Puttering along

Vlad is still crazy tired all the time. The bouts of nausea and sweats continue to a lesser extent, but overall he is improving, if by inches. He got cough meds for his hacking and that's improved. He's so ready to be well. I hope this week he'll find more strength.

We had a new fence put up in the backyard this week. It proved to be a fairly painless affair, except for writing the check. We came across a great fence builder. It poured for three days and he put the thing in in spite of it.

Now we gaze out the sliding glass door more to look at our new purchase and have noticed tons of hummingbirds hanging out in the hibiscus. Vlad camps out with his camera, but can never make it to the window before they fly off. They light for about 10 seconds and zip off. I think I'll buy a hummingbird feeder tomorrow, and hang it closer to the window.

Last weekend, Keezee came home all muddy and bleeding. I ran him to the emergency vet Saturday night and it seems the wounds were from a cat fight a day or two earlier. Why he was a muddy mess is anybody's guess. He had a 103-degree fever. He was prescribed antibiotics and some anti-inflammatories. Plus one of those anti-lick collars (see photo) that made him look Bozo-esque. (That lasted a day and a half. I looked up Monday and it was around his waist; he looked like a hairy ballerina). He stayed indoors for five days -- as prescribed -- and took all his meds, and we had, strangely, no major battles over going outside during that time. He was either hit hard by this or he's just getting older and lazier. He's doing OK now.

Anyway, Vlad will be going back to work one of these days soon. And I am planning a party at Kaneyama, a nice sushi place on Westheimer, sometime in September, when Vlad is out of the woods. He hasn't been able to eat sushi since March and it's something he really misses. Something to look forward to.

He goes back to Conlon this week. I doubt they'll do the biopsy; it hasn't been six weeks; only four since the last chemo. But maybe we'll get some more good news.