Kitty HIV
Good afternoon all! So, I wake up every morning to my seven-year-old son, unless it‘s a school day because I then have to wake him up. Strange how that works. I wake up to my husband, and my fluffy fur ball linx colored house cat L.J. My cat has FIV, the cat version of HIV. No, we can’t get it. The dogs can’t get it. But, between my over active immune system and his under active immune system, we complete each other.
L.J. was a rescue from the Tacoma Humane Society. They’d named him Puff Jenkins. Uhhh, sure. That sends me straight to your average Snoop dog video but why not? In my cat’s paperwork it says he is feral and they were going to do a trap, junk cut, and release, but since he is FIV positive, that naughty beast, they couldn’t re-release him. Thank God! We, being the nerds we are, re-named him Leroy Jenkins, and cut it down to L.J. (The song I chose to walk out to for my second fight, yes this is a thing, was the Leroy Jenkins remix, it’s on Youtube, and the kids LOVE it, so it‘s perfect). We get this “feral” cat home, feral as a baby chick, and he‘s amazing! This feral cat lets the seven-year-old pick him up and drag his wherever like a rag doll, with his bottom half dangling. He put him on his back and rub his stomach. We don’t even get that, “Help me, the kid is doin’ it again” face. He’s like, “Whatever kid, do your thing”. The worst thing this cat does is attack our feet in the middle of the night and when we’re on the john. (Super fun on the john because you can’t go anywhere so you have to put your legs straight up and it really just needs to be caught on video sometime. Not when it’s me however.
So, my cat and I have special needs immune systems. He’s lucky. The vet knows how to deal with this. I, on the other hand, get a tooth infection and the doctor’s eyes bug out like they just got a surprise prostate exam the second I say, I have lupus. “AAAHHHH! This lady isn’t normal! Liability! What do we do!?! More often than not, because I have a jacked up immune system, dentists and doctors, that aren’t my rheumatologist, go out of their way to make sure I know that I don’t heal like normal and what the risks are of things like surgically removing my tooth….Yes, because I have no idea of any of this because this is not my life. Lol!
I go through my typical head nodding, letting them know that I’m taking this stuff, and eventually, after their getting my rheumatologist’s phone number and losing the argument regarding my taking Plaquenil, like I’m getting off of that for a second because they’re scared I won’t heal, the doctor makes the appointment. Yeah, $600 to put me out so they can extract a tooth, they have to break it apparently, and to remove the shards of tooth that remain from the last molar that broke off. Thanks dental insurance! I'm pretty much healed now but I've resigned myself to the fact that I will be in dentures within a year. It turns out, I am likely not a candidate for implants, not boobs, I can totally get those, the bone loss associated with many auto immune disorders render people like me unlikely to be able to get dental implants. It took me a long while but I've gotten over the fear of the stigma related to having dentures so young but the pain and money wasted helped. My lupus groups have as well. It's been nice finding out how many of us are missing so many teeth and have dentures so young.
It’s amazing how differently I’m treated now by even just the dentist. She has lupus! Crap, we have a complicated patient. I like to live under the, John Pinette buffet philosophy of “grab and move”, get in, get out, just give me my cleaning and let me go home. I’m not going to bleed to death if you pull it, I promise. It’ll be fine, you won’t be sued for wrongful extraction, lets make the appointment so I can go home instead of sit here talking in a “consultation” that I didn’t realize was a consulation because I thought you were actually just going to pull it and be done and my tooth really hurts because I didn’t think I’d need to bring pain meds. Yes, that was my Wednesday three weeks ago. Wednesdays have sucked for me lately. Miss Metallica, go to get my tooth removed and we just talk about getting my tooth removed. I get my tooth pulled out the following Wednesday and then I end up drunk walking through a grocery store while sober the Wednesday after that. Erg. Next Wednesday is going to be amazing. I'm going to take myself on a date, get my kids some weird stuff for early Christmas shopping, rubber chickens, Japanese Anime books, Deadpool Plushies, face hugger alien plushies, things like that. I may even get them Flash Gordon T-shirts because, 80's.
Today we walked down to our local retirement home and my boys volunteered rearranging their library. They did a great job. But, I had one hell of a heart attack on the way there. In front of the facility, there was a man on his scooter with his head limp on his handlebars. I dropped my purse, water, and bolted to him thinking NOOOO! I wanted to get there before my kids so they could run into the home to get help if it was needed and bypass "the body" if he passed. He was napping and just fine. Nothing like being afraid of finding an old guy dead right out front of the retirement home on your first day volunteering to make the boys feel all comfortable and cozy inside. The man was awesome and loved to chat. We honestly didn't want to stop talking with him. Upon talking with the staff about it, come to find out, he scares the hell out of a lot of people by napping in his scooter in random places outside. After a while, one must wonder how much of his doing that is because he's like, "I do what I want", or just to screw with people but I'm certain I'll never get use to it because it's that one time you don't check on him that he won't be there anymore. Either way though, I love this man for his balls. After volunteering, they gave us lunch and we got to sit next to an amazing couple. The husband had been in the Navy in the 50's. I have a feeling I made them feel a bit bad but also kinda good because I kept asking repeat questions. My short term memory is so bad I'd ask something and then ask it again like two minutes later. How long were you in the military? Oh yeah, so how long were you in the military? They were super understanding. I feel like they probably get that a lot so these are totally my people. Most people are like, what's wrong with you. These people are like, "Gladys forgets everything too. You should meet ten second Tom." Hahaha!
Well, I have to get going. Terraria time. Be sarcastic to one another.
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| Day we found each other at the shelter. |
L.J. was a rescue from the Tacoma Humane Society. They’d named him Puff Jenkins. Uhhh, sure. That sends me straight to your average Snoop dog video but why not? In my cat’s paperwork it says he is feral and they were going to do a trap, junk cut, and release, but since he is FIV positive, that naughty beast, they couldn’t re-release him. Thank God! We, being the nerds we are, re-named him Leroy Jenkins, and cut it down to L.J. (The song I chose to walk out to for my second fight, yes this is a thing, was the Leroy Jenkins remix, it’s on Youtube, and the kids LOVE it, so it‘s perfect). We get this “feral” cat home, feral as a baby chick, and he‘s amazing! This feral cat lets the seven-year-old pick him up and drag his wherever like a rag doll, with his bottom half dangling. He put him on his back and rub his stomach. We don’t even get that, “Help me, the kid is doin’ it again” face. He’s like, “Whatever kid, do your thing”. The worst thing this cat does is attack our feet in the middle of the night and when we’re on the john. (Super fun on the john because you can’t go anywhere so you have to put your legs straight up and it really just needs to be caught on video sometime. Not when it’s me however.
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Though both Snoop and L.J do like herb though. L.J. broke into his catnip. Intervention may be needed.
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So, my cat and I have special needs immune systems. He’s lucky. The vet knows how to deal with this. I, on the other hand, get a tooth infection and the doctor’s eyes bug out like they just got a surprise prostate exam the second I say, I have lupus. “AAAHHHH! This lady isn’t normal! Liability! What do we do!?! More often than not, because I have a jacked up immune system, dentists and doctors, that aren’t my rheumatologist, go out of their way to make sure I know that I don’t heal like normal and what the risks are of things like surgically removing my tooth….Yes, because I have no idea of any of this because this is not my life. Lol!
I go through my typical head nodding, letting them know that I’m taking this stuff, and eventually, after their getting my rheumatologist’s phone number and losing the argument regarding my taking Plaquenil, like I’m getting off of that for a second because they’re scared I won’t heal, the doctor makes the appointment. Yeah, $600 to put me out so they can extract a tooth, they have to break it apparently, and to remove the shards of tooth that remain from the last molar that broke off. Thanks dental insurance! I'm pretty much healed now but I've resigned myself to the fact that I will be in dentures within a year. It turns out, I am likely not a candidate for implants, not boobs, I can totally get those, the bone loss associated with many auto immune disorders render people like me unlikely to be able to get dental implants. It took me a long while but I've gotten over the fear of the stigma related to having dentures so young but the pain and money wasted helped. My lupus groups have as well. It's been nice finding out how many of us are missing so many teeth and have dentures so young.
It’s amazing how differently I’m treated now by even just the dentist. She has lupus! Crap, we have a complicated patient. I like to live under the, John Pinette buffet philosophy of “grab and move”, get in, get out, just give me my cleaning and let me go home. I’m not going to bleed to death if you pull it, I promise. It’ll be fine, you won’t be sued for wrongful extraction, lets make the appointment so I can go home instead of sit here talking in a “consultation” that I didn’t realize was a consulation because I thought you were actually just going to pull it and be done and my tooth really hurts because I didn’t think I’d need to bring pain meds. Yes, that was my Wednesday three weeks ago. Wednesdays have sucked for me lately. Miss Metallica, go to get my tooth removed and we just talk about getting my tooth removed. I get my tooth pulled out the following Wednesday and then I end up drunk walking through a grocery store while sober the Wednesday after that. Erg. Next Wednesday is going to be amazing. I'm going to take myself on a date, get my kids some weird stuff for early Christmas shopping, rubber chickens, Japanese Anime books, Deadpool Plushies, face hugger alien plushies, things like that. I may even get them Flash Gordon T-shirts because, 80's.
Today we walked down to our local retirement home and my boys volunteered rearranging their library. They did a great job. But, I had one hell of a heart attack on the way there. In front of the facility, there was a man on his scooter with his head limp on his handlebars. I dropped my purse, water, and bolted to him thinking NOOOO! I wanted to get there before my kids so they could run into the home to get help if it was needed and bypass "the body" if he passed. He was napping and just fine. Nothing like being afraid of finding an old guy dead right out front of the retirement home on your first day volunteering to make the boys feel all comfortable and cozy inside. The man was awesome and loved to chat. We honestly didn't want to stop talking with him. Upon talking with the staff about it, come to find out, he scares the hell out of a lot of people by napping in his scooter in random places outside. After a while, one must wonder how much of his doing that is because he's like, "I do what I want", or just to screw with people but I'm certain I'll never get use to it because it's that one time you don't check on him that he won't be there anymore. Either way though, I love this man for his balls. After volunteering, they gave us lunch and we got to sit next to an amazing couple. The husband had been in the Navy in the 50's. I have a feeling I made them feel a bit bad but also kinda good because I kept asking repeat questions. My short term memory is so bad I'd ask something and then ask it again like two minutes later. How long were you in the military? Oh yeah, so how long were you in the military? They were super understanding. I feel like they probably get that a lot so these are totally my people. Most people are like, what's wrong with you. These people are like, "Gladys forgets everything too. You should meet ten second Tom." Hahaha!
Well, I have to get going. Terraria time. Be sarcastic to one another.
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