Can I ask for ~ma for The Girl's father, who is having his pancreas biopsy today? Also for the whole family, who are all quite freaked out. He's been told there's a 70% chance it's cancer. We're all trying to think '30%' in the general direction of the universe.

It's cancer. Recovery~ma now very much appreciated. Odds are sucky with this type, apparently.

I know they're in the best place for it (M.D. Anderson) but I'm freaked out - so I can only imagine how my not-quite-father-in-law, The Girl and their family are doing.

Rigatoni didn't make it.

When we got to the hospital on Wednesday (insert rant here about street closings around the U.N., which made traffic even worse than expected), the vet told us Rigatoni had gone into heart failure overnight. He was in an oxygen tent, resting comfortably thanks to the pain meds. However, five days after his last surgery, he was still on blood pressure meds that are normally used for only 24 to 48 hours.

The real problem was that (1) the kidney was functioning again, but too well -- he was getting dehydrated, and he wasn't able to retain electrolytes and those other little things that the kidney is supposed to let go through, combined with (2) fluid was collecting in and around both his heart and lungs. The kidney part wasn't too unusual in acute failure -- when the kidney starts functioning again, it goes into overdrive for a while to make up for lost filtering. It then usually goes back to normal. But for Rigatoni to have a chance, that regulation would have had to happen in world record time.

So the vets were down to the choice of treating the heart, which would have caused him to die of dehydration, or treating the kidney with fluids, which would have put him int o cardiac arrest.

So we had him put to sleep. The nurse from the U Penn feline kidney transplant unit was in NYC on another errand, and she had planned to visit anyway. So she was also there at the end. The three of us were petting and cuddling him as the vet gave the injection. So the last thing Rigatoni was aware of was being loved.

He was 2-1/2 years old -- about 27 in human terms. He packed a lot of life into that time, but it wasn't enough.

I took yesterday off to make arrangements. I'm at work today. I'm in tears. Even the sky is crying.

My annual review is in about an hour and a half. It's been a tense year in the office (as in so many places), and while I think my work has been as good as ever, I really have no idea how things will go.

So some of the patented ~ma would be appreciated, please.

I have a couple of phone conversations that could wind up in contract work turning into something more. That said, I am a proven Terrible Negotiator with this company and if someone could rent me a spine, it would be very kind of you. If there's spare job~ma about, to help bring this possibility towards some sort of actual state, I'd be very grateful.

I'm here to beg some interview~ma for Friday around 2:00 Central time. I have an interview for a job that I am actually qualified for and desperately want. It's only temporary but it is in the kind of job I've been looking for and will get me in the door, at least. Thanks!

As of late this afternoon, Dad is out of the hospital!! He is at a nursing facility to rehab his muscles and help with the transition of missing 1/3 of his major internal organs. But he is getting stronger every day. God help those nurses. If they are lucky, he'll be there about a week or so. Thanks for all your support and ~ma!!

I got fired. Because I am not Nice Enough and Do My Job Without Pandering To Tender Baby Feelings, and because I stay home from work when I am SNEEZING 40 TIMES AN HOUR and using 2 boxes of Kleenex, or have LICE I GOT AT WORK or am on VICODIN because of back spasms or HAVING A FUCKING HYSTERECTOMY.

I am a bad, bad person. FEAR ME.

I feel badly posting this request given the shite others are going through, but I'm kind of freaking out and need a little calming.

As you guys know, ND and I are eloping to Maui in January. We picked Maui because we have a Disney Vacation Club membership that allows us to use our allotted points to book at a variety of resorts around the world. They have one "special" list of Concierge level resorts that cost the most points but are also the most amazing. By using all of the leftover points we'd banked from 2007, all of the points from 2008, and borrowing all of the points from 2009, we would be able to book six nights at the Grand Wailea Resort and Spa, an amazing place we'd never be able to afford otherwise.

I made all of our plans around this resort. Wedding venue (a gorgeous lawn outside a nearby seafood restaurant overlooking the beach), wedding coordinator, etc. The only hiccup was that Disney hadn't posted its official Concierge Club points chart for 2010. I'd used the 2009 charts to estimate the points (since they usually stay about the same), but I couldn't book the actual resort until the charts are updated. That usually happens the summer before the next year. I called in August--no charts. Then at the beginning of September. Still working on the charts, but they said they would be ready by mid-September. Well it's now October, and guess what? Still no charts.

So I sent an anxious email to their customer service last night explaining the situation and asking when the charts would be available. We can't book our flights until we book the resort (since we don't know if we will be coming in on January 2nd or 3rd--it would depend on the points), and the closer we get to the date, the less chance we'll be able to use our saved miles to book our flights (which is going to save us upwards of $1200). The response I got from the customer service guy (who's called Todd, but I am renaming Tino) sent me basically said the charts aren't available yet, but they will be soon (insert @@ here)...but here's the kicker. He reminded me that I can't book or travel Concierge trips within four months of my use year (which is the month that my points renew). My use year starts in February. That means if they don't get the charts posted, like, NOW, I won't be able to book the Grand Wailea.

Which would mean we'd be so totally and utterly screwed.

I've emailed back with all of this spelled out and a request to speak to a supervisor, but I haven't heard anything yet. So sorry for the long Beep Me, but I'm freaking out. Some wedding~ma would be much appreciated.

I am requesting here, abnormally, the all powerful Buffista housing~ma. I wouldn't do it normally, but desperate times call for desperate ~ma requests.

In about 10 or so hours my family will start to see future potential houses. One of them will have to fit. We really, really really need to find some house for us tomorrow, because we need to move within the next two weeks.

Else, family hell of all sorts will loose, and that could fill Bitches in all sorts of sob stories, and we really wouldn't like that. Hence, the ~ma request. Cross your fingers for us, we really need it.

Thank you.