10.30.2002
Oh yeah, can I just tell you how much I'm lovin' some Monday night TV on the WB? 7th Heaven at 8 and then Everwood at 9. I've almost given up on Everwood a time or two, but Gregory Smith keeps me coming back. I think he's a really good, albeit young, actor, and the relationship between Ephram and Amy keeps my attention. The dad is kind of obnoxious sometimes, but he's getting slightly more likeable.
So I have a couple free minutes... quick update: Jefferson is doing lots better. He is more or less back to normal. Tomorrow we start tapering his dose of prednisone, and hopefully he'll continue to do well. This week has been crazy... yesterday I was out from 7:30 am to 11:30 pm, and I left the house this morning at 7:30 am, and got home at 7:30 pm. Just in time to give Jefferson his next pill. I am pretty tired and I think that it's going to be a good sleeping night. Loving this cold weather... it's so great for sleeping. Anyway, Chris is at work right now, but he should be home soon, and I think we might run out to Wal-Mart because our answering machine appears to have bitten the dust. I can't really think of anything else... I'm so tired I'm stupid... but I'll try to get back to posting around here on a more regular basis.
10.25.2002
We're coming up on two weeks of Jefferson not really being able to eat. I haven't written much about it here, but I'm feeling the need to get it off my chest.
This all started on Saturday, October 12, when he vomited after eating. In reality, it may have started before then -- I can't totally remember -- it seems like it came on kind of gradually, or he'd been having some trouble off and on for a couple of weeks. But the 12th marks the point that things seemed to get worse. By the middle of the week we were ready to take him to the vet, which we did on Thursday the 17th. He had bloodwork and x-rays done and was found to be somewhat dehydrated, but there was nothing definitive, like a bad bloodwork result or a bottle cap showing up in his stomach on the x-ray. We took him home Friday afternoon and put him on a bland diet of rice (75%), chicken (12.5%), and cottage cheese (12.5%). He did fine for the first 24 hours, and I decided to add 5 pieces of his cat food to the bland mix on Sunday night. He vomited about 15 minutes after eating. He ate the bland mix three more times with success, and then Monday morning and afternoon he got sick again. We withheld food for 24 hours and fed him late Tuesday night, and he vomited an hour after eating. We withheld food again until about 5 pm on Wednesday (the 23rd), and he's not vomited since (except when he got a hold of a few slurps of milk from my cereal bowl that I stupidly left on the counter without rinsing out), but he's only eating 1/2 a teaspoon at a time.
So yesterday, after several phone calls to the vet's office, we decided to take him in and do something, although we didn't know what. The vet had worked up estimates of four different options: repeated bloodwork and x-rays, endoscopy, barium x-rays, and exploratory surgery. We totally ruled out the barium and the endoscopy, since we really didn't believe he had swallowed a foreign object, and ended up going for a fifth option, an ultrasound. After two hours at the vet last night, we left him there, and he had the ultrasound about 11 pm. I called the ultrasonographer at midnight after I got home from rehearsal, and he told me he'd found nothing remarkable. No foreign bodies, no real inflammation, no pancreatitis, pretty much nothing. They also did his bloodwork again and that all came out perfectly fine. They did do a fine needle aspirate of his liver to check for lipidosis (Fatty Liver Syndrome), and the results from that may take a few days. This morning I'm waiting to hear from the vet who is actually in charge of Jefferson's case, and I expect she will have some recommendation of what to do next. Maybe she's as puzzled as I am, which could explain why I haven't heard from her yet. What is wrong with our cat???? He's lost a pound in the last week - that's 7% of his body weight, folks - and even if he's not having liver problems now, he could start having them if he continues to not get enough calories.
On top of all this, the most heartbreaking thing happened while we were at the vet with Jefferson last night. A woman brought in an animal in an emergency - we never saw it, but we heard it, and based on the sounds we thought it might be a bird. The sounds were a combination of a shriek, a squawk, and a cry, and were quite possibly the worst sounds I have ever heard from an animal. Poor Jefferson was scrunching up his body, closing his eyes, and hiding his head under Chris's arm. I remember thinking to myself that I hoped it was a bird, surely it was a bird, because if it was a dog then it had to be suffering pretty badly. When our vet came back in with us, we asked her about it, and she explained that it was a puppy who had eaten a bunch of human medicine and was seizing. I started crying right then and there, which was pretty embarrassing, although she made me feel better by saying that even with her years as a vet, things like this are always disturbing to her. Before I got off the phone last night with the doctor who did Jefferson's ultrasound, I asked him about the puppy, and he said they'd drugged him up (I think with valium) and I think he said they'd operated to get the pills out of his stomach (he used some big word but I think that's what he meant) and that now they just had to see if they could outlast the effects of the toxins. I feel a little guilty for being so worried about an animal I've never laid eyes on when my own cat is sick, but I think I will probably ask about the puppy the next time I talk to our vet. I am so thankful that so far none of our animals have been that sick, and I hope they never are. I am thankful that we are pretty careful with stuff around the house, and that the worst thing anyone has ever swallowed is a sock. Granted, that's not great, but at least it's not poisonous (stinky foot smell aside).
And finally, I think when things settle down a bit, we're going to get some pet insurance. I'm starting to think we're foolish for not having it already.
UPDATE (and I'll try to keep it short): Jefferson is going on prednisone for the next couple of weeks. If he has inflammatory bowel disease, prednisone will help him and will enable him to eat. If he has pancreatitis, it might respond to the prednisone or the prednisone might make it worse, depending on the type of pancreatitis he has (there is an explanation for why he might have pancreatitis - he's had high creatinine numbers both times they've done bloodwork). No matter what, the prednisone will be a tapered dose and hopefully he can get off of it completely. He did successfully eat some dry cat food while at the vet -- a couple of tablespoons, which is more than he's been able to hold down for the last two weeks, so I have a private hope that he is getting better on his own somehow. If that's the case, the prednisone shouldn't hurt him, and he won't become dependent on it or anything like that. If he continues to vomit or refuse food over the weekend, we will have to take him back to the vet on Monday, most likely for exploratory surgery. We're really hoping that this will give him a chance to eat and keep food down so that he can get his caloric intake up, and then we can wean him off of the prednisone for good. We're picking him up when Chris gets home from work, and I will be glad to have the little boy back home with us. I will be so glad to see him actually eat.
Unfortunately, when I was talking to the vet, I could hear that same little puppy making the same noises as last night in the background. I did ask her about the puppy (turns out it's a she) and the vet didn't seem to have a good feeling about the situation. :(
This all started on Saturday, October 12, when he vomited after eating. In reality, it may have started before then -- I can't totally remember -- it seems like it came on kind of gradually, or he'd been having some trouble off and on for a couple of weeks. But the 12th marks the point that things seemed to get worse. By the middle of the week we were ready to take him to the vet, which we did on Thursday the 17th. He had bloodwork and x-rays done and was found to be somewhat dehydrated, but there was nothing definitive, like a bad bloodwork result or a bottle cap showing up in his stomach on the x-ray. We took him home Friday afternoon and put him on a bland diet of rice (75%), chicken (12.5%), and cottage cheese (12.5%). He did fine for the first 24 hours, and I decided to add 5 pieces of his cat food to the bland mix on Sunday night. He vomited about 15 minutes after eating. He ate the bland mix three more times with success, and then Monday morning and afternoon he got sick again. We withheld food for 24 hours and fed him late Tuesday night, and he vomited an hour after eating. We withheld food again until about 5 pm on Wednesday (the 23rd), and he's not vomited since (except when he got a hold of a few slurps of milk from my cereal bowl that I stupidly left on the counter without rinsing out), but he's only eating 1/2 a teaspoon at a time.
So yesterday, after several phone calls to the vet's office, we decided to take him in and do something, although we didn't know what. The vet had worked up estimates of four different options: repeated bloodwork and x-rays, endoscopy, barium x-rays, and exploratory surgery. We totally ruled out the barium and the endoscopy, since we really didn't believe he had swallowed a foreign object, and ended up going for a fifth option, an ultrasound. After two hours at the vet last night, we left him there, and he had the ultrasound about 11 pm. I called the ultrasonographer at midnight after I got home from rehearsal, and he told me he'd found nothing remarkable. No foreign bodies, no real inflammation, no pancreatitis, pretty much nothing. They also did his bloodwork again and that all came out perfectly fine. They did do a fine needle aspirate of his liver to check for lipidosis (Fatty Liver Syndrome), and the results from that may take a few days. This morning I'm waiting to hear from the vet who is actually in charge of Jefferson's case, and I expect she will have some recommendation of what to do next. Maybe she's as puzzled as I am, which could explain why I haven't heard from her yet. What is wrong with our cat???? He's lost a pound in the last week - that's 7% of his body weight, folks - and even if he's not having liver problems now, he could start having them if he continues to not get enough calories.
On top of all this, the most heartbreaking thing happened while we were at the vet with Jefferson last night. A woman brought in an animal in an emergency - we never saw it, but we heard it, and based on the sounds we thought it might be a bird. The sounds were a combination of a shriek, a squawk, and a cry, and were quite possibly the worst sounds I have ever heard from an animal. Poor Jefferson was scrunching up his body, closing his eyes, and hiding his head under Chris's arm. I remember thinking to myself that I hoped it was a bird, surely it was a bird, because if it was a dog then it had to be suffering pretty badly. When our vet came back in with us, we asked her about it, and she explained that it was a puppy who had eaten a bunch of human medicine and was seizing. I started crying right then and there, which was pretty embarrassing, although she made me feel better by saying that even with her years as a vet, things like this are always disturbing to her. Before I got off the phone last night with the doctor who did Jefferson's ultrasound, I asked him about the puppy, and he said they'd drugged him up (I think with valium) and I think he said they'd operated to get the pills out of his stomach (he used some big word but I think that's what he meant) and that now they just had to see if they could outlast the effects of the toxins. I feel a little guilty for being so worried about an animal I've never laid eyes on when my own cat is sick, but I think I will probably ask about the puppy the next time I talk to our vet. I am so thankful that so far none of our animals have been that sick, and I hope they never are. I am thankful that we are pretty careful with stuff around the house, and that the worst thing anyone has ever swallowed is a sock. Granted, that's not great, but at least it's not poisonous (stinky foot smell aside).
And finally, I think when things settle down a bit, we're going to get some pet insurance. I'm starting to think we're foolish for not having it already.
UPDATE (and I'll try to keep it short): Jefferson is going on prednisone for the next couple of weeks. If he has inflammatory bowel disease, prednisone will help him and will enable him to eat. If he has pancreatitis, it might respond to the prednisone or the prednisone might make it worse, depending on the type of pancreatitis he has (there is an explanation for why he might have pancreatitis - he's had high creatinine numbers both times they've done bloodwork). No matter what, the prednisone will be a tapered dose and hopefully he can get off of it completely. He did successfully eat some dry cat food while at the vet -- a couple of tablespoons, which is more than he's been able to hold down for the last two weeks, so I have a private hope that he is getting better on his own somehow. If that's the case, the prednisone shouldn't hurt him, and he won't become dependent on it or anything like that. If he continues to vomit or refuse food over the weekend, we will have to take him back to the vet on Monday, most likely for exploratory surgery. We're really hoping that this will give him a chance to eat and keep food down so that he can get his caloric intake up, and then we can wean him off of the prednisone for good. We're picking him up when Chris gets home from work, and I will be glad to have the little boy back home with us. I will be so glad to see him actually eat.
Unfortunately, when I was talking to the vet, I could hear that same little puppy making the same noises as last night in the background. I did ask her about the puppy (turns out it's a she) and the vet didn't seem to have a good feeling about the situation. :(
10.22.2002
Whew. Right now my life is like one of those Himalaya-style rides at a carnival, and it's stuck on high speed and I can't get off. Things are crazy. The weekend started off pretty good... Saturday was an amazing day in terms of getting things accomplished and loose ends tied up. We now know how we're spending our Christmas vacation, we finally got in touch with our landlord, we took the dogs to the vet for routine checkups and shots, went to Cary for dog food, returned the networking hardware to Office Depot, and carved our pumpkin and roasted the seeds. Sunday was not so good. Chris worked, and I laid out a long list of things to get done, but I really just felt like sitting and watching the race. I ended up only getting a few things crossed off the list. Monday morning it really went downhill. Jefferson can't seem to keep food down -- he went to the vet Thursday and spent the night there, and was doing better until Monday morning, when he vomited right as I was getting ready to leave for work. I ended up staying home, trying to work from home and get in touch with the vet's office, and the day didn't go very smoothly. Studying for my test was also thrown into the mix... and now here I am, at noon on Tuesday, the test behind me and things relatively under control with the pets at home, feeling like maybe I've just started to catch my breath for the first time. It's only temporary though, because the next 36 hours or so will be a whirlwind, with tomorrow night being my next chance to pause -- but wait, then I've got to work on the RR newsletter! We have rehearsal Thursday night... by Friday I'll be a wreck if I don't figure out some way to slow things down or at least manage my response to the hectic pace. Sheesh. Sometimes I feel like I'm not sitting in a seat on that ride, but barely hanging on to the handlebars, trying to keep from getting thrown off completely and landing face first in the dirt.
Okay, that was kind of a rant. Not sure I was planning on laying that out like that, but whatever...
Okay, that was kind of a rant. Not sure I was planning on laying that out like that, but whatever...
10.20.2002
Three Faces of a Pumpkin
Last weekend we picked up a nice pumpkin at the Farmers' Market, and this weekend we carved it:
Last weekend we picked up a nice pumpkin at the Farmers' Market, and this weekend we carved it:
10.19.2002
Ugh, I am still having trouble getting our network set up. I am on the phone with Linksys, all ready to ask them why the laptop keeps telling me there is no network card, even though I finally got a clean install on it today. Of course, I've been holding and listening to some really bad Muzak for over 15 minutes now, with no sign of a human being -- and this is NOT a toll-free call (thank goodness for unlimited night and weekend minutes on the cell phone). I'm going to be bummed if there's no way to get this to work.
10.16.2002
A funny thing happened yesterday. I was home alone around dinner time, and the doorbell rang. Thinking it might be someone I knew, I went to the door, holding Henry by the collar with my left hand. A high-school aged girl was standing there with a clipboard, looking like she was ready to sell me something or get a donation. She said, "Are your parents home?" I did a bit of a double take, and then realized that since I'd changed out of my work clothes, and my wedding rings were likely buried in Henry's fur, I probably didn't look all that old. My intial reaction was to be a bit offended, but it was quickly replaced by the realization that if I went along with her question, I wouldn't have to deal with her. So I said (truthfully, I might add), "No." She asked when they'd be back, and here I lied, telling her they'd be back later that night. She said okay and left. My dad looks a lot younger than his true age... I wonder if I've inherited that from him. I guess I should take it as a compliment, and probably in a few more years I won't take the slightest bit of offense if it happens again!
10.14.2002
Tonight's shooting happened 4 miles from where Ryan and Huyen used to live. Again, I don't want to make a bigger deal out of this than it should be, since I'm safe and sound down here in Raleigh and I have little to worry about compared to DC area residents. It's just that I still feel a pretty strong VA connection, having gone to W&M and because a lot of our family is in southwestern VA. We gave some thought to moving to DC instead of NC when we were ready to leave PA, and we know a lot of people up in NOVA and MD, and we've spent a good bit of time there visiting friends. I guess I've got a bad case of the "what if's" and I really, really wish they'd catch this nut.
I think things are going well with the site move, and I think propagation is pretty much complete. Anybody had any problems?
10.11.2002
Gettin' Too Big Fer Yer Britches!
The time has come for shaverfamily.org to move to a bigger (but not necessarily greener) pasture. The site has grown too large for its current account at Webservepro and is relocating to Dixie Systems. The service I've gotten from Webservepro and Ryan has been phenomenal, but it's time to move on. I don't expect the move to cause any downtime, but we'll see - I've never done this before and could always screw something up in the process!
The time has come for shaverfamily.org to move to a bigger (but not necessarily greener) pasture. The site has grown too large for its current account at Webservepro and is relocating to Dixie Systems. The service I've gotten from Webservepro and Ryan has been phenomenal, but it's time to move on. I don't expect the move to cause any downtime, but we'll see - I've never done this before and could always screw something up in the process!
I guess it's not really that big a deal, but Chris and I just figured out that the Exxon in Massaponax, VA (scene of the latest sniper shooting) is right next door to the Ramada where we spent the night when we moved to Raleigh in August of 2001. Exxon: 5326 Jefferson Davis Highway, Ramada: 5324. Sheesh. Somehow it seems worse, or maybe just closer to home, when you know you've been there before. I think I have stopped at that station once or twice, but I actually prefer the Exxon that's at the same exit but on the other side of I-95. I hope all of our friends up that way stay safe.
The pics from the horse show turned out better than I expected... they were a lot better than the digital pics, actually. I just can't tell you how happy that FE2 makes me. :)
Chris's mom and stepdad picked up a couple of cool shirts for us (thanks!!) while they were in Maine in September. Chris took the Timberland one that happened to have his year of birth on the front - I guess he and Timberland are the same age! Now we'll always know! Anyway, my shirt is from Life is Good and has this picture on the front, which reminds me of Hannah:
Chris's mom and stepdad picked up a couple of cool shirts for us (thanks!!) while they were in Maine in September. Chris took the Timberland one that happened to have his year of birth on the front - I guess he and Timberland are the same age! Now we'll always know! Anyway, my shirt is from Life is Good and has this picture on the front, which reminds me of Hannah:
10.08.2002
We had a super time at the horse show in Asheville this past weekend. It was good to visit with my family and I also felt like I got to learn more about working with horses - now I just need to learn how to ride! I was very proud of Sydney - it was her first time riding a true Tennesse Walking Horse in a show (her horse, Troubles, is English-gaited and light shod, which means he doesn't kick his front legs out like you'd expect a walking horse to do). She did great on Fireball.
I also have decided that if I'm going to keep attending these shows, I'm going to have to get a flash for my FE2. This one was held in an indoor arena and even when it was still light out, the fluorescent lighting just didn't provide the shutter speed needed to stop the action on a moving horse. I think I only shot one roll of film - I'll get it back tomorrow, along with the color roll I shot in Buffalo. We'll see how the horse show pics turn out, but I'm not holding my breath.
I also have decided that if I'm going to keep attending these shows, I'm going to have to get a flash for my FE2. This one was held in an indoor arena and even when it was still light out, the fluorescent lighting just didn't provide the shutter speed needed to stop the action on a moving horse. I think I only shot one roll of film - I'll get it back tomorrow, along with the color roll I shot in Buffalo. We'll see how the horse show pics turn out, but I'm not holding my breath.
10.04.2002
I have been meaning to rant about the Senate race in NJ for a couple days now. I have put it off because partly because of lack of time but also because it has made me pretty angry. Politics usually don't get me riled up. I have always enjoyed politics as somewhat of a spectator sport, rooting for my team but with enough cynicism to have a bit of distrust of all politicians. I watched with bemusement the nearly month long debacle in Florida in 2000. I knew my guy had the law on his side and eventually right would prevail; in the meantime it was fun to watch each side manuever. I've taken my own civic duties seriously and have voted in nearly every election for which I was eligible even voting by absentee ballot when I was in college.
All that said I haven't enjoyed watching the breakdown of the election process in New Jersey. It has been frustrating watching the Democrats pull a bait and switch and saying with no shame that it was only based on polls and the fact that they feared their candidate wouldn't win. Though what makes me most angry is that they are getting away with it, at least so far. If the U.S. Supreme Court allows them to get away with it then it will have set a horrible precedent. If parties are allowed to replace a candidate after an established deadline simply because they fear they are going to lose, then primaries become worthless and the will of the majority of people who voted in that primary is frustrated.
What irks me most is that this legal action is all so unnecessary. There is no need to ignore lawful deadlines and reprint ballots. If the New Jersey Democrats don't think that Torricelli can win then they can use that $800,000 to educate the New Jersey electorate on how to spell L-A-U-T-E-N-B-E-R-G. It's called a write-in campaign and it perfectly legal and has been used successfully before, most recently in the DC mayorial primary after Mayor Anthony Williams failed to make the ballot because of campaign violations. I realize Lautenberg is not the easiest name to spell (I had trouble with it myself) but it shouldn't be too difficult for New Jersians since he retired two years ago after 18 years as their Senator.
There are other things that have made me angry but the only other thing I want to mention since it seems to have been passed over everywhere else is the fact that the NJSC is making the Democrats pay for the replacement ballot. On the face of it it seems only fair but again I think it sets a bad precedent to have parties directly funding elections. It's illegial (at least it will be this time next year) for a candidate to run an ad but it's legal for a party to pay for the printing of ballots? It's bad, bad, bad policy and law.
Here's hoping the U.S. Supreme Court brings some sanity (and rule of law) back to New Jersey.
All that said I haven't enjoyed watching the breakdown of the election process in New Jersey. It has been frustrating watching the Democrats pull a bait and switch and saying with no shame that it was only based on polls and the fact that they feared their candidate wouldn't win. Though what makes me most angry is that they are getting away with it, at least so far. If the U.S. Supreme Court allows them to get away with it then it will have set a horrible precedent. If parties are allowed to replace a candidate after an established deadline simply because they fear they are going to lose, then primaries become worthless and the will of the majority of people who voted in that primary is frustrated.
What irks me most is that this legal action is all so unnecessary. There is no need to ignore lawful deadlines and reprint ballots. If the New Jersey Democrats don't think that Torricelli can win then they can use that $800,000 to educate the New Jersey electorate on how to spell L-A-U-T-E-N-B-E-R-G. It's called a write-in campaign and it perfectly legal and has been used successfully before, most recently in the DC mayorial primary after Mayor Anthony Williams failed to make the ballot because of campaign violations. I realize Lautenberg is not the easiest name to spell (I had trouble with it myself) but it shouldn't be too difficult for New Jersians since he retired two years ago after 18 years as their Senator.
There are other things that have made me angry but the only other thing I want to mention since it seems to have been passed over everywhere else is the fact that the NJSC is making the Democrats pay for the replacement ballot. On the face of it it seems only fair but again I think it sets a bad precedent to have parties directly funding elections. It's illegial (at least it will be this time next year) for a candidate to run an ad but it's legal for a party to pay for the printing of ballots? It's bad, bad, bad policy and law.
Here's hoping the U.S. Supreme Court brings some sanity (and rule of law) back to New Jersey.
10.01.2002
