Life is a combination of magic and pasta.

JuneBug sounds all congested which might be seasonal since I've actually been able to use Actual Real Air to cool the place at night by opening the windows. Looking forward to when I don't need to turn the AC on in the afternoon. This morning I was mildly concerned since Junie horked up a hairball and I was weighing whether it was just a hairball and should I give her the anti-vomiting meds? However, cue up not even ten minutes later and the boy comes out and even more dramatically horks up his own hairball so I have my answer. I don't recall more hairballs happening during season change but also, they're both getting older and I think it's just tougher for their systems to process the hair through their digestive systems.

My back is twinging some in the tell-tale spot so I am WFH this morning since I also have a webcall so it's not like it matters whether I'm doing that from work or home anyway. Aside from kitty whining, at least it'll be quieter than the office. I'll need to take plenty of breaks because I am scheduled for jury duty next week and I don't have time to reach out to the substitute doctor that's filling in for my GP that left the practice to try to convince them to get me paperwork to defer jury duty. I'm hoping that my number doesn't come up or that I get dismissed quickly.

Today wasn't what I was expecting but in a kind of good way. We're being careful since JuneBug did lose some weight and is at 8.5 pounds now even though currently the girl wants to EAT. Driving me a little nuts with it, actually since her hunger signals are clearly scrambled. She did have a small vomiting at lunch yesterday but I let them know that I wondered if it was triggered from straining in the box a few minutes before. She'd gone nearly two days without vomiting and the diarrhea is resolving so inflammation may slowly be resolving for now.

Today we opted not to do steroids yet since she was concerned that a steroid shot could risk sending the system into diabetes. However, we did do another B12 shot and if that helps, we might do those weekly/biweekly and I might see about if someone locally could come by to help me give them. She's also pleased that Junie likes the rabbit that I've tried this week which has been popular and that we should continue with that and fortiflora probiotics and the transdermal stuff for no barfing (scheduled to arrive today. Come on USPS!). If by early next week, things aren't quite improved, they could do the online pharmacy to do some form of the steroid - be it transdermal OR something that could be formulated with flavor or quick dissolving in snacc/food. They also only charged me $166 for the whole visit and comped me the nail trim

Ah, boo. The girl just used the box and it's about half good, half iffy. Though she's been through a lot this week and we're also introducing a new food which I need to do more gradually.

I feel like I just threw thousands of dollars down the drain. The biopsy came back showing lymph node inflammation which isn't all that conclusive. It's either IBD OR I can spend yet another $900 to have them analyze even more to find out maybe, possibly if it's cancer. I told them no. Oh but steroids will buy a year but kitty chemo on top of it might buy you two IF that's what it is. Jesus. ENOUGH. I don't know why I had them do more scans since it was going to be steroids anyway but they acted as if they couldn't move forward without doing tests.

I'll follow up with my vet and see about whether they can prescribe steroids or whether I'm going to have to bring her in to them to have them make that determination instead of relying on the emergency vet's tests and assessments (because they all want the $$).

I keep getting emails to rate them. I'm going to keep deleting them since sure, they helped her in the moment but good GRIEF it was clear they were all about keeping your pet longer and running more tests if you're ok to pay for all of it and more and more.

Going to be a few days to a week to get the results but they did do a needle biopsy of Junie's lymph nodes since they were a little enlarged to try to see if they can confirm or rule out cancer. Either way the long term treatment for either IBD or palliative care for cancer would be the same - steroids. Even if it's inconclusive, I will not be having any surgery done since I'm not about to put a 13 year old kitty through all that pain and recovery to buy what? A year or so of kind of crappy quality of life? No way.

She didn't eat last night but finally around 2pm today she broke her fast and ate both wet and dry food (my! a feast! You don't get dry food at home!). They said there was no vomiting or diarrhea so I hope that holds, though I have meds for both right now. I also asked them about a B12 shot since it was said in passing by Vet #1 and confirmed by many reputable websites as something to help with GI issues. So they did give her one. The vet when I took her back in yesterday mentioned that she has low cholesterol? Could be evidence of IBD or cancer - boy, tough to get a diagnosis!

I don't have anything for steroids yet but I guess we'll talk about that once I get the results of the biopsy. I'm hoping that they can send a script or have me pick one up so that I don't have to stress the girl out with more wrangling. Poor Emily already has a battle scar on her chin from helping me yesterday. Junie didn't mean it, she was flailing.

I hope we have her system stabilized for now, especially because there was a notice on the door when I got home that they are turning off the water tomorrow between 10-4 for some sort of maintenance. She sniffed at but didn't want food when I got her home but it sounds like her meal at 2 was a big one. She did ask for snack about an hour later so I got out one of the food toppers that's nutritionally better and she munched that down. She also tried to go to the litterbox and nothing happened but I smelled some stink so clearly the girl is a little gassy. Probably explains why 2/3 of the way home she started meowing which stressed me out since we were a good 20 minutes away during rush hour traffic.

Going to take a shower here soon to get that out of the way. In anticipation of stuff tomorrow, I'm going to fill my Brita in the fridge, fill my kettle and fill a bucket full of water. The latter will be in case there's any emergency cleaning or flushing that needs done.

Fingers crossed for less stress and good news. Interestingly there was no hissing tonight. JonJon was mopey last night and slept in the carrier that I'd brought home and I kept reassuring him that I was going to pick up his sister the next day.

Welp, this morning the decision whether to head to the vet was made by the girl when she made quite the yowl and then went all Exorcist all over the layers of towels I keep on the bed and then quickly went to the litterbox and emptied the rest of her system. ['pppppppp['p]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

By the way, that was JuneBug. I guess she says hi. lol

ANYWAY, I packed her up all sad mews and drove to the emergency vet. Like usual, they were surprised that she was good (both of mine are), though I had to help hold the squirmy worm for a couple of things since she wanted to wriggle free and the carrier wasn't so bad anymore. We did the rundown on the history and ran some xrays and some blood tests. The only thing that looked off was some white-ish flecks in her colon (could be bone bits from the food that she favors), a possible enlarged lymph node and her white blood cell count was high. We rechecked to make sure she's not FIV (she's not) and she was given an anti-nausea injection that should last 24 hours and some subQ fluids.

Need to double down on the efforts to find an anti-inflammatory food that she'll eat since that may be the issue. Also need to start giving fortiflora on the food which she used to be ok with until she wasn't but she was ok with yesterday. If she has more vomiting in 24 hours, need to let this vet know. If she's ok but still has issues, need to have my regular vet check the WBC again and make sure we're not dealing with any sort of cancer. Though if it is that, as far as I'm concerned, the treatment will be the same - palliative care since she's 13 and I'm not putting her little body through invasive treatment that may or may not buy a year.

So we're home and they said no food for 8-12 hours so since she last ate at 5am, it's not like two hours are going to make a difference. They split their usual 2/3 of a small can of food which she ate with gusto. She did use the box and it wasn't quite formed but it was far better than this morning. I've a feeling since she's had IBD in the past that I'll have some litterbox issues for a while but as long as it's not flying out both ends, we'll deal with it.

Whew.

Seems as kitties get older, they have more issues with hairballs and JuneBug has been having them about a couple of times per week. But last night, it wasn't hairballs and I have a sick little girl. Luckily for me on the first round, she hit the bathroom tile. After upchucking, she used the litterbox which was seemingly ok. She was hungry right after since it was their first late dinner anyway but I stalled for about 10 to 15 minutes to make sure we were done. Ok, seemed good and she ate with gusto (as did the boy).

Then sleep was disturbed again around 4 when Dad called which the ringtone made me bolt awake. He didn't know it was still night and hadn't been able to sleep and was apologetic but I was already on alert. Then at 5 the tell tale kitty sound woke me again and this time she soiled the base of a cat scratcher. She usually begs for a treat at 5 and it was no exception. But she went to the box and this time...ugh...stinky and squishy. Noooo. Bummer. But once I got things cleaned up which took me a bit, I gave her a squishy treat. I was up puttering around an hour or so and decided to take a shower and even when I turned the water off, the smell told me something was off and she'd visited the litterbox again. Poor baby girl.

She again wanted food but this time I tried something different. I opened one of the packs of kitty pumpkin and this one also has ginger and turmeric in it and I mixed it up with more squishy snacks. It took her a while to eat but she finished it off and went to take a nap on the bed.

I had to go pick up some things from Target that I ordered last night, including some things for Emily who is moving her Mom to a different facility that they need to furnish. After waiting another 45 minutes and no kitty issues, I headed out to pick things up and also get Emily and I each a low carb bagel. Junie was in the same position on the bed dozing when I got back which I'm crossing fingers that she'll improve today. Ah, as I type this, she's now sitting up next to me and staring at me. I know that means she wants more treats but I'm leery. I know she has issues with pancreatitis but I'm hoping that this is just a 24 hour bug or she ate something funny.

Even though the floor model La-Z-Boy recliner creaks and has definitely been butt tested plenty (it was cleaned before it was delivered), it's a good thing that I tossed on the clearance item when I purchased my new couch.

The back is yet again being tetchy and I'm resting it plenty to keep it from going out. It's oddly aching mostly on the lower right side like dull kidney pain but my back pain has never been predictable and it does tease higher up. So it's been more comfortable to doze and sleep in the recliner as I can for now.

Emily was going to help me put the AC unit in the bedroom window today but I messaged her that I don't think it's safe right now. Monday is going to possibly get near 90 so when it gets too unbearable to work in there, I'll just close the door most of the way and hang out in the living room. Watch, the kitties will hang out in the stifling hot bedroom.

In other goings on:

- JuneBug had a couple of barfing incidents a couple of days ago but seems ok now. Though boy she pesters me a LOT for snacks in the mornings
- Coworker has stage 2B and is expected to recover well
- Dad's guts are doing better but his delusions are not. They had a sit down with the sister since he keeps asking for the guy that Dad claims "says he's going to break in and kill him" be kicked out. They've tried reassuring him many times that he's safe. I've had to tell Dad the last couple of days that he can tell me about these things but don't tell them since they're not going to kick the other guy out. I leave out that he's really not hearing these things since the logic of the fact that he's hearing both sides of the man's phone calls is lost on him. Not sure how that's going to go.

Made it about six days with dosing Junie with the antibiotics until I had to call it quits. Looking it up, some courses are 5 days at the dosage I was giving anyway. It was prescribed mostly for stopping the diarrhea which happened right off on day one. In fact the poor girl ended up with constipation again. That and she started developing some wheezing and was hiding so yeah, done since I don't need her developing more problems than we started with. The occasional wheezing and sneezing is also likely the return of spring allergies so I have my current air cleaners running and ordered another good one. If I'm feeling ok this weekend (not unexpected, the back is giving me issues after all this), I need to go on a good, thorough dust-a-thon. Sometime I need to hire someone to come in and help me organize and clear out some stuff.

The other suggested course from the vet to help her gallbladder/pancreas is to change her food. The first thing we're trying is the fancy-schmancy expensive human-grade Smalls. I got one of their sampler packs and have been mixing it in with their usual food. I've been very impressed at how well Junie is taking to it. JonJon will eat about anything and sometimes he gets randomly spooked halfway through eating and runs away so I have to bring the rest of his food to him (oh elderly cats that weren't smart to begin with...). It comes frozen and you thaw it in the fridge but I do find that it is a bit dry. Since both cats have their digestive issues, I've been adding a little heated pumpkin to make the texture and smell good for them. The poo issues are already slowly improving. Once they're on that consistently, I'll start auditioning other mix-in foods.

I won't be feeding Smalls exclusively since it's expensive nor do I have that much freezer room but I have been needing to find new foods for them since one of them (Petformatrin) is only available from one online vendor since the PetValu stores are no longer here in the US. Also, one the flavors of that food is no longer available in the small cans which makes it more inconvenient. Another food I give is the I and Love and You and lately Junie is not feeling the salmon flavor. To use that up, I'll mix in the fish-flavored Smalls which she should be happier with. I'm hoping she takes to one of the higher quality closer-to-hypoallergenic brands that is reasonably available and we can get on a regimen that's good for both cats. The poo issue on both of them seems to be slowly improving. I have had to use some Miralax but it seems like it's been less needed. Cutting that down even more would be great.

In Dad news, he needed a pair of shoes to walk in per the PT people since he likes to go out and walk when he has energy and the weather is nice. I didn't realize that all he had was a pair of boots, a pair of slippers and a pair of fancy shoes, the latter of which is too small. What? Good grief. I found a pair of Kizik that were on a fabulous clearance price and sent them to him, crossing my fingers that they would fit ok. They arrived yesterday and he says they are VERY comfortable. I'm so glad. Kizik is that brand that I have two pairs where you don't need to bend and tie or untie them. The back gives when you step in to the shoes and FLOOMP, shoes on. I also talked him into going along yesterday on a trip to Walmart that the facility was having. He had about $50 and was able to spend $26 on some fresh fruit, milk, coffee creamer and a few other things. I did scold him a bit for getting canned pineapple since I can send canned stuff.

There's a lunch outing next Friday which I told him to ask where it's to. I'm going to get a few odds and ends and send him a small box and put an envelope with more cash. I don't know when or how he is supposed to get his $50 allowance now that the Medicaid situation is possibly resolved. If it's supposed to come through Sis, well clearly THAT ain't never going to happen and I don't need him stressing about it. He was telling me not to send him cash and I told him it's NOT that big of a deal to me. It's not like he's going to go on a bunch of outings or spend much money and I told him I want him to have it handy so he doesn't have to turn down an opportunity. I don't know when they're going to Kroger (they used to go back in Fall) but I said "You would love to get some sushi from Kroger, right?" He agreed so I told him tough, I'm sending money. But I don't trust to just put it in a card or an envelope, hence the small package.

He's still not happy with most of the others at the home since there's still the middle-school attitude. I hope he can find one or two folks to hang with. The other weird drama seems to have resolved and I hope that sticks. He is doing occasional bingo and stuff. I want him to be happier, though.

I thought yesterday when there was only a small bit of vomit when I got home with some hair and less issues with loose poops in the boxes since they were at least having some shape to the stool that things were looking up. Seems not. I didn't sleep hardly at all last night and then JuneBug woke me up when I finally managed to doze off wanting morning snack. Like it's been the past few days, I figured that means she had more poo issues since she wants food RIGHT THEN when she poops. I didn't see the vomit until after I gave her a snack. It was on JonJon's coveted brown paper so I had to toss that and wipe the rest that was on the fuzzy throw rug under it. She woke me AGAIN about an hour later for the poo 'n' snack routine. Oy.

She ended up eating a half of a small can of food which I was fine with since she kept emptying her system. They normally have two more small meals at 2:30 and 4:30 but by 1:30 both of them were pestering me so I fed them early. Cue another pooping session about 3. Gave another small squishy treat at 3:30 and 10 minutes later, all hell broke loose. The poor gal just EMPTIED herself into the litterbox from one end and stepped outside the box and emptied herself from the other end on the runner in the hall. That was it. I called the vet and thankfully they fit me in for a 4:30 appointment. She wasn't completely lethargic but since the event took a lot out of her, she was easy enough to pick up and put in the box, though she was crying since she probably wanted more food.

The vet gave her an anti-nausea shot to hopefully stop the vomiting and some subQ fluids and I have liquid antibiotics to give her twice a day for ten days. I can't pill her but when we got home, she got the first dose of the liquid stuff whether she wanted it or not. It needs done, it's getting done. Not looking forward to the next 9 days but clearly she needs medicine so there'll be a lot of side hugs in kittyland. She ate well after that and she wants more food now but yeah, that was a mistake. It was like priming the pump. Although she was obviously dehydrated, she hadn't lost much at all weight, surprisingly, so I'm not going to freak out that she's starving.

Now if the boy will just poop in the box properly since he's having the opposite issue, we can get this show on the road.

I'm freaking tired. Though not nearly as tired as poor Emily who had to take her mom to the ER for atrial flutter and has barely slept at all since she had to be on guard to keep her mom from pulling out her IV (more than once) and listen to her complain for more than 10 hours straight. Oooof.

First thing, Dad: Had a good talk with the head of the facility who I did feel reassured that she investigated thoroughly and has good insight. It sounds like that the "bullies" are likely old farts being grumpy old farts like him since she doesn't think things are malicious. The "setting fire" thing is also Dad hearing something and possibly twisting it. They actually had a fire drill that day and old people being old people, they got all weird and nervous. Also, the big dude is 1)a bit on the spectrum and 2)the other voice Dad heard was NOT someone conspiring with him but instead it was that guy's AIDE and he gets checked on every couple of hours so even if he had the intention of doing anything, things are watched too much for any of it to happen. I think with all the changes in his life lately, Dad's paranoia meter is ticked too high.

Now ol' Crusty Crotch. (The head of the facility denies any wham bam going on but let's be real, likely is some stuff going on). She's not currently at the facility but it has nothing to do with Dad or anything like that. She wasn't sleeping and was wandering the halls even before her husband died, after that, she was worse so the head of the facility let me know she's probably not coming back. So hopefully the folks she got riled up and Dad will be able to forget about that soon.

Interestingly, the big dude sat with Dad at bingo yesterday and they had a good talk about random stuff. So my gameplan is to keep everything positive, within realistic limitations. Also, the head of the facility is going to make sure Dad doesn't have any UTI weirdness since TBH, his hearing isn't good so how he could supposedly hear stuff in such detail is odd. She also wants to get him some PT help to try to improve his strength some. So feeling better about that.

JuneBug: Just got a call 15 minutes ago and it's the same as last time. Some sludge on the gallbladder and a bit of pancreatitis but nothing that should warrant more meds at this point. It's possible that the infection making her sneeze for so long was throwing off her old lady system. Also, I have the go ahead to let her get slightly chunky (not excessively so) since that might actually be good for her pancreas. She's close to 10 pounds which isn't huge anyway. It also might help to start both kitties on a hypoallergenic diet. They'd suggested prescription diets but I mentioned I'm going to do some research to try out some non-prescription foods since Picky Girl Is PICKY. Tomorrow's supposed to rain but perhaps Sunday I'll go on an excursion to some of the fancy-pants food stores near Princeton to get some new foods to audition.

Life in general: Emily's finally getting ready to get her Mom into nursing care but it'll be a small wait since she wants to get her into the awesome facility where her Mom already goes for adult daycare. Her Mom's brain thinks she's going to do there to "continue her research" (she's a retired physicist that did research at the Hospital for Special Surgery back when). Also, there's a kid daycare on site where the old folks can watch the kids and Emily loves that. When her Mom is admitted, Emily will start the process of getting the house she lives in ready to sell and will put the money in trust for her Mom's care.

Also, Emily's sister and family lives in a house that Emily bought (sister's credit stinks, divorce situation pre-covid, etc.). Her sister got remarried and had been stringing Emily along about buying the house from her. In fact, they said they were going to go buy a different house. Emily and I thought we'd try to get a place and start our own Golden Girls thing but instead, if her sister does go through with things and move, we might move into that house, which is literally two blocks from my apartment. House prices are high and Emily would make a little money if she sold it but also, interest rates SUCK right now and so buying a new house is far from ideal. Also, Emily is starting a list of things to fix (some a bit major like replacing the steps to the basement and doing mold removal and waterproofing and also upgrading the bathroom upstairs) once her sister moves out and before she (and I) move in. The good thing for me is the house only has a few stairs up onto the porch and also has a ramp. There's a bed and bathroom with walk-in bath on the first floor. Emily would have the bedrooms and bathroom on the second floor and we could gate it off from the kitties so she has her sanctuary from kitty allergies.

So decent news for now and I have some work to do.