6/6/08

For the record, I am completely out of new Bitchypoo logos, which is why you’re seeing last month’s up there, still. If anyone’s feeling creative, I’d love to see what you come up with!

(Edited to add: New month, new logo! Thank you, Kari!!!)

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I’ve recently started watching Gossip Girl – I downloaded the first six episodes before I visited Nance and Rick a few months ago, with the intention of watching them on the plane, but couldn’t hear anything over the noise of the plane, so didn’t – and I have to ask. Am I correct in believing that the actress who played Blair’s mother in the first episode was not the actress who played her in subsequent episodes, Margaret Colin? Because I know who Margaret Colin is – I remember her from As the World Turns, as Margo Montgomery Hughes, back when I was a soap watcher – and I’m pretty sure I would have noticed her in the pilot.

Annnnd, never mind. After some digging around on IMDB, I see that Eleanor Waldorf was played by a completely different actress in the pilot. Weird.

I have to say, I’m enjoying Gossip Girl, though I don’t know why on earth anyone would be interested in Nate because he is BORING.

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Thank you to reader Jen, who sent me the link to a video of all the Arrested Development chicken dances in ONE PLACE

TOTALLY made my day, it did. And I might have gone back to watch it once or twice or a hundred times.

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Also, reader Teri C. left the link to this movie in my comments the other day:

That is about the neatest thing on earth, honestly. Go check out The Cat House on the Kings web site. Like Fred said, after I told him about that place, “I bet when she yells ‘WHO READY FOR THE SNACKIN’?!’, she REALLY gets a reaction!”

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I’m glad to hear you’re doing so very well. I am a tad bit jealous, though. Not only did I have FOUR drains from my surgery, but the two they left in nearly four weeks were the ones in the groin area and it was not pleasant at all. PLUS my binder was actually a full-length compression garment that was horrible to wear in the Texas June heat.

I was really, really surprised to find that I only had two drains and that they were on my hips. Fred had two drains (I think?), and he was only cut on the front. His were in his groin area, which as you can imagine is a fairly sensitive area, which is probably why they bothered him so much and why the second one hurt so much when it was removed.

I actually – skin irritation aside – kind of like my binder. I get Fred to pull it plenty tight, and I feel like it gives me extra support. I just wish it were made of more comfortable material.

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Your new stomach looks great already. Does this mean you and Fred will have matching scars ? Or do they do a man’s incision differently?

I think our scars will be about the same, although his is only in the front, and mine goes all the way around. You actually have to look closely to see his scar these days, it’s faded so much.

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Hey — didjoo get a new bellybutton, or is that the same old belly button y’always had? (Not that I would recognize the difference, ‘cuz it’s not like I ever had a chance to see it, right?)

It’s a new belly button, and I have a confession – it seems to me that it’s higher than it should be. I’ve asked Fred several times if it looks too high for him, and he swears it’s where it’s supposed to be, so what I guess is that where my belly button was before (much lower, and surrounded by skin and fat) is not where a belly button ordinarily is.

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Damn, Robyn, that is a gnarley looking incision. I feel for your pain!!!!!! Will you have a nasty scar from that or will it fade? Damn that looks like it hurts!!!

It’ll fade over time – and it looks a lot worse than it feels, I promise! I took Tylenol Wednesday before we went to the surgeon’s office, just because I was afraid of the drain-removal pain, but other than that, it’s been two or three days since I’ve taken any Tylenol for pain. I have the occasional shooting pain in random spots, and overall I feel like I lifted weights and overdid it (and I have bruising from where liposuction was done), but other than that, I feel great! If I’d realized I’d be feeling this good at two weeks after surgery, I would have worried a whole lot less beforehand.

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Edited to add: The incision picture is here, you damn skimmers. I linked it last week.

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That binder is SEX-AY — does it come in a thong style?

I don’t believe so – and I cannot imagine that the material the binder is made of would be comfortable on ones nether regions. I go commando anyways, because there is just no way to wear underwear with this binder and not have it be annoying and in the way, so without underwear I go.

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Can you take some tylenol PM or something? It might help.

I never did need to take anything to help me sleep, since my sleeping pattern straightened out once I was able to sleep in my bed. I am remarkably without sleep issues; I’m the only one I know who has no problems getting to sleep and staying there.

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By the way, do you have a little bell to ring for service from your nurse Fred?

and

Is Fred taking excellent care of you and the kitties?

and

Is Spud going to be home over the Holiday to visit and nurse her Mommy???

Fred took perfectly good care of me while I was recuperating, and he’s continuing to clean out the litter boxes (though he grumbles). I never had a little bell to ring, and Fred’s not really the hover-over-you-and-ask-if-you-need-anything type. For the first few days I spent my days snoozing in the recliner in front of the TV, and he went and worked outside, occasionally coming in to yell at me to get up and move around. Bastard.

The spud didn’t come home to “nurse” me, because I didn’t know I was having surgery until a week and a half beforehand, plus she’s got her own life, plus I walked around for the first week and a half in nothing but an oversized man’s button-up shirt with my ass hanging out the back, and no child needs to be scarred for life by seeing THAT.

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Robyn, how are you keeping the kitties from jumping on you? Mine use me as their personal playground!

When I sit in the recliner, I have a pillow across my abdomen to protect me, I sleep with a pillow over my abdomen, and I have a finely honed sense of when a cat is on the verge of jumping up on me, and I am skilled in saying “NO!” like I mean it. Occasionally in the middle of the night Miz Poo will still try to climb up on my stomach, but when I push her down, she just settles down next to me happily enough.

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did all the poop questions make you think of scrubs singing, “Everything comes down to poo...”

Sadly, it never entered my mind. Next time, I’ll start singing it, though. That song cracks me UP.

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Also, (and I’m really not trying to be a snooty know-it-all) the reason they keep asking about your bowels is that when you are put to sleep for surgery it stops the natural wave like movement that your bowels do 24/7. They like to make sure it starts back up, cuz if not, it would be very not good. I only butt in with my unsolicited third rate medical k-nowledge because you are planning to have another surgery and they will probably drive you crazy again. I’m glad the surgery went well for you!

I honestly did not know that my bowels are doing the wave constantly, but I am oddly charmed by the idea!

Other comments of interest:

I’m going to echo what LeighC said about the BM thing. I’m a RN working on an orthopedic floor primarily with elderly folks who have broken their hips. If the poop don’t start moving within a few days pos-op it can lead to a life threatening bowel obstruction so that’s why we all seem to take such an interest in the frequency, size, colour and consistency of your poop!

and

Sharon is right…everything does come down to poo. I’m a fairly new nurse, and, aside from the surgical complications, I have come to learn that people are obsessed with their bowels. It is either flying out of them or stuck. I cannot tell you how I breath a sigh of relief when my patients tell me they are regular. Regularity is a beautiful thing. Embrace it.

I love my readers! Y’all educate and amuse me every damn day!

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Has it really been 4 years since the famous quote, “I like cheese, just not on a salad” ?

Hard to believe, isn’t it? For the record, Fred continues to like cheese, just not on a salad. Or burger.

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I have a kitteh question, not a surgereh question. Kara was an outside cat I think? She’s been an indoor cat while with you but has had her paws full with her family — do you think she can continue to be an indoor cat? Won’t the shelter want to adopt her out as an indoor cat?

I don’t know if she was an outside cat, or if she became an outside cat due to being abandoned (grrrr), but yeah – the shelter will adopt her out as an indoor cat. She’s adjusted well to being inside (though I think she’s a little bored, being in that room with those kittens). I don’t know if she can continue to be an indoor cat, but I think signs are good. She doesn’t try to escape the foster kitten room – she comes over to greet us when we walk in, but she doesn’t try to run out – and I would think that a cat determined to go outside would be more aggressive about escaping. It’s going to be a try-it-and-see sort of deal with whoever adopts her, I think.

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OK, you gotta tell me what that big round fabric thing is in some of the kitten pictures! It looks like a lot of kitten fun!

I wasn’t sure which thing exactly you were talking about, so I took pictures of anything in the cat room that could fit the bill!

This is most likely what you were talking about. It’s a… big round play thing? I don’t know what it’s called, but you can see that there’s a bed in the bottom. The kittens like to sleep there. The top is separated into two parts, and they like to get so that one of them is in one compartment and another is in the other, then they fight through the hole between the two. They enjoy the hell out of that thing. Another shelter volunteer had it, and her cats were never interested in it, so she asked if I wanted it. I brought it home, and almost every set of fosters we’ve had since have really enjoyed playing on it. The kittens especially like to climb up the outside and sit on the top like they’re the king (or queen) of the world.

This is a cat basket, actually. It’s upside down here – I turn it over so it’s the way it’s supposed to be, and they just flip it back over. They sleep on it like this, they sit and watch their siblings, and they also like to jump from it to the cat tree.

Kitty pyramid. The kittens moved from the nesting box to the pyramid a few weeks ago, and occasionally they’ll still sleep in there. I earned it with my Fresh Step Paw Points, so all I had to pay was $5 in shipping. Woot!

Kitty condo. We’ve had this forever; it started out belonging to our cats, then eventually was brought upstairs into the kitten room. They love to play inside it, love to sleep on top, and love to climb up the side and hang there. It’s all-purpose!

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Have you considered sequestering Zoe? She may be reacting to some covert runt eradication behavior.

I’ve watched the kittens when I spend time in there, and I honestly don’t see that she’s being picked on or anything – she and the next size up kitten (Kaylee) fight with each other all the time, but she’s the instigator most of the time. I’m just going to keep an eye on her. It’s possible that she’s just not developing as fast as the other kittens, but she seems to be developing normally, so I’m not too worried.

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[On Roseanne]Now someone tell me, whatever happened to Darlene’s baby that was born early?

If I remember the last episode correctly, the baby turned out to be just fine. I didn’t watch the show as religiously once it got weird and they won the lottery and all that.

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I can’t be the only one who wants to know how you euthanize a turtle.

I’m just going to cut and paste from Fred’s entry at the end of January, when we picked up the injured baby owl by the side of the road:

Soak several paper towels in ether, which is commercially available as diesel or gasoline engine starter at any auto parts store. Put the paper towels into a sealed container large enough to hold the animal, and leave them for several minutes. This lets the fumes build up to lethal levels. Put some dry paper towels down over the wet ones, and lay the injured animal on them (probably you would want to make sure you didn’t inhale any fumes). Reseal the container. In very short order, the animal will go to sleep, then die quietly. Make sure you leave the animal in there long enough for the ether to do its job.

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I tear up every time I see Momma hen #1 with just two babies. It is so sad, I wonder if she misses them. How did the dead turtle get out of its’ shell? Did an animal eat it where it was Or did Fred pull the dead body out of its shell in the back 40? Put the turtle shell in your flower garden as an ornament.

I don’t know that Momma Chicken #1 misses her missing babies (those of you who don’t read Fred’s journal, a raccoon got three of her babies, you can read about it here), she seems perfectly fine to me. Chickens aren’t the most intelligent animals, and it’s possible that she’s sad and misses them, but I think that we humans are probably sadder about it than she is.

No, Fred just put the dead turtle, shell and all, at the back forty; we assume some wild animal ate the inside.

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OK, I hope this isn’t insensitive or anything, because that is such a pretty, lovely place for Spot to be laid to rest. But the way the grass is growing around the marker makes it look like it says “POT” instead of Spot, kind of like ya’ll are growing a big old crop and wanted to mark your garden. Drug raid at Crooked Acres! Video at 11! Heh.

It’s just to distract THE COPS, so while they’re poking around by the Spot spot looking for pot, we can run out to the back forty and hide the REAL pot plants!

(Kidding, of course.)

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Do you think it’s okay for a woman to pass gas in front of her husband/significant other?

No, I think it’s a divorceable offense.

HahahahahHA!

While I don’t think it’s IDEAL for a woman to pass gas in front of her significant other (and vice versa!), I also don’t think it’s realistic to expect a woman who’s having gas issues to get up and go into the bathroom every time she has to belch or fart. I say, let ‘er rip! Of course, that doesn’t work in all marriages/ relationships, so your mileage may vary.

Other comments regarding that topic:

Sammi – definitely it is okay to pass gas in front of your spouse, not like they think twice about it! I saw a study in the local newspaper awhile back (they actually studied farts and no this was not on April 1) and it said that women actually have more and stinkier gas than men so I say we live it up!

and

Jen, I wonder if the reason women have stinkier farts than men is because we actually have more shame than men, and will hold our gas until an appropriate time so the gas has more time to ferment in our colons??? I’m just sayin’.

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So while I was out yesterday (did I mention I was cleared to drive, so I drove to the post office and stopped at the grocery store then came home and took a nap?), I picked up a few jars of Gerber #2 Chicken and Gravy baby food. As far as I can tell, kittens will eat most any meat-based baby food, but have a special fondness for the chicken and gravy. I went upstairs into the kitten room, opened up the jar, dipped my finger in and held it out to Zoe, and I thought she was going to take my finger off. She LOVED that stuff. She ate a bunch (it’s hard to know exactly how much, because her siblings were raaaaaaaaaaaather fond of the stuff, too), and now that I know she’s at least interested and able to eat something other than her mother’s milk and water, I know I can work with her on getting on the solid stuff.

Did I mention he’s a Momma’s boy?

The troublesome little runt herself. Don’t you want to squeeze her to death?

I’m sorry, the row of tiny little teeth on the bottom is KILLING ME.

Doesn’t he look like he’s whining about something? “I just wanted to sniff her tail, and she smacked me, wah!”

Kara’s all “Really? We’re still doing this, seven weeks later? REALLY? Are you KIDDING me?”

More kitten pics over at Flickr.

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“You has come to rub my ears, pls?”

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Previously
2007: Mister Boogers wiggled frantically, slid through the hole, and ran off across the yard.
2006: HOW ABOUT SOME MOURNING, PAUL?
2005: Dumbass things I have done today.
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: Ass in the Past will be the name of my 14th novel.
2000: Ah, the heart warms.