Weeks
Next week is Thanksgiving. Every year I keep making it to the holidays and I'm always surprised. I have no idea why. Actually last year I barely made it.
Let's talk about the past couple weeks.
On November 1st is when I found my cat in the backyard unable to walk or stand.
So I took her to the animal hospital. Doctor didn't think she'd heal right without surgery, didn't recommend surgery, and didn't think she'd walk again. I was given the option to put her down or take her home and think about putting her down later. I decided to take her home and make her comfortable.
I set her up on the guest bed surrounded by pillows on puppy pads with food nearby, wet food mixed with pumpkin.
With every warm bath (helps with constipation, as does the pumpkin) she showed signs of increased mobility and function. The baths helped keep her clean while she was messing herself on puppy pads. I also did some light blow drying on her bad side that she insisted on laying on.
And in between baths I would wipe her with baby wipes and lay her on small towels to dry. She continued to rest a lot, showing no signs of worsening, or pain.
The only thing that seemed to be increasing was her level of frustration with not being able to move. One day I came home and found her on the floor. Crap. She'll hurt herself. So I moved her bed to the floor.
That didn't work. I have no idea how she was able to do this.
She is, if nothing else, stubborn. I don't know who taught her that. To help with her healing I bought her some senior cat multivitamins. She LOVES those things. I don't know if it's the vitamins or her strong will. Either way she was getting antsy. I thought maybe I should let her walk around and see what she feels like doing.
Sitting on the rug because she likes this rug and her bad foot can have more traction on carpet, was her first choice. Being near her people, she prefers that.
But she's getting more and more used to walking with a slight limp. She is lop-sided and she's learning to accommodate.
She sits a little crooked now.
But bear in mind, still has at LEAST two more weeks of healing before she's done. I got this number from another vet at the hospital who spoke to me about her post examination. He said four weeks total is the minimum she should have to heal before returning to normal life.
So this is my solution to keep her from clawing and climbing her way onto furniture, which I finally witnessed. Jumping may never be part of her life again. At this point, while she is skilled at the process, which is admirable (both that she figured that out and her commitment to not let this slow her down), she could still miss a step and fall and re-break her bones.
But I still let her out, under my supervision, to walk around. Mostly she just lays near her people.
And sometimes I pick her up and put her on the couch when she wants to be near her boy.
So that's that situation. When we travel to Denton for Thanksgiving, guess who's coming with us? That cage collapses for easy storage in the family car. I'm borrowing it from my dad until she's all healed.
Beyond that, I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with her. If she hasn't learned anything more about using a litterbox, she'll probably end up back outside. Also that's better for everyone's allergies. But there is more concern this winter for arthritis. We'll just have to see how things go. I can't tell if this was a freak accident or if it's just not safe for her outside.
Two weeks and she's walking. She started taking steps after just a few days. I really thought I'd be taking her back to be put down soon. I know that some day I will, but doesn't look like it'll be this time. "Cats are amazing creatures," is what I was told by the doctor who called me back. Vets are suckers for these kinds of stories. After she's reached her four weeks I'll take her back for a follow-up x-ray-ray.
So that's the deal with Ray. Naturally lots of other things have been happening during these two weeks.
On week ago Andy started tracking calories with me. Not only has he re-lost back to his 100 mark, he's passed it. And he's had cake at least TWICE. He tracks everything. He gets on the trampoline nearly every day. I'll write more about this in Transforming Man, but I just wanted to say that for a first week, this was a good one. I'm proud. Not eating food is emotionally trying on a person. This has been a good week.
It's fun to be cooking together again. We build recipes. We track walking around the grocery store. The nice thing about tracking is that it's your own program however you want to make it. If you want to exercise a lot, you can. If you want to eat chocolate every day, you can. If you want to eat 7 meals a day or just 2, you can. It's a numbers game, and you can play that game so many different ways. I log onto MFP and answer and respond to questions and posts in the forums. One guy was trying to make a funny about veganism.
I said, "It's your body, eat whatever you want to. Eat cats." I don't do this for the animals, I do it for me. High cholesterol and cancer are in my family as are diabetes. I'll never die of a heart attack or a stroke. Car wreck? Chances are better than I'd care to think about, but at least my organs will be good for donation. TEE HEE. Also it's easier to lose weight not eating meat. So long as I don't eat fried food, I can stay within my caloric level and still eat fun food.
Food should be fun. Food should not be associated with guilt. It should be a source of health. Your food should not be killing you. Junk food is poison. I've had enough of it. I can see what it's done to me. I can also see what I'm undoing by eating smarter. I say I'm vegan because it's easy for people to understand.
In reality I eat a plant strong diet, and I'm lactose intolerant. I'm a herbivore. I don't pay a lot of attention to where the red dye came from or how the sugar was purified.
I'm going to put my advocacy for animals on hold until the humans are completely safe from slavery, human trafficking, violence against women, starvation, disease, and war. Thinking about animal cruelty is a first world luxury. Choosing veganism is a first world luxury. Having nothing else to eat but a vegan diet is a third world reality.
I'll care more about the animals when everyone on the planet has access to clean drinking water, when parents don't allow their children to be kidnapped by slave owners because they've been tricked by stories of sending them to get an education or a better life, when women all over the world are safe from rape, and when children are not orphaned by AIDS.
In the meantime I don't eat animals or their products for my health. The trade-off is worth it to me when I get my blood work done.
But eat whatever you want to. It's your body. I'm pleased that mine is finally getting smaller. I'm happy that we've had a whole week to get used to Andy eating again before the Thanksgiving holiday. We're going to make a protein, a veggie, a gourd, and a dessert for each meal we attend. That's our tentative plan. Love me some gourds.
Thursday I sat down with Dean Shattuck to discuss my readmission into the engineering college. It was a weird afternoon. I had to leave work early to pick up my son from school early. It was parent/teacher conference day. I had to be back up at my school between 3 and 5 to get a walk-in appointment with the dean. I had finally tracked down my advisor and had him fill out and sign my paperwork the previous day.
So that means, since I wanted to be there at 3 or close to, I had to bring the boy with me to the dean's office, because my mom wasn't going to be home from work until 4. There we were, sitting quietly drawing pictures in the waiting area of the dean's office with 10 people in front of us in line. I was very proud of how quiet the boy was able to be. Finally after nearly an hour of waiting it was my turn. I wasn't sure if I was just going to submit my paperwork and wait on a decision via email or actually be told that day what my fate was.
Either way I was the least nervous I've ever been in my life. All I thought about during that time was my son. I just relaxed and was there with him in that moment. When I walked into the dean's office, I left him in the waiting area. The dean, who is one of the nicest people on the planet, asked if I needed to bring him in with me. I said, no, he was fine, and he was for most of the meeting. He read my statement in front of me while I sat there. This was the second time this had happened. My advisor did the same thing, and it was NERVE WRECKING. This time, didn't bother me at all. I just sat there looking around his office at all the engineering shirts on the walls and the books on his shelves.
Then his computer said, "I'm sorry, Dave, I can't let you do that right now." Everything I could do to keep from laughing. When he was done, he looked over my transcript and then my contract filled out with my advisor for courses for the next three main semesters.
He said to me that he was going to sign everything and then talk to me about it. He said I wrote a good letter of readiness. Then he began to explain to me about the contract. It was about this time that the Wonas walked in and said he didn't want to sit out there by himself anymore. I said he could come in and sit but he had to be very quiet.
The dean explained to me what grades were required of me and what the implications would be of failing to make them. He was very polite and patient about everything. He asked if I had any questions, I said no. Jonas raised his hand.
Dean: Do you have any questions?
Wonas: Yes, can I have some candy? *points to the large candy bowl on the dean's desk*
Dean: Yes, you can have one piece when we're done if she says you can. *dean points to me*
This man has children, I'm sure of it. When it was all done he said, "I need you to do well." I said, "I need me to do well." His response was, "and he needs you to do well," pointing to the boy. Wonas nodded.
And that was it, we shook hands and left. If the boy hadn't been there I would have been a weeping mess, but instead I was ok. It's strange how hard it is to explain that without intending to or realizing it, people can offer the best moral support. Keep that in mind when someone takes you places when them for no apparent reason. The universe is kind to me, making me take my son.
I'm an engineering student again.
The weeks will fly by as they have this year, and the next two years will fly by. One day I'll wake up and I'll be graduating. Last year at this time, Andy and I were nearly divorced. We didn't spend last Thanksgiving together. That year is gone and this one is here and we're healthier both in body and in marriage. What will another year bring? I see good things on the horizon.
I look forward to the holidays and our continued weightloss. I look forward to taking engineering courses again. Every year will prove more challenging in new ways. I look forward to the future. I'm thrilled about the next chapter of my life as it writes itself. I am where I belong right now and I'm moving towards where I will belong in the near future.
I am the class of 2014.