Today, well, yesterday, Val had a vet appointment. I called my friend Melanie at 10:30am, since she'd asked for a reminder call, and she came and picked him up around 10:45am. They took him in and ran tests. His kidney disease is much better, but it looks like he has developed diabetes. We now await test results from the mainland U.S. in one to two weeks. If they confirm that he has diabetes - as the vet seems to expect - we'll discuss treatment options.
I was pretty upset, but Perogies and Kitten, two online friends, insist not all cats mind shots. So, I guess I can even try those. If he doesn't seem to mind them, we can continue. If he starts to run and/or hide, then that's not the quality of life I want for the little fellow. The vet did talk about discussing treatment options, plural, when we get the test results. I can see what other options we might have, as well. Though she did say he'll die without shots, but he's an old cat. He won't live very long no matter what. {resigned almost-smile}
I had a long phone call with our former nurse at lunch time, catching him up with Val, and me up with him.
I texted him after dinner and had a shorter call with Melanie after dinner to catch them up with my online friends' saying cats don't always mind shots. I had a longer but not very long call with Auntie Barbara after dinner, to catch her up with everything about Val. {almost-smile}
I had dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I first read scripture and thoughts about it. I next read two Christmas cards from her niece and nephew. Next, I continued reading _Visions of Scotland_. I showed her each picture, reading each caption. She was quieter than yesterday but still looked at each picture. Then I read "Frugal Iowa Carpenter Helps 14 Kids Through College," from _100 Uplifting Short Stories for Seniors_. Confusingly, inside the article it says he helped 33 kids go to college over 14 years before all the money he'd saved had run out. I finished with the June 29th story, "What Are Honey Mice?" about a mouse, who told a bee she wanted to fly around and make honey just like the bee. The bee could grant one wish a day, and granted the wish that the mouse could make honey. however, it told her it couldn't also make her fly. The mouse was grateful. It was from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. I think Mom enjoyed both pictures and readings. {Smile}
I did my head exercises - the only exercises my physical therapist recommends for the day after physical therapy - right after getting back into City of Heroes: Homecoming, because it helped me wait for Kitten to respond. {Smile}
I read both yesterday's and today's comics after a late lunch, then hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. There, I was going to start on my paperwork, but ended up joining Perogies and Magma, and telling them about Val. They're the two who insisted not all cats object to shots... we shall see. I seem to remember Val had a mixed record at best. {odd look} Anyway, they urged me to pick something, and we started a story arc to get a badge for my character. We did two missions, and it seemed close enough to time to read to Mom, I didn't think I could continue. I should have checked with the nurse first, because when I was ready to read, she was just starting to feed Mom. Perogies was gone, and Kitten asleep when I got back, so I checked the comics. I read several issues of one I'm trying to catch up with before the nurse told me she was ready for me to read to Mom. {Smile}
I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming, and finally caught up with my paperwork. I checked with Kitten, but they were still unresponsive. I also did my head exercises, and chatted with Phonso until he was ready to start something. He decided to do a task force. He had me lead it. I did try to keep it going at a good pace, though he asked me why I'd picked a tough limit to meet if you read... but I don't read when folks are expecting me to keep up, not that I ever manage not to be one of the slowest in the group anyway. I'm always too busy trying to catch up to read... and I kind of complained about this at length, I'm afraid. I really need to apologize for that next time I see him. I... think I was in a bad mood because in spite of feeling more hope after talking with Kitten and Perogies, I'm still pretty upset about Val. I do love that cat, and don't want to lose him. I don't know how comfortable I am with being without a cat, too, but this is a hard house to add a pet to while Mom needs so much nursing... and we expenses are awfully high while Mom needs so much nursing, too. {bite lips}
Anyway, we tried to run the task force, but it was a lit more difficult than my settings could account for and ended up breaking up. that started before I could suggest something to try... then I left because I thought everyone quit when they were trying to follow my directions. then it really did break up. {bite lips} Phonso left, but Kitten had woken up, and was chatting during the latter parts of the task force. I joined them, and we finished the story arc we'd started before dinner... except we didn't. The arc is broken into two, and we finished missions 1-3. 4 and 5 are in a separate arc where we're getting it, though it's really all one arc and one story. I suspect the mission we really want is the one we'll start with next. We chatted, including with Perogies after that, when I meant to write this up, so I wrote it slightly later, but still finished. I'll have to post it tomorrow, though; it's that late. {Smile}
