csziggy
csziggy's JournalSurvived yet another operation - but the recovery is kicking my butt
I had a mid-line hernia repair on Friday - but the CT scan that diagnosed it was done back in June. there were delays due to having to be cleared by by cardiologist which finally happened in mid August but then the Covid cases had filled up the hospital and I couldn't get scheduled until last Friday.
During all those delays, the rupture in the abdominal muscle got bigger and fairly recently a loop of intestine worked its way through a tear in the muscle. The surgeon said he was surprise anything was getting past that loop. I knew over the past few weeks there had been more discomfort and suspected something was very wron.
To strengthen the area, the surgeon put in a piece of mesh about the size of a sheet of paper. This means the skin had to be loosened to spread the mesh out. It was all done via laparoscopic so I have seven little holes and one incision scattered all over mu tummy. They've got me on oxycodone so I have slept most of the time since getting out of the hospital Saturday. Usually I hate taking that stuff because it makes me groggy and stupid, but right now it is a blessing.
In fact, right now I need to take another dose and another nap.
On the other hand, Khufu, my new kitty, has figured out that he can't jump on my tummy but have found ways to drape across other parts of my body to be close to me. Khufu is a very cuddly kitty and a big comfort. He's settling in with the other cats, trying to make friends with them. While they are not ready to be friends, there have been no big confrontations or fights. Lucas, our largest cat who is a bully, acts like he is afraid of Khufu - I think because Khufu does not run away from him. So we get views of five pound Khufu chasing fourteen pound Lucas around the house. I wish I were alert enough to take some videos of them!
UPDATE: Tofu is now officially Khufu! Today he got to meet two of our three other cats
It went very well. I locked Lucas, the largest and most aggressive of the cats, in the living room, leaving the rest of the house open for Khufu to explore safely. Sabra, the very overweight black cat, was the first to see him. She came into the room with her tail all puffed up but she settled quickly. Khufu was like, "Great! Another cat!" But he's smart enough to stay back and let the other cat approach him. When Sabra got close enough (about 12-18" away) to almost sniff his nose, she hissed, and Khufu dashed back into the bedroom, which is his safe space.
He came out quickly and pretty much ignored Sabra as he explored the dining room (dining room and kitchen are really one great room, but the kitchen does not have interesting cat furniture and toys like the dining room does). Sabra kind of followed him around for about an hour. Then I put Khufu back into the bedroom for a while, and she traced his paths around the room by his smell. After the first few minutes both cats had been pretty relaxes, so I considered that good.
Later I trapped Lucas out on the screened porch and let Khufu come back out. Again Sabra was in the room and sort of interested in Khufu but he was completely ignoring her since he was bolder about investigating all the neat stuff in the dining room. Then Sabra was about to actually touch noses, but the thing I use to block the cat door was knocked down by Lucas and bother the other cats scattered - Khufu back to the bedroom, Sabra to the living room. So I lured Lucas into the living room with Sabra.
Khufu came back out quickly and while he was exploring, Maya, the little gray cat, came out to see what was going on. She's been very jealous of the time I've spent in the bedroom with Khufu and heard me talking to him. It took her ten minutes to sneak from the library to the dining room, and then she never got very close to Khufu. Khufu was unfazed - he went about his exploring and even entered Maya's sanctum, the library, where she hangs out with me much of the time. I let them have a while in there undisturbed then I went in, both cats went out, and I let them explore alone for a good hour. I heard not noises, so I guess there were no confrontations
Maya came back into the library, very relaxed, and flopped down on the desk where she usually sits. I went to check on Khufu and he was back in the bedroom, very relaxed, asleep on the bed. So I closed him back in and let the two big cats loose.
For a first introduction, I consider this a very big success! No fights, no chases, only a few hisses. Tomorrow I may let Khufu loose with Lucas also loose and see how that goes. Lucas is very interested, but he tends to be aggressive. Since he is the largest at maybe 14 pounds, he could do come damage to little 5 pound Khufu. But we can't put if off forever.
Today's UPDATE in Post #6!
Here is a picture of my new kitty, Tofu
Though I'm thinking of changing his name to Khufu.
The name change may happen because I keep calling him Tashi, the name of my last Siamese lynx point kitty. Here is Tashi:
I bought my turkey yesterday - will cook it Tuesday once it's thawed
They were already on sale for 49 cents a pound so I went ahead and got it.
My operation is next Friday so I will not be attending the family Turkey Day. Usually I buy a turkey while they are on sale for the holiday and cook it a week or so after Turkey Day so my husband and I can have turkey for the year. This year, because I won't be able to do it close to Thanksgiving, I can get it done ahead of time and have my turkey dinner on T-Day on my own. My husband will drive the two hours to his family gathering and then two hours back so he can spend time with his family.
So the turkey is in the fridge, thawing out (they recommend 3-4 days). Heck I may wait until Wednesday to cook it, then we can cool it, carve it up, package batches for the freezer, and put the skin and carcass into the stock pot overnight for turkey stock to use to make dressing.
Yeah! Turkey!
Is everyone else getting spammed by the sports betting ads to "help education," too?
I'm old enough that I remember the original ads for the Florida Lottery and how with the revenue from that education in Florida would be fully funded with no taxes needed. These new ads sound like a rehash of that tired, old, failed argument. If the Florida Lottery provided the level of money to education that had been promised, why would we need another gambling scam to "win" for Florida education now?
Well, I couldn't take it any more. I adopted another cat on Friday
Before my current group (Lucas (brown tabby), Sabra (black), and Maya (gray), I'd had a Siamese of some sort for most of my life. My husband's long haired Siamese was put to sleep in 2006. My little lynx point died in the fall of 2019. At the time last fall when I couldn't live any longer without cats, there were no Siamese available for adoption anywhere near here.
But I kept seeing pictures of Siamese on the Reddit cat subs, and an amazing number of lynx points. Those always broke my heart because they reminded me of my little striped kitty. Every so often I'd check the local Humane Society pages of adoptable cats but the only Siamese they've had for ages is Mildred, an older FIV positive cat that does not get along with other cats. And Mildred has a permanent home at the Humane Society office so was not available for adoption.
But week before last, a new kitty showed up as available. Tofu, a lynx point kitten (now five months old), was a hard adoption. Like the two ladies we adopted last year, he is very shy so cannot go to the cat cafe where most of their adoptions take place. He was at a foster home and was very well settled there - he'd learned to play fetch!
He's younger than I really wanted - our others were adopted at one and two years of age so they are now two and three years old. I waited a week, thinking someone would adopt him and the temptation would be gone. But last Wednesday when he was still available I submitted an application for him. The nice lady at the Humane Society was ecstatic - she remembered us and remembered the two unsociable cats we had adopted. And she remembered how I had reported back on how well they settled in.
So Friday, the foster mom brought Tofu to our house. I think she wanted to make sure we had an appropriate house and would make good parents for Tofu. I think we met her standards since she left Tofu here. We had the master bedroom set up for Tofu with a new kitty bed, food, water, and a litter box.
Tofu is settling in but has not met the other cats yet. He's still adjusting to us and only just getting so he is comfortable with us. The other cats know there is a new cat in the house and are somewhat jealous. We go into the bedroom every day for a while to play with Tofu and they are locked out at night when they have been used to coming in early in the morning to demand food.
The only problem we're having is that Tofu loved to come up onto the bed at 3AM to demand pets.
So we're now a four cat household. Pictures in a few days when I remember to take the camera into the bedroom with me.
Did I make a mistake buying farmer's cheese to sub for cream cheese?
Today at the store, the cream cheese shelves were nearly empty. I'd planned to buy 16 ounces of cream cheese to make a big batch of pimento cheese. The closest thing they had was Farmer's cheese so I bought two packages of that.
I've been reading up on Farmer's cheese. I think it might work, especially if I mix some milk or something (mayo?) in to make it creamier. My recipe calls for cream cheese, a little mayonnaise, some seasonings (garlic and onion powders, mustard, paprika) cheddar cheese and pimentos. Last time I made it I didn't have enough cream cheese so added extra mayo and it turned out fine.
What do you think - will farmer's cheese work?
Finally my operation is scheduled!
I saw the surgeon in June and he said I needed surgery but had to get clearance from my cardiologist before he could do it. July and August were spent getting tested by the cardiologist and at the end of August he gave the clearance.
But the hospital was full of COVID patients so I waited a month and called back in at the beginning of October - still too many COVID patients so I called back today. FINALLY they could schedule me.
November 19th I go under the knife for the fifteenth time since 2001. 
I think I will skip Thanksgiving this year - but I will go ahead and buy a turkey to cook when I feel up to it. Usually even if I go to relatives for Turkey Day, I cook my own, cut it up, and freeze batches to have turkey later in the year. In fact tonight I had the last of the old turkey in a sandwich for dinner.
The good news is that my husband will be able to go to his family's get together if they have one. I'll be recovered enough to be left alone by then.
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: Leon County, Florida
Member since: Tue Feb 12, 2008, 10:18 PM
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