h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Really strong emotions, Mudhooks.

Can't really express them properly.

I am both very sad and very afraid.

az

az - I guess there, as in the UK, we have become more aware of terrorism (ETA and IRA) but it still comes as a shock - especially on the scale of the Madrid bombs. We must carry on though otherwise the terrorists will succeed.

On a lighter note - I have been thinking about a pal for Charlie... but I think we'll leave it a while longer. It's all still a bit raw. We have Jake's ashes back now (they arrived while I was away).

My trip was exceedingly boring - business trips usually are...I suppose because you are there to work really!

I was amused to see the reference to the laser pointer. I too have one of these - also on a chain (key ring) - Charlie can hear it from downstairs and comes running. He loves the sound of the click and looks at my hand when I stop as if to say "do it again!" I am very careful about not shining it near his eyes too. He loves it and goes all kitten chasing it around. He loves it most on the bed where he can really pounce on it with a nice soft landing!

I know how you feel, Az.

Watching the World Trade Centre attacks was really overwhelming. Even today.

For me, it is the human tradgedy, less than the "whys and wherefors". I lived in New York (though not at the time). My ex used to work less than 6 blocks away from the Trade Centre. People we knew were being evacuated when the second tower fell.

The fear, the confusion, the sheer scope and size.... it is all overwhelming.

I can understand the anger behind the attacks, but to have so little respect for fellow human beings as to carry the acts out..... It is no more understandable to me than the actions that drove the perpetrators to commit these acts.

Well, this evening, my girlfriend Krys, who lives across the street, came over and I asked her to stay for supper. I finished my meal, so went into the kitchen to make an oyster dip for "movie night" at her house.

I was washing a bowl. Mom said "I don't know why I suddenly feel a little dizzy...." I looked over and she looked really white.

I asked "Are you okay?"

No answer.

Luckily, my friend was sitting next to her and I was close by. Mom zoned out. After trying to rouse her in her chair, she slumped over. We got her to the floor, and after a minute or so with her feet in the air, and a cold cloth on her head, she rallied. This has happened three times now, usually at the about the same time in the evening.

The first two times I called an ambulance because I wasn't sure what was going on. Luckily, there is a fire-station about a block away (with VERY good-looking paramedics, by the way). After spending half the night in the hospital, it has been put down to he blood-pressure dropping suddenly. The first time she had two seizures, and was sick, so I worried it was perhaps her heart or a stroke.

The last time, she had come up the stairs to go to bed and just sort of sat at the top of the stairs and then slumped over. It really freaked me out.

This time, and after the previous experiences, we were comfortable with putting her to bed after we were sure she was feeling fine.

Still, it worries me. I am so glad that it has only once happened when she wasn't at home.

However, now, I am frightened that it could happen while she is driving. I am going to have to sit down with her and talk about it. If it did happen behind the wheel, she wouldn't have time to pull over.... Her safety, and the safety of others is at stake.

I can't bar her from driving. Only her doctor can make an opinion about this, and report it to the Dept. of Transport. She has an appointment on Monday with her cardiologist. I am going to suggest that she talk about this to the doctor.

My friend is so amazing. She always runs right over when I have a problem.

hi Mudhooks,

That sounds very worrying. Though I wonder if your mother would get an attack like that if she were sitting down (ie driving)? How old is she? I guess you can't bar her from driving, but she should also realise that this could be potentially dangerous. Let us know what the cardiologist says on Monday.

There is a huge sunbeam coming in through the balcony door windows and Lua is lying in it on the floor, rolling on her back and looking totally demented. I haven't seen her do that in ages! Actually, it's not really a pretty sight with the big bald pink belly on show.

az

Last time i looked you where thinking about eating cat food, at the thought of you lying in it on the floor, rolling on her back and looking totally demented.

Have you got? A big bald pink belly

I had a talk with her today.

Apparently, she didn't feel well just before we sat down to eat. So at least she does have some warning. I told her that she needs to be aware that when she feels like that to let someone know.... or if she is driving, pull over right away.

She will be telling her cardiologist about this.

She will be 80 in June. Here, in Canada, when you turn 80, they test you every year for you driving. I am hoping that they will revoke her license.

Oh, gosh!

I only just read about the terrorist attacks from Della's page a while ago, connected the word Spain with azahar...

What happened, why, how are you, and how is your cat?

I've neglected a lot of friends.

- Jordan

You only just heard about the bombings four hours ago, Jordan? Well, there are a few other threads discussing them - you can find a couple of them on my personal page. I'm fine. Well, more or less.


logicus,

Ah, I think we'll leave the state of my belly out of this conversation if you don't mind!

az

The other day my student Ricardo (head of the nuclear medicine dept) said to me - 'you never know, Lua'a tumour might be benign.' I got really angry with him and said he shouldn't be giving me false hope. He said it wasn't false hope. Just to bear in mind that anything could happen. And to live with the positive.

Perhaps it seems odd to worry about the life of one cranky old cat after two hundred have so senselessly died. But in a way this senseless slaughter has made *every* life seem even more special. Somehow.

az

The problem is that some people look at certain lives as more important, or rather, LESS important than others.

People say "How can you bring another life into the world when so many others suffer?". "No one should value an animal's life over that of a human's." "No one should value an Iraqi life over that of an American's, or the life or a black person's over the life of a white person."

I don't want to get into "The Right ot Life" over "The Right to Choose", or into vegetarian versus meat-eating.... But if I have a right to say one life is unimportant and another vital, then so does someone else. Eventually, someone will decide that my life is unimportant and, therefore, expendable.

For Heaven's sake! Your cat is important to you and you love it. It doesn't mean, therefore, that you think all those people deserved to die.

If you live by the sword, so shall you die by the sword.

What goes around, comes around.

Judge not, lest ye be judged.

In This Heart of Mine by Robert Espindola

In this heart of mine
I find there is love enough for all mankind.
In this heart of mine
I see each person's whorth, each person's dignity.
In this heart of mine
I know there is room enough for every wayward child, every searching soul,
Every lost and broken spirit longing to be whole.
For in this heart of yours
I found there was love enough for me.
For in this heart of yours
I saw my own dignity.
In this heart of yours
I knew this wayward child would find his way back home.
For in this heart of yours
I found a heart beating as my own.

thanks Mudhooks,

It is true that loving my cats to the max doesn't mean I love people any less or that I put one before the other. People do create their own personal heirarchy of 'personal importance' when it comes to relationships. Between family, friends, etc.

My cat family is incredibly important to me. I don't think of them as 'human'. And I certainly don't think of them - ICK - as 'child substitutes'. But they are my feline family. I am responsible for them. They make me laugh. They drive me nuts. They cost me money!!! Basically the usual sh*t.

. . . and once or twice they have actually helped save me from myself . . ...

By needing me to be there. By needing me to be okay. By needing me to not totally fall apart. By seeing in their little trusting faces how much they needed me and that their total trust in me said that I *would be* okay . . . I ended up okay.

Like, I had a choice?

I could have let myself fall into the toilet but there was no way I could have taken the cats with me. They helped me get better. More than once. By needing me. Bless their furry little hearts.



az

could have let myself fall into the toilet but there was the state of my belly meant getting stuck in the ubend then

Keeping cats is not what most cat owners do its feed play and amuse them ,its more of a case of pampering if you want a cat,i think 75% percent of catowners in their 50 s almost there Az would have fed or been adophted by a stray, that is you became part of his/her social group not they yours.

They do indeed help threraputicly as well as anoy,and most know when to duck and run before you do.

Hello

The Madrid bombings left us all here in Tenerife totally numb, a horrendous massacre of the innocent, as usual, whether it is the west bombing Iraq or Afghanistan, or terrorists attacking London, New York or Madrid, it is ALWAYS the innocent who are killed and maimed, a totally worthless destruction of human life, families wrecked for ever. In church this morning we prayed for those victims and their families, the priest also prayed for the perpetrators, sorry, but I do not pray for them, I am distinctly unchristian in that I find it impossible to find forgiveness for those who have no regard for human life and can kill on such a grand scale.

Sorry, but I just had to get that off my chest! Az, I am glad that Lua is not aware that she is sick, as long as she has enjoyment out of life, i.e. looking forward to her next meal, and is not suffering, then thats good for her, although I know for you it means you always have a cloud overhanging you, and I really am sorry, I do know how it feels to feel such love for an animal, they are very unique beings and cats especially know how to communicate their distaste and their pleasure which leaves you in no doubt as to what they want!!!

I find talking to my animals very therapeutic, simply because they appear to listen and never, ever answer me back!! unlike humans of course!!

Love
Jane

hi Jane!

Long time no see! Well, aside from on msn.

Your animals never answer you back? Lua constantly 'aacks' at me and most of the time I know what she is trying to communicate. Short on vocab but quite expressive, that one.

az

Well, I was afraid of this.

Benjamin has a problem with FUTI. If he eats anything other than his prescription food, he starts scrabbling in his box and peeing all over the house.

I had him on regular wet food for a day while he was recovering from his teeth, and then onto his dry food which I soak in water. Last night, he was in and out of his box, and I found him just as he was about to pee on my brother's duffle-bag. I removed him to his box and but a plastic bin bag on top of the duffle-bag. Every few minutes, I would catch him up there, trying to pee on it. Finally, when my brother got in, I got him to move his duffle into Mom's closet.

Unfortunately, Benjamin managed to pee on the plastic bag, and my brother dumped his coat on top of it.... Luckily, my brother is a very understanding person, and, just before he left for work, I heard him out in the hall commisterating with Benjamin.

I called the vet this morning in hopes that rather than haul him in again and traumatize him, yet again, he would give him his kitty-cat Prozac prescription. The vet wasn't in today, and the technician said that they would probably have to test him before giving him the medication. It isn't as if the medication even does anything about the crystals themselves. All the prescription does is stop his obsessing about scrabbling in his box and breaks him of peeing on everything in sight.

The vet seemed like a pretty nice guy, and I am hoping he will take pity on the poor cat and simply prescribe the medication.

My other alternative is to call the vet my mother used to use, who does house-calls.... I may do that if they insist he has to be seen by someone.

hi Mudhooks,

If he has taken this medication before why would he have to be tested again? It sounds like it's just a light tranq. As you know, I have become VERY suspicious whenever a vet recommends testing for every little thing.

You need a prescription for this? Can't you just go pick some up somewhere? Here a lot of pharmacies also sell veterinary drugs.

Poor Benjamin. How are his teeth? Can't you get some of the special food in tins?

az

They do have the prescription food in tins. However, he wouldn't touch it with a 500 foot pole. It smells horrible and is really greasy-looking. Ick.... Here, for anything you need to get from the pharmacy for your cat, you need a prescription.

If the vet can't give me the medication without a test, I will call my Mom's vet.

I really like the new vet at the pet hospital. Dr. Sharma. He was really wonderful and seemed to have a real caring approach with Benjamion (who wasn't having any, but that is rather understandable). Dr. Sharma practices nuclear medicine for cats (and dogs?) and says he is used to having to deal with pretty pissed off felines. Bedside manner is paramount to him. The normal vet is good, but I think he is a "dog" person. He always refers to Benjamin as "she" and seems just a little aloof when I deal with him. Benjamin dislikes him intensely.

There was another vet (actually several) there before and I am not sure what happened, but I think the partnership disbanded a little over a year after they formed it. Not a food sign.

My friend is very happy with her vet who is closer to home. Mom's vet makes housecalls and Mom swears by him. I think ot is time to make the move. The vet I currently use is right across town where I used to live. It would be better to have someplace closer, and I think I will use that as my excuse for moving him.

Benjamin is recovering nicely from the dental work. I think he was a little under the weather yesterday, the tips of his ears were very warm but today, they are nice and cool again. His nose was cool and wet, and nice and pink. Whenever he is sick, his nose goes very pale, a sure sign. He always gets very lovey-dovey, too, when he is sick.

Poor lad.