ProfessorTomoe

And it takes a story like yours, tOH, to put me back in my place. I had to fight for my life after my gastric bypass went south back in 2009 (leading to my broken ankles), but that was only a blip in time by comparison. Your brother's story makes the problems I'm having right now look like I'm fighting a hangnail. Thank you—I have to keep that in mind.

Another Loudmouth Picture. It's a bit blurry in the face, but the hand and tongue were the focus of the shot: Mrs. Prof was trying to get Loudmouth used to having his paws and nails handled. He started licking himself afterward. That's why the face is a bit out of focus.

Mrs. Prof is reticent to run the chemistry panel if no problems are apparent. He's not showing any immediate signs of other illnesses. BTW, no other tests were run on him. She says he got the normal checkup that was given to most cats, and that she's happy with that. On the other hand, she is planning on taking Loudmouth back for another snap test in a month, and if it tests positive, having an IFA test run. BTW, she's decided that both cats will get EVO wet cat food during at least the "meet & greet" stage of introduction, to go along with the EVO dry on-demand food. They're close to being the same recipe, and both of them gobbled up most of it tonight. It's likely that this will be continued at half the rate after they're introduced (e.g., wet food at night).

2:55 p.m. CDT 20170710. The day of reckoning, pill-wise, is at hand. We've already made two phone calls and had two arguments, so things aren't starting off well. Mrs. Prof is going to have to drive all the way over to a CVS located, ironically enough, across from the hospital where I broke my ankles. They're the closest place that has enough hydrocodone to fill the prescription. Neither our regular CVS nor our nearby Albertsons had enough (Albertsons was dead out). Of course, Mrs. Prof originally wanted me to go with her so that I could do the arguing in the event that there were any "problems" (i.e., State or Federal regulation run-ins) getting the prescriptions filled. She eventually relented and allowed me to call instead, but it turned out that the "problems" would be numbers and not regulations. The last CVS said that as long as our insurance covers it, they'll fill it. Pray for Omarion. And Harambe, while you're tossing memes about. Earlier, I got a phone call from a rather confused nurse who works for pain specialist #3. She said the doctor wanted to know when the last time was that I'd seen the spine doctor/pain specialist #1. She was also confused about my UT Southwestern situation, so I straightened that out for her. She said thank you and left me in limbo. God, I'm going slowly crazy over this situation. Finally, one of the reasons Mrs. Prof relented is that I've been feeling terrible again today. Part of it may have to do with my left big toe. It's still swollen and turning red again—possible re-infection. I also felt something shift under the ball of my foot earlier today when I stepped on it. It's rather painful. I've called and made an appointment with the podiatrist for Thursday afternoon. I hate days like this. They remind me of how dependent upon others (and upon the mood of others) I am. Things can get more depressing, but not by much.

Picture Tedd's father walking in on this conversation ... wow, the fireworks that'd generate ...

I debated whether to put this here or in the "things that make you worried" thread. You see, there is a possibility that I might not get to see pain specialist #3, and it's worrying me sick. I've kept it inside since the possibility surfaced on Friday, when I was in the shower, or actually a bit before that. I finally got around to calling pain specialist #3 Friday morning after calling my PCP for a refill of my pain medicine. I eventually got a call from my PCP that my prescription was ready, so I went and took a shower. Of course, pain specialist #3's office calls while I'm in the shower. At least they'll let Mrs. Prof know what's going on. My folder is sitting on his desk with several others, and I should hear from him in a few days ... if I qualify. WTF? If I qualify? I've got level 10 pain going on here without pain meds, and I have to find out if I qualify? What kind of deal is this? Do I have to prepare an audition routine or something for an initial consultation? Oh, dear God, please tell me I'm not headed toward another UT Southwestern situation again. Or worse, toward a rejection. What am I going to do if he says no? I'm sorry, but this has been bubbling under the surface all weekend long. I debated whether I should say anything about it, but in the end I had to get it off my chest.

Have you tried any of the myriad barbecue rub recipes out there? I don't know how well they'd work with sous vide, but they might be worth a try. From what region of the country do you emanate, if you don't mind me asking?

Loudmouth and Baker got duck as their wet food tonight. Both of them seemed to like it. Baker ate about half of his, while Loudmouth ate just a bit more. They should be growing to expect wet food to be available for a short period (about 45 minutes to an hour) with their on-demand dry. They're still on opposite ends of the house, but as time passes, we'll start slowly moving the bowls closer together (to avoid Baker barf from sudden relocation). One thing Mrs. Prof has noted is that Loudmouth drinks a lot of water. We didn't get any test results that pointed to any problems related to this, but I'm not 100% certain any were run.

Coffee in the afternoon. Trying to fight off the sedating effect of the hydrocodone long enough so I can watch the IndyCar 300 lap race at Iowa (a 7/8th mile bull ring). I do not want my medication to make me miss this.

One thing I have been sadly remiss on has been introducing you to the other half of the equation: Baker. He is a three-year-old neutered male who also came in from our backyard, although at a much earlier age (around five to six months, after having been TNRed at four months). So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to Baker: He's a nice cat, although a bit of a scaredy cat. He's going to be the problem side of the introduction equation.

The photo title is "PortalCat." Based on the game Portal from several years ago.

11:00 a.m. CDT 20170709. Damn. I slept through the whole Austrian Grand Prix, except for the first few laps. Hydrocodone relieves your pain, but it often relieves you of your ability to stay awake as well. Oh, well—guess I'll watch some IMSA SportsCar Championship racing from Canada instead before the IndyCar race from Iowa kicks in this afternoon. Hell, I can't even remember if I took anything other than my hydrocodone today. I'll admit that one of the problems with not using a pill reminder for all your pills is that you can't be sure that you've taken all your pills. I took my hydrocodone this morning, and I rarely take it by itself except at 4:00 a.m., but I stayed up until the F1 race started, so I think I took my pills ... damn, this is frustrating. It's too late in the day to take them anyway. I'll have to do with my midday doses and hope I can hold off until my nighttime doses. Problem is, I can't use a pill reminder for all of my pills. As I count them now, I've got 12 types of pills to take in the morning (in varying numbers), 3 types at midday (varying again), and 14 types of pills (in varying counts) at night. This does not include the hydrocodone, which I take four times a day. Do the math on that grouping. Daily. I've tried different pill reminders, and they're all more trouble than they're worth. Did I put pill X into Tuesday PM? Oh, smeg, dump everything out and count. No, with the individual bottles-in-a-shoebox method, at least I know if I've taken the pills once I get started. The only problem is remembering whether or not if I got started. In other news, I had another damned Zofran emergency last night. Mrs. Prof brought home tortas (Mexican sandwiches) from a local place called Pepper's. I've eaten their Holandesa (sp?) many times, but I've always had to eat it in two parts: first half warm, second half cold the next day. Well, I'd just made it through the first half last night when, all of a sudden, it decided it wanted to come back up. Grab the blue bottle, stick the pill under my tongue, and hope I've done it quickly enough. I did, thank goodness. Of course, I was useless for the rest of the night, but I didn't have to run to the bathroom again. This is a frustrating situation. I've got the other half of my torta in the fridge, but I'm afraid to touch it. Give me a couple more hours to work up the courage. One last thing to mention: my PVCs have been hitting me worse than they have in a long, long time. Gallows humor: Mrs. Prof is outside sawing PVC pipe for a project. Coincidence?

Yyyeeaaaahhhh, I'd say you have an issue there.

Mrs. Prof made another Sam's Club run. This time, she brought back some kind of weird chocolate vs. peanut butter generic Chex mix. Not bad, but probably bad as hell for you. Wish she'd brought home cottage cheese instead.

This is a test, not Loudmouth related: I was just trying to see if I could link images from my web site once I've exhausted my quota here on 910CMX. We now return you to your regularly scheduled mayhem.

The Trail Camera finally got some use on the 7th. Most of the pictures were of him lazing about on the bed in the cat room, but there were a couple worth sharing: Not too exciting, but they show off the room and the bed that he has for his home base. The green ball on the bed in the top picture is one of his toys. Note that I had to adjust the gamma on both of these to make them viewable. I also did my usual jpg shrinking with Google's guetzli compressor. That's an impressive piece of software, harkening back to the days of DOS (and a bit Linux-like) for now.

Just ordered one about 15 minutes ago.

From here: Baker has a tipped ear as well.