Aaron's been gone on a work trip for a couple days. This will be a test, as later this year he'll be gone for a week, and then two months, and then possibly another 10 days. It's kind of hard being on my own. Mostly, just because of the animals. I do a lot of the housework anyway, because his hours can be long, but taking care of four animals on my own is hard. Especially on days like this...
I noticed that Diamond Jim (the oldest and smallest animal) wasn't eating much. This isn't super unusual, he's tiny; small framed, and 7.5 lbs soaking wet. But he didn't want things he usually goes crazy for: cream, wet food, cheese etc. And he was a little dehydrated. Aaron said to take him to the vet. --In our division of labour, I put Aaron in charge of all things pet (buying food, vet visits, shots, etc). One reason is that these duties are sporadic, so he can do them around his work schedule. But the main reason is that I can't handle vet visits. I can't keep it together when things go wrong.-- But today I put on my big girl pants and took Jimmy-Jimmy to the vet. The normal vet doesn't work Tuesday or Wednesday (which is good because he used to be the only vet there, he worked 10+ hour days 7 days a week). Diamond Jim barfed on the way there (just bile, since he's not eating). And he cried and cried. He hates being in the crate, and he hates riding in the car. First we weighed him, he's down to 5 lbs. That is a huge weight loss, since he was so tiny to start with. He was very dehydrated. Two of his teeth will likely need to be extracted in the near future (he only has 4, so he'll be down to two). They did a blood and urine draw, gave him sub-q fluids, an antibiotic shot, and sent him home with Rx food, and more antibiotics. $427 later we were on our way. They'll call tomorrow with results and what we'll do next.
On the way home he started crying again. I did too. I felt awful, like a bad cat-mommy. Could I take care of a baby, when I can't keep a cat from wasting away? Plus he felt so bad, and there was nothing I could do for him.
When we got home I put him in the spare bedroom, and gave him some of his new food, which he ate about half of, and close him in. (Otherwise, the other cat, or dogs, would eat his food and push him around).
At work today my HVAC finally got fixed. My thermostat did nothing. So when I'd get in, it would be 52 in the office. The heater wouldn't come on til Mr Nextdoor came in. Then, just when it would get to a comfortable temperature, the AC would come on, and get down to 63 or so. Now my thermostat works, and I set the timer so it won't be freezing when I get in. Yay!
Work has been busy. Lots of calls to make, which slows down everything else I need to do. Plus we're having a billing meeting with the owner tomorrow (not a big deal, just a lot of planning). Then from that meeting I need to get a lot of stuff ready for the staff meeting on Thursday. Medicare has a couple things they're instituting, that will likely lead to smaller reimbursements, and lots more work for everyone. Sometimes I wonder if Medicare is worth the hassle. If I have the choice, when I'm old (assuming Medicare still exists), I'm going to pay more for a good Medicare replacement plan, because Medicare is awful, and hard for both providers and patients to work with. I could go on and on.
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