Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Progress = washing behind my ears - 耳の後ろを洗うことは嬉しい。

Weather: Super Sunny; 73°F
Energy Level: 4 out of 10
Pain Level: 5-6 out of 10
Mood: OK but worried about a few things...

↑ Ender (left)
sleeping on my pillow
with Momo.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - Daniel took some time off around July 4th, and I wanted to do things together with him, and in the process I wore myself out a bit. Plus I was a bit preoccupied with cat matters.

Ender is a tiny black cat I'd inherited from a house mate a long time ago. She is 8 years old but remains kitten-sized, and has never been that tough. We had to give away Ender to our dear friend Pete last year, because she kept getting attacked by our other cats that she couldn't get down from the top of the bookshelf or refrigerator all day :-(

Ender came to visit us while Pete was out of town, and I noticed ominous little bumps on her head which she kept scratching - similar to ones she got shortly after coming home from a Denver shelter. At that time it was determined she had ringworm (not worms despite the name; it's a fungal infection, same thing as athlete's foot), and Momo ended up getting it from her.

So I took Ender to the vet, they took some culture from her skin, and we're waiting for results after they'd try harvesting the culture (it apparently takes about two weeks to try to grow the fungal culture). If it's not ringworm, it could be some form of cancer, so we'd need to do a biopsy. So we'd wait for now. We'd isolated Ender promptly afterward, and she's gone home to Pete.

In the meantime, I got nervous about Momo catching it again (only Momo was allowed near Ender since other cats tend to beat up Ender), so I inspected Momo - and it turns out she was losing hair underneath her collar. I guess it could be due to old age (Momo is 13), but for good measure we took her in to the vet, too. They didn't see much wrong with her, but they're running some lab work to see if she has a thyroid issue. So much drama. I can't imagine having human kids!

I myself am going in to my doctor's appointment today at Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Center to see about my progress. I think I am making progress with my thyroid and cortisol medication, because 1) I'm up and typing; and 2) I used to even have a hard time getting over the bath tub ledge to take shower in the morning, and now I don't dread every movement getting to that point, and I even think about washing behind my ears. That may seem like a small thing to normal folks, but it used be that I found it hard to even wash my head and body in the most basic sense because of pain and weakness, so I find joy in that I have energy to think about washing behind my ears!
-A

P.S. My awesome friend from the FMS research group, Gabi, posted another yummy gluten-free (which most are, when you make your own - I've just been lazy) drink recipe on her blog - it's horchata! I've had it in restaurants but was never sure how it was made. Very cool. I'll have to try making one! I feel like we're becoming culturally richer because I found out about my celiac disease, hehehe.

天候: 快晴; 23°C
元気度: 4/10
痛み度: 5~6/10
気分: まあまあだけれど心配事がいくつか。

ご無沙汰してしまいました~。
ダニエルが独立記念日にあわせ何日か休みをとってくれたので、
一緒にお買い物に行ったりしたくて、頑張ってる間に
ちょっと疲れてしまったようです。

それと、猫の関係で心配事があったりしたもので。。。

昔同居人が飼っていたのを引き取った、小さな黒猫のエンダー。
(ツキノワグマみたく首に白い三日月マークあり。)
8才になっても子猫サイズで、体があまり強くありません。
もともとダニエルが飼っていた2匹の猫にどつかれて、
本棚や冷蔵庫の上から餌を食べるのにも降りて来られなかったので、
お友達のピート君に去年もらわれていったのですが・・・

先々週末ピート君が旅行に出かけたのを機に、
里帰り(?)してきたエンダーですが、頭になんだかポツポツ
出ていて痒そうにしてるので、また白癬菌感染症かと
心配になったのでした。 昔デンバーのシェルターからもらわれてきた
すぐ後になったことがあって、そのとき私の飼い猫モモにも
うつったのです。

そこでエンダーを獣医さんに連れて行って、肌から菌見本を採って
培養してもらうことになりました。 なかなか自分で育てようとしても
育たない菌なので(それなのに水虫になるのは簡単?!)、2週間ほど
はらはら待たなければいけないそう。 白癬菌でなければ癌の可能性も
あるので、さらに生体組織検査に進むかどうか今は待つのみ。

その後エンダーをすぐ隔離して彼女は最近ピート君の家に
帰ったものの、今度はまたうつっていたらどうしようとモモが
心配になりました。 (他の猫はエンダーをいじめるので近寄らせなかった。)

そこでモモをよーく調べたところ、首輪の下の毛が一部なくなってる!
ということが判明。 けっこうゆるくしてあったのですが・・・
歳だから毛が摺れて抜けると生えない、ということもあるかも知れませんが、
一応お医者さんに連れていくことに。
見たところ悪いところはなさそうですが、甲状腺機能が私みたいに
弱っているのかどうか調べ中です。

は~普段から疲れてるのに気が疲れた。
猫でもこれなのに、お子さんがいらっしゃる方のご苦労は
計り知れませんね。

自身も今日、線維筋痛症のクリニックに今日出かけて、
甲状腺コルチゾール関連の薬が効いて免疫機能が少し
戻ってきているかどうか診てもらいに行きます。

自分ではだいぶ前より良くなってきているような気がするのですが・・・
だって、(1)起きてタイプしているし、
(2)前はよいしょっとバスタブを乗り越えてシャワーに
入るのも大変だったのに、「耳の後ろをよく洗おうっと」とか
考えるまでになりましたもん。 それって普通の人からすれば
当たり前のことのようですが、一番弱っていた時は立って
頭と体を手早く洗うのも大変だったので、耳の後ろを洗おう、
と考えるようになれただけでも嬉しいのでした。

-英

P.S. FMSちけんグループのギャビーさんが、美味しい南米の飲み物、
ホーチャタレシピを教えてくれました。 今度作ってみようっと。
なんだかセリアック病と分かったおかげで、いろいろ美味しい飲み物を
作れるようになって得してるみたい (^o^)

2 comments:

Gabi said...

That sounds like a kitty nightmare!! Hopefully it is just ringworm. My kitten had that when we first got her. We put athlete's foot cream on her which made it worse! When we stopped using it on her she got all better, I wonder if she was misdiagnosed?

My other kitten has had a continuous flea problem. Every other month she gets horrible flea bites, so we have to adimately put flea stuff on her.

I know how much it costs to bring an animal to the vet. Not only that but our pets are our children. It makes me sad wheneve my pet is suffering in any way. I hope your kitty gets better soon.

Aya said...

Thanks Gabi :-) Yeah, it seems to cost at least $180 each time we bring any of our kitties in... but at least we found out Momo was OK! Still waiting for Ender's test results.

I feel bad for your flea-bitten kitty! That must not feel good. Poor thing.

I appreciate our cats being there for me, so like you, I'd like to be there for them...