Signs and sentinels. Vet bills X2 (forget my own). Sales/shares very badly needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved.

She gave me one halfway-decent shot today, out of a bunch that my old camera's too damn slow to catch. She was here with her man; the harrier was hiding in the red willows outside the kitchen door when we got home; and on our way home, the bald eagle was seated atop the one remaining warrior among the four old sentinels along the highway. Yesterday, too, the harrier landed on the rail of the steps leading to the deck, right outside the living room window, and she looked in at us before flying on up.

Signs. Good ones, we hope.

She-Wolf had her follow-up today, and while there was no obvious improvement in the tumors, it's only been 11 days, and with this kind of cancer, there's often no improvement at all. Arresting it is good. I was hoping simply for no progression in the tumors, and there seems to be none, and the vet was so impressed with how she looks and acts that we're taking this win. We're altering her meds slightly, lowering the pred and titrating her off it, to see if we can keep her numbers down and the rest of her still in good shape. As he said, we can always add it back. A little over $200 on that, less today than the last time despite the ultrasound and the prescription kibble, because he was kind enough not to charge us for the office visit.

Tomorrow will be more, unfortunately. Our horse vet will be here at 10; Shade has been developing a bit of a cresty neck, and that has suddenly accelerated. I know that sounds like, well, not much, but horse people will know what I'm talking about. She is very likely already insulin resistant, and given that she has Cree's genes, it's a lot safer (and a hell of a lot less expensive) to arrest anything else that might be going on now, rather than waiting until she develops full-blown Cushing's and potentially something worse. The mechanic is also coming over, because yesterday my car had no turn signals, and today it had signals but three windows that wouldn't budge, and we can't have everything go out while we're on the road (yes, it's an old jalopy, but it does the job for vet visits and supply runs and so forth), and I have no idea what that will set us back, either.

[And my own follow-up remains on-schedule as before. No points trying to move it up if the only possibility is one day sooner, and we've already scheduled around the existing date anyway. Next Thursday.]

So while I'm less . . . swamped by things I'd rather not recall tonight, there's still the worry over various fuzzy family members' health (and our own), and there's the neverending worry over money. We have so much to deal with this year (and I'm not even talking about the house; look at what the last two months have been), and I have no idea how we're going to do this, but all I can do is put one foot in front of the other, so here we are. And the only way, as far as I can tell, that we're going to do any of it is through sales, so we still need all the shares and all the sales we can get. There'll be no new work on the house for some time yet, obviously. This weekend (and beyond), I'll be posting several of Wings's new works, so check his site routinely for a while. Here are the links; please continue to share them consistently (and the rest is cut-and-paste, mostly): 

• Tonight's post elsewhere (not much of a post, but the one gift each day gives me);
• A way to buy me coffee (which actually goes to She-Wolf's & my medical bills);
• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. There are new kitchen-y things on it now, stuff that I didn't realize we'd need to replace (either because the RV ruined it or because we gave it away when we had to downsize).
• Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. There are some things left on both registries that I thought by now I might be able just to buy outright, but medical bills (mine and She-Wolf's both) have to come first.

I am no more functional than I was a few days ago — less, in fact, although we can't pin down why. I mean, we know it's all part of whatever happened to me in November; it's just that no one can figure out what that is, much less how to fix it. It makes me feel old and decrepit, especially given that I can't take 20 steps without getting short of breath, and I still can't lift or carry anything, which means I'm utterly useless around here. I'm using a cane routinely now when we run errands, and sometimes I just have to stop and sit, because I just can't stand upright another minute. It's profoundly maddening. Still, it's a gift to wake up each morning, even when the wind chills are teens or below; on mornings like this, you get glitter.  Thanks, everybody, from both of us, for everything. 



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.