The Litterbox

Odds and ends and bits and pieces, all bundled together with flushable clay.

Monday, October 06, 2008 , evening

Bad Day

Woke up today to find our only refrigerator dead as a doornail… I’m sure the compressor is blown, but hey, the lightbulb still works!  That makes a fridge, air conditioner, and two pool motors which have died in the last four months, in addition to the two dishwashers and water heater we’ve already replaced in the 7 years we’ve lived in this newly-constructed house.  The landfills aren’t full of plastic—they’re full of our dead appliances.  Shouldn’t a $1200 refrigerator last more than 7 years without benefit of an “extended warranty”?  Did I mention that the washing machine leaks?  Hell, I’m probably still paying for all these things on my Sears card.

I can’t think of anything good to come of any of this, except that it puts one of my favourite R.E.M. songs in my head…

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/06 at 08:35 AM
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Sunday, October 05, 2008 , late afternoon

Men and cats

Here’s a nice article from the New York Times about the increasingly popularity of cats as pets for single men:  Sorry, Fido, It’s Just a Guy Thing.

Man holding his cat

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/05 at 05:19 PM
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Thursday, October 02, 2008 , evening

It’s been a rough couple of weeks

Financial issues aside, Pinto’s death aside… it’s been a difficult couple of weeks.  I’m in the process of changing some medication and it’s been difficult, stressful, and exhausting.  I’ve also had so much blood work done that the veins in both arms have conked out and today I had to have blood taken from the back of my hand (among one of my least pleasant experiences).  I’m bruised, sore, tired, jumpy, and to top it all off, a random lab test showed that my thyroid gland is deader than, well, deader than John McCain’s campaign in Michigan.  If you know about such things, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease in 1999, and I’ve been on thyroid meds ever since.  However, even with the Hashimoto’s, my TSH was never higher than about 4.  My lab work from last week showed a TSH of 77, which is a few steps away from baldness and a coma (not that a nice long rest wouldn’t be welcome).  So, it’s off to the endocrinologist—will my thyroid be so inactive that he’ll want to remove it completely?  How much will that cost, and which Presidential candidate is offering a health insurance solution for those of us who can’t get any kind of insurance, no matter how many times we apply?  I’m definitely ready for a break in this big dark cloud which has been following us around, and want a healthy new start… maybe that’s asking for too much.  In any case, I wanted to explain this new absence, and to express hope that I’ll soon feel some sort of “perky” so I can blog on a regular basis.

On a related note, if you have any home remedies for restless leg syndrome (other than copious amounts of alcohol), I’d love to hear them!  If you’ve never experienced the phenomenon, just count yourself lucky, and don’t make fun of those of us dealing with it or karma will strike you down and give you “jimmy legs”.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/02 at 09:05 PM
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008 , evening

The Olympic Games

Now that you’ve had a full month (and slightly more) to reflect on the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, do you have any favourite memories, observations, complaints?  I always want to bitch about NBC’s lousy coverage and how they show the same events over and over again (beach volleyball, anyone?), but I have to admit that I was really impressed with all the streaming footage available on their website at NBCOlympics.com.  Not only did they show entire events online live from start to finish, including every single competitor, they had interactive chat with a host who would describe the action and answer questions.  I was most interested in how some of the Canadian athletes fared (especially Canadian swimmer and cat rescuer Brent Hayden), and the website kept me informed.  I also watched all the women’s Modern Pentathlon competition, a sport which has become my secret obsession, and in which I want to compete.  I can be the next Sheila Taormina, I’m sure of it.  The only difference between us is that she’s already been in three prior Olympic games in two different events, and she only had to learn three new sports to participate in Pentathlon.  Me, I’ll have to get up off my death bed and learn all five new sports in the next three and a half years but hey—it’s good to have a dream.

I thought the people of China came off looking warm and wonderful, and it’s a country I continue to want to visit.  I also still think the Chinese government is evil and corrupt and cheated in many events to improve their medal tally.  If the government could have kept their grubby mitts off things and stopped interfering and being overly controlling, I think this truly could have been the best Olympic games ever.  As it was, I think the games were great, but the stench of cheating hung in the air at the gymnastics venue, for example, and just reinforced the lack of free will afforded to Chinese citizens who are deemed to be talented. 

I’ve been an Olympics junkie since I was 10 (1976, the years of Dorothy Hamill and Nadia Comaneci), and I’ve always dreamed of being a competitor.  I’ve got to get my CFIDS under control first, but at the very least, I’d make a fine volunteer in Vancouver, 2010.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/24 at 09:04 PM
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Down for the count

I can probably safely write this post on Flippy’s behalf, too… we’re both down for the count after two intense weeks of conventions, conferences, medical appointments, financial stress, and cat death.  With both of us suffering from CFIDS, it’s not unusual for both of us to crash after periods of intense activity or extreme emotional stress, which can certainly describe the last 14+ days.  The last straw was a very long medical appointment for each of us on Monday, where we endured a battery of tests in hopes of qualifying for a new study about fibromyalgia.  I’ve been in non-stop clinical trials since March or so, and the grind of weekly appointments, weekly blood draws, daily dairies to be kept, etc., is starting to catch up to me.  Today the trial coordinator called and said that they didn’t draw quite enough blood from me at the appointment, so could I please go back in and have the labs redone?  I wasn’t happy (and have refused to go until next week).  I’ve had blood drawn at least 17 times since March (by my calculations), and my formerly good veins are now sore, cranky, and collapsing.  The thought that I now need to have extra bloodwork because of incompetence is annoying. 

The only reason Flippy and I are involved in this trial is because it’s for a new FMS drug called Reboxitine, and the trial doctor has had such good response that she really wants to see us in the trial and feeling better.  I honestly feel her motivation is sincere --- she doesn’t want bodies for her trial, she wants happy, healthy success stories.  With just a 1 in 4 chance of getting a placebo, there’s a good chance I’ll get to try Reboxitine starting next week, and I hope it’s as wonderful as the doctor claims.  At this point in my life I’ll take anything which makes me feel slightly normal… I don’t need perfection.  If the drug doesn’t work at all, there’s no way I’ll last the entire 23 week trial because I’m required to be off all my other “heavy” meds to participate, and I’m not too happy about that.  It’s bad enough to have to wean off Cymbalta, an antidepressant which has kept me very stable and worked well on my FMS pain for the past six months.  The worst part is that I’ve had to wean off all opioids, and after two solids years on them, I feel their loss.  Long story short, without my pain medication I’m in a lot of pain.  When I’m in pain I can’t sleep, when I can’t sleep the pain is worth, yada, yada.  I’ve even had a tiny bit of trouble weaning off methadone, which is an effective and inexpensive pain medication, but whose long half-life wreaks havoc when you try to stop taking it.  I got myself down to two small doses per day (5mg each), and then tried to just do a “cold swap” from methadone over to oxycodone (which is easy to taper from), and that just didn’t work.  I’ve had all the most exciting withdrawal symptoms… night sweats, temperature sensitivity, weird skin sensations, anxiety, stomach cramps, etc.  Today I went back on a lower dose of methadone (2.5mg) and that helped eliminate the withdrawal issues, but it’s obvious that this is a medication I need to taper with respect.  If you’ve never been on a drug which can cause physical dependencies, it’s not scary, and it’s not the same as having a psychological addiction.  Your body learns to expect the drug, though, so you need to slowly taper down your dose over time if you want to stop taking it, and the “cold turkey” approach is not recommended!  I generally taper every really slowly, taking up to three months if necessary, but there was short notice for this trial and I’ve had to take some shortcuts.  I really do hope the drug will show results.  It’s already approved for use in 51 countries around the world, including all of Europe, the UK, and Canada, but the FDA insisted on independent studies in the US before they’d approve it here.  Nothing like ensuring the price of the drug will be unaffordable to people like me once it hits the market!  At least many of the companies running the trials will “reward” study participants with free, long-term access to the drug after the trial is over, so in this case, I believe I’ve been told we can have a year of free medication at the conclusion of the study.

This is my third major drug trial this year, and it’s probably a bit much.  Too many tests (although I can say that I’ve had so many weird blood tests and urinalysis and even multiple EKGs that I’ve probably got about the best health care in the country right now).  The testing center is way on the other side of town, which doesn’t help, and the once a week visits can be draining.  Being someone without health insurance, it’s really tough to complain, though.  The drugs I’m testing are all in stage 3 trials, meaning that they’re known to be safe, but now the correct dose is being determined—I feel no risk whatsoever, especially with the study doctor available by cell phone 24 hours a day.  If not for all this weaning and tapering of my regular medications, I’d be downright cheerful about this trial (once I stopped feeling tired).

Flippy and I have been to SuperZoo and BlogWorld Expo over the past two weeks, so that’s what we’ll eventually write about when we get some energy back.  Lots of fun new pet products at SuperZoo, but not a heck of a lot to say about BlogWorld Expo.  The latter was too expensive, we weren’t allowed to attend seminars, and the exhibitors were just the same old thing (and there seemed to be fewer of them).  It’s nice to get free t-shirts, but it cost us a combined total of $120 to attend, and there’s no way we got much out of it except those freebies.  This is probably our last year for that event, but SuperZoo is forever.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/24 at 08:20 PM
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Wednesday, September 17, 2008 , early afternoon

A short story about starting my own business

A few months ago I wrote a post about wanting an “angel investor” for a business idea I had.  I’ve had three angels offer to help out, and my business is pretty much set and ready to roll.  The only thing I need now is an angel at the Nevada Department of Taxation, because I’ve been waiting since July to receive my business license.  It’s been so frustrating because my contract with IFAW didn’t get renewed in late May, but I figured I could have a new business running and generating income by August at the latest.  With the all the red tape I’ve encountered just trying to get a permit to buy items at wholesale, however, my launch has already been delayed by six weeks and this could continue for at least another month.  Yes, I can start to sell inventory I have on hand, but I can’t buy anything new, so the money I’d set aside for inventory purchases is getting used up to pay bills.  It should have been used to buy inventory, and then the profits used to pay bills, but if there are no profits and there are still bills, well… one must occasionally pay the vultures.

The delays began because I had one simple question: if I run two different online retail business from my home, and they each have a different name and offer different products, but if they’re both in the business of selling to consumers and are both owned by the same corporate umbrella, do I need one sales tax certificate for each of them, or just one tax certificate to cover the corporation?  Generally you need a sales tax certificate for each location, but beyond that, the Dept. of Taxation website doesn’t explain what to do in other scenarios.  The question was important because each sales tax cert. requires a hefty deposit, and if I didn’t need to make two deposits, I didn’t want to.  Also, each cert requires report filing, and it would be nice to just file one report.  I can’t imagine this question should be too taxing (excuse the pun), but as of today, I still don’t have an answer.  I phoned the tax dept. with my question back in July (had to leave it on voicemail), and they still haven’t called back to answer me.  When I’ve tried to call again, I’ve been told not to ask repeat questions, as it only slows down the queue further.  I thought everyone bitched about “big government”—here in Nevada I don’t think the Department of Taxation even has any employees!

I finally gave up trying to get an answer and just filed for my business license online, and the forms seemed to suggest I could get away with one sales tax certificate.  So, I filled them out, and paid my $115 (minus the $100 or so deposit which had to be mailed in).  I ended up getting a business license almost immediately, but the license is useless without the sales tax permit because I still can’t buy anything wholesale.  It turns out that my online application somehow got messed up to the point that my sales tax security deposit was going to be almost $600, instead of $100, and I can’t afford that.  I’ve been trying to get this fixed since the end of August, but it’s tough to do when no one answers the phone.  I finally got some attention when I sent a fax to Carson City, which is the head office of the Dept. of Taxation, and the only contact number other than a phone number.  For whatever reason, someone in Carson City then mailed my fax to the local office in Las Vegas, where a very nice gentleman FINALLY emailed me and explained how the problem could be rectified.  However, he doesn’t have the authority to rectify it.  So, he’s going to mail instructions for the necessary changes back to Carson City, and hopefully then I can pay my $100 security deposit and get my sales tax certificate, but the fellow in Las Vegas has absolutely “no idea” how long this all might take.  In the meantime, my business license’s one year term continues to tick away (renewable at $100 per year), nothing more than an expensive bookmark without a sales tax permit to accompany it.

Isn’t it amazing the amount of money and garbage you need to wade through just to try to make a living working for yourself?  You’d think any state would be begging for small businesses with the economy being lousy, but apparently it’s just another day at the office.  I haven’t even begun the additional process of getting a business license for my county, and paying for those fees and permits—following the rules is already expensive enough without wading into another pool of red tape.  It’s difficult to stay motivated and optimistic, to say the least, and it makes me angry that it would be faster for me to get food stamps and welfare than it’s been for me to get permission to work for a living.

Ah, blogging… where would I rant if I didn’t have you?

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/17 at 02:48 PM
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Sunday, September 14, 2008 , terribly early in the morning

My bad spelling

This may not matter to anyone but Flippy, but I’ve noticed I’ve made some very bad spelling errors in my last few blog entries.  They’re the kind which annoy me when I read them by other people—unnecessary apostrophes, the incorrect version of “there/their”, etc.  I’m sorry for these (in retrospect, and in advance).  It’s just fatigue, I guess.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/14 at 05:58 AM
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Pinto at peace

As I posted on Friday, we were taking Pinto to the vet for an upper respiratory infection and general malaise.  He’d been off both food and water since Thursday, and I didn’t want to leave it too long because he was a bit skinny.  At the vet’s office he was surprisingly attentive and energetic in exploring the office and sitting with us, and during the car ride he sat up and looked out the windows.  The checkup itself was inconclusive—normal temp, normal heartrate—so we just came home with the antibiotics in the hopes that when he could smell properly, he’d start to eat again.

When we brought him home, he immediately turned into “exhausted Pinto”, flopping out on the carpet and not moving.  I gave him his pill and some nose drops, and then came back to gently force feed him about a tablespoon of A/D.  He liked the food and was licking his lips, but needed me to put it on the roof of his mouth before he’d make the effort to swallow it.  I also decided to give him some subq saline, in light of the fact he hadn’t been drinking, and that seemed to perk him up substantially.  I felt a lot better about his condition when I left the room, but he was still weak enough that I lifted him up and placed him in a nice puffy bed and put him in a quiet spot under my desk so he could get some rest.  My plan was to return in 4 to 6 hours to give him some more food and fluids.

Shockingly (and sadly), when I opened the door to the room six hours later I could see Pinto was in the exact place I had left him.  I called him a couple of times but received no response, and I just couldn’t see any movement.  So, I went over to touch him, and he was in rigor mortis and long gone.  I cried, of course… cried that he died alone, cried that I perhaps should have insisted on blood work at the vet, and just cried because his former owners sucked and left him in lousy condition which led to a relatively short life.  I like to think that he was happy during the nine months he spent with us, but I know he was frightened and confused for a few of them, and he only seemed to enjoy my company and to look forward to seeing me as of a few months ago.  The atheist in me hopes there is a special place in hell for people who dump their senior cats at animal control because they’re an inconvenience.

I took Pinto’s body to the vet’s office early this morning so they could arrange to have him cremated.  I doubt there will be a necropsy because the vet who treated him won’t be back in the office until Tuesday, but I would like to know what went wrong.  The one very visible symptom Pinto had, other than the runny nose, was a terrible case of dental disease which caused his canine teeth to ooze pus.  However, they didn’t seem to cause him pain, didn’t impede his eating of hard or soft food, and he didn’t have any infections causing a raised temperature, so no septicemia.  I wanted to have his teeth pulled (this was the first time we’d been told he had more than just standard “dirty teeth"), but felt it was best to clear up his URI before attempting surgery.  I wondered about a urinary blockage, but the vet didn’t mention him having a full bladder, and he didn’t act like he was in pain (nor did he act oddly around the litterbox).  I’d have to think that sudden and complete renal failure could be a suspect, although I don’t know why a vet wouldn’t catch that.  He didn’t vomit, didn’t have diarrhea, didn’t pant, was active up until a week and a half ago, and always had great litterbox habits.  He was “old” (probably around 14 or 15), but he was in great condition until our air conditioning failed and then it was all downhill.

I feel increasingly sick about our lack of money.  When we started to do rescue we had plenty of money and price was no object.  Now that our finances are non-existent, our vet lets us run a big tab, but also tends to suggest the most conservative treatments and in this case, Pinto might have been saved by aggressive blood work and at least one or two overnight clinic stays.  I know we could have done better by him at the very end, but I also hope that was counterbalanced by the excellent diet he ate during his time with us, and the affection he received from us.  He had to have known that we loved him, and I know he trusted us.  The one thing I feel I can guarantee is that he had a better death here than he would have had at animal control, 9 months ago.  Goodbye, Beanie Boy #1… we’ll take good care of your brother!

Pinto

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/14 at 05:05 AM
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Friday, September 12, 2008 , late morning

Pinto is sick

Pinto, one of the two “Beanie Boys” we rescued from animal control last November, just isn’t right.  He’s quite old and sort of frail, but he was active and a nice weight until the day our air conditioning broke down.  The heat in the house that day must have taken a toll on him, because he’s been sluggish ever since.  He was still eating, though, so I just let him be, but today he won’t eat, won’t come out to see me, and has obvious signs of a URI.  I’ve been concerned about his kidneys, too, so it’s time to take him into the vet.

There’s such a contrast between Pinto and his pseudo-sibling, Skyler ("Garbanzo" as a name never did stick).  Skyler has grown out this beautiful long coat of grey fur, and he’s nicely plump and active and really seems to enjoy life.  Pinto, on the other hand, seems like an old cat.  Their former owners were so useless that it wouldn’t surprise me if the information I have on the cats is incorrect.  Skyler is supposed to be 13, and Pinto 14, but it’s more like Skyler is 10 and Pinto is 20.

I’ll post about the verdict when we get home late this afternoon.  I’ve also got a ton of things to write about regarding SuperZoo, the annual pet products convention we attend, but I’m still recovering physically from that one so it might take me a while to sort it out in my mind.  I can say this one thing about SuperZoo:  someone donated a huge shopping cart to Wee Paws.  An odd but very practical donation, especially when you’re trying to move hundreds of pounds of kitty litter and raw food to your car!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/12 at 11:20 AM
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008 , late evening

A trojan visited?

I noticed a problem when I visited my blog yesterday (please note it was my first visit in quite a few weeks).  As soon as my blog loaded, my popup stopper said it had blocked something, and Windows OneCare said it had detected Trojan:JS/Agent.FA.  Now, anything with the word “trojan” in it is rarely good news, so I picked apart my blog, removed and reloaded different items, and the culprit turned out to be a snippet of code from Widgetbox.  I’m sure it was a false positive reading from OneCare, but regardless, I removed the code because the message was annoying and repetitive.  I’ve had the Widgetbox code on my blog for a good year without a problem.  WIDGETBOX ASSURES ME (repeatedly and sometimes rudely) THAT THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH THEIR CODE.  They also let me know that reporting such issues to companies is generally unappreciated, so I guess I’ll stop trying to be helpful and I’ll just keep rescuing animals.  There’s no question about which is more rewarding.

Long story short?  I’m sorry if any of you saw the trojan message, sorry if it worried or inconvenienced you, and promise it was nothing I had any control over.  And as I said previously, if you’re worried about removing something like that, please just ask smile

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/10 at 10:37 PM
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