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November Update

November 21, 2024 1 Comment

I honestly don't know how to start this blog post. I don't want to be a negative Nancy about everything, but the past few months have been so frustrating.

First, I apologize if you have sent an email, and I haven't replied. There are times when it might be a week before I get around to checking it again. I am trying to improve with this over the next week or so and get back to checking it daily. I promise I am not ignoring or avoiding anyone in particular. Some days I just don't get around to checking the emails and sorting through them.

Second, I am making all "Blog" posts on my Patreon public (after a certain point since I am not going back and changing the settings for previous ones). You can join as a free member to read these posts when they are posted - or just scroll through the posts to find ones that are visible for you. --> scroll here

Here's the short and sweet of the past few months, since my last post here on Fanta from July.

I took a break from gardening completely this summer, because honestly, I had just lost interest in everything I've been doing in life.
I think the above can mostly be contributed to pre-menapausal hormones. I am 45 after all. Those hormones will often cause me to have zero energy and feel depressed for no reason, which is beyond irritating.
It's been hard getting in front of the camera when I don't like how I look right now. I walked for 2-3 weeks back in July as mentioned in that post and then stopped. I am still the heaviest I've been (so some of my stuff doesn't fit as well right now), and other things are going on that I have refrained from mentioning. Like spider veins on my legs, and now small spots of psoriasis on my legs. My legs aren't what they used to be. 😭
At the end of June, I had a pre-cancerous spot removed from my face, close to the corner of my eye.

At the end of July, one of our cats bit me when I went to pick him up to give him his medicine since he stopped eating his pill pockets. That is the 2nd time he had bit me this year (first being in March). As a precaution, I had to take antibiotics both times... the only reason I've had to take antibiotics for the past 6-10 years - because my own cat hates me. I don't remember the last time I took antibiotics before this.

At the beginning of August, I fell off a 3-step ladder outside, during one of the times I went out to do something. I was trying to saw off a small tree limb that was hanging over one of my garden areas. I had a GIANT, sore bruise for weeks. It was actually a hematoma.

At the end of September, we found out Bailey (the one who hates me) has large-cell lymphoma in his stomach. So he gets weekly cancer treatments now. At the time of diagnosis, we was barely eating a few bites each day. He is eating good now, gaining weight, and his bloodwork continues to improve each week.

The turd:

On Oct 22nd, we said goodbye to our oldest cat, Targét. He would have been 19 the beginning of January next year. He was in kidney failure, was barely eating, having trouble walking in general, and it was just time. 😞 We opted for an at-home euthanasia with him so his last moments wouldn't be at the vet.

Last week, on November 13th, Bailey bit me again while I was trying to clean smushed turds out of his tail. This one is by far the worst, and I am still dealing with it. I am done with that cat. I don't know why he hates me so much; Shish never has this issue with him. I refuse to touch him again. He fools me into thinking he likes me again and we're okay - and then BAM!

My hand was so swollen that night and the next day, I could not feel my fingers or use the hand at all. Here's a picture comparison of my left hand vs the right hand to see how swollen it got.

After a couple days of oral antibiotics, this one landed me in the hospital overnight this past weekend. It was getting worse even on the antibiotics, and urgent care told me I should go to the ER. I had to be admitted to the hospital to receive IV antibiotics every 6 hours. I love animals, but I am done with this cat. He doesn't even show up at mealtimes when I feed them. And you know, that's okay. Our other 5 cats love me, so it's Bailey's loss.

The hospital doctor wanted to keep me 2 nights, but I said no. I got zero sleep the one night, and while it was still oozing stuff and swollen to the point I couldn't use my hand, it had improved. So I wanted to go home and continue on oral antibiotics. The swelling has gone done 95%, but it still feels a little tight when I make a fist. I guess this could be from tissue damage that will take time to heal. This was a deep puncture wound.

In between all of the above, things have been nonstop. There's always something random popping up - especially when you have 7 (6 now) cats and some of them are needy. 😂 Add in the hormonal roller coaster I have been on, and it's been a struggle to do anything or get anything done. But I am working on it. I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere permanently. I am just trying to sort through some life stuff right now and find my rhythm again. Please keep this in mind and be patient with me. My memory is also not as good as it used to be, so sometimes I just forget to do things. 😏

I am working on doing some Fanta updates (finally), but I want to make a new post regarding Fanta Productions in general (read that post here), so I'll leave this post here.