Don't forget to eat the fudge, Jen.

Thank you all for the ~ma and the good words. Sam had surgery yesterday; the doctor said it was "tricky" but so far he's doing all right. They removed two "masses" from the liver and replaced the stent, and put in two drains. Turned out the problem was the stent the previous surgeon put in - it was the wrong size and it was leaking. Leaking bile, I assume. They're probably sending him home tomorrow. He'll need home health care. If not for Covid taking over all the hospital beds, he might have stayed in hospital. He'll probably rather go home, anyway.

I don't know if the "missing" X-rays were ever sent to the new surgeon, but it doesn't matter now; they probably took new ones anyway.

Continuing kitty~ma for Batcat, Shir.

Poor little Miley toes.

More health~ma for msbelle's parents and the whole facility.

Also, may I suggest an egg of Silly Putty is always welcome in a stocking.

I like that idea. I put a little jar of Play-Doh in all our (adult) stockings one year. That was fun. Our stockings always have chocolate, usually Ghirardelli squares, and just a bunch of random small things like flavored lip balms or keychains. Sarah loves to give "weird" foods; one year it was a package of dried crickets.

I despise corporate jargon.

Percy the Emo Cat is standing in the kitchen wailing. He wants me to come in there and pet him. Ah, here he comes to see if I'm still on the couch. Yep, and back to the kitchen to wail some more. Here he comes... nope, back to the kitchen, and wail. He wants to be petted IN THE KITCHEN, human. So of course I went in the kitchen and picked him up and loved on him until he had enough and got down and left. To go sleep on MY bed. I'd like to be reincarnated as a spoiled happy housecat.

Percy’s got it pretty darn good.

I got up and fed Miss Kitty and came back to bed and now she’s curled up on my legs again. I’ll order Chinese food to be delivered once the restaurant opens and that is it for my plans today. So very pleasant to be able to do nothing.

Well I am finally feeling a bit in the Christmas spirit this week. My searching for vintage Christmas decorations that I liked was a bust BUT in that effort I found a lady south of Baltimore who had several mid-century pottery planters that I liked, several of them lady head planters/vases [link]

I love these. So I drove down on basically empty roads and Merry Christmassed myself again.

Been catching up on all the posts I missed while I was solving my password issues here. Merry, happy to everyone, and swift healing to all Buffista loved ones who need it.

Santa was very practical in my youth and we always got multipacks of Bic pens, thick socks and a box of Cracker Jack in our stockings.

Turned out the problem was the stent the previous surgeon put in - it was the wrong size and it was leaking.

I'm not overly litigious, but they need to sue the shit out of the first surgeon.

He'll need home health care.

Which the first surgeon should be paying for, because Sam wouldn't have needed home health care if the first surgeon didn't fuck up.

Don't forget to eat the fudge, Jen.

Right! Thanks for the reminder.

Sounds like things went as well as possible, Zen. That's good to hear. Also, we have the same kind of stockings, sounds like.

Store was crowded but not crazy. Heading home now, after I eat this bag of chips, because hangry.

Blah. I woke up at about 3 in the morning, having what we suspect was a gallstone attack. In the morning, I called the 24/7 nurse line from my insurance, and she said to go to urgent care. So I went, and waited a while to get called in, and then they told me that they couldn't do anything for me, because the only way to diagnose gallstones is with an ultrasound, and they don't have an ultrasound. So they told me to go to the ER, but I was feeling a lot better by then, and also hungry, and tired, so I came back to the house to get some food and some sleep. Ate a few plain boiled pierogis, and they don't seem to have upset my stomach any more. Going to take a nap, then call my regular doctor about what to do, since I don't want to go to the ER, especially when I'm feeling better.

Yay, msbelle!

I'm glad Sam is getting fixed up and I just don't even know what to say about the first surgery. How awful! I hope his recovery is waaaaayyyy smoother now

Made the mistake of checking my work email and have decided to do the one specific thing that someone asked for at 7 pm last night. Bah. But it would bother me not to do it now that I know about it.

Our socially distanced holiday family blitz is all happening today: Zoom with the cousins at noon (done and done), Tim's bro and SiL coming by at 2:00 for a porch visit and bestowal of gifts, we go to my mom and stepdad's at 4:00 for a garage bestowal of gifts, and then to my Dad's at 4:30 for a masked, socially distanced bestowal of gifts lasting no more than 10 minutes. Then takeout for dinner, and NOTHING tomorrow except jammies all day and WW84 on HBO Max and whatever we feel like eating.