her home in it. We had a pep talk about eating and I got to leave the blanket with her. According to this morning's report she ate last night and this morning, so I am not sure which did it ;-).

Since she ate by herself I got to take her home ... she became VERY alert as we WALKED OUT THE DOOR and I placed her in the car. She's done some exploring of the house and we had some Lap Time. She is now resting on the chair by the computer.
But she is definitely acting like herself - grooming and headbutting me while she was on my lap ... even saw her in the familiar porkchop position. Although that might be tough on the sutures.

Still need St. Francis' assistance with getting TWO different kinds of medicine in this cat TWICE DAILY EACH.

It didn't cost me as much as I'd anticipated, which is a minor miracle too. Hallelujah!

Why I say "the human needs help" is that even after the encouraging visit on Thursday I was still a wreck...woke up Friday to make my coffee with the last of my coffee and forgot to put the pot under (I'd doublefilled it - actually the pot still had some water in it). Then walked out of the room. Coffee all over the counter and no more to make a new pot with!

Last night was a lot better but I still had A Coffee Ooops this morning ... must be all the junk food I've been eating :-(. At least I caught that one in time though.

It's so nice to have her home where I can watch her, and fuss over her, for the long weekend.

Lighting candles to St. Francis ...

Yesterday between 8 and 4 was a very bad day for me indeed. I phoned the vet early and the blood work was inconclusive. Plus, the cat had gotten worse. That is when I officially fell apart. My cat was worse and nobody knew what was wrong. The next thing was a sonogram - there was something wrong in her stomach area. Surgery was the only hope.

I went off to see her before the surgery because the vet had said if they opened her up and things were too far gone, they would just not bring her out of the anethesia (sp). Basically it was my chance to say goodbye. It was sad to see her so tired with the IV stuck in her paw but she immediately responded to me (with *blinkies*) and I even got a little purr when I stroked her head and chin - that two handed action thing. That made me feel better to get a *purr* out of that cat, possibly for the last time. Whatever was in the IV must have been doing her some good. I cried a lot and promised her that one way or another it was going to be over soon.

About an hour later the vet called and said the surgery had been a success and she was waking up. Burst intestine? (am I remembering this right) and peritonitis. That would explain the suddenness! She still has to deal with the infection but the numbers are now on her side - 50-60%. I am hoping they are better numbers when I call this morning for an update. I am also planning to go visit today since she will, even if she pulls through, be there for a couple of days more.

I spent most of the morning writing her epitaph, in between emails and phone calls to Team Maya (or Team Charlotte ;-). I am hoping that I don't have to use it. The house is still empty without her and I miss her furry purry presence. Expected her to greet me, missed her in the bed, sort of thing. But she may come back. Believe me, when I left the vet's yesterday, I thought that was it. I even started putting away her things at home ... but then stopped myself and said "She's not dead yet and if she dies I can ask Ayse to come over if I need help".

Argh

Well, I was going to blog about how I have reached this plateau with the house cleaning stuff, but I did manage to get some things done on Sunday. Back bedroom de-trashed, underwear drawer cleaned out and shuttable. And sort of whine generally about not being enthusiastic (actually feeling a little burned out ...).

But my cat woke me up this morning and she was very sick. Wouldn't move much. She got whisked to the vet and is there even now. We don't know yet but the vet suspects kidney. Eeek.

I just got off the phone with Ayse, who has been a brick (she lost one of her cats, sweet Mikey, recently to his long term heart condition). I did finally tell her the story about getting new canned food for Maya and wondering, a la Mooch in Mutts, whether she would "schnub" it.

I keep expecting the little lap fungus to jump up on my lap and start purring. The no-purr was difficult for me to process this morning.

Elaine is at home tonight if I want to avoid touching surfaces (she acquired pink eye this weekend in Memphis at her nephew's graduation - definitely Trip from Hell material, although as she said, "Everyone was so fuckin' nice"). Might call her and noodle.

Get better miss thing. The house is empty without you.

Not much energy this week

Work (another late night doing file migration), come home, sleep lots. Although I'm feeling as though I can do some cleaning and cooking today. Must also remember to go to Elaine's and bring the trash cans in since I was extremely wiped last night. The house is odd without Ginger's fungal presence and constant "MWWWOOWWWWRRRROOWWWRRR". I had swung by Everett and Jones to get some barbeque beforehand and ate it out on the porch ... with the back door open since I didn't have to worry about Miss Thing taking an unauthorized sojourn in the yard.

Saw a piece on SFGate.com yesterday that said San Franciscans spent the most per capita on booze and books. So of course I had to pour myself a glass of wine when I got home and read. Had I selected the book first, I would have pulled out a beer from the fridge - it was "Rememberance of Swings Past" by baseball's funniest umpire, Ron Luciano. Hilarious. I would have gone to Black Oak and rummaged through the Used shelves for a new-to-me author I got a tip about ... but again, I was pretty wiped.

Found my shoe shelves, at Kmart, of all places. Actually some of the new lines of household stuff are definitely not crap. Will have to keep it in mind, although Pinole is a haul for shopping.

Did some organizing on Sunday afternoon, and the tidying. Somewhat concerned I won't get my "two bags" this week to catch up - well, there are some papers I can speed-sort through (heh). But I'm caught up with the timing thing, even if I didn't spend as long as I liked. Definitely uncovered some things in the bedroom (like, where my earring box was). So progress. It's all going to happen eventually.

It's spring

Finally. I topped off a week of Not Doing Jack Shit around the house (after the flurry of last weekend) with a Saturday of Really Not Doing Jack Shit. I did go shopping for shoe shelves but didn't find any I liked. More looking tomorrow. Did find a new 8" skillet at Target, though - in burgundy to match my kitchen, for $5.99. How cool is that?

Did some deadheading on the rose but no cleaning, except for basic tidying. Spent too much time on usenet, I think. Gotta work on the time allocation thing :-). Planning an early night tonight - and need to do 2-3 hours of cleaning, plus filing tomorrow to "catch up" on zone work and work towards bedroom progress. I have been avoiding the filing so much that I decided I was going to buy that mosaic planter if I did three sessions (45 minutes) of filing, even if the bedroom wasn't done. I think if I work in the bedroom some I'll feel motivated ... the kitchen (zone) is already moderately organized.

Might go yank some more crabgrass out of the rosemary - much nicer to work there since the rest of the yard has been "decluttered". Look ma no weeds!

Also deciding how much cooking I want to do tonight.

Heh. So much for "I can leave this any time". I was mildly annoyed that Blogger doesn't seem to be available to me at 6.30 on a Sunday morning. But as a systems person I know about maintenance windows :-)

The weather changed its mind yesterday and cooperated beautifully with my neighbor's party plans (besides being close to Hooray Hooray the Fifth of May, it's the kid's birthday) and my gardening. I was able to do some minor deadheading on my Gertrude Jekyll rose and some major pruning out of dead branches of The Rosemary That Ate Berkeley. No spraying though, would have to have a sprayer for that.

I wasn't much in the mood for cleaning (and I was a pretty tired out little camper so didn't fight the retail crowds looking for a shoe shelf). I did, however, get all the handwashing done and was inspired by that to "Fling" (Flylady slang) stuff in the kitchen - dead boxes of tea mostly. The two bottom shelves in my small pantry cabinet are now moderatedly well organized (one has oatmeal and baking stuff, the one above it has beans and grains) and there is a lot less STUFF on my counter (some of the previous residents have found homes in the cabinet). I also found enough brown sugar that I shouldn't have to buy it again soon even if I go on a baking/praline binge. I might "catch up" on last week's Flylady zone by processing papers in the sunporch. It was a beautiful day yesterday and the sunporch is especially pleasant right now since the GJ rose is going nuts right out the window. But I just didn't feel like it so I did something else.

Otherwise it was a fairly spuddy day - didn't even cook much, although I did make those lemon sugar cookies. Amazingly good. I baked ten (they spread - all my big sheet would hold) and finished them ALL off while I was reading "The Secret Life of Bees" (good book). No I wasn't hungry but they were so good I couldn't stop myself :-). I think I'm feeling a bit rested up now and hope to not immediately consume the remainder when I bake them today.

The weather held out enough that I went to Grace this morning - I was up and it wasn't pouring. Thought I might have been a bit overly optimistic when I drove over the Bay Bridge and saw a BIG black cloud over Nob Hill. I think it rained while I was inside. The low level of light through the rose window reminded me of January, but walking out the plaza doors on the California Street side, I was treated to a riotous spring garden display - roses, iris, sweetpeas, and other things blooming madly. We don't get that in Epiphany (the appointed season for pruning back roses out here ;-). The sermon was especially fine - I usually space out wildly, but it spoke to me where I am.

My poor neighbors ...

planned a Cinco de Mayo fiesta today in their carport/courtyard (the house is TINY and they seem to be expecting a couple of dozen people), and, of course, it's threatening heavy rain. Normally it's been plenty dry for a couple of weeks by this point. Holy Guacamole, Batman!

Juan was out when I wandered into the kitchen to make coffee at 6.30 am erecting a tarp canopy over the rest of the carport. (There are two houses on the lot, they live in the back one, it's all paved between the two houses, and there is a roof over part of it for a carport.) It's high enough for Pinata Action :-)

I can give this up any time, she says

And I proved it because I took my computer in to get a writeable CD ROM drive installed on Wednesday ... and didn't hook it up again till tonight. At times I have been "Gotta get my usenet fix" so it's nice to know I can step back, especially since the weird keep getting weirder on my groups. Had a pile of spam though, including a fake spam run in my name (bounce back messages).

Still recovering from a busy last few weeks (Easter week and following). I would have liked to do a little more decluttering for my little lunch party on Wednesday (the large plant in my living room is dead and needs to go out) but circumstances prohibited. The place is starting to look good, though, so that is a good space to be in - very encouraging to future efforts and much better than a couple of weeks ago when I was feeling "lots of work and nothing to show for it".

Looking forward to catching up with some things in life this weekend. Wish I could garden and deal with my mildewy rose and dead branches on The Rosemary Bush That Ate Berkeley but it will probably rain all weekend. At least my day of was nice so I got to enjoy the living room at its best.