— पाँच हजार पाँच सौ चौरासी —
The highlight of the evening last night was taking Shanti and Guru to the vet for their annual exams. I budgeted $300 for this, and wound up with a bill for $289—mostly because I went ahead and ordered blood work for Guru, for the third time in the past year. His reading to test for hyperthyroidism goes up each time, and once it increases enough—and the vet says his thyroid is noticeably enlarged—then it's time to put him on medication. I won't do the radiation treatment that is apparently the other option, I won't put him through that kind of stress. They freak out enough just going to the vet.
And here are other considerations for the cats going forward:
* They have both lost weight. We wouldn't want them to lose more, and it would be good for them both, now, to gain some back. I am, at least for now, taking a new approach to their food: they still get 1/4 can of wet cat food for both breakfast and dinner, but I am no longer limiting the dry food they get. I am also actually taking Shobhit's suggestion of separating their two dishes now by wet food and dry food, as they don't seem to like the dry food with wet stuck to it. They just have to share the half can of wet food in one dish from now on.
* As of March 1, they are
sixteen years old—about eighty in cat years. I find myself wondering if the weight loss might be tied to their age, as that happens with aging humans as well. As much as I would love to see them last up to twenty years, their days are likely numbered, and it doesn't make economical sense to invest a huge amount of money in any health problems that might develop.
* They do each have a unique health concern, although neither of them appears to be super pressing for at least the moment. Guru has the potential hyperthyroidism, and Shanti has multiple masses on her body: three on her head, of different sizes, and at least one on her abdomen. They don't seem to be growing at the moment, but the vet suggested a certain test to try and detect what's inside them. I was tempted, and Shobhit really leaned toward not doing it. In the end we decided to wait on that for now, and honestly I'm glad I did, or else the bill for last night's visit alone would have been way over budget. The blood work for Guru was something like $168 on its own, and then the two exam fees all combined to that total of $289.
On the upside, they both seem pretty contented, have shown no change in appetite or energy level. I do wonder if they are eating less than I realize given their weight loss, but there may also be a change in metabolism in their senior years.
The two of them were unusually calm in the cat carrier, and even as we waited at the vet hospital. It wasn't until the vet, Dr. Castor, examined her that Shanti got
pissed—she growled continuously, and hissed at Guru, almost bit him inside the carrier, and continued to growl with irritation for a while even after we got them home and took them out of the carrier. An hour or two later, though, all was forgotten and they were both as affectionate as ever, although there was about an hour or so there where Guru was uniquely agitated, meowing at nothing but looking around as though trying to figure something out. It was a bit strange. But even that stopped after a bit, and when I went to bed later he came to bed with me as per usual.
— पाँच हजार पाँच सौ चौरासी —
— पाँच हजार पाँच सौ चौरासी —
For dinner Shobhit and I had vetetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, a particularly satisfying meal. Shobhit wanted some dessert later though, so I suggested hot chocolate, even though the only hot chocolate I had was the spicy Mexican hot chocolate—something he loves but I don't care for, but I made a cup for myself anyway. It was definitely too spicy for me, and then my weight was up another pound this morning. Not worth it!
We watched a few episodes of season seven of
Night Court while we ate. The quality of the writing on that show varies pretty significantly episode to episode, and sometimes Shobhit comments on how bad it got, not entirely unjustified. He got some consistent giggles out of the episodes we watched last night, at least. I'd never have gotten so into that show if it were airing for the first time now, but in the late eighties and early nineties it was my favorite show on television, so I have a real soft spot for it.
— पाँच हजार पाँच सौ चौरासी —
In other news, Shobhit finally booked his return trip home from India this morning, having resigned himself to his mother's decision not to come and visit—which I really predicted from the start. She finally kind of got him to agree with her when she expressed nervousness about having any health issue while here and not having access to the health care she gets at home. A fair point. Plus, she's in her late seventies and the kind of travel it would have entailed was a lot to ask of her regardless.
But, here was a genuine shocker: the other day Shobhit said, "Maybe we should visit India together next year." Whaaa—? I would
love that! I have wanted to see where Shobhit grew up for eons. I'd be a little nervous about getting sick after eating or drinking the wrong thing, but it's also possible to be careful enough to avoid those things. I'd probably still need to talk to my doctor about whether there are certain shots I should get.
Anyway, his return trip was booked for much later than initially suggested, and is going to have Shobhit away for longer than usual—just two days shy of four weeks, in fact. He leaves Thursday March 28, and arrives back in Seattle on Tuesday, April 23. It will be after not the usual one, but two layovers: first in Tokyo, where he will be for 10 hours (long enough to go out and explore a bit, maybe?); then in an Francisco for 2 hours and 40 minutes. He found itineraries for a couple hundred dollars cheaper the other day but prices went up, and he went ahead and booked. The same thing happened with June flights to Toronto when I looked them up yesterday morning.
This is going to have him out of town for fully four different weekends, rather than three as originally anticipated. I'm already having Barbara visit for the first of those weekends, when I will be taking her down to Olympia for Easter; the Gabriel & Groomsment weekend on Lopez Island is the second of those weekends; and I'm having Jennifer and Matthew visit over the third of those weekends. Now that there will be a fourth, and Mimi already confirmed she would not be able to make the weekend of April 13 work, I'm now waiting to hear whether or not it could be in the cards for me to come and visit her and her husband over the weekend of April 20. If not, that's totally fine; I've got a ton going on already, and my Birth Week will officially start the day after that, on Friday April 26. Right now I'm hoping it won't be too soon after Shobhit's return for him to be able to take my birthday (April 30) off of work like he usually does.
— पाँच हजार पाँच सौ चौरासी —
[posted 12:30 pm]
