|
harnessing the power of capital letters 2008-12-30 COMPLAINT: Esther's lungs sound terrible, so I asked Francisco to try and get her some antibiotics without a vet visit, if possible. It's one of his days off, and hopefully it will not be too difficult a task, because I like for him to have enjoyable days off. Esther hasn't needed antibiotics for TWO WHOLE YEARS, which is great considering she used to need them every 2-4 months before she got her inhaler. I know it's inherently silly for a cat to use an inhaler? But if you have a cat who develops asthma, I'm telling you, get that cat on an inhaler ASAP. It's silly but it has worked So Much Better than prednisone pills. SO much better. And after the cat gets used to it, administering the inhaler is a breeze. Of course, Esther has a remarkably sweet temperament; it might be difficult for a longer period if your cat has a Lucy-like temperament. If Lucy had been the cat to get the asthma, she'd have been dead years ago, such is her resistance to receiving pills or other medical treatments. COMPLAINT: I think maybe possibly my old boss (you know the one) has found this diary. This is based on how many pages were read at once (over a thousand on the 24th) and on the location of the person doing all that reading. I have blocked that ISP, but if that doesn't keep the individual out of here, I'm going to delete this whole thing and start over elsewhere. If someone reading this happens to have read over a thousand pages on Christmas Eve and is NOT my old boss, I would love it if you could drop me a line to let me know so I can stop worrying. I don't mind when people who are not my old boss read a lot of pages at once, and I would be relieved to know it was not him. GOOD THING: Without going into huge detail about it (if I can manage that--I'm making no guarantees), I had a bit of a scare about my vision yesterday. I'd been worried for a few days, actually, because sometimes in a dark room I would see a flash of light, in an imperfect ring shape, in my right eye, when I moved it quickish. I assume the flashes were also happening in light rooms, but I couldn't see them then. I consulted the internet (aka The Medical Terror Machine) and got worried enough that I called my eye doctor yesterday to try and get an appointment to make sure my retina wasn't detaching. And my doctor's office told me, "oh, the doctors are on vacation. I can get you in on......January 13th". Which HELLO what if my retina was detaching? I could be blind in two weeks! For reals. So I called a different eye clinic (the Other one in town) and they wanted me to come in Right! Away!, which THANK YOU, that is Exactly the level of concern I was looking for. So I went in at 3:00 and they did the whole dilate eyes deal and my retina is not detaching. Relief! The doctor was very thorough in checking that, and even though she could not tell me 100% definitely what IS causing the light rings [she thinks it's ocular migraines, which makes some sense, since I get the pain migraines], she can tell me it's not an imminent detachment. NOT SO GREAT THING: It appears as though, at some point in the future, I'm looking at a probable retinal detachment, in my left eye at least. The retina is pretty thin in places there. So I'll be hyper vigilant when it comes to signs and symptoms, and at least I know if I experience any, I can get seen at that eye clinic right away, NOT in two weeks when the doctors are back from Aruba, or wherever. Also, the internet (useful for Some things) told me that surgery to reattach retinas is effective with no recurrence in 80% of patients. I was under the impression that most people had to get multiple surgeries, so that was good news, and this whole deal could be worse. GOOD THING: My health insurance only pays for an eye exam every two years, but this eye doctor said I really need to have one every year (which I knew) and said they would bill the insurance for a medical visit on the years the insurance won't pay for an exam visit. I was ready to switch over to that clinic even before she told me that, but now I'm extra ready. I mean, I would have an exam every year anyway, but it's nice I won't have to pay for it myself every other year. That shit is expensive. THING NOT RELATED TO EYES OR EYE DOCTORS: Francisco and I rarely do anything on New Year's Eve, but this year we're doing two things. 1) Sonny, who (as you may remember) is taking over the town a little at a time, is bartending at an art gallery in town that's hosting a fundraiser for the Eburg Film Festival (he's on the film festival board). There will be a movie (forget which one) shown, and then a dance party. So we're going to that, and 2) also we've been invited to a party at the house of one of Francisco's cop coworkers. Does this make us movers and shakers? UPDATE: Esther had to go to the vet this afternoon (Francisco chauffeured her), and they wouldn't give us the antibiotics. Instead they gave him a prescription for an albuterol inhaler, and I am annoyed. Not at Francisco, because I know he did his best, but at the vet for not taking our word for it that Esther's lungs do not always sound like that. BUT: What can you do? If she's not better fairly soon, I'll maybe call that vet and give her a talking to. Or better yet, I will pay Kate Musgrove to do it. She is a very powerful and compelling woman. Talk to you later,
come over some time & see me - 2011-02-25 |
design by simplify
