The good news and the bad news

Usually, people take days off work to de-stress or take a little vacation someplace. Me, not so much.

As you know, the two major events in my generall non-eventful life revolve around my burgeoning Ebola business and my daily caretaking of my aging cat. Today, I had to take the kitty for some more bloodwork to find out about his kidney condition. The poor thing is traumatized by car trips, probably because it always ends up in the same place - Raccoon Valley Animal Hospital. They've taken good care of the guy since 1991, and at this point, he knows what's going on before it happens. Generally, it means dragging him out from under the bed to put him in his cat carrier box for the trip.

This visit was decidedly more upbeat. Since he wouldn't eat the prescribed diet food, I've been feeding him a paste with potassium and vitamins that the vet congratulated me for finding, and encouraged me to give him more. His weight is back close to normal (thanks, Fancy Feast!) and my idea of feeding him as much fish with Omega3 oils (like salmon and trout) turned out to be well received too. It's good to know that I'm doing the right thing, and as the Vet said, "You don't know if you're buying him a day, ten or another year, but the one thing we know is that it can't hurt." He'll turn 17 in February, and she agreed that we can't medicate him to the point that he's miserable because, after all, would we want to be fed food we don't like or forced to take medication we don't want? There are 'quality of life' issues to address, and at this point, she agrees that we should just make him as happy as possible. That's why I like this Vet.

Meanwhile, he has developed a minor heart murmur. If I want, I can bring him back for an ultrasound that will pinpoint the problem. Heart murmurs in cats are similar to humans, so it may be practical to find out the problem. The trouble is, the test costs $400 and will ultimately result in more medication. I'll have to make another decision soon, I guess.

His blood pressure and temperature was normal, and the bloodwork results are going to come back tomorrow, so stay tuned. She told me that he wasn't that far along in his kidney disease, and that with some of the things I've been doing, it's possible that his numbers will have stabilized.

Over on Ebola, I had put my Axim handheld computer up for bids, which was to be one of the big-ticket items on the auction block. Last night, I flipped it on to take out all my personal info and re-set the password. I should say, I tried to flip it on. I had it on the charger for hours, and still nothing. I had to go on the Ebola site and pull the listing, since I didn't want to sell a non-working handheld PC. With the pending vet visit, I put off goofing with it until I got home.

I figured I'd have to ship it back to Dell for service, but - check this out. I bought it on October 24, 2006; and it carries a one-year warranty. How f'ed up is that? I wondered if they programmed in a system failure for a year and a day after the warranty expires?

I'm like a dog with a bone when it comes to these things. I'll figure it out if it kills me. So, after much wrangling and button-pushing, I finally got it to fire up and put it back on the charger, re-listed it and sat down to try to relax and enjoy the rest of my day. I hope it sells before I have to turn it back on!

Computers and cats. Sooner or later, they'll both kill you.