Self-Surgery

So I took Sydney to the vet because Sydney had scratched up his bump really badly and I didn’t want the bump to get bigger. The vet took Sydney’s blood from the front right leg, which was oddly similar to watching a person get blood drawn. It took forever, as apparently cat blood has to be drawn extremely slowly. It also cost over $200.

During the procedure, the vet mentioned that sometimes these lumps will just scab over and fall off by themselves. Well, one week later, the scab fell off, and the bump seems to be gone. I’m going to keep watching it the next few weeks, but I would be really happy if the bump was gone for good.

Sydney Wants to be Me

I think the bump on Sydney’s head got slightly bigger, and he just can’t stand to think that I got my cyst removed and he didn’t. Whatever the case may be, Bunky and I have decided to have the bump surgically removed. Naturally it’s never that easy to get stuff like this done, so we have to go to our normal vet to get Sydney’s blood drawn for initial analysis and then schedule an appointment for surgery at a different vet. Sydney’s been scratching at the bump and it got all bloody and covered with hair. We don’t want to risk infection or the spread of whatever the lump is.

Sydney doesn’t know yet that we want to take him for surgery. The last time this happened, some doctor cut his testicles out =(. Interestingly, I saw an article that showed how neutering your cat keeps his face sleek.

Bumphead

Bunky was petting Sydney the other day and noticed he had a small hard lump on the top of his head. I had sorta-noticed this before, but never thought anything of it; however, Bunky moved away some of the fur to have a closer look at it. It is a small, round bump and it is the same pale pink as the rest of his skin. We’re going to have the Vet check it out later this week.

I suspect it is just a cyst because Sydney wants to be like me. It’s not bothering him, and it’s the only bump he has (I think). We also have to find out why he always grinds his one fang, and why Toby has loud breathing like he’s an old man.

What About Volcano Bears?

Bunky and I have started the packing process for our Wedd-moon-cation to Hawaii. We had to buy some new suitcases for all our stuff, although Bunky’s clothes and junk have already filled about 80% of the space. I also tricked her into going with me to R.E.I.

I really love stores like R.E.I. even though I don’t usually shop there. It’s one of my favorite stores to browse, because they have such cool gadgets that could be really handy in odd situations. I also like how the one we go to has a rock-climbing wall with pulleys so you can pretend you are climbing up the wall, when really the R.E.I. employee is pulling on a rope to make sure you don’t fall.

I picked up a goofy floppy hat for sun protection, and Bunky grabbed a small backpack for the trip. I was unable to convince her that I needed a man-purse, but I always did like the bags at these camping/hiking places because they seem so sturdy and have so many pockets. The best bag of all has to be the dog pack. I tried to convince Bunky that we should buy one for Sydney so we could make him lug our gear along, but she didn’t agree. She also wouldn’t shell out for any of the cool gear that we might need in case we encounter killer flying squids or vicious ninja monkeys.

Royal Flush

When I wasn’t busy obsessing over food and being completely bored out of my mind last week, I did a lot of observation. For instance, I found that Sydney pretty much spends the entire day sleeping in the mdidle of the floor. He lays on his back and with his legs curled up and facing the ceiling. I was also able to diagnose what was wrong with our toilet. If I had had a team, I probably could have made the diagnosis even more quickly. Needless to say, it wasn’t Lupus.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, we had been having toilet problems for a while now. The toilet had a weak flush, but Bunky and I just assumed that was how it was designed. The last two weeks, however, the cistern was completely empty, which meant the toilet would not flush. My first theory was that the Fluidmaster 400 (upgrade over a ballcock) was not working properly. I thought what was happening was that when the water was flushed down from the cistern, the Fluidmaster was not refilling the cistern with water. Initial observations supported this theory.

I tried wiping the Fluidmaster down, thinking that mineral deposits were preventing the float from rising and falling properly. Each time, it would seem like the problem was fixed and then several hours later the Fluidmaster was not filling the cistern again. This was very frustrating! Eventually, however, I was reading about toilet repair and I realized that the Fluidmaster was not actually the problem!

The problem was that the bleach tablets we dropped in the cistern had warped the rubber flapper. This is why the toilet had such a weak flush before; the ripples allowed water to slowly escape out of the cistern and into the bowl, and so the cistern was only maybe 50% full by the time the toilet was flushed. Eventually the ripples got worse, and this is why the cistern was always empty after several hours.

Since the flow through the faulty flapper was still relatively slow, the Fluidmaster never tripped correctly, and so never filled up the bowl (a good thing, or our water bill would be even worse than it already was this quarter…); this also explains why it always seemed like the problem was fixed after a few flushes but would pop up again hours later. I was very pleased with the new theory, so I bought a universal rubber flapper for $4 at the hardware store and installed it (took about 1 minute). Bunky and I monitored the water level and it seemed like there was still a small amount of water loss (maybe 5% over 2 hours). I then rubbed down the bottom half of the valve to remove mineral deposits to ensure a tight seal with the new flapper top I had installed. I checked again many hours later, and the problem was fixed!

So now we have a toilet with a strong flush. We’re using one of those over-the-bowl cleaners instead of drop-in tablets, and everything is fabulous. I wish I’d caught the problem sooner, and I’m a little scared to see the next water bill.

Giants Win

Bunky and I watched the Super Bowl last night. Neither of us are huge football fans, but I felt an obligation to cheer for the Giants, since they’re my hometown team. We tuned in just before the halftime show, to see Tom Petty give a pretty good (but very conservative) performance. Of course the songs all turned out to be pretty apt.

It wasn’t too bad for most of third quarter, since a low scoring game favored the Giants, and Tom Brady was just getting killed by the Giants’ defensive line. I don’t know how anyone can blame Brady for the loss, especially after he engineered that effortless drive down the field, late in the fourth. I thought the game was pretty much done, and those third downs were almost too much for Bunky to handle. However, it really was great watching (live and in HD) Eli’s legendary scramble to hit David Tyree for that miracle pass. It’s still amazing to me that Manning was not sacked that play, and that was an incredible catch. I felt pretty bad for Brady who stepped it up in crunch time (after being plastered in the turf for most of the game), only to be let down by his defense and given about 30 seconds to try and come up with a touchdown.

Sydney watched most of the third quarter with me, but the pressure got to be too much for him and he left. Toby took his spot, and enjoyed the rest of the exciting game. This was Toby’s first Super Bowl.