Living an EXTRAordinary Life

Some of you know Hallie.  If you have read any of the three previous posts, you’ve at least heard of her.

The craziness started last week during one of my nightly visits.  She was sitting on my lap and her nail got stuck in the blanket.  When she jumped down, her leg was askew.  It was sticking out and hanging.  It was very disconcerting and freaky.  I didn’t know what to do, but was getting up to get the carrier to take her to the emergency room.  But the leg went back to normal.  Whew.  I didn’t think much more of it.

A few days later, when I trimmed her nails, the leg popped out again.  I was able to put it back.  That is a level of freaky that I didn’t think I’d ever get to.  So I called her vet who explained that it the nerves have deteriorated and could no longer control the muscle.  He said the leg needs amputated and set me up for the next available surgery day, which was yesterday.

All weekend, I wasn’t sure if I did the right thing.  I was nervous.  I didn’t want her to lose the leg, although I understood why it happens.  I have seen dozens of animals recover quickly from an amputation.  It’s no big deal.  Until its your pet of course.  I just felt that there is something more wrong with her.

She had been losing weight over the last year … and I felt that there was something wrong with her, but blood tests showed nothing remarkable.  High calcium and high platelet count was it, neither of which tell us much and she was on a wait and watch status.

Well, in the last two months, she has lost an additional half pound.  The vet was very concerned about this and called me immediately.  He felt that it is too hasty to amputate … that we need to get behind the weight loss first.  So they gave her a dental cleaning since she was under and drew blood and gave her an x-ray.

The x-ray confirmed the doctor’s original thoughts and diagnosis, and amputation would be the proper thing to do.  It is her elbow that is actually messed up, not her shoulder.  A feline leukemia and FIV test is also negative.  Her blood tests showed regular platelets (meaning that the previous elevation was due to stress, as we found out, that can happen), and high calcium and CPK.   Nobody really knows why cats get high calcium or what to do for it, and CPK is an indicator of muscle wasting, which we know she has, you can see that just looking at her.  The high CPK can mean something with her heart or it can be cancer.

We won’t know unless we do some further testing, seeing a specialist who would probably give her an ultrasound and/or exploratory surgery.   Since she almost didn’t wake up from the anesthesia, we are not going to proceed.  It’s too risky.  We’ll keep her on a wait and watch basis, and if she gets sick we will deal with it.  I am accepting that she has cancer, and since there are no malfunctioning organs, I would imagine its an immune type or a bone cancer, although that is NOT a diagnosis my vet can give us at this point.  And, in case you are wondering, she is only six years old.

She was shaved for the amputation and also along her back where she had some mats … she looks very goofy right now.  I hope to add a photo of that to this post someday.

She was rightfully angry when I brought her home after spending the night at the vet.  She growled at me (and she has never done that) while inhaling food and when I was visiting with her, she pretty much just snubbed me.  So I’d say that she is doing just fine!

Thanks for reading.

I never used to watch The Food Network.  I thought that it would be boring and make me hungry.  I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to sit around and watch food shows all day.  That was close to the insanity of watching a home shopping channel, but not as bad as watching golf or bowling.

As it turns out, though, they have some interesting shows.  I like Alton Brown’s Good Eats. I’ve learned cooking techniques and about differences in various types of foods (onions, potatoes).  He is funny, sometimes just corny.  Ace of Cakes; Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives; Unwrapped; Challenge … all shows that are entertaining in their own right.   Have you ever seen Emeril?  He never prepares anything that either me or my husband would eat and I think he would be truly stumped by having to create a healthy meal.

And that is my pet peeve with the network.  There is a significant lack of healthy cooking.   I’ve heard that there are shows that do have healthy cooking, but I’ve yet to see it.   However … vegetarians?  Oh forget about it, cause apparently we don’t exist … and if someone does remember that there is such a creature they get it wrong.  Not that I spend a lot of time watching tv in general, I am talking maybe an hour a week with this channel, and different shows each time, as we watch at different times.

Imagine my excitement, when one day Matt turned on the Rachel Ray show 30 Minute Meals, and found out that it is vegetarian day!  Whoo-Hoo!  Let’s see what we do with that.   It was predictable, salad/veggies and pasta.  That is a typical, not very familiar with vegetarian eating standard food.  Everything was going well, she made a cold chickpea and vegetable salad that looked tasty enough that I modified it a tiny bit and made it for my family’s Memorial Day picnic. It was a big hit.  Then she made another type of salad, and included mozzarella cheese.  Okay, that is vegetarian, but if you have a vegan, that is out.  Then to the pasta … spaghetti noodles, grilled vegetables mixed in to a homemade cheesy sauce that included, wait for it …. chicken stock! Yes!  Chicken stock!  Didn’t you know that chicken stock is vegetarian?  Grrrr…….   what a dope! (to quote a good friend of mine).

No … chicken stock is NOT vegetarian! I hope she didn’t really serve that to some actual vegetarians!  If they ate that and then went back and saw the show, they would be pissed off!  Seriously so.

Today, while we were eating our breakfast, we flipped the station on and came across a show that we had never heard of.  Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello.   It was a cooking on the grill episode, naturally, with this being Memorial Day and all.   I learned that many Caesar Salads have anchovies in them.  Eww!  Good thing I never eat Caesar Salad (warning to my vegetarian readers who eat those in restaurants!).   After he made his gross buffet of various animal products, he started on the grilled mozzarella cheese, the potatoes, the bread and zucchini.   Oh boy a vegetarian delight!  He did mention that the vegetables were to appease his vegetarian friends.  What he didn’t realize is that … he cooked the vegetables directly on top of various animal fat!  It’s not vegetarian anymore.

What would these chefs do if handed some tofu, tempeh or seitan?  They’d be perplexed.  Tell them no broth except vegetable and don’t cook with the animals … their heads would probably explode.

The Food Network is doing vegetarians a disservice.  If they are not going to cook it appropriately, they shouldn’t label it as such!

But never fear, I will be here to give you the right information!

One last lesson for tonight, my friends. Fish is an animal.   Fish is NOT a vegetarian food.

Last night, Matt and I headed out for a six mile run.  We weren’t sure if we would go six or seven, as it all depended on how many little humans might be in the baseball field and we feel kind of silly running around the loop several times if they are there.   Turns out, there were kids, but there was also a killer dog … that dog determined it would only be six miles!  He actually wasn’t a killer dog, he was a very friendly boisterous dog who didn’t want to heel with his owner, he wanted to run with us.  That happens a lot.

Anyway, when we were about 9:28 into our run, I glanced at my Garmin to see how fast I was going and how much further until I reached one mile.  I always think I am going to stop to walk at mile one, but I usually keep going.    The Garmin indicated that I was already at one mile.  Whoo Hoo.  Except … not really.  We were more like at .75.   I don’t know what happened, but the Garmin was obviously infected by a virus.

I actually enjoyed the malfunctioning mileage counter.  I loved seeing how fast I was accumulating the miles.  Normally, this only happens in my imagination.  But I had concrete, er, electronic proof that I was a speedy little runner last night.

According to my Garmin, I ran 9.78 miles in 1:14:15.  Oh how I only wish.  I really only went 6.2.  But I can still enjoy pretending.

And speaking of killer animals, yesterday Hallie insisted on coming down to the main living quarters.  She was down here for about 45 minutes, and encountered several cats.  Nobody picked on her, but they were all curious, therefore, they were not ignoring her.  Nobody got into a fight.  However, when she was ready to return to her suite, Cole was standing next to it, staring her down.  He at the top of the stairs, she on the landing.  Just staring at each other.  Neither seemed stressed though.  I don’t know who would have won, as I ended it but picking up Cole and locking him in the bathroom so that the poor girl could get upstairs and settle down.

After our run and dinner, I attempted to finish the baby blanket I am working on.  I had sewn the sides together earlier, however, I had decided to use 1″ seams instead of the 1/2″ as determined by the pattern and, as any one who has any mathematical inclination can tell you (which is obviously not me), the sides were too short.  So I just finished up ripping them apart to make according to the original directions.  Note to self:  Cut bigger pieces of fabric if you want larger seams!

Since I just signed up for this blog today, I felt I should write something, even though I really don’t have anything exceptional to say today.

Do I lead an extraordinary life?  I don’t know.  I like to think I do.  Some days are just extremely ordinary and sometimes dull.  However, I’ve been to China and 25% of the United States, so I am not entirely boring.

I will do my best not to bore you to tears, and I have no idea what direction this blog will take, if any.  So bear with me, and together we will see how the blog develops and grows.  I run a lot and do yoga.  You’ll hear about those adventures.  My family.  My animal rescue tales as a vet tech and feline behaviorist.  My travels.  And, of course, my cats.

Meanwhile, the most exciting thing to happen to me today was a positive interaction between my youngest cat, Cole, and Hallie the destroyer.  For those of you who don’t know Hallie, she is quite the interesting cat.  She is a gray tabby of slight stature.  But her temperament is another matter.  Most humans and all other cats annoy her.  And she is quite antagonistic about it.   She survives in this kitty den by living on the third floor all by herself.  She is happy up there.  She would probably like my company more often, but two hours a day, usually, she gets my divided attention.

Cole, who at 2.5 years old, still very much a kitten, is obsessed with her.  His favorite pastime is running past me on the stairs to get up there and explore.  His favorite thing to do once he gets up there is to eat her food.  As he doesn’t get dry food, he finds her food very exotic.   Usually, when he runs up there, Hallie will instantly attack him and hiss.  Over the years though, she has gotten a little mellower and after her initial attack, she’ll back off and watch.  However, if I try to interact with her, she will turn her frustration on to me.  This is called redirected aggression.

Today, however, while Cole was happily munching on Hallie’s food, I noticed that her water bowl was dirty, resulting in my having to dump the water and clean the bowl.  The remarkable thing was that Hallie came over to me while I was doing it and let me pet her.  Yep.  No aggressive behavior.  Then I scooped her litter boxes and she rubbed against me.  All while Cole was invading her space and eating her food.  I eventually picked up Cole, refilled her food bowl and came downstairs.   I was so proud of Hallie!

The rest of the day was actually productive for me, and I won’t bore you with the details.  But it is noteworthy that the Max & Erma’s restaurant in Robinson Township got my order right.

Till next time!