Stacey

:) 

Stacey, I love.

My cat swallowed a sewing needle!

On Thursday night at 10:30pm The Luscious Frankie J swallowed a sewing needle.... 

A torn up pair of jeans...
Holes around belt loops and pocket corners. 
I finished patching, and left the needle on the coffee table - still threaded.

Frankie J loves thread, string, hair - anything long and thin and apparently...edible.  I went to the computer and thought, "I need to put that thread away before Frankie eats it." ...turned around and it was gone.  Needle and all.

About two and a half hours later, after a visit to Berkeley Dog and Cat, I walked through my door, exhausted, with Frankie in tow.  I had a disk with an x-ray showing the needle in her stomach, and a head full of all of the possibilities of what could happen next.  The vet thought maybe I should leave her at the hospital on an IV overnight... that we should x-ray again tomorrow to see where it was, and then decide if we should do an endoscopy to get it out (if it was still in her stomach) or cut her open.  He said the needle could poke things, pass through things, or get stuck and cause problems - maybe death.  He said it would be very expensive (thousands of dollars), so it would be better to wait until morning when (it would still be thousands of dollars, but) we would no longer be under emergency rates...  but at that point the needle might no longer be in the stomach so our options would change.  Mixed into all of this, he said he had just seen a kitten who swallowed a needle and, a few days later, pooed that sucker right out with no problem... He didn't think the kitten would be able to pass it because the kitten was so small, but it did. 

His advice was dizzying and felt endless, money based, and non-conclusive.  When I asked him what I should do, he ran through the possibilities again... and, when I asked what he would do, I was bombarded with all of the things I could do or that could happen AGAIN. 

Finally, I asked what would happen if I took Frankie home to see if she would pass it - would it cause a lot of damage if I brought her back a couple days later if it hadn't come out?  He said, he couldn't be sure - but he didn't think it'd cause too much damage.... 

I went home and found this on the internet:  http://www.petlovers.com/vb//showthread.php?t=29981

I fed Frankie extra food, cried a little out of frustration, exhaustion, and uncertainty, and went to bed.  I was kind of a mess...but Frankie seemed fine.  

When I woke up the next day, Frankie still seemed fine.  I fed her again and went to work.  I checked on her at lunch... she was fine.  After work, fine.  I fed her extra again. 

On Friday, I went to work and didn't make it home at lunch. 

When I got home that night, Frankie seemed strange... she didn't greet me at the door, and seemed really sluggish.  I tried to play with her with a shoestring, but she just laid there letting it hit her in the face.  It'd almost been two days and the needle hadn't shown up in her poo. 

I didn't want to go back to Dog and Cat, so I called The Broadway Pet Hospital to see if I could talk to someone.  They were closed, so I left a message on their after hours hotline. 

After checking some veterinary clinic reviews, I decided to call the Pets Referral Center as well.  The woman I spoke with there listened to the situation and said that I had done the right thing by feeding Frankie extra, and that maybe Frankie was sluggish because I fed her too much... but if she was acting strange or in pain, maybe I should bring her in.  Frankie didn't seem like she was in pain, and had definitely acted similar in the past when she'd gotten into extra food so... I decided to wait another day. 

Later, I got a call back from the Broadway Pet Hospital.  The doctor left a message saying that Frankie could pass the needle, that she might be acting weird because she was about to pass it, and that I could probably wait...unless she was vomiting or acting really depressed. 

On Saturday, Frankie was back to her normal self.  A little fatter, but energetic, and fine.  I finally found the needle and thread early Sunday morning. *whew*

Focus

It's 1:30am.

I'm feeling ... a little broken, yet strangely full of love. Funny how a little bit of focus changes everything.

This weekend was exactly what I expected, while being nothing like I thought it'd be. :)

(Forgive me for being cryptic, this is for me...)

Moments

In the last week, I saw the Care of Trees, Kronos Quartet and Wu Man, attended a close friend's baby shower, and joined a soccer team.  :) 

Care of Trees was beautiful...!! 

I wanted to take my friend Liz to see a show to celebrate her birthday. I skimmed the description of this play and was pretty sure it was going to be a comedy about relationships.  ...geez, was I wrong.  I guess that's what I get for skimming descriptions and avoiding reviews... It was an emotionally charged performance about the grieving process and letting go - and it was absolutely beautiful. Only two shows have instantly brought me to my feet, and this was one of them. 

A couple days later I got to see the Kronos Quartet and Wu Man perform...!  A visual and musical journey through the history and evolution of China by some of the most talented musicians I think I've ever seen.  Incredible!

The baby shower was for my lovely friend Maureen.  A celebration of an exciting time and an opportunity to send her and her husband off with blessings and support into this new and exciting phase of their life.  :) 

...and then, the soccer team.  I was soo tired, and we lost like 8 to 2...but it was completely energizing to just run around with a bunch of new friends. 

:)

This picture is from the hallway of a director/friend I know who invited me over to study Shakespeare.

Moments. :)

Iron and Wine

 "...please remember me, happily... by the rosebush laughing with bruises on my chin, the time when... we counted every black car passing... your house beneath the hill, and up until... someone caught us in the kitchen with maps, and mountain range, a piggy bank... a vision too removed to mention...."

I wanted to hear Trapeze Swinger sooooo bad.... but what a beautiful show.

(Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at the Warfield w/ Jen)

Colorado

How is it that everything in Colorado is so freaking clean?!  ...or, is it just the track housing suburban wonderland where my parents now live.... ? 

...no - it's everything...

I drug my family to an annual Memorial Day street fair while I was home.  Territory Days in Old Colorado City.  It contained everything I wanted to see in Colorado Springs... arts, crafts, bbq, cowboys, tattooed diversity, fantastic rock and roll cover bands, an actual little trackless train driving little kids around, and free panning for gold. 

*love*