Xander Goes to the Vet ... Again

Xander went in for a routine blood glucose curve. But over the last few days he has been acting a little strange. On Sunday the nictitating membrane was partially covering his eyes; he was not looking well. But he was better on Monday & Tuesday. On the ride to the Cat Clinic this morning he was meowing and purring; both very unusual actions for him. His meowing sounded like he was asking for something to be done; sometimes cats purr to relax and help heal themselves. He remains on 3 units insulin in the morning and 2 units in the evening; I need to watch him to see if his behavior gets worse.


As usual Dad was not eating the solid food; as usual we pushed the supplements. He had 240 Breeze and 240 Plus each for both breakfast and lunch. Dr. Gries came by just before lunch; after he examined Dad I asked him about the collapsed lung because it didn't seem like he was going to mention it. He said he wouldn't call it 'collapsed', he said it was just "not moving well." He said Dad needed to move more; I told him he had started physical therapy yesterday, he approved of that. I also told him that before the pneumonia we would get him out of bed in the morning and he would eat breakfast & lunch in the dining room, then go back to bed after lunch; Dr. Gries liked that also. So while the flu restrictions are in place we'll have to find things around here to do; later we will take Dad to the activities. Dr. Gries also discontinued the Remeron (mirtazapine) and switched Dad to Marinol (dronabinol), 2.5 mg 30 minutes before lunch and dinner. RN Fred told me about the change in medication, he mentioned that dronabinol was a marijuana derivative, which surprised me. After all, Dr. Gries is from the VA which is a Federal agency and the Feds have said medical marijuana use is still a Federal violation. It turns out dronabinol is a synthetic THC derivative, so that's how they get around the Federal violation part. Hopefully the dronabinol will work better than the mirtazapine.


I walked to the park after I met with Dr. Gries; it was breezy and a little misty. It was great! Once again, only 2 people were there under the eaves. But there was a flock of about 20 Java Sparrows! Its another introduced bird species. During my cool down stretches I was checking out the view again today as a small drizzle started.

Java Sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora).

Compare this with yesterday's photo of this same view.

From Dad's room I don't get as good of a view of the ocean; there are 2 trees that block most of the view. But I can see the ocean if I look towards the southwest; which I can do if Dad's roommate Mr. Yamada is not there. Mr. Yamada has the window bed so we can't go on that side of the room if he is there. We requested a window bed for Dad, he is less confused about what time of the day it is if he can see outside; there is a vacant room on the 3rd floor, Remy is checking if Dad can move there and says any move will be done after the flu is cleared from that floor.


I went in for my periodontic deep cleaning of the deep pocket next to my wisdom tooth extraction. Lisa worked on me under Dr. Ching's supervision. Next time I am there I need to take a photo of the 2 cool prints that are in the waiting room; one is of a seascape during a sunny day, the other is on an overcast day. Dr. Ching said his wife picked them out so he doesn't know much about them. Lisa had never noticed them before.

My view while having the deep cleaning done, I am tipped really far back.

When I got home I went to check out the plants. Mom's last orchid is beginning to bloom well. Her last gift orchid is getting ready to bloom. I found several more pakalana flower clusters forming. And I have 1 ripe strawberry!

Mom's last surviving orchid.

Mom's last gift orchid.

Pakalana flower clusters.

The lone strawberry.

I found an envelope by the back door. I opened it up to find a pleasant surprise! It was a photo montage from Joy & Sam's wedding in February. Joy used to live next door, she & Sam now live in Kaneohe. I wish I had been at home so I could have talked to her in person.

(Photo montage from Joy & Sam)

The Potential Most Favorite Roommate provided dinner tonight; he was going to cook but went shopping with his hanai mom instead. He ended up getting pizza from Dominos.


The Potential Most Favorite Roommate's hanai dad joined us for dinner after he got off working at Wet Okole; it turns out he was one of the trio of installers that worked on my car last year. He checked it out because he said the 2 people he was working with then were not detail-oriented. He ended up finishing off the installation tonight. The reason I try to be nice to everyone I meet is things like this; you never know when that person is going to end up having dinner at your house with your roommate who is their hanai son!

Dylan finalizing my Wet Okole seat cover installation.

I got a text from Mary Ellen today. It was a photo of Louie, Michael, and the turtle pillow I sent Michael for his birthday this year.

"Dog, human, turtle" (Photo by Mary Ellen).

Happy Birthday to Angie & Ruby! And Happy 1st Birthday to my Ellipsis Jetpack hot spot! It has been very useful this past year, especially when I am traveling.