I'm feeling rather persecuted today. Nuzzles from the world's nuzzliest kitten have helped some, but I still am martyred in my own head.

Whoo hoo! I have another threadspotting! My third, I think.
(I submitted it, I didn't start the thread. hehe.)

This link is from my friend April, who is currently living in Italy:
The difference between Italy and the rest of Europe.

It is funny.

In the comments on the entry below, Nathan asked if all four cats were getting along. I will answer that here.

HA!

Currently, we have Murray separated from the others, in the office, with plenty of toys, his own litterbox, food, etc. I want them to sniff each other under the door a bit before they meet. I also want to make sure Murray doesn't have a deadly contagious disease like the last shelter cat I had (Banky, who lasted about nine days. Poor thing.) Last night, however, the wiley thing escaped, ran straight up to Sophie, and licked her. She was shocked, and jumped off the balcony into the foyer and down the stairs. Later he got loose again and did the same thing to Eleanor. She rooowwred at him and swatted (she has no claws. It's ok.) Anastasia's been rather testy lately, so she's just been wanting to be petted, and then biting. Murray has huge paws; I think he's going to be a large cat. I'm kinda hoping he'll take a dominant role, and peace will be restored in the kingdom.

There has been a new addition to the Cunningham-McClanahan household.

We would like to welcome Murray Foster Rothbard McClanahan Cunningham.

He is a blond stripey cat, about four months old, and the sweetest kitten I've ever known. He has a long pretty tail. He likes to nuzzle and cuddle and play.

Lately I'd just wanted another cat. Like three isn't enough, or something. So this is Jay's (early) birthday present. He came from PetSmart, via the Lexington Humane Society. He was fixed yesterday; today he's in a new house. This has to have been a confusing confusing week for him. We will ease his confusion with lots of love.

I'm back in Kentucky, thank God. If I didn't get away from that god-forsaken state and the hospital, I was going to implode. Mom continued to do better yesterday, and today they moved her to a normal room.

She went in originally for a severe (read: life-threatening) potassium deficiency. She'd not eaten/drank much in the preceding weeks, and it caught up with her. Her blood pressure had been so low that they hadn't been able to get a reading. So they admitted her, gave her potassium, and tried to unravel what else was up. They moved her to ICU on Friday, and gave her blood, albumin, NaCl solution, and dextrose. This perked her up a good deal. Her blood pressure was normal, her pulse oxygen was excellent, pulse was good, etc. on Sunday night. They were planning on moving her to a normal room on Monday morning. I drove the three hours home, relaxed a bit, and tried to sleep. After a fitful few hours, the phone rings, and it's dad. "She's contracted pneumonia overnight, and they're putting her on a ventilator." He feared the worst, and wanted me to be there.

I got there, and didn't leave except to sleep a few hours for the next few days. The ICU waiting room was a miserable place. Families of so many seriously seriously ill people.. a couple of kids that had been in horrible car wrecks, as well. I read until my eyes literally wouldn't focus anymore. I went in there and held her hand while she dozed somewhere in between a state of consciousness and a narcotic-induced fog. Her hands both swelled enormously; her right "good" hand more than her left. She only weighs about 90 lbs now. Her hands had to add a good 3 lbs to that. They decided to let the sedation wear off early Wednesday morning (about 5 am), and to turn off the ventilator and see how she did for herself. She was doing fine, so they took the tube out a few hours later. All her stats looked good, and hopefully she's starting to really recover. It makes me feel good that she can still laugh, too, even in times of high stress. I feel like I'm helping somewhat when I amuse her. I make the most horrible jokes you've ever heard, anything to lighten the mood. I threatened to arm wrestle her, I told her she was trying to seduce her male nurse by baring her shoulders, etc. It makes her feel better.

While she's out of the immediate woods, there are still some issues. When they were researching the cause of her nausea and vomiting, they found a mass behind her larynx. We're thinking that might explain the gag reflex, and why her voice has been so low. However, there's a chance it might be malignant. They're going to do a biopsy as soon as she's stable enough to withstand about 10 minutes of general anethesia, most likely soon. She also has some cysts on her ribs, which are probably (hopefully) just caused by osteoperosis, and nothing cancerous.

The ICU nurses were all wonderful, might I note. In the past few years we've met a lot of nurses. In rehab they were really nice, but they talked to Mom like she were a three year old. She's an adult with all her mental faculties intact, thankyouverymuch. The ICU nurses were different. Even when she was heavily sedated, they still called her by name (either "Diana" or "Mrs. McClanahan"). They were gentle, kind, courteous, and efficient. They answered all our questions without getting exasperated, and listened to my dad when he gave recommendations about her diaylysis (he does it at home, so he's pretty experienced. He did go a little heavy on one nurse over a misunderstanding, but stress will do weird things.) Her nephrologist, Dr. Espiritu, is great. He knows her condition inside and out. He doesn't only treat her kidneys, he treats everything. He's like a general practicioner on steroids. When your kidneys fail, it takes its toll on your entire body. Lungs, bones, brain, you name it. He takes it all into account and treats accordingly. We're lucky to have him. She was always his model patient, as far as not letting renal failure interrupt her life (not so much her model patient when it came to medication compliance, however.) He's straight with us, and we appreciate that.

Ok, I realize I've rambled and rambled. It's been a LOOONG week. I'm so happy to be home; it means not only am I in my own domicile, but Mom's well enough for me to be here.

That's all. :)

I'm in West Virginia. My mom has been in ICU since last Friday. I stayed through Sunday, when it looked like she was going to be moved to a normal room. I went back to Lexington, but on Monday morning at 7:30 my dad called and said she was still in ICU, had contracted pneumonia, and was on a ventilator, and he wanted me to come home. So I drove 80mph, and I've been spending 13 hour days at the hospital. This morning, however, they took her off the ventilator, and she's breathing on her own. She's perfectly lucid, and feeling much better. They had her heavily sedated on the ventilator, and she didn't believe it was really Wednesday. She thought it was Monday. She had some awareness while sedated, though. She communicated to us when she was uncomfortable, needed to move, etc. She just doesn't remember any of it. So now I'm hoping to go back to Lexington again, etc. Wish her luck!

I'm in a concert funk.

So far, this year has been pretty productive, concert-wise. You'll notice on the aforementioned list, however, that there is only one concert scheduled for the future. I can't wait for it (it's in exactly one month). Ben Folds and Tori Amos on a single bill. It's the most beautiful thing in the world. But after that? Nothing. Nada. Zip.

C'mon! Some more Ani Difranco? A fleeting They Might Be Giants show? A Moxy Früvous reunion? Throw me a rope, here.

I was just the 10,001th visitor to my own blog. hehe.
(I have to check it to read/reply to comics.)

(err.. in hindsight that should have read "comments", not "comics".)

I am in love with my new speakers. I'd marry them if it were legal.

In late February, during the dreaded Ice Storm of 2003, my speakers at work gave up the ghost. They were pretty good, flat-panel Monsoons. Since then, I'd been listening to music on a co-worker's cheap cd player. Friday was the last day for one of my co-workers, and as proper geeks do, we cannabilized his computer. I got the speakers. They're Monsoon cube speakers, and I don't know if it's the crappy speakers I've been listening to for so long, or if they are genuinely good speakers, but they sound great. Nice big sub, two little cube speakers. Ahhh. Beautiful sound.

This weekend I painted the decorative touches in one of the guest bedrooms. It looks pretty cute. I'm proud of myself. We have a leak in the basement, but we don't know where it's coming from (it's from an inside wall, so it's probably not from outside water). Tomorrow the plumber comes. I'm so scared of the concept of plumbers. They're damned expensive. Wah.

I am listening to Ani Difranco on my new wonderful speakers. It makes me want to go see her live, now! hehe. Surely she'll tour around here sometime in the future.

One month and two days until the Cleveland Tori Amos/Ben Folds show. (and, coincidentally, one month exactly until Jay's birthday.)

We saw Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend. It was pretty good. A bit long, but it was nice and spooky. I recommend it.

I will now abruptly end this entry.

I'm bored.

From http://www.fridayfive.org/:

1. Do you remember your first best friend? Who was it?
My first best friend was Summer Queen. Our parents were good friends, and Summer's mom would make us matching outfits, and people thought we were twins. We were really cute. We got our ears pierced at the same time (when I turned four, I think), and she cried but I didn't. She figured out that the Santa Claus at the Christmas party we were at was really my dad. I didn't believe her (but it was, of course.)

2. Are you still in touch with this person?
I haven't spoken to her in about 12 years.

3. Do you have a current close friend?
Other than my dearest Jay, I have a best friend, Aimee.

4. How did you become friends with this person?
We met in Honor Society when I transferred into her junior high. At the end of the year we had to write a speech for the induction of new Honor Society members. We were friends for high school, and she was my roommate for seven years during and after college.

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with? Why?
Lately I've been missing my friend Sara Burgess (well, that's not her last name now, but I can't remember it.) We were friends all through junior high and high school, and kept in touch through most of college. We lost touch after our respective graduations, however. She was a good friend, and I'm really curious to how her life's going.

There's nothing like a good case of eye strain to make the day complete. Grumble grumble stupid data entry grumble.

Anyhow.. all the major current painting is done! I will do accent painting next, and eventually the bathroom and kitchen, but those are no rush. The bedrooms/living room were my biggest priority. Now I get to decorate.

I have nothing else really going on in my life right now. My tummy's been oogy lately, which sucks. The same thing happened to me last year for awhile, so I just got that medicine refilled. I've been covered in bruises lately. No, Jay isn't beating me. I keep running into stuff. Like the coffee table. For some reason, it's higher than most coffee tables, right at knee height.

The cats aren't trying to kill/maim each other quite as frequently anymore. Sophie's come out of the basement, but whenever her and Anastasia hiss/chase each other, Eleanor comes to Sophie's defense. It's kinda touching, although it makes me feel bad for Anastasia. But she was being a snot yesterday, attacking my head from behind the curtains.

The rain situation in Lexington is ridiculous. In the last week of May/first few weeks of June, we had about 6 inches of rain. Since then, we've had .18 inches. Everything that was flooded a month ago is dried up now. Why couldn't it have been dry when I was moving? Huh?

I'm whiny today. hehe. It's the eye strain/stomach combination.

Might I note that it's now raining? Pouring, in fact.

That's all I have for now. Leave copious comments.

22 minutes and my three-day weekend begins (nevermind the fact I already had Tuesday off this week.)

On Tuesday Aimee and I went to King's Island. I'm never going on a weekend again. It was so great on a weekday. The lines were super-short, there were less annoying people, and it was an all-around better time. We rode every adult roller coaster in the park, and we rode the Beast twice. It bruised me the second time. The Son of Beast once again jarred the hell out of me. I prefer the father Beast, personally. I got a little sunburned, but not too bad.

I was just getting ready to message Beth when she disappeared offline. No matter. I'm reading a book she recommended, The Time of the Witch, by Mary Downing Hahn. It's a kid's book, but I really liked one of Hahn's other books, Wait Till Helen Comes. They're nice and spooky.

Ok, on a related note, when I was riding The Beast the other day, I saw some RL Stine books in the window of the control booth. The Beast has a whole series of books about it. I should really get some of those out of the library for their camp value. Interesting sidenote: my cousin Emily went to camp with R.L. Stine's son.

I'm out of stuff to stay. I'm going to paint more this weekend. How exciting!