I hate anesthesia. Or rather, I hate the effects of coming back from anesthesia. They are hitting Bean hard...her systems are waking up, and with a vengeance. She's having a rough morning, which means I'm having a rough morning. Add in antibiotics that are known to upset her systems even more, and it's going to be a fun, fun day.
Got a call from the vet...they reviewed Bean's xrays [taken as part of her super-uber-exam], and it turns out that some time in the past, she had some pretty serious surgery on her back right leg. It's call FHO [femoral head ostectomy], and essentially the round ball head of the femur is totally removed, and the femur is left to create fibrous tissue in the joint instead. We think it was a result of the dog attack I was told happened to her when she was younger [before I adopted her]; the leg was either broken or severely dislocated, causing bone-on-bone contact and damage to the hip. The intense pain could only be alleviated by an FHO procedure.
So now we know why she has that weird sashay in her back leg...no ball in the ball-and-socket joint to keep her leg aligned.
Weird.
By the end of today, I will have spent almost $4000 on Bean's medical costs, in less than one month [ouch]. Her recent IC flare-up, the resulting emergency room visit and overnight stay, the annual check-up right after that, and now as part of the dental cleaning [involving sedation], they found that she had "resorptive lesions" on three teeth [a genetic condition in which the enamel is absorbed back into the body, exposing the root and causing pain and potential tooth fracture]. Only treatment: extraction surgery. It's not the same as decay, which can have the treatment put off for a while...it's something that should be done as soon as possible. And since it's full surgery, it's not cheap.
The timing is rotten...one of those "if I'd known, I wouldn't have done x, y, or z" situations. It's not just the money [though that's a hard one, especially since I'm a "single income household"]...there's also the time factor. While Will is awesome, and has gone above and beyond with pitching in, I'm still a very self-sufficient person, and it's hard for me to just let others take over things that are my responsibility. So I'm juggling work, the cats, and a thousand other things that need my attention...and sadly, it's not enough. So trying to prioritize and just let some things fall away, which sucks, and hurts my organized, retentive, "I can do it" soul.
Keep trying to remind myself: breathe in, breathe out. [Sighing is breathing, right??]
As some of you folks know, I've been lucky enough to pretty much drop off the face of the earth for a bit...took an honest-to-gourd vacation, went to Disneyland with Will, did a lot of motoring, and basically got to relax and go completely offline and chill. So if you've sent me emails, IMs, text, voicemail, carrier pigeons, or postcards, I'm way, waaaay behind in answering...working my way through the backlog, along with catching up at work.
Vacation. An awesome concept, great while you are in the midst of it, but utterly sucky to have to return from. Phooey on reality.
Long story short: Bean spent the night in the veterinary emergency room...came home to find blood in the litter pan and over the bathroom floor. Possibly a flair up of what hit her a few years ago [though we are hoping it's just bacterial]. She's home now, but in pain and having troubles moving around and using the litter pan. We'll know more when the results get back from the lab...
...happy faceversary. Been two years since I started full time at Facebook; a bit longer since I started as a contractor. An interesting ride, to say the least...
Traded in my MINI this past weekend...surprisingly hard to say goodbye to him. He was the first custom order the Mountain View dealership took after it opened; I was there on their second day in business, with my order all configured online and ready to go. He held up very well over the next seven and a half years, especially considering the big chance I took on the first model year of a basically totally new type of car. We went on rallies together, had a blast on Thunderhill Raceway, motored north, south, to the coast, to Vegas, to Hoover Dam, all kinds of places. Quirky, unique, very fun, different. Definitely my kind of car, which is why...
...I traded him in for a brand new one. Brand new MINI Cooper S [only 7 miles on the odometer when I picked it up]; red with white roof and mirrors, white bonnet stripes, 17" black rims, premium accessory packages, sporty leather seats, red leather details on the interior. Much sportier, much more powerful, and a total blast to drive. Named him Sparky, for his resemblance to a fire engine...trying to get a personalized plate now.
Soooo hard to sit at work when all you want to do is go motoring... >.<
A co-worker's father just died. Suddenly. She [my co-worker] was sitting there, working away, and her phone rang...and then she just kind of crumpled and started sobbing. My heart aches for her...and if I'm brutally honest, it's aching for me too. Seeing her get that call brought back that Friday when Dad had to call me about Mom...and it hurts even more, knowing that there is another phone call in my future about my own dad.Yes, it's life. Yes, it happens to all of us. But that doesn't make it ache any less.
