Thanksgiving and beyond

Recuperating Lady
Originally uploaded by average lavender

The day started with me scrambling to complete some mix cds before heading to work. It's not that I minded working on a holiday, it's that I felt sort of used, taken advantage of. No holiday pay, no "thanks for working on this holiday that the rest of the company has off," no sandwich. Someone left the big hood vent on all night so the kitchen was about thirty degrees. The dough gave me little trouble.

The celebratory part of our day was spent with Hope, Mal, and her parents at their wonderfully secluded house outside of Asheville. There was amazing brined turkey, incredible dressing (my favorite part of the meal), brussel sprouts, green beans, gravy, rolls, and of course, pumpkin pie with homemade ice cream. Amazing. Delicious.

The exciting part of the day we spent at REACH, the emergency vet. Girl came in with us when we got home and she quickly settled down onto the bed. It wasn't until a couple hours later when I pulled the covers on the bed up that Girl freaked out: hissing, growling, yawling, and gently limping away. When she settled down again we notice one of her back feet clenching and releasing and then that whole side of her body clenching and releasing, along with her head wobbling around. After waiting a little over an hour in the exam room the vet agreed that Girl would need to be anesthetized if they were going to get a good look at her leg. We left Girl with her and headed home for some much needed sleep. At six a.m., after check-up phone call, after nine staples and one e collar later,we headed back to bring her home. All we could squeeze out of the vet tech guy and the copy of the papers he gave us was that she had "punctures" - whether they're from another animal or not, we have no idea.

Immediately after being released from her carrier the e collar (aka: stupid plastic cone around her head) scratched along the floor and scared her to her little kitty core and sent her rocketing around the house flailing her head around. She's quarantined in our bedroom, the e collar has been trimmed back so it doesn't drag on the floor, and she gets her pain killers and antibiotics every twelve hours. Boy is seriously uneasy about her. He looks at her as though she's completely off her rocker.

Girl's incident comes on the heels of another sad cat incident: my mom's cat, Yoda, suddenly died a few days ago. We adopted Yoda after my cat Annika was put down due to leukemia when she was a year old. Yoda was named Yoda because when she was little her ears tended to lie flat and my family is kind of nerdy. Yoda is survived by Mischief, adopted at the same time as Annika and Elizabeth, who happened into our lives a grumpy, stand-offish cat (hence the nickname, Elizabitch), and who has found a home and chilled out, finally.

So on this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for cats, vets, good family, good friends, and the roof over my head. Also, food.

Oh! AND after at least a year of waiting and probably many many years of meaning to do it it's finally happened: my mom has gained Irish citizenship!

The Lost Boy and Rambling On

I went to my second acupuncture appointment on Thursday for my carpal tunnel and she decided to use my left arm (the first time she used my left foot.) She stuck a series of five needles in the underside of my forearm and said that I could move my hand, but that it would feel pretty weird. Not only did it feel really weird, but it felt like a deep aching soreness. I closed my eyes and tried to think of other things, make lists of stuff to do, come up with an idea for dinner...and slowly I felt lightheaded and dizzy. I opened my eyes and stared at the wall in front of me, breathing in and out slowly and with extra care. After about a half hour she came back and took out the needles, we both agreed that I'd had my fill and that we'd work with the foot from now on.

Boy still isn't home and it's truly breaking my heart. I feel like mostly all I can do is just keep taking deep breaths; like the needles in arm: "It's okay it's okay it's okay..." As crazy and ridiculous as it sounds, I believe (I like to believe) I have an extra preceptive intuition. Feeling it when someone close is in an accident or is seriously ill, like the day Ollie became suddenly and inexplicably ill and the few days later when Jenna showed up in the middle of the night to tell me he'd died - I just knew it. The last few times Boy's been up a tree there's been this feeling of urgency - I have to go home from work because I know I can find him, I know he's looking for me. This time I can't feel anything, he's my best little bud - sleeps on my legs every night, wakes up with me every morning, enjoys being carried to the food dish when he's too sleepy to that early, comes running for a little cream when we pour the coffee - and I can't find any sure feeling to latch onto. It's like he's just...disappeared.

I can't tell whether to be confident that he'll just come back because he's a cat and can fend for himself, he is and animal, or accept that he's gone and that's that, or frantically scavenge the bushes for him in his possibly injured state. Girl is absolutely no help and has peed on the couch twice. Our current working theory is that he got shut in a garage or someone's house and they went away for the weekend (our theory changes about every hour.) Sometimes we think that one of the little brats that walks by and likes to yell "KITTY!!" and chase after him managed to drag him off or their parent, noticing he had no collar, decided that he was fair game for the taking. (And I mean it when I say brats.)

It does feel like this needs to be resolved quickly and definitely because we've decided to move to North Carolina for real. I'll be flying out June 22 to hopefully find us an apartment and possibly scout around for a job (or two). If everything goes as "planned" we'll be driving out sometime in the beginning of July. We're 80% settled on packing up all our stuff in a pod-thing from Door to Door and having it shipped out to us, it's a little pricey, but frankly not that much pricier than a U-Haul would be much less of a hassle (we think.) We're also trying to convince James to fly out to California and hang out, help us pack, and drive with us. It sounds like he's not so keen on the driving, but I'm trying to persuade him, we're hoping to make it in just a few days maybe stopping in Albuquerque and...oh..say... Garland?

We're excited and sad. I don't really want to leave without Boy or at least knowing ... where he is? what happened?

Any support/advice welcome.

P.S.- The acupuncture is helping the carpal tunnel, my wrist doesn't feel as swollen, most of the shooting pains have subsided and there hasn't been any numbness and only manageable aching. I'm optimistic.

Summer is upon us

The National Weather Service tells me that it's going to be 101 degrees in San Anselmo on Thursday. !!!! Holy crap! This is news that makes me appreciate two things: a) our apartment stays relatively cool due to the lack of sun and b) that I won't be in San Anselmo on Thursday! Ha! Liz and I are driving up to Portland to see Liz and Mike! Originally George and Yannick were going to come along but George can't tear himself away from the railing-building and I think Yannick flat out forgot and probably doesn't want to come if George isn't going (there are few people who would want to spend ten hours in a car with Liz and I.)

Tomorrow (only 90 degree day) is the day our veggie conversion kit is slated to arrive! George is pretty excited.

The carpal tunnel is subsiding, the nightly bracing seems to be helping, even if it chaffing the inside of my thumb raw. My panic is subsiding as well.

Diagnosis: CTS or An Account of the Week

A session of dishwashing at home last Monday left me with a funky thumb problem - I couldn't put any pressure on it without awful shooting pains, no jar opening, no mug lifting, no supporting myself as I climbed down from the loft.

Then on Tuesday I was getting weird feelings in the back of my hand - not pain, but I could just feel everything.

Wednesday morning started with a bang in the first ten minutes: getting out of bed...feeling nauseous, ears ringing, vision darkening, chills, clammy, freaking out...to being completely normal. This has, in fact, happened to me twice already in my life: eight years ago and four or five months ago. Fearing brain problems, I made an appointment at the community clinic.

I learned that the weird freaking out is almost fainting, pre-vasovagal syncope. A nerve in the body sends out a signal that slows the heart rate, thereby draining the blood from the head and down you go! (Maybe.) Apparently it can be triggered by..oh..anything and the only danger to a person is if they actually pass out and hurt themselves in the fall. I also learned that I'm not anemic and I'm not diabetic. As for all my wrist/thumb issues, it's straight-up, good old y2k fashioned carpal tunnel syndrome. The doc seemed fairly nonchalant about this, granted it's not really a serious, life-threatening, exotic injury and it's mostly inconvenient, but so far it's seriously putting cramp in everything. I've been working with a brace, which is bulky, awkward, and extremely frustrating, icing it every night, wearing the brace to sleep, I stopped knitting my sweater, I can't do the dishes, open containers, use a can opener, teeth brushing has good and bad moments, as does getting dressed. Before this my days were spent working, then coming home to knit or maybe ride my bike, and now it's mostly searching the internet and checking my email left handed.

We made it to the farmers market yesterday and came home with artichokes, broccoli, cider (wicked pricey but delicious cider), yogurt, a kiwi, and bought some roasted chestnuts but they didn't make it home. We always bring the camera so we can show you how big this market is (HUGE) but when we get overwhelmed by the number of pushy people and children we're trying not to trip over and forget.

Pictures of things soon!

funday

today george got a big ol' box full of rabbit parts! the new head gasket, brake pads, door gaskets, new head bolts, a new door latch, thermostat, and ... a water pump! and a green o-ring.

boy got to chase ants around the window sill.

girl got to be chased into the house by another mean dog. last night a dog bolted from the sidewalk into the driveway barking and snapping his evil jaw at her. she managed to scramble away and under the house. this morning she was sitting on the threshold of the door and the dog almost busted into the house. i'm not impressed with these san anselmo pooches.

and tonight i got to go to the doctor for a mysteriously swollen achey weird knee problem. it kind of went like my dentist visit, except this time the doctor was just late to work, apparently. after waiting in the exam room for an hour, he came in, moved my knee around a little, and determined that i probably have a little tear or some other damage in the joint, but it doesn't appear to be severe enough to warrant x-rays. however, if by next monday it's still all "jacked up," as my co-worker emily would say, then i get to go back in and possibly get some x-rays and then depending on what they find the great possiblity: surgery. i'm hoping it'll just get better.

tomorrow we may drive up to jenner and beyond and see what's whats up north or we may stay home and i'll sit on the couch. regardless we're heading to hilda's coffee shop for breakfast.