Wednesday 12 August 2015

The Deprived and the Departed (or I don't think I'll ever have another cat)

Anyone who ever chose to be in attendance when a veterinarian ended the life of their first or most loved pet and was so shocked at the loss that they couldn't even think of ever replacing the departed, will know what's going on here.

Years pass and we remember and yearn for the departed, occasionally believing to spot glimpses of the soul in other animals, usually ones that exhibit similar physical traits. And away we pet!

Zebra and pocket-tiger in a petting session
This is why I was so looking forward to cat-sitting the little monster in the above picture. 

But: Caveat Pettor! It's not even the above all-wrong emotional 'thought' process that can let this turn out horribly (After all, what are the chances that this poor creature could measure up to the ideal we built up in our brains?).  In our attempt to re-create or at least re-discover the pet of the past, we ignore the fact that we are no longer the same human being that this pet was the perfect companion to.  Recipe for disaster. And it's not the cat's fault.




Wishing you only sweet notes where ever you are Monte!

Someone else departed recently. Roams eternal hunting grounds now.  Died. Passed away. Biochemically failed. Is ash now.   On May 4.    I'd known him for a long time. Known him quite well too. He was kind enough to accompany me to to George's Native Memorial Service about a year before his own at that time unlikely and unforeseeable death.   At some point I probably would have called him a close friend.  There is something about him on YouTube: Meet Monte Jones in THIS VIDEO     




There was something else I noticed today.  For the first time in 28 years.  I was shocked. I saw it in an East Vancouver Safeway.  I saw it in an East Vancouver Sushi restaurant. I felt in an East Vancouver street.  You've seen pictures of places like Detroit or Rochester that are now only dusty dirty desertable shadows of their previous selves. Somehow in East Vancouver it felt as if Hope had departed at least 2 months ago. 
Not my pic



What else? 
Air Quality Moderate Risk warning for North Vancouver. Thank you, all you car drivers sitting in stop-and-go traffic all afternoon every day!   

Four departed (DEAD) Humpback Whales along the BC coast.  Good Think that Mr. Spock doesn't have to see this!





Tuesday 11 August 2015

Feeling old and weak

This is what 7 days of lying on a couch after a run in with Crohn's Disease looks like. 10+ pounds off the scale, I guess (don't have one).  

It's not even the pain of the first 24 hours that's the nasty thing about these episodes (OK, puking all night with a virtual burning iron in one's side is nasty enough), the really nasty thing is the fear that sets in the next day once the hurling has stopped.  

I'm STARVING.  What can I eat that doesn't start the whole process all over again?   And what minuscule amount of it is safe?  Not an easy experimental series to perform because in my particular case, the result does not come in until 8 hours after the food has been ingested.  And there is nothing you can do once it has started.  There is also no point going to a doctor or hospital, because they never believe a patient and insist of putting the poor pained sucker through tortures starting at first principles.  Been there, done that. NOT again.


Inept Emergency personnel telling you for 24 hours straight that you must not leave AND must not eat until Dr. Where'sMyGolfClub has finally arrived is one of the more exhilerating experiences offered by the Canadian Health Care System.  That time I didn't even have an episode but my MD had thought it would be a quicker way to an Ultrasound. At 2 am I told them to get stuffed at that time and went to Denny's.




already?
By day 3, 4, or 5, with guts still irritated and bloated and muscles being converted to food to keep from starving it is best to not look in the mirror.  For a moment I saw George's previously proud but now wrecked torso there with his bony shoulders and gassy midsection.  

This leads to the next step:  Maybe it isn't Crohn's disease this time?  Maybe this is something else! Better not to look in the mirror again; this is usually the low point and things will be better the next morning.



Rewards:  


Weight loss at a reasonably rapid pace and new or re-found insight into the vast amounts of food people shovel into themselves every day without even thinking about it.

A reborn lust for life and awareness of purpose when the signs of recovery can no longer be ignored.