Teppy, if that were my cat and I got beyond the Losing-My-Shit-Over-This-Dramatic-Symptom stage to think clearly, I'd be wanting MY vet ASAP - as in, prompt evaluation at the earliest available appointment. And heck yeah, I'd play up the symptoms on the phone if they were hemming and hawing about getting us in right away. Of course, it helps that this is a more rural area. We don't so much have Emergency Vet clinics as the vets take turns being on-call.

Erin, I'm glad it's nothing too dramatic. What your cat has sounds like something my grandfather had on his forehead. It never caused him any bother.

Oh, yeah, erin, it is good news! And that's some good modern technology, having the cat at the vet for the exam and you there via speaker phone.

That's an excellent solution to not leaving bed, Erin! Go thinking outside the box.

I drove down to Portland this morning for a dance convention. Hoping it'll be good. But I am getting a cold or something--one of my ears is all filled with fluid and won't pop, which is wreaking havoc on my balance. And I'm a bit worried I will not be able to stay awake for the whole thing tonight! But the lessons I went to so far were good. And the hotel room has a fridge, so I stocked up on stuff at trader joes.

I've been trying to straighten and clean around the house today, with less than stellar results. so many issues. So much of this stuff should really just be thrown away, but I have such a horror of throwing out stuff that might have some use left. But really, if I saw this stuff in the thrift store, I'd go "euw." It's not even that there's sentimental value, just this feeling that I'm passing unfavorable judgement on myself for having it in the first place and failing to do anything about it in the past.

I asked myself sternly, "Is holding on to this stuff worth damaging your mental health?" I got static back.

As someone who has recently battled the same demons, Connie, I say Throw It Out! You'll thank yourself for it later.

These things are worse than taking up house room in your domicile. They are taking up house room in your mind. Toss 'em! It'll be like ripping off a band-aid. In this instance, the FlyLady technique of 27 Thing Fling Boogie can be brilliant. Put on whatever music means boogie to you & dance around finding 27 things to throw out . Spoiler font for FlyLady advice, on the grounds that if you want it, you can have it, but I'm not just going to willy-nilly expose someone to such relentless cheerfulness that without an escape hatch.

Another excellent resource for dealing with clutter is Unfuck Your Habitat.

Another vote for throwing it out. Or if it has any value Goodwill or some such. Unburden yourself. Stop dragging that stuff into the future.

Why isi tossing junk SO DAMNED DIFFICULT? Because seriously. So inordinately difficult.

I'm feeling much better. I even went outside for the first time post-surgery that wasn't specifically for a medical appointment. I walked around the block. Literally, once around my block. It was shockingly difficult but felt great. Then I took to my bed with an ice pack for a little nap. Also, going outside is really a shock to perception of druged-uppedness. SItting inside i've gotten to feel pretty normal on 2mg dilaudid every 4 hrs. A little drunk, sure, not like I want to go drive a car or operate heavy machinery or pick up a kistka or try to draw a straight line, but just over tipsy. When I stepped outside and took a few straight steps on the sidewalk? Suddently felt REALLY DRUGGED Up. I am so ready to stop taking this nasty stuff, just need my abdomen to get onboard with the plan and stop dropping me with random bouts of "OMG, been repeatedly stabbed in the gut! Commence misery!". Seems like 11 days should have been plenty of time to come to terms with this new reality. Funny how the liver surgeon made this resection seem like a walk in the park ("couple days in the hospital, back to normal in a couple weeks!") while the hip surgeon told me i'd be overtime of comission for months. But then I was odd pain meds and feeling sore but mostly normal in a week after hip surgery while the abdominal surgery has been a major struggle in pain mangement. Of course, it might have been easier had I been in prime physical condition going into it. *Shrug* Bodies continue to be strange and unpredictable.