They are coming Tuesday to upgrade us to "real" internet and DSL will be gone. No word on when my bro's house will be upgraded.

Also Went to my nephew's spring play (which was more short skits with songs int he middle) Bepop to Aesop. It was very cute.

The steroids seem like they're starting to work. My thumb still hurts, but it's within tolerable levels of pain. And I've got five more days of the steroids, so I'm hopeful. (Steroid injections directly into the joint are more common for this, but the doctor said that he didn't do them, because he's not confident in his ability to get the needle into the right place, so if I do still need that after the oral steroids, he'll refer me to a hand surgeon who can do the injection, but he wanted to start me on some kind of steroids right away. I was happy that he was not willing to chance totally screwing up my hand (which can happen if those injections aren't done right) for the sake of his ego -- pretty sure there are some doctors who'd either try to do it anyway, or just not mention injections as an option.)

So, I've got steroids now, but no painkillers. And, thus, no painkillers until Wednesday. (The rheumatologist's office was supposed to call me sometime today when the script was ready, but I was worried because I wouldn't be able to go pick it up if they called after noon. They didn't call at all.)

That does sound hopeful, Hil. Extremely frustrating not to have the painkillers, but if the steroids do the job that is very good news.

Kato has declined pretty dramatically in the last 24 hours, so we're trying to schedule an in-home euthanasia ASAP, ideally tomorrow. It feels so weird to be planning it, because with the dalmatian, we took her to the vet not knowing he would recommend euthanasia right then (though it was the right choice), and Toke did the kitty thing of going into a corner to die.

But this is a good choice, and even though it's super sad (mortality is BULLSHIT, y'all), it's also a relief. He's in bad shape, and 15 1/2 is incredibly old for a dog his size. We don't want him to suffer needlessly, so my fingers are crossed that the vet can come out tomorrow.

We decided that we don't need his ashes, because that's just one more thing that we'd have to find a place for. But the vet does do a clay paw print, and that will be good to have. And we have a gazillion pictures, including some really good family pictures of the 3 of us (plus his teddy bear) from last year. That's enough.

I'm so sorry, Steph. I'm glad I got to meet him.

Sorry, love.

I'm sorry.

Aw, Kato.

I'm so sorry, Steph.

Oh, Steph. I'm sorry.