Well, after mucking around with a new Template and header for about three-quarters of a wasted hour, before deciding that I really didn’t like it after all and ditching it – I’m finally starting to write! Oh well, I might keep working on it later on, but I don’t like “narrow” blocks of text – I feel it makes the writing look “cramped”, and squashed up… So, what have we been up to today? Oh! My computer stuffed up this morning, for one thing – and that wasted both Julian’s and my time for a while – I sat on the couch and read while he fossicked around in my files and what-not, to see if he could find and fix the problem – well, he’s fixed it – for now – but it’s still doing strange things, and he’ll need a bit longer to get to the bottom of it – but at the moment it’s working alright, and there are more important things that have to be done. The main problem was that I couldn’t download anything! It was actually a problem with our anti-virus software, which suddenly decided that everything I wanted to download was a virus! Something along those lines, anyway – as you all know, I’m totally non-technical, and while I sort-of understand Julian’s explanations, and can follow what he’s talking about, I’m afraid that the more esoteric aspects of some of the technical issues are beyond my area of expertise! (ahhh… that’s really just a fancy way of me saying that I don’t have a clue, OK?! 😉 ) So once my inability to download had been patched, he went back to his work, and I went back to playing WoW, where I finally got Kødiak up to level 20, and bought her a Riding Licence. At the moment she’s still in Lakeshire, attempting to recruit some help in repelling an Orc invasion, and while she’s busy organising that 😉 I’ve gone off and created yet another new character! This time I’ve created a Goblin Hunter, and I’ve called her “Andronica” – no fancy letters or accents – because I was looking for a starting area that I was virtually totally unfamiliar with – and although I have created Goblins in the past, I’ve never kept them for very long – not even long enough to completely finish off the starting area! I think I’m almost at the end of the starting area, and Andronica seems to be doing well enough at the moment – but… we’ll see how she goes! 🙂 It’s a lot more complicated? messy? busy? than any of the other starting areas – you have to drive a car, for instance, and the Goblin community is very crowded and higgledy-piggledy – there are “sort-of” roads that (I think!) you’re supposed to drive on, but it doesn’t seem to mind if you do decide to go “off-road”, and there are lots of walls in the way, that by the time you get around them, you find yourself going in completely the wrong direction! Anyway, I found it very crowded, cramped, and confusing – but that was probably due to the fact that I’m not as familiar with the Goblin area as I am with the other ones!
We got the results of Flipper’s blood tests this afternoon, and according to the Vet, none of the results they got this time were very different from the those of the last set of tests she had done, in October last year – which is very good! So now we have to decide whether she should have her rotten tooth removed or not! Because her results this time showed virtually no change – that is, her organs haven’t deteriorated a lot, despite her age – her kidneys are slowly failing, but because we’re keeping her blood pressure under control with medication, as well as giving her extra potassium, at the moment they’re holding their own. The anesthetic could be a problem though, and quite often the sort of trauma suffered by an old cat after surgery could trigger a decline that we might not be able to pull her out of. On the other hand, the tooth is infected, and if allowed to persist could put a strain on her kidneys, her heart, or both! We talked about using antibiotics to clear up the infection, and the Vet said that although they would certainly clean it up temporarily, and she’d be more comfortable, unless the actual seat of the infection (her rotten tooth) was corrected, it would definitely keep flaring up. If we do go ahead with the dental extraction, they’d put her on a drip in hospital for a day before doing the surgery, then keep her hospitalised and on a drip (to keep her hydrated and medicated) for at least 48 hours after the surgery – she’d be getting pain relief, her favourite food, and if necessary, an appetite stimulant, until the Vets were happy that she was eating normally again. She’d also be getting injections of antibiotics, rather than the antibiotic paste, so as not to injure her healing mouth – all in all, we know she’d be in good hands and that they’d be looking after her well. I think we probably will go down the surgical path because of the dangers posed by not removing that tooth. The infection is pouring toxins into her bloodstream, and it’ll only get worse – at the moment it’s not adversely affecting her kidneys or her heart, but if it goes on much longer, it will. And she’s in pain. Anyway, we have the weekend to think about it and we’ll talk with the Vet again on Monday or Tuesday.
Food stuffz: last night we had a delicious little piece of fillet steak each, I had my standard five chips, green beans, and half a tomato, plus my diet jelly (still the raspberry and licorice one) For lunch today we had a wrap – not the yummy flat-bread that Coles make, this was just your usual, everyday pita bread stuff – with the basil pesto hummus, some quinoa tabouli salad, some sliced ham, and (I think?) some capsicum batons? Anyway, it was très yummy! 🙂 Tonight we’re having sausages – probably the King Island Beef ones – with all the usual suspects… except for the tomato! Julian just came in and said there were no tomatoes left, because they’d started to go mouldy – probably because it’s been so humid lately! Anyway, I believe we’re having carrots instead – so not quite the usual! 🙂 I’m hoping to have one of his low-fat yoghurts for dessert tonight – if we’re out of tomatoes he’ll have to go shopping sometime tomorrow – so if we’re running low on the yoghurts, he can get some more then! 🙂
Weigh-in this morning. Well, I think my hypothesis was correct! With cooler temperatures, and a lot less humidity, I suddenly shed a whole heap of fluid! I went down six points this morning, from 64.0kg to 63.4kg – and with any luck, I should be down again tomorrow! (cross fingers, touch wood!) I did get my two 1.5 kilometer walks in yesterday, and again today, so that should help too! I’m very curious to see what the scales have to say tomorrow – and I’m quite intrigued as to how, and why, the heat and humidity seem to play such an important role in my weight, and the amount of fluid retention!
I’m not too sure what’s happening tomorrow – if it’s cool enough, I may go shopping with Julian – I have a few things I want to look at, and I’d also like to measure my bathroom drawers and go to Howards Storage World to get some “drawer divider” baskets or what-nots – at the moment the drawers are all messy and everything seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, if you know what I mean! Anyway, that’s about it from me again for this evening – but never fear! I shall be back again tomorrow night, so please feel free to drop in again to see how far I’ve managed to get Andronica, if my weight is still going down, or if it’s determined to make a liar out of me by going back up again! I’m sure you’ll all be interested in whether I went shopping with Julian, and if I got myself some drawer-divider thingies or not – but all the answers will be waiting for you, right here, this time (or maybe slightly later, depending on how distracted I get!) tomorrow night! Until then though, do try to bee good, don’t forget that if plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters (204 if you’re in Japan!) and remember to keep warm – or cool – depending on your preferences, to look after yourselves, and to drive carefully – but above all, remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 