Here's a photo of Sassy and me, smiling together. Ain't she just the CUTEST?! I love my dawg!!Well, Obie the cat decided he was tired, hungry and thirsty from his 2-day jaunt outside, so we kept seeing him walking around the deck, and Florence had him in her lap at one point, but when we tried to grab him, he took off again. We've been trying to nab him all day long. Finally, when nobody else was around, I coaxed him with a cup of water, and nabbed the little booger. YAY!!
So, Obie has returned inside the house and as we put him into Florence's bedroom, we realized that we didn't know where the OTHER cat (Amaya) went to. So, we searched all over the house but never could seem to locate her anywhere. The other day, we put a brand new harness on her, so that Florence could take the kitties outside on the deck for a walk from time to time. But, Amaya apparently didn't like wearing the harness so we figure she was HIDING because 0f that. Pete eventually found her inside our closet upstairs, though, so now we have BOTH cats safe and sound back with their mom. WHEW. I really need to take up drinking. This cat thing has had everyone upset.
We have theorized that these two cats, who used to live with Florence in a nice house with a screened in porch that they would go and hang out in all day long, watching birds and enjoying the breezes, have been cooped up inside a stupid nursing home for 8 long months without any kind of porch at all, no way to go for walks or just sit outside in the breeze. So we figure NOW that Florence is living with US, these cats are realizing that, hey, they're in a HOUSE again, not just one tiny room, so they're probably thinking, WHERE IS THE PORCH?! They miss having a PORCH!! I mean, the first place Obie went to when he got outside, was underneath our deck, which has open trellis all around it, like a porch. We talked about it at dinner tonight, and we decided that since we already do have a front porch that has a roof on it, we could easily screen it in, and let them out there. So, that's our next project. Poor kitties!!
Today I went to the doctor, and wow, I'm a mess. Ain't life grand? I turn 41 this year, and my body is falling apart. Lovely. Now I have to get tested for "Factor V," which is something in my blood that causes blood clots, and my sister tested positive for it and I think my mom has it too, PLUS both my grandparents had it---my grandpa died from a blood clot that started in his leg, simply because he had a pebble in his shoe for a few days, and didn't bother to remove it. Then the clot traveled to his heart and killed him 5 days later. I was only 12, but I remember being terrified whenever I had a pebble in my shoe. God, I really miss my grandpa.
My grandmother had cervical cancer, so they put her on chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and hey whatdayaknow, the IMBECILE DOCTORS fried her innards so badly that she had to get a colostomy bag---a very nasty thing to carry around all day every day, let me tell you, I had to help her change the bag---and then eventually she had to go on kidney dialysis every day---talk about being miserable---and hey whatdayaknow, while she was on dialysis, the stupid hospital worker 20-something idiot gave her too much Heparin, and she DIED from it. They were both in the same hospital when they died, so I have a major phobia of hospitals. I really miss my grammaw too. She and I were like two peas in a pod.
So when it comes to this "Factor V" stuff, I say thanks but NO THANKS. I refuse to deal with Heparin and blood clot stuff. Those medical bastages are NOT gonna get ME. I refuse to succumb to stupid overworked 20-something doctors who get no sleep and overmedicate people just to move on to the next one without even knowing a person's name or giving a crap about the person. I don't care if they DO diagnose me with it, I am not going to deal with it. It's bad enough I have to deal with Type 2 Diabetes and high blood pressure---I'm too stubborn to deal with that kind of stuff. I won't do it. I'd rather just die suddenly without knowing why, than to be scared of having some kind of stupid damned disease that worries me to death slowly, ya know? I mean, I am the type of person who says, "Hmmm, I could try starving myself on a diet to lose weight for eight months of torture, OR---why not just EAT MORE and GAIN 50 pounds so that I can get a GASTRIC BYPASS?! Much easier, and more fun!! So, needless to say, dealing with medical stuff does NOT thrill me one bit.
But, I have to get an x-ray for my back, I have to get my eyes checked, and hey whatdayaknow, I am Type 2 diabetic, so the doctor says I have too much glucose in my urine, (to which I answered, "Um, yeah, I know, I'm diabetic, that's what happens" and all the while I'm thinking, "I AM PAYING YOU FOR THAT?! I ALREADY KNOW THAT!!), so then she says I might have some kind of damned infection, AND I gotta go to an OB-gyn for a stupid pap smear, AND I have to get a stupid mammogram. GRRRRRR. I am NOT liking this getting old stuff. Not one damned bit. She said my knee pain has directly caused me some kind of back problem (again, I say DUH), but she also brought up one thing that I hadn't thought of, which makes a lot of sense. She says, "You have been taking great care of Florence for the past month, and from what you've told me, it seems you are going through something similar to what pregnant women go through when they have a baby, you're feeling like you're losing yourself, you're overwhelmed, you feel numb and depressed, and out of sorts, right?"
And yes, she is right. I didn't even MENTION those things to her at all. But, she is right. I'm a nervous wreck when I turn my back on Florence for two seconds, and suddenly I see that she's somehow walked UPHILL in the back yard looking for a cat----and then yelling to me, saying, "I can't get back down this hill." So I have to go get her, and help her down the hill. I get alarmed when I try to take her to get her hair done, like this afternoon, and she's suddenly so dizzy she can't even walk and almost falls backwards---luckily, Nate was with us and helped to steady her from behind, while I helped her from the front. (She has a lot of wax build-up in her ears, and is being treated for it, the doctor said that is what causes her to have occasional dizziness). So we cancelled the hair appointment. I get nervous when she sleeps too much, or not enough. I feel anxious if she eats too much, or not enough.
I worry about her a lot. Good thing I never had any kids of my own, I'd be a friggin' mental case with worry all the time. So, it really IS like having a new baby around, almost. I don't mean any disrespect for Florence by saying that, of course, but I never really thought of it that way until the doctor mentioned it. I even have a baby monitor in my bedroom so I can hear everything going on in Florence's room, so if she needs anything, I can just run downstairs quickly. She wants to do too much, sometimes, and worries me that she's exhausting herself. But, I also don't want her to sit around being bored to death like she has been in the nursing home for 8 long boring months, either. So I am trying to adjust to this new person in our lives, who needs a lot of care and supervision. I guess it really is like having a baby.
Anyway, at least we found the cats, and that's made everyone very happy. I don't know what I would do if I ever lost my Sassy. That dog is my sweetheart, I love her very much, and I would be lost without her.
Well, bye for now. I'm off to bed with my increasingly deteriorating self. SIGH.
Love, Becky
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