Welcome to Asti's Blog

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Meow everybody. That’s right, it’s me, Asti. I know it’s been forever since I’ve blogged but for some strange reason I can’t seem to blog when my human feels down in the dumps. And she was feeling bad for quite a long time. Now she’s feeling better so that means I do too. So here I am to blog once again.

Well, I’m sure you all know that my human took me to the vet several weeks ago to get my anal glands expressed. Talk about fun! NOT!!!! I don’t know why my human insists on having that done to me on a regular basis. I’ve heard about "tough love" but this is ridiculous!!! Doesn’t my human realize I’m 17 and too old for such trauma in my life???

As if that wasn’t bad enough, a week later my human took me back to the vet. She saw that my ear was swollen so she was pretty sure I had another aural hematoma. I was scratching a lot too, and it was driving my human nuts! Sure enough, when the vet saw me, she said I definitely had a hematoma so she took me to the back of the clinic where they do unspeakable things to us animals. The vet drained my ear as best she could and sent me home with my human. A few days later, my human noticed that the swelling in my ear was back, so she took me back to the vet. A different vet worked on me this time and actually lanced the hematoma by making a small incision in my ear so the blood could drain. I’m not sure which was more fun...having my anal glands expressed, having a needle inserted in my ear to drain the blood, or having my ear all cut open! I could write a book about all the trials and tribulations of my life!!! If I hear one more human talking about how easy a cat’s life must be, I’ll scream!!!

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Well, as hard as it is to believe, the swelling in my ear came back once again so my human knew she had to take me back to the vet as soon as she could. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as soon as she would have liked because I don’t always get in my carrier when she wants me to. What does she think I am...stupid???!!! Give me a break!!!

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Last week Thursday my human was supposed to go out for supper with her attendant friends Debbie and Petula. They cancelled on her so she was hoping she could use that free time to take me to the vet. When my human got home from work that day, she heard water running as she wheeled into the apartment. She couldn’t figure out how that was possible but she soon realized that the sound was coming from the bathroom. She headed in that direction and could not believe her eyes when she saw that the bathtub was full of water and very close to the point of overflowing!!! My human saw a little puddle of water on the floor but fortunately that was all. She quickly turned the water off. It didn’t take her long to realize what had happened.

She uses a bath lift to get in and out of the tub. The bath lift has a diverter valve so that my human can flick that switch and the water goes through the hose to the bath chair instead of coming out of the tap. So if that switch is flicked, the water can be on but it still won’t come out of the tap. It was obvious to my human that she had forgotten to turn the water off after her bath that morning and the diverter valve on the tub (that makes the water come out of the shower hose instead of the tap) must have popped such that the water started coming out of the tap. My human never uses the stopper thingy but unfortunately, the head of the shower hose had settled right on top of the drain opening, so the water couldn’t drain. It was definitely a freak incident but my human was very glad that nothing worse happened. If she hadn’t gotten home when she did, who knows what might have happened!

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When my human got home that day, I was in my carrier but I got out during the excitement of the almost-overflowing bathtub. After things settled down again, I got back in my carrier. My human seized the opportunity to shut the door of the carrier on me. Well, being the smart cat that I am, I knew what that meant. My human was going to take me back to the vet...again!!! At times like that, I wish my human didn’t love me so much!!!

Well, the vet that saw me the first time I went in for my ear problem worked on me this time as well. She took me to the back of the clinic and cleaned both ears and drained whatever she could from my one ear. She told my human she couldn’t get much blood out because scar tissue was already developing. But the vet said that the scar tissue should help prevent the hematoma from coming back, so that was good. My human had told the vet that I was scratching both ears so she cleaned them both and put medication in them. She said she wanted to keep me there for a few days to give me medication in my ears twice a day, since my human told her she can’t give me medication. What can I say...I’m a very difficult cat, ya know!!! I have to let my human know who’s boss!!!

The vet said that I was due for some blood work soon so my human said they might as well do that while I was going to be there for 3 days anyway. That way I wouldn’t have to come back and be subjected to more trauma just for the blood work. I must admit I appreciated my human’s thoughtfulness in that respect, but it was still a horrible ordeal to be at the vet clinic for three days surrounded by a bunch of whiny cats and barking dogs. I tried to tell them all to shut up but they wouldn’t listen.

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I was pretty proud of myself though for scaring all the technicians and vets. I may be old and getting weak but there’s something about being at the vet that brings out the feisty-ness in me. Even though she would never say so, I think my human’s pretty proud of my feisty side too!

I was not impressed to find out that my human went to Swiss Chalet for lunch last Saturday with her friend Sue. I didn’t think it was very nice of her to go out for lunch and have fun while I was stuck in a little cage at the vet clinic. But when I heard that my human got caught in a major downpour on the way home from the restaurant, I couldn’t help thinking it served her right! She was apparently soaked to the skin, right down to her underwear! And her wheelchair was soaked too.

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My human had an appointment on Sunday to pick me up. The vet that saw me on Thursday wasn’t there so a different vet talked to my human about me. First a technician led my human into the exam room to wait for the vet. The technician mentioned that they were going to give my human some medication to give me twice a day for two weeks. My human told the technician that she had already talked to the vet on Thursday about not being able to give me medication. So the technician mentioned that to the vet who was working on Sunday. He was going to deduct the money for the medication from the bill but my human told him that the other vet had suggested that my human keep the medication for me and that she bring me into the clinic every two weeks or so to have the staff give me the medication when my ears start to bother me again. So the vet gave my human the medication. He went on to tell me about the blood work they did on me, etc. He said that my blood work is better than it’s been since they started doing my blood work 4.5 years ago. In other words, my kidneys are less compromised than they have been since I was diagnosed with kidney disease 4.5 years ago. The vet said he’d never seen anything like it. My human was so happy to hear about that. She has spent the last 4.5 years referring to me as a miracle kitty because I’ve been really sick twice and I bounced back each time. And now I’m a miracle kitty three times over because they can’t explain why my blood work looks so good for a 17 year old cat. I’m so amazing!!! And my human can’t resist telling everyone and anyone about this great news.

My human was very happy to have me home again and of course she has been showering me with attention and affection. She was not pleased, though, to find out that I have picked up a new vocal sound since being at the vet last weekend. You may or may not know that cats have up to 100 vocal sounds. Naturally, I only use a few with my human so when she heard this new one, it freaked her out. I even woke her up in the middle of the night with it! Whenever she hears a new sound from me, she always thinks there’s something terribly wrong. But my new vocal sound is just the result of all that screaming I was doing at the vet...first screaming because of all the poking and prodding the vets were doing and then screaming to tell the other animals to shut up. So I now use that yell at home and my human keeps telling me I don’t need to yell because she can hear me loud and clear. I like freaking her out though. It keeps her on her toes, so to speak.

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On Wednesday, the Independent Living Centre, where my human works, had a picnic in the afternoon so my human went to that. She drove her wheelchair there after work since the park is very close to her work. At about 7:00, she decided she’d had enough and told her friend Sue she was going to head home before it rained. No sooner did she say that than the heavens opened up and...you guessed it...she got soaked right through to her underwear...again!!! She went to the picnic prepared for rain with her rain poncho but it didn’t help much. As she was driving home in the pouring rain, she could feel puddles of rain dripping down into her shoes. They were so wet that she couldn’t even wear them to work the next day! She had to dig out an old, beat up pair of shoes from the closet and wear those to work. I thought the whole thing was just way too funny but, of course, my human never knew that I was laughing!

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On Thursday my human went to work as usual. When she arrived, she thought it was odd that the front door, which has a sensor so it opens without having to push any buttons, didn’t open as she drove up the ramp. She pulled the door open and drove to the elevator, which also has a sensor so doesn’t need any button pushing. The door of the elevator opened but the lights were off. My human knew that the elevator was working because it opened when she got near it and it closed when she backed away from it a bit to test it. But she was really nervous about getting into this little tiny box of an elevator with no lights. The elevator is very slow too so it takes about 28 seconds to get to the second floor. That might not seem like much time but, according to my human, when you’re in there it feels like forever. So she wasn’t thrilled about the idea of being in there in the dark. But, brave person that she is, she got in and tried not to think about being in the tiny box in the dark. When my human got to out of the elevator on the second floor, she noticed that the hands-free door to the office also wasn’t working and no lights were on in the office. Her co-workers told her that the power had gone out about an hour before. Shortly after that, someone from the SmartChoice furniture store downstairs came up to tell us that no one should use the elevator since it was operating on a backup generator and no one knew how long the generator would keep it going. My human wanted to say "Thanks a lot for telling me, people!!!" Of course, if my human had been smart, she wouldn’t have gotten into the elevator in the first place and maybe her boss would have sent her home since no one seemed to know how long the power would be out.

But my human didn’t mind being at work that morning, because no one could do their work (the phones were down and no one could use their computers) so everyone just sat around chatting. The Independent Living Centre recognizes the importance of camaraderie, etc., so chatting with co-workers for a bit here and there is not seen as a bad thing. My human enjoyed it. At about 9:30 or 9:45, the power came back on so my human went to her desk and started working. She didn’t have a whole lot to do though so she had an easy day.

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On Friday my human drove to work, as she’s been doing on Fridays since she changed her schedule a few months ago. The weather seemed really nice in the morning so it was ideal for driving to work. My human was half way to work when she looked down at her feet for some reason. It was only then that she noticed she was wearing one shoe of her old, beat up pair of shoes and one shoe from her "good" pair (both pairs are black). She had no intention of going back home to change them at this point so all she could do was hope that no one would notice her stupidity. Fortunately for her, no one did. But even she had to laugh at herself on that one. What a winner, eh?!!!

That afternoon it started to pour once again. My human was wondering if she’d be able to drive home that day. She did not want to get soaking wet again so she told everyone that if it was still raining at 4:30 when she finished, she would stay at work for the weekend! Fortunately for her, the rain stopped before 4:30 and she was able to make it home without getting wet.

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My human and I have been spending a quiet weekend at home. She usually gets groceries and does the laundry on weekends but she hasn’t done either of those things yet. She’s getting lazy! But she knows she still has tomorrow to get things done and she might do the laundry tonight if she feels like it.

My human’s mother called her this afternoon. She sounded pretty good and was rather chatty...for her. My human’s mother doesn’t like talking on the phone so when she says more than a few words, that’s really special. She told my human that she and her sister, my human’s Aunt Cathy, are going to Daytona Beach in the fall. My human felt really happy to hear that since she wasn’t sure if her mother would ever feel like going anywhere without her father.

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My human is still obsessing over this Al guy. She’s been missing him this week because he’s been on holidays...not that she sees him a lot when he’s not on holidays. But she just likes knowing he’s around. She doesn’t know if he went somewhere for his holidays or if he was staying home, but he didn’t go to the picnic on Wednesday so she’s thinking he must have gone away. He’s back at work tomorrow and I know darn well she’s going to find some reason to call him. She wants to go for a workout, of course, so that will be her "reason" to call him. But she’d find some other "reason" if she didn’t want to go for a workout! She’s nuts!!! Between that Al guy and that Clay what’s-his-name, she’s driving me crazy!

And that brings you up to date on the life and times of my human and me.

A big...very loud... meow till next time! Now I’m off to bed. Good night.

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for visiting my blog.

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