A Picture of Ally and Lucas

Things That Make Me Giggle

Jake is constantly complaining about my OCD habit of *always* having to have a bite of what he's eating or a sip of what he's drinking. Seriously, it's so bad even *i* notice it. And i do it every day, all day long. But it's ok because he's my husband and knows this quirk so he just pours extra drink or whatever. Well tonight he made me my own piece of toast while he was making his midnight breakfast....only *he* took a bite out of mine for once. And it was the best part! I love the middle :(

Dala's thyroid medicine is definitely working. She's gone from eating a whole can of food and begging and begging for more.....to eating only a half can of food and begging for more. She now knows that she gets a tuna snack (a spoonful of tunafish) to take her medicine, so she just stops eating canned food when she's full enough and starts begging for her tuna! So tonight i picked up her plate and kept it. An hour later when she was begging for tuna i put her canned food in front of her...and she turned up her nose at it. But since she needed her medicine i made her tuna and she ate it right up. THEN she begged for more food. So i gave her the canned food again, but she snubbed it again. She wanted dry food this time! *sigh* I had forgotten that she's picky when she's not starving from an over-active thyroid. We go next week to see where her levels are at and discuss the radioiodine.

Tonight was also play time.

Here's my version of playing:

And Dala's version of playing. (She looks bored but that's just because of the flash. She actually shredded my invoice paper and attacked the invisible bugs in the box.)

Are Toes Really That Important?

I hope not because i can't seem to stop severely injuring them. It's not like i've suddenly become clumsy...i've been that way my entire life! Anyway, this time my pinkie toe is all black and blue from slamming it into the cat scratching post. I know when i was an intern on rotations i got a bone density test and it was really bad....i guess maybe i should take a calcium supplement or something.

My computer has driven me nuts with it's slowness to the point where i finally broke down and ordered a new video card and power supply. My old card (a Nvidia 7 series) is outdated but i didn't think it was *that* bad. I hope this fixes the problem because it's about the only thing other than RAM that i know how to change. It arrives Thursday and i can't wait!

TV's new fall season starts in less than a month! There are some really good new show prospects and i can't wait. If only i had a new tivo...

Vacation

I am officially on vacation for a whole week! We don't have plans to go anywhere so i'm taking this time to clear my Tivo, read some books.....and get addicted to Warcraft again thanks to Ally. I'm also staying up way too late, but that's nothing unusual.

I think we're going to pursue the radioiodine treatment for Dala. From everything i've read it's the best solution. We'll do the pills for 3 weeks to get her thyroid levels down to normal and make sure she doesn't have any kidney problems, then we'll take her to get the treatment. I called the specialist vet and found out that they'll only have to keep her about 4-5 days, so at least she won't have to be gone so long. BUT.....i also found out that for 2 weeks after we bring her home i have to stay at least 3-6 feet away from her at *all* times because i'm of childbearing age. Does that mean i can't even pet her or hug her when she comes home?? I'll have to research that more. Anyway, because of this and in combination with the whole swine flu thing, i guess i'll skip a month or two of trying to get pregnant. And by "skip" i mean i'm not doing all the craziness of ovulation tests and saliva microscopes and stuff. I'll track my temp just to see if my cycles are getting any more normal, but that's it. Watch me "accidentally" get pregnant now, that would just figure.

Little Brothers Are Engaged!

So Jefferey got engaged a few months back and I just found out that Phillip proposed to his girlfriend (and she accepted) yesterday! Awww, they're growing up so fast. Here is Kristyn's new ring...he did a great job picking it out because it's gorgeous!

Vet Visits Suck

I hate taking my poor kitties to the vet. They know as soon as the cat carrier comes out and they put stick all 4 feet out in every direction to avoid going in it. Lately Dala has been eating....and eating...and eating! She'll polish off an entire can of cat food and then immediately beg for more, yet she's losing weight. I suspected she might have a thyroid problem so we took her to the vet and sure enough my suspicions were confirmed. She most likely has a benign tumor on her thyroid gland that's the source of all her problems. I'm conflicted on which treatment to go with, though:

1) Medication that is very cheap but I have to give her a pill twice a day every day for the rest of her life, plus periodic blood monitoring.

2) An injection of radioactive iodine that requires no surgery or anesthesia and has relatively no side effects. This is (95% of the time) a cure and only has to be done once. The drawbacks? It's really expensive and she'll have to stay at the hospital for 1-2 weeks and we can't visit because she'll be radioactive.

My vet recommends the radioactive iodine. I have to say i'm leaning toward that option but the thing that bothers me the most about it is having to leave her alone for that long. When Anakin got his first urinary blockage they kept him at the emergency vet for about 36-48 hours. When we visited him less than 24 hours into it he looked so awful it scarred me for life. He had a cone around his head so he couldn't pull out IVs, and he was sooo sad and depressed looking. He wouldn't eat anything (and he lives for food...it's his favorite thing in the world). I guess he thought we had left him there because he perked up the second he saw us and ate his food. I felt so awful i made them release him early and told them i'd monitor him at home. Leaving Dala with a bunch of doctors and needles for a week or two while she's radioactive and not being able to explain (obviously) why is going to be ten times worse. And i can't even visit or negotiate an early release? Man this is going to suck...

Gray Hair

"By age 50, most people can expect 50 percent of their hair to be gray..."

I get all my news and other information from AOL's welcome screen. Today i just read an article on the Facts and Myths of gray hair. Did you know that white people start getting gray hair in their 30s?! That's entirely too soon for me! I thought gray hair didn't come until waaay later. And i've never really thought about it, but the article also says gray hair is harder to dye. This news is no bueno.

Facts and Myths on Gray Hair