Finally! A happy post! A LONG happy post!

[wordinista]

First off -- thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who expressed concern over Bronte.  I've been pretty emotional the past few weeks, and a few of your replies brought me to tears, and I just couldn't think of anything to say.  Thank you.   Your comments and virtual hugs and well-wishes and everything were such a... a balm, I guess.  It takes something really bad in Real Life to remind us just how wonderful such a community of friends can be.

*glomps tatertott, especially*  We got your card, sweetie.  Thank you. 

Anyway.  Updatey stuff.  Enough with the mush, right? ;) 


The vet prescribed Bronte some cytoxan, which, in humans, is a low-level chemotherapy drug; in felines, it's used to treat FeLV-negative auto-immune anemia.  Which is what Brontesaurus has, so that's good.  However, getting the drug has proven to be an adventure in itself.  See, the pharmacy at the clinic didn't have any cytoxan, so the vet called the prescription in to Walgreens on Thursday.  I called them on Friday to see about picking the 'script up.

They didn't have it in stock; they had to order it, and expected it to be in later that afternoon.  Fine.  So I called back later that afternoon.  Nothing -- no cytoxan.  (Mind you, the clinic misspelled my last name when they called in the 'script -- it's still under the maiden name instead of the married name, which is scads easier than the maiden name, trust me on this -- so it's not a surprise it got misspelled.  But it did mean that I had to repeat the backstory for every tech with whom I spoke and got the same story:  "I'm sorry; we don't have any prescriptions under that name."  "Yes, I know. They misspelled it.  Check the doctor's name instead."  "Ohhhh, there it is.")  So, I asked if that Walgreens could call around to the other area Walgreens and check to see if they had any cytoxan in stock.

No luck.  They said they could re-order it on Saturday, but it wouldn't get in until Monday.  I said I'd call around to other pharmacies first.  So I did -- I called CVS and... well.  It went a bit like this:

Bunneh:  "Hi, I'm calling to see if you have a specific drug in stock."  *explains the whole story to the tech, yep*  "So if you have any cytoxan in stock, then I can just call my vet and have him phone in the prescription again."
Tech:  ".....Cytoxan?"
Bunneh:  "Yeah, that's the one."
Tech:  ".....Can you spell that?"
Bunneh:  "Uh... I'm not sure of the correct spelling, actually."  (Until I Googled it, I thought it was spelled "cytoxin")
Tech:  "Let me ask our pharmacist."
Bunneh: "Okay, you do that."
*A few minutes pass*
Tech:  "Yeah, uh.  Our pharmacist's never heard of it.  I don't think we have it in stock."
Bunneh:  ".....I see.  Well.  Thank you for your time." 

So.  The CVS pharmacist had never heard of a chemotherapy drug -- a drug also used to help organ transplant patients accept donor organs (so their immune systems don't attack).  Man, if you're not looking for anything stronger than Penicilin, do NOT go to CVS.  Or, at least, MY CVS. (My cousin is in pharmaceutical school -- I'm tempted to call her and ask her if she's ever heard of cytoxan.)

But!  I called Walgreens back and they ordered the drug and it got in yesterday (as I was heading out to class, fnar), so I'm going to run out in a little bit and pick it up.


My little black puddin does seem to be showing improvement.  I have no idea whether it's due to the transfusion or the prednisone increase (can't be the cytoxan, as she hasn't even started it yet), but she is engaging in some of her quirky little habits that make me love her in the first place.  This morning, both kitty dishes were empty (that hasn't happened in a while), and Bronte and Kisa both were sitting by the dishes, mewing plaintively.  When I put the kibble in the dishes, Bronte hunkered down in front of hers and ate.  Oh, boy howdy, did she eat.  Lord.  Her appetite seems to just be constantly improving, which is really good to see.  (Kisa's appetite could stand to be a little less good.  She's gotten kinda chunky, what with Bronte not eating her share of kibble.)

She's also more interested in coming over and demanding pets.  She sat with me for a little while yesterday (about a half hour) and kept head-butting my hand every time I slowed or (heaven forbid) stopped petting her.  After she was done visiting with me, she visited with Tora, which delighted him, because it's been so long since she's done anything like that. 

Something else she does is... well.  She appropriates boxes for her own nefarious purposes.  And not just any boxes, either.  No, she likes the boxes that bottled water comes in, because the plastic on the box makes a little "tent" of sorts.  Observe:





She loves those things.  She always has.  We call it her Kitty Ambush Box, because you really won't notice she's in there until it's too late. XD  (Yes, the area around her does look like a mighty mess.  Mostly it's an intricate system of booby-traps to keep Darwin away from the kitty food/litterbox area.)

She's a lot more mobile than she was when we first brought her home, and her coat is looking less raggedy (except in the shaved bits, which she's hiding in the pics).  The shaved parts of her forelegs are starting to come back in -- it's soft, velvety grey stuffy -- but her butt is still pretty bare.  All in all, I think she's on the slow road to recovery. :D  She's acting more like her old self, and she's slowly looking more like her old self.


So, I started at Sylvan last week -- Thursday I did some training, and I go back in today and (hopefully) finish up my training.  Dude.  Training at Sylvan is hard core.  They give you articles on education and teaching theory and then these workbook-type things where you get essay questions asking about your philosophy on teaching and... man.  My hand was cramping by the time I got out of there on Thursday.  I also need to get down to Holy Trinity and fill out the information on doing some substituting. 

Anyway.  The kids, by and large, look like they'll be just a bit younger than what I'm used to.  

...

Scratch that.  They're way younger than what I'm used to.  Part of me is a little panicky about this.  I told myself I could do it, and I'm sure I can do it.  It's just... they're very... small.  Like... I don't even know.  Eight'ish, maybe.  Possibly around nine or ten'ish.

But one little boy endeared himself to me forever.  I was waiting for the program manager to give me a few things, and a cluster of little kids were over at the next table, taking a little drink/snack break.  I overheard the following exchange:

"You want one?"
"I dunno.  Does it have nuts in it?"
"I dunno.  Don't think so."
"I can't have nuts. I'm allergic.  If I eat them, I'll die."
*crinklecrinkle, pause*
"There ARE nuts in this!!  What are you trying to do, man, kill me?!"

I had to turn away.  XD

At any rate, I won't get my own students for a few days yet.  I've got the training to finish, and then I'm going to observe a few sessions  There is a possibility I will get some of my own students Thursday, depending on how things go.  And, yes, I am a little nervous about this.  But then, I was nervous about my first day teaching at the college, too.  I felt like I was going to be outed as a fraud, because who in their right mind would give me a degree and let me teach their kids, right?

One thing I am hoping will happen as a result of working again is a re-spark of my writing muse.  I know it doesn't make much sense, but I haven't been able to write more than a few words at a time lately, and it's mostly to do with stress.  Now, while it makes sense that working will take away from my time during the day, I wasn't really writing anyway.  But I've always found that the urge to write pops up most strongly when I'm supposed to be doing something else.  I just want to get that urge back, you know?  (And when I was working at the college -- at least in the early days -- I got ambushed by my muse more times than I could count.)  And the extra income will probably do lots to lessen some of those pesky stressors, especially with the holidays coming up.  Yes, it means I'll have to improve my time-management skills a little, but that's been the case for a while.

Comments

[scorpionocean.livejournal.com]

glad to hear she's doing better Niamh! And don't worry, you'll be a fine teacher, I'm sure ♥

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

*hugs* It's just... kids. Kids that are... you know. Small. I'm used to the ones that are less small, I guess. :)

[darkfrog24.livejournal.com]

Hhehehehehehee!


I M IN UR BOX

PLANNIN UR MBUSH

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

HEE!

I'm tempted to make an icon of her in the box that reads: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky..."

[f-ireworks.livejournal.com]

This update makes me very happy (and looking at Bronte's pictures made me smile). I'm so glad things are back on track and working out! *hugs*

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Thank you. :) I'm mildly worried about any side-effects from the cytoxan (evidently the side effects are pretty nasty in humans, but I've found nothing about how the drug affects cats), but she's definitely feeling more solid lately, and she's acting more like her old self, which is really nice to see.

[jazzy-fay.livejournal.com]

Awww! She's so cute! I'm so glad she's doing better! Hugs to you both.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

She really is my sweet little smooshball. :D I'm so relieved she's doing better, too. *hugs you back*

Bronte icon

[rya-kelley.livejournal.com]

For you.

Re: Bronte icon

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

...

...........

This icon cracks my shit up. XD

Re: Bronte icon

[rya-kelley.livejournal.com]

That's why I'm here.

Re: Bronte icon

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

*hugs you*

I think it might be because I hear "Brilliant!" in the same voices you hear on the Guinness commercials. ;)

Re: Bronte icon

[rya-kelley.livejournal.com]

But of course. ^_^ That means you get it.

Re: Bronte icon

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

All that makes me want to do is get a shot of her inside a Guinness case. :D

[tatertott.livejournal.com]

I'm very glad you liked the card - and it's very very true that you and George are both strong and will overcome any hardship :)
You'll be fine at Sylvan! I have faith in you!!

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

You know, I really wondered whether Sylvan was a place that was worth all the hype, but damn. They are putting me through serious training. After only two hours of it, my brain feels ready to leak out my ears!!