About Me

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I live on 6 deeply wooded acres in the boonies of Middleville, MI. I'm married to an amazing man, Brian. He's pretty much the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm a big animal lover. I have 5 cats; Bella (6), Cognac (3), Georgia (3), Maggie (2), & Auggie (8-9mos.) We recently lost our kittens, Aesop & Amelia, to a battle with Feline Leukemia. I feel the need to mention them. They were amazing beings that showed unconditional love like no other cats I've had. I also have Cheech (9) that I'm fostering. We have two puppies; Charlie & Henry. Having a blast! I'm a dabbler in photography, photo shop, & crafts. I'm kind of a bookworm/nerd/geek. Yes, I have read the Twilight Series. No, I'm not obsessed. I love Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, C.S. Lewis, and L. Frank Baum - among others, obviously.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Cheech

Last Friday, Brian and I added a feline friend to our household. Where he was living before had a pretty bad flea infestation and he basically needed to get out. He belongs to a cousin of mine and she plans on being financially responsible for him still, he just can't live where she currently resides. Cheech is 9 years old.

(Fun fact: Cheech's sister lives at my parents house.)

So, meet Cheech.

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He has some bald spots on his back side.

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Since he's been here, his scabs are healing really well.

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The vet recommended he stay quarantined for a week. So, he's been in our storage room in our basement. Luckily our computer server is in there, so we can watch movies and spend time with him.

He's a pretty funny guy.

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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Past Few Weeks

Well, I haven't blogged in quite some time. One of my friends informed me of this. So, I thought I'd give you an update.

A couple weeks ago I started feeling intense pressure in my stomach. After about the third day I realized something was wrong and I needed to seek medical help.

I got into my doctor's office. From what I was telling him he thought maybe I had coeliac disease. Or he thought I had a form of colitis - which don't google it because it'll freak you out. I don't show any signs of colitis at this point, but I had in the past year so he didn't want to rule it out. He's strongly urging me to have a colonoscopy, but that is not something that I want to do at this time. Not to mention I don't currently show signs of it.

I had to go in for a blood draw to test for coeliac disease (which is an allergy to gluten). It was supposed to be a simple blood draw - I've had many. It turned into a nightmare and I was almost in panic mode by the time the third nurse came over to do it correctly. After a few hours I noticed my arm:

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(It's not the greatest picture because I took it with my phone. Sorry.)

I had to stay on a gluten free diet until I got the results. I do NOT have coeliac. So, that was good news.

After my first appointment with him I was feeling good. So good that I was telling Brian that I was feeling almost back to normal. Then the moment I laid down for bed I noticed intense pain that I couldn't ignore. I was awake off and on until I got up at 4:30 a.m. I had my doctor paged. He called me back rather quickly and I told him how the pain was primarily when I'd lay down at bed time. He told me what I needed to do and what to take that was over the counter until I saw him again.

It's looking like, at this point in time, that I'm producing far more stomach acid. Which I've learned will basically happen overnight to people.

He's not ruling out colitis and is still heckling me to have a colonoscopy. I think some time in the next year I'll go through that. But not right now. (Mainly because the thought of it scares me. Yes, I've heard they're painless, but the day before it isn't pleasant and that's what I don't want.)

He's also got me on a medication that's allowing me far more fiber in my diet. So, I'm basically eating vegetables at every meal and loving that. I feel so good now. So, yay!

The cats are doing well. Aesop has surpassed his one year mark and is doing well. I try to play with him every day. And I even have an extra water bowl for him in our shower since he loooooves water so much. His coat is amazingly soft. I don't know if it's his grooming regimen or what. He does get the occasional hair ball stuck in his throat. And he wakes us up in the middle of the night to pat his back. (Kind of like a little kid.) After a few pats he's back to normal and sleeps with us in bed.

As I was working this week I decided to change my background on my desktop because I hadn't in a while. I stumbled upon this picture:

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Aesop is so teeny tiny next to Cognac! Now he's as big or bigger. :)

In this picture you can see the difference:

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He's a monster!

And here's another picture of Ace:

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(Sorry for their poor quality. They are from my phone.)

Brian and I have been on the go so much that I haven't had time to use my Canon at all. :(

And now we're gearin' up for the holidays... I promise I'll update more!