O.P. Update

OP's heart has been determined "high-normal" which basically means it is ok, although it is on the large side. But the plus is that for now, his heart is not enlarged, and he won't need super expensive pills every day to keep it functioning properly.

OP had his bladder stone surgery last Monday and ended up spending two nights in the hospital. I missed him dearly and went to visit and cuddle him each day. Because he is a fat cat, who hadn't been eating and the ultrasound had brought up some questions regarding the health of his liver, the vets took a piece of liver during the surgery for a biopsy. Unfortunately, this means that my poor baby ended up having an incision approximately four inches longer than he would have needed if they had only removed the stone. That's right, four inches, he was sliced from about his sternum all the way through his belly.

Turns out he doesn't have fatty liver syndrome, which is good, but he does have microshunts, which means that the blood and nutrients are not quite flowing at optimal levels. For now, apparently vitamin E should help keep them from getting worse.

Overall, OP is recovering well at home, although he is still being moderately picky about the food. He is not overly keen on the canned food I am supposed to feed him, but I can understand that as it was what they fed him at the hospital. Once his bladder stone is analyzed, the vet is going to contact the food company and discuss OP's particular issues and find the right diet for him. Hopefully it won't be too costly.

O.P. = Sick

I am sad to report, that my 4 year old baby, is not feeling all that well. Seems he has bladder stones which have been making him pee blood, and will require surgery for removal. In a female cat they can try and remedy the problem via diet, but in a male the crystals can create blockages which could potentially lead to death...So surgery it is. Under normal circumstances he would be getting an operation immediately, but since the stones are not life threatening and are not his major problem, surgery will have to wait.

Even more concerning is that my poor little OP has a heart rate of 246-248, and the ideal range is 120-160 with the max acceptable heart rate of about 180 in cats. So as you can imagine the poor guys heart is working overtime. They think it is likely myopathy which is a thickening of the heart muscles: since the heart chamber can no longer hold as much blood as normal, the heart starts working harder to pump more blood and thus elevates the heart rate.

The vet has given me some blood pressure pills for him to help thin the blood and hopefully bring the heart rate down, but they can't be sure what the problem is until he has an ultrasound. After the ultrasound they will hopefully be able to accurately determine what is wrong and medicate him. When his heart rate becomes more normal then it will be much safer to anethetize him for the bladder stone surgery.

Luckily, the vet classed OP as priority and I am taking him for the ultrasound tomorrow afternoon.

Kitties and Birthday's

So it's been a while, but I have been oodles of busy!

My mom turned 50 last week,so of course there was a need to buy a super fabulous present and having left it a little later than I wanted, I was worried I may not be able to find the present I wanted. But fortunately my brain kicked in and I got the best present ever.

Since my mom's cat Parker was hit by a car two years ago, my mom has been wanting a new cat, but as my mom had told me numerous times, "Daddy says no more pussies" and I had been unable to convince her to do it anyways. So risking the wrath of dad, I headed out to the SPCA where I found a beautiful black kitten with two small white patches on her neck and belly.

My mom was like a kid at Christmas as she scooped her out of the box, and although not entirely happy, my dad behaved himself and actually had the kitty in his arms within a few minutes. My mom immediately dubbed the little black ball of fur SPOOKY. She is very calm and placid, and definitely knows who the momma is, following her around and sleeping next to her on the couch.

Again since it was her 50th birthday, there was a need for a party. My dad organized a big surprise party on Saturday which went extremely well. Mom was happy and the place looked beautiful!

In the grand spirit of birthday's, my Dad turned 51 today and I am heading over there this evening for a dinner of--my favourite--roast beef!

The Way I See It #47

Wild salmon are the canaries in the coal mines of our own world.
-Bill Taylor
wild salmon advocate

Courtesy of my disposable (bad, bad, me) starbucks coffee cup today. My cup also tells me I can find more here!

Broken Brother

As you may or may not know my brother has always had a bit of a knack for getting hurt and being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It is almost inevitable that if someone is going to get hurt, it will be him. He plays hard, and when you play hard sometimes you fall hard.

Recently Ad has taken up yet another dangerous but ultimately fun hobby: riding motorcycles. He received his license with zero demerits, always gears up with safety equipment and tries to remain safe while still having fun.

Last weekend he took a trip to Princeton with a group of approximately 15 people. They had a fun and relaxing ride, followed by what sounded like a lovely lunch. About 20 minutes into the ride home, trouble hit. As Ad rounded the corner, he failed to see some debris and glass on the road and when his bike rode through it he lost traction and became friends with the ditch.

fortunately a very nice trucker offered to load his bike up on his empty truck and take it back to his home base in Abbotsford, which made it much easier to retrieve the bike a few days later. Since his entire party was riding motorcycles, getting back to the city would have been very difficult were not for another set of good samaritans who loaded them into their minivan and drove him to the Abby hospital.

Although his helmet would have you think otherwise, Ad is basically ok. He has a broken shoulder (scapula to be exact) and some bruising in his legs. But in my books walking away from a motorcycle crash on a curvy highway with only a broken shoulder is DAMN LUCKY!

His bike is a write-off and ICBC is going to give him money for his bike, helmet and lost wages until EI kicks in, so overall the situation really could have been much worse. I'm just happy he is ok.

Ear Candles

Ear candles are long, skinny, hollow, wax covered pieces of material that you place in your ear and light on fire. The heat from the flame creates a vacuum in your ear and sucks out most of the dirt, grime, debris and grossness that can be found within our ears. I had heard--from a fair amount of people--that ear candling was both effective and soothing.

The whole idea has piqued my interest for quite some time, but I never managed to get my hands on a pair until recently. I was in a little health shop on Davie and when I asked the clerk she scooped up a bucket from its hiding place and I had my first set of ear candles.

A little bit of internet research later, and I was ready to try out this new experience. A helper is necessary for ear candling, so J and I decided to use one candle each and split it between both ears. I imagine the experience would have been better if we had used a whole candle per ear, perhaps next time.

As for the experience itself, it was very soothing to hear the crackle of the flame and feel the warmth of the fire within my ear. I'm certain that the calming presence of someone you love watching over you, keeping you safe from the flame made all the difference in the world.

Although pleasing, the sensations were mild, quite different than I had expected. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and found that although not significantly improved, my hearing seemed crisper, clearer, more pure if you will. I will definitely try again, and recommend ear candles to those whose interest is now piqued.