— पांच हजार छह सौ पंद्रह —

Not a lot to catch you up on today, since my evening last night was almost entirely filled up with either watching or writing Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

In the absence of Alexia, who was supposed to join Laney and me but had to take an emergency trip to San Antonio to say goodbye to her dying father, Shobhit did use her ticket. I think Shobhit kind of liked the movie fine; he didn't denigrate it, nor was he particularly effusive. As evidenced by my review, though, the movie significantly exceeded my expectations—I kind of loved it.

All four of these movies are impressive in how they create incredibly compelling characters who are almost all CGI apes (well acted with motion capture). This is arguably more the case with this new one than any of the others, as so much more of the cast is apes, with only two notable speaking human parts.

It was a bit long, at two hours and 25 minutes, but it really didn't feel long. I was riveted from beginning to end, and somewhat to my amazement, I was the only one of the three of us who never got up to pee in the middle of the movie—even with a rum and orange juice cocktail Shobhit brought for me! (He also brought us sandwiches, and it was a particularly delicious sandwich.)

It's too bad Alexia wasn't able to see it. I'm certain she would have loved it as much as Laney and I did. I'd happily watch it again.

I had walked there from work, and Shobhit and Laney both walked separately from home. Laney were there when I arrived, and we went up to the top floor to wait for Shobhit, who took maybe another ten minutes. We all walked home together, and Shobhit decided to stop get again at R+M Dessert Bar on Pike, so we could now try their most popular dish, the Triple Chocolate Ganache, with instructions on how to warm it up at home. Shobhit had it ready when I was done writing my review and it was fucking delicious. Shobhit declared the chocolate strawberry mousee dome to be better, but I preferred this one. It was amazing.

When we were still there at the dessert bar, I asked the guy how long they've been open. Since 2017! It's such a tucked-away, tiny location on Pike on Capitol Hill, neither Laney nor I had ever noticed it before. I'm impressed they're still open—for Capitol Hill, seven years is quite a successful run.

— पांच हजार छह सौ पंद्रह —

Oh, how could I almost forget! I need to tell you about Shanti's vet appointment yesterday afternoon.

First of all, the cat in the above photo is not Shanti. That's Meatball, one of the two resident cats at City Cat Vet Clinic. Shanti was getting both blood drawn and a fluid injection, and we could hear her yowling from down the hall in the exam room we had been left in. Shobhit was a bit anxious at the sound of Shanti yowling, and he opened the door to look down the hall toward the sound. He even asked if he should go back there, and I said no; she was definitely in a space where they do not bring back non-staff humans. She clearly wasn't enjoying that experience, but she would feel much better soon after.

Anyway, Shobhit had left the exam room door open, and Meatball just lumbered in, and jumped up onto that perch (which literally has a little sign that reads Cat Seat) to look out the window. Meatball is an incredibly friendly cat who bears his belly for rubs from any human who will offer them. He's a sweet cat, and actually was a comforting presence while we felt for Shanti and her distress.

When they brought Shanti back, the assistant handed her to Shobhit, who set her on the floor—and she immediately stumbled and kind of fell over. I don't think they had sedated her, but this must have just been because of how distressing the experience was. That said, in contrast to whenever we take Guru to the vet, Shanti shortly thereafter just lay calmly on the floor, as she also had done before the exam began.

All that said, I spent $387 there yesterday, all taken out of my savings account. The most expensive thing was the exam alone, $69. Then there was the fluid injection, and the capsule medication combining three drugs, two for nausea (the vet said that was likely Shanti's problem when she ate a little and then walked away from her dish) and one for appetite stimulant. Shobhit was also really gung ho on giving her antibiotics, noting that in India they use that for just about anything, and consistently ignoring every time he was told the only reason to use antibiotics is for a known bacterial infection—otherwise we're wasting both effort and money. Besides, another point I made later: if we did everything at once and something did work, we'd have no idea which thing worked.

In any event, I still spent that money on things that, so far anyway, are inconclusive. The vet could tell Shanti was dehydrated (hence the fluid injection), and even suggested we give her regular injections at home. There's no way I can handle a needle in that way, nor will Shobhit, so that's out. I still went ahead with having them give her fluid while we were there. The blood work should give some indication of red blood cell count and whether there is the suspected kidney disease happening—which is common in older cats, and if there's a kidney infection then antibiotics may actually then be in order. She did give her one antibiotic pill while there, just to make Shobhit feel better.

No matter what happens, I'm thinking Shanti's days are numbered. I mean, they were anyway, for both her and Guru: they turned 16 this year, which is around 80 in cat years. From here on out they're both kind of living on borrowed time. I'm kind of hoping that we can keep Shanti around for at least another year or so, if not more, but of course throwing out numbers like that is completely arbitrary.

The main goal is to keep her as comfortable and happy as we can. There was another suggestion to get an ultrasound scan to check for a mass in her digestrive tract, but the vet said that would cost us about $800! Between that and the money I was already paying for everything else, spending more than a grand for a cat this old just did not feel like a worthy investment. The struggle otherwise, of course, is just gauging how much to do and spend on the meantime, given how old she is.

I can say this, in the short term: by the time we got her home, Shanti was clearly feeling much better. She ate some of Guru's puke so we clearly can't say she has no appetite now. Blech.

— पांच हजार छह सौ पंद्रह —

[posted 12:31 pm]