Almost 30 days...

Yikes!  It's been almost 30 days since my last post.  Oops!

The Laura fund has now raised over $1700, and will be an ongoing endeavor.  The donations have slowed almost to a stop, though, so we will see.  If I can't raise the funds, I guess the endeavor will end.

Anyway....been dancing and rehearsing a lot, getting ready for next weekend's "showcase."  My two chances per year to dance are the studio recitals.  I don't like the idea of dancing at the big festival events...too chaotic, crowded, fast paced, and also outside in the weather.

This showcase, I am dancing twice.  Once with my class in a group of 10, and once in a trio, FINALLY doing my dream of choreographing "In These Shoes," by Kirstie McColl.  It's not Middle Eastern music, but that doesn't matter..it's going to be FUN.

We haven't managed to trap any  more cats.  Mitzi's kittens have vanished, so she's a candidate again, but since she was trapped once when she was pregnant, and our consciences made us let her go, she refuses to go into the trap again.

She also saw her daddy get trapped, and she sat outside of the cage with him until we took him for his surgery.  So she knows.

Unfortunately, interlopers from neighboring colonies will smell her when she goes into heat for her second time this year, and there will be fights, and she will get pregnant again.  It's inevitable.

Even if we manage to neuter all of the males in her tribe, there will be others when she comes into season.

In other news, I have a rather large, mis-shapen lump in my right breast.  It's been there for a while, and I was trying not to worry about it because I KNOW that I form cysts, and I have seen cysts like this before.

My annual visit to the gyne was scheduled for 7/15, so I just convinced myself to wait, and added the funny, dimply lump to my list of concerns for this visit.

She did her manual exam, and said it was my usual fibrous, cyst-forming tissue.  PHEW.  That was a big relief.  She also counseled me to ALWAYS wear full support bras to keep the weight of my boobs from pulling against the cyst tissue and making my boobs ugly.

Good to know.  No one ever mentioned that before, and I typically go without support on the weekends.  No more of that for me!

She also is doing a very extensive set of labs.  6 vials of blood were drawn.  6!!  I almost passed out, but fortunately, I did not, and Dave was there to take me out for breakfast and drive me home.

I mentioned all of my concerns to the doctor, and she listened and responded, and wrote stuff down....and the labs are the result.  She's checking for electrolytes to see if I am off and that's why I get so many foot and leg cramps.  She's checking thyroid, to see if these extra 10 pounds that came back even with my clean diet and exercise might be a sign of thyroid slowing down.  She's checking vitamin D, and blood fats, and RNA for cancer....lots of stuff.

Can't wait to see the results.  A friend of mine was surprised when I was telling her about all of this....she said that she usually doesn't know what she's being tested for, and she never asks to see the results.  I always demand a copy of the print out so I can study it.

But that's just me.

Anyway..what else?  Oh, Dave's mom had a virus and everything fell apart at their house again (they stop eating, they run out of meds, the clothes don't get washed, etc).

Dave called the family attorney and found out that he does NOT, in fact, have ANY legal right where his parents' care is concerned.  For some reason, we thought he had POA, but he does not.

So, I suggested he research visiting care worker programs in the area.  He found some info, and then he talked to the folks, and they ignored him.

Just like the past however many times that mom got sick and everything fell apart.

But then he called his brothers.

Like he always does.

The difference is, this time, the eldest brother took some action.

Whatever he said to the folks worked, and they are now open to the possibility of having a visiting care worker come to their house once or twice a week to check meds, cook meals, and clean.

Wow.  We mention it and it's a stupid idea, they don't need any help.

Mike mentions it, and BANG, they're ready to do it.

Whatever....The important part is they're ready to do it!

Since we're here, though, they do want us to review the contract before they sign it.  I guess they think we do know a little something after all.

Since this was our idea in the first place.

ADDENDUM, Sunday 7/20:  When we visited mom and dad yesterday, right after I published this post, mom was doing so poorly that my thought was that she SHOULD probably be in the hospital.

She is now.  She called us late last night in distress, and since we had drank a cocktail or two, we were NOT going to get in the car, so we counseled her to call 9-1-1, which she did.

She has pneumonia.  They're taking good care of her. We spent a few hours there today, and she's in good hands.  Met the doctor, and they will start some physical therapy tomorrow to try to get her up and around.  With pneumonia, getting up and around is crucial.