After the small hike, I conned the local rosewood carver into selling me a chunk of rosewood to take back to mom for use in inlays. Yes, she appreciated it and was all excited....

We headed back down to the beautiful beach, where we watched wildlife and wild dogs and cats, and had some beverages as we relaxed for an hour or so before reboarding our boat for the ride back to Puerto Vallarta.

The Oosterdam whilst in dock in Puerto Vallarta

After our tour, we reboarded the ship to shower and refresh, then headed back out into town for dinner and drinks and some generalized wandering and investigation. It turns out that, even though this is our third time in Puerto Vallarta, Ethan and I had never actually set foot in the town--we land at the airport, then head north to Nuevo Vallarta, where we have always stayed in the past. Huh. But PV is awesome, and we enjoyed the sculptures and sand creations we saw as we moseyed the boardalk area.

We finally decided on a restaurant and had a light dinner and drinks watching the sun set over the ocean. Then it was time to head back to the ship once again, where a towel elephant awaited us in our stateroom.....

I will eventually finish my cruise postings...

Just sidetracked by cats and cat issues and life in general. I did finally resize the pro pics so I can post them. Here is one, check out the others on my facebook profile....

Guilty as charged

After consulting with a surgeon, internist and my regular veterinarian, we have reached the conclusion that there is nothing I can do for the Shadow Man other than supportive SQ fluids and potassium replacement (his K+ levels are low).

At first, I was at peace with this. Then I learned that there is actually a veterinary hospital in New York that has successfully treated many, many cats with ureteral stenting, and also ureteral bypass for the past 5 years. With an extremely successful postop success rate. According to one of the vets there, they have had cats die since they had this surgery, but none from kidney/surgery related issues. Shadow is a perfect candidate. They actually consider the surgery pretty minor, and will even do it in very sickly cats, but Shadow is very young and healthy and perfect. He could live another 10+ years after this minor surgery.


Except......


Except I can't afford it. So now I feel really guilty. They estimate $6-8K for the surgery and hospital stay in total, maybe as low as $5k because Shadow is so healthy and would likely be able to leave the hospital sooner. I don't have $6-8K plus travel expenses. We can't do this. I feel guilty. If his owner had oodles of cash, he would/could live a long and healthy life after stenting or bypassing this obstruction. But we can't afford that, so his life span is now unknown, but likely to be quite limited. Sucks. I almost wish I hadn't heard about this, because I was feeling OK with the idea that we were doing everything possible for Shadow, within the guidelines of keeping his quality of life as our determining factor for what we will or won't do. To know that there is a minimally invasive surgery with a permanent solution for him, that I simply cannot do for him because of my own financial status is crappy. The combination of tripling what we owed the IRS as compared to last year, and paying off all of Boo's vet bills and our spendy cruise vacation before Shadow was sick and now all of Shadow's current bills means that we are already in some credit card debt, and can't really go that much further in.

Anyway. Supportive fluids and potassium supplementation. He doesn't mind the fluids as much has he does that nasty potassium. I tasted it--smells sickly sweet, but tastes like gluey gaggy nothingness. I sure wouldn't want it smeared in my mouth twice a day. But, he forgives me a few minutes afterwards, so we are doing OK.

If it wasn't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all

Boo: After several thousands of dollars worth of tests and diagnostics and treatment, we now know that he has congenitally deformed kidneys, which are now barely functioning. He will be on every-other-day subcutaneous fluids and twice weekly calcitriol for the rest of his life.

Boo is currently thriving. His weight is up, he is happy and healthy and extremely energetic. His chronic renal failure is not holding him back at all.

Shadow: After XRays and ultrasounds and bloodwork, we now know that his left kidney is full of stones and all shrivelled up and not working. Probably been that way for several years now. No biggie, since you get two kidneys. Well, usually. His good (and now only) kidney is all dilated, and the ureter leading to the bladder is all dilated, up until some sort of blockage. It is not a stone--maybe some sort of infective process or hematoma or a tumor or god knows what. He does have a stone in his bladder, which could have come through his ureter and scratched it up, leading to any of the above. We don't know.

Within the next week, Shadow will either build up enough urine pressure behind the blockage (a little urine is getting through, so it is not a *complete* blockage at this time) to force it through, into the bladder, or the antibiotics we are giving him will shrink it, or he will have surgery to rotoroot it out, or surgery will show that whatever is there is not mobile and therefore not fixable, and Shadow will die.

Two random kidney problems in two genetically unrelated cats. Both congenital sort of problems, both diagnosed within a 6 month period. Both in kidney failure (one hopefully just acutely). Both living in my house, both holding a piece of my heart. This is really, really not fair.

The beautiful Swarovski crystal globe hanging over the atrium, as seen from the Pinnacle Grill



My steak (had to cook it a bit more because juiciness and blood scare me, but it was good)


Baked Alaska for dinner. We all 4 shared one serving. It had Cherry Garcia ice cream in the middle.


A towel swan awaited us in our room when we got back

Oh yeah--since we were all dressed up, we got formal pictures taken, and paid several arms, legs and a torso to bring them home. I will have to get Kim's versions and scan them as well. I totally forgot to post pictures from the previous night. We had formal pics taken then, also. And, now that I think of it--Monday wasn't a formal night. It was a fancy restaurant, and *that* is why we dressed up. And Kim's birthday and all that. Anyway. Pictures.

Nevermind. Formal pictures scanned so big, they are freezing up my computer. I will fix and try again. Here are pics of our dinner and the restaurant.

Ethan's seafood appetizer


French Onion soup for me. Not as good as the same soup in the main dining room, but still delicious.



Seafood amuse-bouche that I gave to Ethan. Apparantly it was delicious.


The beautiful china and chairs of the Pinnacle Grill

Since this was Kim's birthday, and one of the two formal nights on board, Kim and I decided to have our hair done. I got a fancy updo with crystals and 54 bobby pins (I counted as I took them out....), and Kim got curls for the evening






They weren't quite ready for us when we got to the Pinnacle Grill, so we headed to the nearby Pinnacle Bar for some pre-dinner cocktails while we awaited our table.

After our wanders, we headed up to the aft pool for some more lazing around. Scored a table right next to the pool which was convenient. Another warm, sunny day with a slight breeze to keep you from overheating.

You can just see Ethan and Justin on the back right corner of the pool in this pic. Random guest Steve in his purple shirt is just walking away from them (odd, odd guy who wanders around and gets very chatty with other passengers--we thought he worked for the cruise line, since he has on a shirt and tie. But he was a bit drunk, so I guess that should have been my first clue)

Cruise: Monday (at sea and scenic cruising)

Monday was our second sea day. It was also Kim's birthday. A little note: We seem to all (Ethan and I included) know that Kim likes the occasional glass of champagne. I think she had 5 or 6 total bottles of champagne gifted to her throughout this cruise. We need to branch out a bit =)

This morning, we got up bright and early (I think it was 8am), and headed up to the Crow's nest to see the scenic cruising of Bahia Magdelena. We were looking for whales and other sea life. As you can see by this photo, it was extremely foggy. I don't think the blaring foghorn on the ship was helpful in attracting wildlife, but we did manage to see a few whales in the bay, and the coastline was beautiful as the fog lifted a bit.



After our hour of scenic cruising, we moseyed back to our room, putzed a bit then headed down to the promenade deck to walk around a bit. We found this interesting patch of grass tucked away for the guide and service dogs on board. Never thought about it before....but they have to go somewhere!

Oosterdam, Day 1 (Saturday)

We just recently returned home from our cruise on the Holland America Line's Oosterdam (rhymes with toasterdam). I guess I
should preface these remarks by saying that we cruised on Holland America Cruiselines, and we got a screaming deal through our friend Kim, who works for the company in the Seattle office.

Our cruise left from San Diego, and travelled to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo san Lucas before returning to San Diego. We had a total of three days at sea as well. Maybe three and a half. We left San Diego Saturday afternoon, stayed at sea on Sunday, did some scenic cruising along a bay on Monday (but did not stop anywhere), then to PV on Tuesday, Mazatlan Wednesday, Cabo on Thursday, at sea on Friday and back to San Diego early Saturday morning.

Cruising is a lot of fun. Tons of things to see and do on the ship, and if you are blessed with a balcony (as we were), you can sit back and relax there and listen to the sounds of the ocean as the ship steams along.


Here is the Oosterdam at dock in San Diego. Picture taken from our room at the W Hotel where we stayed the night before the cruise.



After a leisurely morning, we gathered aaaaaaaall of our bags and took a taxi the 7 or 8 blocks to the ship. We breezed through the check-in process, and were able to head straight to our rooms. Ethan and I were impressed. Last cruise we took, we stayed in a shoebox with a porthole. Not so much, here.

View of the bed from the doorway to our balcony



Our bathroom--double sinks, a full tub and a walk-in shower so tiny I seriously got claustrophobic the one time I used it, despite the solid glass walls.




You can just see the couch and the door to the balcony here.

While I wait for this next set of picture to upload, here is a little bit about my thoughts on cruising....

Cruising can be spendy. Yes, your meals are all included in you fare.....but that is about it. Drinks (alcoholic, carbonated and juices) are not included. All those fancy pictures they take of you when you get off the ship?? Not included (but you don't have to pay to have the picture taken--just if you want to take it home when you see it later). The fancy steak restaurant on board?? Costs extra. They also try to entice you with art auctions and a casino.

There are exceptions to the charges above. At breakfast, you can get as much juice as you like for no charge. They had tons of different kinds of fruit juices in the main Lido buffet, and we also had several choices for room service. Room service is also free. They put a big card in your room at night with a list of breakfast choices, and you check the ones that you want, and pick what time you want your breakfast to be delivered. Ethan and I had Eggbeater ham and cheese omelets and OJ and bagels and cream cheese and English muffins and sausage and potatoes. Not all in the same breakfast, of course. Throughout our stay. Good food, delivered at a time
convenient to us.

If you drink alcohol, you can save some money in a few ways. HAL allows you to bring aboard as much wine or champagne as you want. If you drink it in your room (they provide wineglasses), there is no charge. If you want to bring a bottle to dinner, there is an $18 corkage fee. A few times on our trip, the corkage fee was changed to
a 'purchase' of some Holland America shot glasses, so we essentially were not charged.

Another money saving idea for alcohol is to pre-purchase a bottle of alcohol on board. We bought a bottle of Vodka for I think $27 for a 1L bottle-not a bad deal! We purchased a 50% discounted soda card (paid $25 for $50 worth of beverages), and bought sodas along the trip as mixers.

Probably the best money saving idea is not to drink alcohol at all. That is my plan for the next trip. I have offically stopped drinking alcohol. Forever. For a wide variety of reasons. It will definitely make vacationing cheaper.

One of the drawbacks (in my opinion) of cruising is the dress code. On a 7 night cruise, there are two formal nights. To eat in the main dining room, men must have on a jacket of some sorts. Many have tuxes and go all out. Women wear formal dresses. Well, most women. Ethan and I winged it as best we could. I really don't like the idea of being forced into fancy clothes. We don't own fancy clothes. We have to buy fancy clothes. And that gets spendy. Yes, you can get
around it by eating at the buffet instead, but I would much rather have the clothing relaxed. I am OK with the 'smart casual' nights (every night that is not formal), where men must wear long pants, and women are just forbidden from shorts. I have capris galore, and Ethan has a wide variety of short sleeved silk button down shirts (I love shopping at Coscto!!)


Ahh...the pictures are ready.

Justin and Kim and a bucket of Coronas as we leave San Diego. The waiters get your name that first day, and they will remember your name AND your preferred beverages the entire trip. They also come around and open the beers for you as you need them. Excellent service.


Ethan and I as we leave San Diego


A skywriter plane was writing a message as we left. I think it ended up as 'we love you XXX Love XXX'. I don't remember the exact names. It was cool to watch the plane, though!



The Lido pool midships (kiddie pool). We used the aft pool (adult pool) instead...


Ethan and I with beverages in hand....

Sunset, day one....

Probably the best sunset of the trip

Sunday--Sea Day

For our first full day on the ship, we lazed around a bit. Slept in, then meandered over to the aft pool for some more lazing outside. Found a table and a few lounge chairs, and I got a book from the ship's library (yes, they have a library!! Lots of books to choose from--probably over 1000 all together, with new releases, classics, nonfiction, etc. I got Rounding with Oscar, about a nursing home cat who seemed to know the day a patient was going to die, and how that affected the staff and family members). Anyway. Book. Got terribly overheated, so we got into the pool and relaxed there, too. This was the night we were heading to the Italian restaurant for dinner. Good food, excellent service, as always.


A fruit and cheese plate with champagne on our adjoining balconies before dinner


Another sunset


First towel creature of the cruise--a lobster

It's a hard knock life....

Yes, it's a tough life.....but someone's gotta do it...


Having a wonderful time in Mexico. Only slightly sunburned, and no Norwalk for any of us. Did not mention the date we were leaving on Facebook because some of y'all are not trustworthy and we want all of our valuables to be intact when we come home. Special thanks to Jobie for looking after our kitties. They are our babies and we have thought of them often. I found a white kitty in Yelapa yesterday who was loving and gave me a bit of a cat fix to tide me over.

Off to Cabo tonight, and a whale watching tour tomorrow. Oh, it is the rough life!!!

My sister

I have several sisters. One of them is having a round number birthday today, and this post is about her.


My sister's name is Davinie. She is 20 months older than me, and was a year ahead of me in school. Because I am tall, and she was always petite, we were pretty much the same size growing up (until I finally passed her, probably in junior high). I remember a picture of the two of us squeezed into a bathtub, lying side by side in the bottom of the tub, laughing up at the photographer. Two peas in a.....tub?? We were the same size, anyway. I also remember fighting over that darn yellowish sweatshirt with Pepe le Pew and a embroidered on it. We both swore up and down that it was *ours*, and not to be shared with anyone. I think the shirt spent more time hidden in someone's drawer or other secret hidey hole than it did on one of us.

Davinie and I had all sorts of adventures together. She convinced me to climb up onto the counter and get the rock candy out of the cupboard above the refrigerator (where I was caught red-handed); and talked me into letting her drive over me on the three wheeler (we wanted to see if it would hurt--our theory was that the tires were so wide, it wouldn't be painful.....it *wasn't* painful, but I cried anyway because I was scared). We spent lots of time in the field below our house in the canyon in Alaska flattening down the tall, tall grass to make 'rooms' for our playhouse. I think we were re-enacting Little House on the Prairie??

I was heartbroken when Davinie started Kindergarten when I was 4, so Mom set up 'school' for me at home to keep me busy. I think that trying to keep up with Davinie as a little kid was what motivated me in school, at least when I was small. I wanted to do what *she* was doing!

As we got older, we became big fans of Little House on the Prairie. We had all the actors names memorized, and knew the order they would come up on the screen at the beginning of the show....and would call them out just before they appeared.

I remember searching through the house for spare change, then heading over to Expressway to buy as much candy as we could. I remember walking to downtown Bend so we could ride up and down an elevator in some poorly secured law offices.

Because of our different school grades, and often different schools, Davinie and I had periods of time where we were not as close, and periods of time when we *were* pretty close. In high school, as Davinie approached graduation, we became much closer. In her last year at home, we would drive home for lunch every day, and we spent a lot of time together. I remember when she was banned from driving on the school campus for a week because she was falsely accused of bumping a twit with her car, so *I* got to drive us home for lunch. She would occasionally goose the car as I was trying to get in it....then stop and wait for me to catch up....then goose it again. When I was driving us home, I got my payback and pretty much had her run all the way home while trying to get in the car, with Kandy Easterday laughing hysterically in the front seat.

I remember the three Cooper girls heading off to Volleyball camp together, and Davinie got a speeding ticket. We were so scared when that cop yelled at her for not stopping sooner!!

After high school, Davinie was very supportive of me heading off for college. I visited her a few times in her apartment, and she came to see my dorm room and the campus shortly after I started at Linfield. I remember one of my last visits with Davinie, when we decided to go to a lake for some tanning and lazing in a rubber raft (this was of course before I resigned myself to the fact that I don't tan--I can burn purple, then resume my natural paleness, but that is about it). It was a nice, warm day, but there was still snow in places up in the mountains, so the water in the lake was cooooold! Our oar fell apart, and I was elected to jump in the water to retrieve the fallen portion of it. There is something about older sisters that just makes you go along with what they tell you to do. Or maybe I am just easily swayed. Anyway, I think my feet went numb in my attempted oar retrieval, but I eventually got it back and we had a wonderful lazy afternoon.

Even though we are not always close, and we have had our differences, I know that Davinie is there for me. When I have something I need to vent about, I can always call her and vent away. That is nice to know. When she had her babies, I rushed out from work and headed to Oregon to be there. And if Ethan and I ever decide to have babies of our own, I know Davinie will be up here for me, too.

So, today I am wishing Davinie a very happy round-number birthday. May it be the very best one yet.

Another teeny update

What to say, what to say....

When I don't update my blog, it is generally because absolutely nothing interesting is happening in my life. Nothing to report. Which is why I wasn't reporting it, see???


Anyway. To report.

I have been unable to wean myself from putting two spaces after a period. I have tried. It was ingrained into me back in high school typing class with Mrs Bennett, and I just can't let it go, even though I know that it is now no longer necessary.

I just spent a weekend at Mom's house. We cut thin pieces of wood into sequentially smaller rectangles. It was fun. I will eventually have two wooden versions of my scrapbooking paper exploding picture box. It is awesome and the wood ones will be even MORE awesome.

**It is currently snowing in Seattle. Big flakes, low quantity. I don't think it will stick, though.......**


Good time at Mom's house. We also went to the Melting Pot, and I know mom loved it. We had an artichoke and spinach cheese dip, delicious salads, and a variety of meats for cooking. Veeeeery full afterwards. Watched a movie, then off to bed.

Other than the small trip to Mom's.....not much going on up here. The Boo Kitty is doing well. He weighs more than he ever has before, and now is picking on Shadow, rather than the other way around. But he is nice about it, and only picks a little. Doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He is very active, chasing around my hair ties and the milk top rings that he loves. He actually seems healthier now than he ever has been. He still overgrooms and rips out the hair on his back so he looks a bit mangy, but he is very happy and healthy and we love him dearly.

Boo is going on an adventure in a couple weeks. We are taking a cruise, and are going to board him at the vet's office. I checked out the space, and I know it will be OK. They will give him his SQ fluids every other day, and make sure that he is happy. The staff there bring their own pets to work, and they wander around the offices in the back. On breaks, people hang out with the boarders and give them love, and I think Boo will tough it out. Jobie has agreed to pick him up Friday, the day before we get home, so he can hang out with the Shadow-man until we get home Saturday evening.

The Shadow-man will be staying home alone. I feel really bad about this, since the last time we left him home alone (when we went to the coast with Boo for Christmas), he apparantly spent all of his time eating and gained a bunch of weight. I am going to pick up one of those timed feeders that doles out food over time. He will be bored and lonely at home, but he does NOT tolerate change well, and would be totally freaked out at the vet's office if we boarded him, so he stays home.

On to the cruise. We are *so* in need of a vacation. Almost a year since our last vacation!! What is this world coming to. The Amersons vacation more than that! We bought some spendy leaf guard gutters this summer, which sorta took over our vacation budget. Better now! We refinanced our mortgage in December, and with the $$ we are saving each month, we have upped our 'home' and 'vacation' smartipig.com funds to better/more accurate levels. Let the vacations commence!

We are headed to San Diego, then onto Mexico on a Holland America cruise. We stop at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo san Lucas. Ethan and I have been to each of these cities before, but we are really looking forward to the warmth and sunshine and cruise ship experience. We are going with our good friends, Justin and Kim. Kim actually works for the cruiseline, so we got a nice deal on our room, and are in a suite with a balcony. Ooh la lah!!

So far, we have booked two of our excursions. Our first stop is in Puerto Vallarta, where we are doing a snorkelling tour, then visiting a tiny town only accessible by boat. Ethan and I actually visited this little town (Yelapa) last time we went to PV, but were told by the misinformed tour desk that we should not bring cameras.......so I didn't get any pictures of the beautiful scenery or the gorgeous waterfall nestled in this teeny ~100 person town. Not so happy. But, I get a do-over now.

In Mazatlan, we are doing a sea kayaking tour--heading out to a teeny island, and kayaking around it. Should be fun. I know Mom will be proud.

In Cabo, Ethan and I are undecided. Justin and Kim have booked a relaxing resort getaway, but Ethan and I are thinking of maybe a whale watching tour or maybe SNUBA diving or snorkelling again or even ziplining. Not really sure. I would totally zipline, but the beauty of Cabo is in the rock formations on the water, and we wouldn't really see that up in the mountains at the zipline. Plus, there are some scary rope bridges to traverse that I really don't think Ethan would enjoy. He doesn't trust safety equipment as much as I do.

Anyway. Ethan checked and his suit from Justin and Kim's wedding still fits, and I found some dresses for the 2 formal nights on the ship. Just gotta sort out Cabo and we are set.

We head down to San Diego a day before the cruise, and are going to stay at the W hotel through another friend of a friend deal. More ooh la lah!!

We have a busy time planned. We are hoping to make it to the space shuttle launch in mid-April. Won't know about the timing until after this (already very)delayed February one goes up, but I have my fingers crossed. It is the chance of a lifetime, and Ethan and I are big enough science/space geeks that we *must* go, or at least TRY to go.

After the lauch, our next plan. Well, MY next plan is to go to Australia. Maybe leave the week after the Superbowl in 2012?? Summer time there, and not missing anything here but bad weather. Ethan mustmustmust see the Great Barrier Reef with me, and I think he will totally love Sydney, too. And, they speak English there. Easy. We almost have enough airline miles to fund two tickets, so my plan is to wait a month or so until we have enough miles, then bombard Ethan with my cunning plan until he wearies and agrees with me. I am definitely the planner and the spender in the family, and Ethan remains the voice of reason. However....I am not an idiot, and we don't spend money we don't have. Hence the post about 2/12 written in 2/11. Planning makes things possible. And our smartypig.com account accruing several hundred dollars a month, earmarked solely for vacation spending. Planning is the key. It is still my lofty goal to someday travel to Hawai'i with my entire family and rent a massive house (that I will scour the internet to find) for a week in lieu of our annual coast gathering. Planning is the only way that will happen. And saving. Lots of saving. But wouldn't it be fun!!!

Why it IS constitutional to require people to purchase/pay into health insurance

In this country, whether you have insurance or not, you get healthcare. If you are hit by a truck, they whisk you away to a hostpital, and they fix you. They don't ask if you can pay, they just save your life. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes. My hospital alone does over $100 million in charity care EACH YEAR.

People say that it won't happen to them, or that they don't smoke/drink/eat crappy foods, so they shouldn't need health insurance. Well, these same people are just as likely to get hit by a car or fall off a ladder or step off a curb wrong and shatter their ankle. It happens. And when you don't pay into some sort of health insurance, that ENTIRE BILL gets passed along to some charity care payment system, which is likely funded by tax dollars. If you had some sort of insurance, most of that bill would be the responsibility of the insurance company, and we could focus those charity care payments for the smaller portion that the patient has to pay (if you are unable to pay it). More people could get help, and our tax dollar requirement for healthcare would go down.

I work in a hospital. I focus on discharge planning. I see the costs of healthcare. I can see the hospital charges for my patients, and they are OFTEN up above $100k......and these are trauma patients with fractures. Not heart transplants or dialysis patients--just broken bones. Often *very* broken bones requiring multiple surgeries or amputations...but these are people who were healthy, walking around, normal people....until their life suddenly changed in the blink of an eye.

When this country devolves to the point where we will let you die in the street if you have no insurance, then I will support your right to choose not to have health insurance. Until then, you've gotta pay. We are gonna scoop you up and run you to the nearest trauma center, and do our best to fix you, regardless of the cost. You should bear the responsibility of helping to pay for your care. No, I don't think this healthcare legislation is perfect....but it IS a step in the right direction.

A small Boo Kitty update

Boo went back to the vet on Monday for a blood draw and follow-up visit. His results came back on Tuesday.

He has gained over a pound, which terribly impresses our vet (Dr Bergstrom). His creatinine was 6.5 when he was first diagnosed (severe kidney disease is a creatinine over 5.0), then dropped to 5.0 after a few days of IV fluids. After a couple weeks of subcutaneous fluids at home and a new renal diet, his creatinine is now down to 2.5 (normal for cats is up to 2.4). Almost in the normal range!! Everyone is quite impressed.

Boo had an ultrasound a few weeks ago, to further diagnose the WHY of his kidney disease. It showed that he has some sort of congenital deformity in his kidneys. They look funny, aren't shaped right, and are now damaged enough that they weren't able to see the normal kidney structures. Sounded very ominous. But...he lived with them for 8 years, and has found a way to compensate for them.

The vet is pleased enough with his progress that we have been instructed to back off from the daily SQ fluids and do them every other day instead. We are also starting him on calcitriol, a Vitamin D supplement/hormone that helps keep needed nutrients in his body (that his damaged kidneys would otherwise urinate out). All in all, it was great news.

Boo is back running around and chasing things and being his regular self. Shadow took a minute to re-accept Boo, but they are hanging out now just like they used to.

In the long run, we have to figure out our vacation plans, since we will not always be able to bring Boo with us like we did at Long Beach last week. There are boarding services offered by our vet, and I have also heard of groups organized for people who have cats on SQ fluids at home, where we would help each other out when people go out of town. Boo will likely be on the every-other-day fluids for his entire life, and now has the twice weekly calcitriol (which is thankfully in a fish-flavored liquid I can easily squirt into his mouth).

The timing of this all could not be more perfect. We basically spent a mortgage payment with vet bills and supplies on Boo. We also happen to have been in the middle of refinancing our mortgage, so we take December off from paying it (3.63% APR/15 year fixed.....unbelievable!!). What great timing! Instead of having some extra money to save or play with, we used it for Boo. Totally, totally worth it. Especially when he climbs onto my lap, curls up in a ball and looks at me upside down. Then squirms around, looking for the perfect petting position.