Blargh

Lola has been coughing. She coughs every day, and sometimes her breathing sounds a little wheezy, so she's going to the vet Friday afternoon. I don't relish going out into Friday afternoon traffic with Lola in a bag, but I'd just as soon know what's going on with her. While I was describing her symptoms over the phone, the following sentence crossed my mind: I don't even know how you'd take a pulse ox [1] on a cat. I guess there's a monitor, but I tried to imagine strapping it to a cat's paw. Most cats hate to have strangers touch their paws.

I spend too much time thinking about medical issues. This is clear to me. The other day I followed a link to a site at the University of Iowa that was basically a handbook for family practicioners, you know, your basic doctors. The kind you used to mean before "going to the doctor" meant seeing an internist. I read a few pages, clicked around a little for a total of about 20 minutes. I understood every word. Scarier still, I knew most of the Latin for the abbreviations.

My life used to be a lot more fun. I need to work on that.

In addition to Lola's troubles, I don't feel too well. My appetite is pretty much gone and I'm losing weight again. Sometimes the kidney hurts, and when it hurts, the pain is more intense than it was the last time I had pain around the kidney. The kidney doesn't always hurt, though. I don't get this; it must be outside the scope of the Family Practicioner's Guidebook.

On the bright side, my skin looks amazing. The ugly bumps that I got from a little too much time in the sun a few weeks ago are gone. Hooray! I know that I was talking about wanting a new foundation a couple of weeks ago, but now I think I don't need one. Strategically placed concealer and a little translucent powder will do just fine. (Both Mercier, if anybody is curious. The Mercier concealer is the best I've ever used, and I love the translucent powder, which is a makeup artist fave.)

[1] The pulse oximeter is a device used to measure the level of oxygenation of your blood. The level is expressed as a percentage; anything much below 95% and they put you on oxygen. With human people, the meter is clipped on the patient's index finger, which is why I'm wondering how a vet would measure a level on a cat or a dog. No fingers, you know?

before - after