michaeldthomas

As some of you may remember, my grandfather has been in poor health. He's been feeling awful recently, so my family finally convinced him to get checked out by his doctor. His blood work showed very low levels of hemoglobin, so they got him in for a CAT scan. They had suspected bladder cancer for some time, so nobody was surprised when they found a tumor.

My grandfather is 85 and lost my grandmother a year ago. He doesn't want any treatment, not even a blood transfusion to boost his hemoglobin levels.

This is very hard for me. I'm very close to my grandfather. He's pretty much my father figure. There was a time that I was seriously thinking about changing my last name to his.

In other sad news, we've decided that we need to bring Xander back to the shelter. He keeps attacking Caitlin. After he chewed through her feeding tubes, we decided that we would have to bring him back if he hurt Caitlin or her equipment again since Caitlin's safety obviously comes first.  He's decided that it's fun to gnaw on Cait's left ear. Caitlin can't defend her left side, so he ends up making her ear all red. Xander doesn't draw blood, but it does make her cry. During the day, I've been pulling him off and correcting him. Last night, Xander decided that this would be a fun game at 4am.  That's obviously unacceptable. He's also still chewing up any plastic that he can find. He bit right through a phone cord yesterday.

He can be such a sweet kitten. I really want to keep him, but we can't risk him seriously hurting Cait.

Lynne is off at the American Library Association annual conference today. She's doing well. She actually got to meet her Special Collections 2.0 editor in real life. It seems that her editor adored the book.

Here are some random thoughts for the day:

1- We finally watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night. Wow. I can't believe it took us so long to see it. Actually, I can. Lynne and I used to be big film fans up until about 7 years ago. Life with Caitlin, however, has made it hard to keep up with anything other than the big explosion films. Anyway, ESOTSM was exquisite. That's what an SF film can be. It was smart, funny, layered, and still accessible. 

Lynne and I ended up in our usual mock fight after watching a Kate Winslet movie. You see, I'm convinced that she resembles Kate Winslet. She thinks I'm wonderfully delusional. :-)

2- The kitten is teething up a storm. Cait now has some Barbies without hands and feet. At least he's left the Doctor Who figures alone. The big problem is that he thinks Caitlin is a big kitten. This would be fine except he keeps nomming her arms and ears. Cait doesn't mind her arms, but she cries when the kitten gnaws at her left ear. He isn't drawing blood, but we have to keep a close eye on the little scamp.

3- I'm reading matociquala's Dust. 

4- I haven't recovered from CONvergence yet. 

5- I finally finished the Doctor Who Magazine 200 Golden Moments Special. It was equal parts brilliant and mediocre. It would be nice if DWM could find some new contributors to these specials. I'm getting tired of always hearing from the same 50 people who wrote for the UK fanzines in the 80s and 90s. It's not that they're bad at what they do, it's just that I would like to hear some fresh opinions and insights.

Molly took a turn for the worse this morning. Lynne is taking her to get euthanized while I watch Caitlin.

She was a marvelous little kitten. We only had her for five months, but it felt like many wonderful years. There wasn't a bad bone in that little cat's body. She was full of love, wanting nothing more than to cuddle with her family all the time.

I'm really going to miss her.

On the plus side, Caitlin hasn't thrown up since last night. We didn't give her an overnight feed, so hopefully we can reintroduce her feeds later today. On the minus side, Caitlin woke up with a big seizure. She's now sleeping off her Diastat.

In other news, Molly the kitten seems to have herpes conjunctivitis in her left eye. Lucky for us, the vet was willing diagnose it over the phone. I'm very happy that I don't have to figure out a way to transport Caitlin and the kitten to the vet today. rarelylynne is going to pick up some ointment on the way home.

From the not everything sucks files, many of our friends and the fans of eeknight have contributed to the RAMP Wheel-A-Thon. We're only $165 short of our fundraising goal. The Wheel-A-Thon is tomorrow, so there's still time to make a donation.

Thoughts from the first half of the week:

1- Our friends Sarah and David had a sad Monday; they had to put down their beloved cat, Ronny. Caitlin and I spent the evening at their house trying to help keep things from getting too morose. Our solution: watching the horrendously bad/unintentionally comic G.I. Joe: The Movie. This was the TV movie that effectively killed the G.I. Joe franchise for 20 years. The gist of the film is that they ret-con everything. The cartoon had been about a special forces military group versus crazy world terrorists. Think S.H.I.E.L.D. versus HYDRA. In this movie, they decided that Cobra Commander was a member of a race of snake people that once ruled the earth like the Silurians on Doctor Who. Now the snake people are back with their odd organic tech trying to mutate humanity. Their battle cry is “COBRA LA LA LA LA LA!” It would be hard for this movie to make less sense. Oh, I almost forgot Don Johnson starring as Lt. Falcon, a rule breaker who discovers the true meaning of being a Joe. Ugh.

2- I posted last year about the cowardly and terrible terrorist attacks of 2001. I know that we all still have strong feelings and emotions about that day and its legacy. I think it’s important that today we try to remember that it was a day that many people lost friends and loved ones in an act of senseless brutality.

3- The Cubs won last night. I am off the ledge for a moment.

4- We watched the first half of the Bond film License to Kill with kevinsom. I forgot how awful that film is. It’s like a grim, boring episode of Miami Vice.

5- The writing keeps rolling, and Caitlin still thrives at school. That’s about all I can hope for.

6- Gregory McDonald passed away, one of my favorite authors. His books are a master class in writing dialogue. He will be missed.

Just finished reading- China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh (gorgeous and brilliant)
Currently reading- Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear

I am very happy today.

1- rarelylynne's home!

2- Caitlin had good therapies. Her reading is really coming along. Who knew that she could read the word whiskers?

3- I love my Molly kitten. She's a hoot.

4- I am almost at the halfway point with the novel revisions. It's slow going, but at least there's progress. I still don't hate my novel.

5- I kicked out a lot of Fluid Links's writing this week. It's always a happy thing when I produce more work than expected.

6- I'm going to be in a music video tomorrow for my friend David's band, Oh, Alchemy.

7- We have plans with torresroman and spouse tonight, and with bifemmefatale and family on Sunday.

8- The Cubs won again. The team is still rolling.

Just finished reading- Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Currently reading- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Caitlin is in bed, and I have a Molly kitty in my lap.

Tonight was less than fun. A line of storms whipped through the area. Sirens went off, and I got to carry my daughter down to our unfinished basement to wait it out. No tornadoes dropped down around here, and we still have power. Both are very good things.

Well, I’m off to bed.

rarelylynne has some pictures up. :)

My cat is gone. I keep catching him out of the corner of my eye, thinking that he’s about to jump up to get petted. Joey was a large cat, so it was always fairly thunderous when he made that leap onto the couch or bed. Now there’s nothing.

It was rough this morning. Caitlin had a big seizure at 5:40. After she fell asleep from the Diastat. Lynne and I returned to our bed. That was usually the point that Joey would come to us to give comfort. He always did after Caitlin had a big spasm. Cute and purring, he would just rub on you until you petted him and felt better.

We’ve had a lot of death this year. I lost an uncle, a close cousin, the father of a good friend, a couple of the Aicardi girls, and a very dear friend well before her time. I have absolutely nothing profound to add, I just want it stop happening so damn much.

I ended up taking care of Joey by myself yesterday. It was very difficult. I broke down for a minute or two, and then I got back to business. I did the best I could for him.

I miss him terribly.

Thank you, everybody who gave condolences. It did help.