27Mar26: reflections…

It is a quiet, sunlit morning where and when I write. Andy purrs softly while eating his treats, and I pause to thank Ye Gods.(insert whatever, whomever, or…your choice) for a wonderful morning..that followed with a call from my tax preparer telling me one document he needed was missing. I looked, no document.

Now I’m in a black mood! Damn it!

My mood quickly changed when Bill, my tax preparer, guided me through the process of retrieving a copy of the missing form. This extra special care is why I continue with the tax preparer I do.

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Andy sitting on my paper shredder. He’s not a bad shredder himself.

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World Cup time coming again. I had a difficult time watching it because I often supported both teams playing specific specific matches.. (2010? I think it was.)

I’m not a huge fan, but I enjoy the heart and compassion of “football” – Yeah! Yeah! I know! – and am pleased more and more schools feature it in their sports departments. I think I would have enjoyed playing it back in the days before dirt was invented!

So, the February page from the 2011 calendar I had made of favorite Louie photos popped up during my tax document search.

Louie was a very Kool Kat I named after another very Kool Kat, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong. What’s that have to do with “Danmark,” a Kool small European country and this business of a hint of a ginger tabby cat blocking a goal while a suspiciously laughing cat in Danish colors observes and cheers for Danmark? (Think of that French Laughing Cow fromage.) I think it was my team of the day, and they played well, but not against any of the other teams I wanted to win, against all probability since only one…yeah! Crazy, I know! But it must have been a very satisfying game to prompt this dreamscape!

FIFA World Cup has been ruined for me this year. I may try to watch the mess tied to US venues by US politics. Shxt. The same for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US. I just hope the US survives the year!

Louie had a magnificent tail. I miss him. He died on 1 August 2011. When I picked up his ashes later that month, Tara, one of the veterinarian techs, brought out wee Andrew, a weirdly cute Persian kitten. Would I be interested in having him? Awwww! He walked right over to me, something he does with people even to this day to decide what to make of them. I began the next phase of kitty living that moment.
Dougy came a week later, and l had the same reaction. What do you do if you are clueless about how to raise one kitten? Get a second one! Ha! And a book titled
“Kittens for Dummies.” (Dougy didn’t read the book, so never learned he was supposed to stop scratching furniture when I used the book’s methods.)

I’m fascinated by these images doubled in the mirror. I know Andy must have some thoughts about his image in the mirror, too, because I have seen him staring at himself before

“Who is that handsome kitty? I wonder if he likes Greenies as much as I do. Does he know the same neighborhood kitties that come to my door? That squirrel? Those cottontails?All those birds? Ho-hum! Time for a nap.”

I tried to. Fish tacos and a taste test on French fries of two brands of Currywurst sauce. The fish tacos need a little more thought and my “failproof” method of identifying which sauce was which (initial for each brand) got messed up in moving to the table. I think “H” is a bit more spicey and thicker than “Z”, making “H” the winner. We’ll try some future test to confirm. European ketchup is thinner than US ketchup, so clings less well to “stuff.” I’ve no strong preference either way. I do like German “Senf” (mustard) better, though all mustards in the US aren’t the classic yellow mustard typically slathered on hotdogs. Everywhere the French mustard… of course! That is, I think, the srandsrd. Why else would people try to emulate it?

The seal on
)Greenies is a toy to Andy. I don’t play with it much or leave it where he can get it. Trash is best. Looks like a veterinarian’s house payment or down payment on a car to me!

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I tried the street taco sauce by dipping a knife in it and tasting a tiny bit. Classified by the Mexican producer as green Chile and mild, I won’t fall for that a second time! Ha!

A Chicago chef (Rick Bayliss) with a classic Mexican restaurant featuring cuisine usually not prepared in my country, had a television show where he made food without the so much fire, just seasoning mere mortals can handle.

26Mar26: a busy morning on Lane 2…

The front door has to be open long enough for tons of these nasties to get in. I’ve tossed whole plates of food because one landed on them! I hate these bugs! Soooo, this is Fred the Fly, alive, preparing to dive bomb my breakfast.

This is Dead Fred, stuck on the wall after a swift swat with my Murder Wand. The only good fly is one about to die. Better: very squashed and dead!!

This arrangement has worked incredibly well to limit the Greenies mess around the ottoman.

A few get away. Used to be the carpet was a solid mass of escaped Greenies. Anything that helps housekeeping is a boon to a mildly disabled guy!

A bonus kitty! When I took this photo, I planned on editing it down to the left hand kitty. Then I noticed I got this double Andy, thanks to the full-length mirror. LOL! Loving the jaunty angle of his tail in the mirror image.

I have to dump and record leakage from my surgical wound every..sort of…eight hours. It is slowing down to almost nothing, which I find encouraging. It isn’t hard, stinky, or difficult, just a bit too much routine at eight hours. I’ve not done well on that. On top of it, the measuring cup used to get drainage amount is poorly marked. As a former guy who was involved in measurement work that was at the thousandth of an inch, I abhor sloppy measuring tools!

Andy ate a few Greenies, left before I could snap a photo, and is over by the full-length mirror at his stainless steel water fountain.

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I have a wash load of clothes nearly ready to dry. Andy put some souvenirs in his litter box that I can dig out. I’m feeling stronger each day and more confident in how to transfer from wheelchair to chair or whatever, a maneuver that requires a thoughtful, careful, slow-as-needed motion one to be safe. Lock those brakes, Doug! I’m beginning to develop those muscle memories that help make tasks semi-automatic. Semi-automatic because never, ever must they get so cool you forget the brakes or to have the wheelchair positioned at aless than optimum place relative to where you want to go!

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You came here for Andy. He came back to the ottoman to give you some of himself! Here’s my kitty, bowing at me and the camera…

Oops! He cleaned up, but there’s a crumb hanging on the end of that eyebrow “whisker.”

Don’t be a distracted flier! Victory! Another dead one.

25Mar26: Good morning!

Also, my wheelchair puts Andy at just the right spot to pet and “scritch” my kitty!

Andy finds it is just right for hopping over to the ottoman for…

… a bit of morning loving! Andy is adjusting to the new arrangements in the apartment.

He learned, for example, that coming from the back route over the recliner instead of hopping over from the front route, he still has a high road cats love over instead of going in a straight line on the ground.

(Cat people will understand that contorted sentence!) These front route is very much altered, maybe unusable for Andy now.

And a few treats. The new way of giving Andy Greenies on a paper towel turned out to be a very neat – literally – way of doing it. Check the mess in the previous photo versus the last photo. All I have to do is fold the mess up and toss it. It also is a lot easier for Andy to eat the treats since they don’t get away from him when he tries to lick them up.

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I continue to do well. I refused a prescription of Oxycontin. I am not experiencing any pain Tylenol can’t handle, if at all most of the time, and I will not take any opioid. When I was in the US Army back before dirt was invented, I saw enough people who ruined their lives on that sort of crap! I also rejected a suggestion I go on “swing bed” for a few days. I don’t understand the concept. You just lie in bed and are – it seems – taking up space so the medicals can observe your recovery at the same time you get weaker because that’s what happens when you aren’t ever as active as you’d be in your usual daily activities. I know that wasn’t a good pair of refusals, but I’ve rejected that drug before but agreed to the “swing bed” to end up floppy like a rag doll!

At home, I have my kitty sleeping peacefully next to me, I don’t have to wait for someone to take me to poop, I’m making my own meals, washing my own dishes. I even brushed a thick layer of dust off Andy’s 10th birthday cat tree gift, possibly the main reason he hasn’t been using it. Best of all, I notice I am stronger, able to stand longer, if with support, and am learning how to navigate my new apartment arrangement in a wheelchair.

I still will use a walker at home, but I need wheelchair practice. Oh yes, I made that mess brushing Andy’s cat tree – dust plus cat hair, I suppose – and did a little vacuuming from a wheelchair. I have always done it from a walker. I’m a clever enough monkey!

Then, because I haven’t use that particular new vacuum much, emptying it, I made a few new messes. Ahem! Soooo, I got a broom out of the closet and established I can use a broom efficaciously from a wheelchair. Walker brooming is easy and old hat for me, so now I know I have two ways to keep the floor neat.

My kitty!

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Nope! I prepared more than I was up to again. My appetite is good, but execution – eating all I fix – still needs a tune-up.

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It was a busy morning. The afternoon was spent thinking about what things I need delivered from the grocery store, which appointments need to be on the appointment board, and if the dryer component came in yet. I can hang wet clothes, but it limits how many items I can do each time.

24Mar26:

last day in hospital; I return home…

Andy’s happy to view the world outside the back door again!

Birthday cake, courtesy of my doctor. It was so good, I ate the whole thing!

Thanks! The card and this gift were waiting from my family.

I ate one, of course. It’s my favorite candy!

Andy checked out the front door. Later, I put his walker-perch there so he could enjoy the front yard scene.

He stood there, patiently, while I filled the Royal Canin bowls.

My favorite street food in Germany was “Currywurst mit Kartoffelsalat” – Curry sauce on sausages, with potato salad. I bought some German-made sauce, used kielbasa sausages, and treated myself to half the treat. The sausage more typically used varies, as does the potato salad recipe. When I have more time, I’ll try to zero in on the most authentic version! It’s good!

Their sauce is thinner than we are used to, but tasty.

Oh yes, Andy was excited about having some Greenies!

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By the time I got everything I wanted to get done before I fixed breakfast, it was lunchtime.

I made coffee for the first time in awhile. It’s in my “happy mug.” Of course a vanilla yogurt sounded good, as…

…steamed eggs on toast. I hope I’m that hungry.

22Mar26: happy b’day to me!

The best birthday gift in my world is to be blessed with so many excellent healthcare people caring for me before and after cancer has been removed from my body! It’s gone!

I get to go home tomorrow afternoon if all is well. I can’t wait to boop “mah kitteh’s” wee “nosie!”9 I may even wake him up if he isn’t at the door. (I bet he is.)

He will have to learn to share his recliner, though. While I heal, this will be an easier place for me to sleep.

Even if he begs me to share the recliner, I will…um…maybe share it. He likes the footrest best, and I can go that far.

After Greenies, he will want to sleep on the lapboard anyway.

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Speaking of the lapboard and Greenies, it’s always been a housekeeping problem giving Greenies to Andy there. Lots of them fall on the floor, making a mess everywhere.

My sister Kathy and I discovered if we put the Greenies on a paper towel, it’s just textured enough that it’s easier for Andy to eat them without the spillage, and any crunchies mess stays on the paper towel!

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Whew! I wore myself out responding to your comments and those on Facebook yesterday!

One day’s comments I gave a sad, little generic thank you to everyone. The 20th’s? I had a very good night’s sleep, though, on the greatest Baroque composer of all time’s birthday, the 21st of March. Yes, “mah man” J.S. Bach was born a few years earlier, one day before my birthday.

I wish I had been born on that day, too. It’s a music lover’s thing….Happy 341st Birthday, J.S.! Of course, that’s the Julian date. I guess the current calendar has him born on the 31st of March. I know the people in Eisenach celebrate it either day. I think….

In the Lenten season, my tradition has been to listen to the St. Mathew Passion. It won’t be as compelling on my smartphone, yet it is an option till I can listen to it on a proper player. YouTube has a good version, if I recall right..

I wonder how Andy’s enjoying the backyard scene today?

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My birthday breakfast came with a huge piece of birthday cake, a nice surprise!

21Mar26: cancer off…

Andy sleeping on the lapboard after begging for too many Greenies.

Yeah, no boopery is the sign I’m really missing my kitty.

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My pain level is one-ish if you are familiar with those pain charts in hospitals. It’s mostly at a low roar, present but only with occasional jabs if I move awkward ways.

As usual, staff at Regional West have been very caring, competently doing what they do, listening well, respectful of my quirky nature, laughing – they better! – at my terribly long stories. To the latter, I need to come up with a safety word for them to use when I inevitably get off topic. I think “stop” is a good one.

I thought the surgery would be more painful, frankly. I will have follow up, initially, I think, to let me know if the lymph nodes show advancement of the cancer from the breast. In that case, I will require radiation treatments. If not, what? I have yet to learn.

I suspect more medications are to come, and there are definitely more blood draws, that are difficult on me because of my 23 year history of the vascular disease, WG/GPA that affects small and medium sized blood vessels. What’s left have been used so often that my poor left arm must have very few vessels that give up blood willingly!

20March26: it’s off…

I came through surgery with flying colors. I miss Andy, of course, but his caregivers – s I ster Kathy and Tori from dialysis – both are cat people. Andy knows both, and love, loves them – boop! I am comfortable just knowing he’s well cared for.

Just a random email selection of Andy’s on my smartphone to hold you – am me! – until I can shoot new ones! Thank you all for your care and comments. I especially answering all comments coming in because they frequently have their own pet stories or answers you’ve found to pet issues of the day. Since I love all animals great and small, this is and always been a place for anything great and small! I regard each of you following this blog as part of a great cloud of blessings! Thank you!

Doug

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I’m sorry I’m taking this lazy way to.thank and return comments today. I’m very tired from catching up with all the good wishes, prayers, and thoughtful comments I’ve come to have from my bloog family and on Facebook. Believe me, I do appreciate each and every one!

I’m glad the surgery is over and that yhe reports show I’m improving, that the cancer is gone.

Doug