The Good...

I've been out of communication for a bit this past week. It's been a busy one. Sorry for the bullets, but it probably is the best way to put it all together.

• I flew out to the Seattle, WA area for work this week. The purpose of the trip was a planning meeting for the computer class I help teach in Washington, DC. We have to submit a design package to make sure the students can get their CEUs for the course. The package necessitates that we change a few things for the class and it was a great opportunity to get together face-to-face to revise and update the materials. It was good to see the other instructors and it was my first time to the Seattle area. I didn't get to do much sightseeing because our schedule was pretty packed.



• Last Wednesday night, I did manage to spare an evening and have dinner with clintswan! Clint and I have been LJ and FB friends for years, but we've never met in person. The fact that he lived in the Seattle area completely escaped me, so I was happy that he messaged me. We had a great dinner and caught up a bit.



• During the week, I managed to get several pages of the next issue of my comic book inked. I only have about seven pages left to do, which was not easy to do on a plane.



• Speaking of LJers, mikiedoggie sent me a message earlier in the week to see if I was going to be home. Mike came to Cincinnati and hung out with me for the weekend. We went to dinner Friday night at "The Tilted Kilt," which is basically a Hooters with a Scottish theme. Saturday was meeting LJers Derek (_decibel_ and Chris (kybigstew) at the Incline Public House, which was where the two of them got married last year. They were a bad influence as they convinced me to get a new iPhone 6s. Last night, Mike, Derek and Chris, and I met up with Brian (cincycub) and his BF Justin and some other local friends for a Thai dinner. It was a good time.

... and the Bad

Before I left for my trip, I had noticed that Maggie had been drooling a bit. I wasn't necessarily worried about this, as Maggie has a bad habit of licking the soap in the shower. I had stopped leaving bar soap in the shower for that reason, but I thought she had gotten a hold of a sliver of it.

When I got home from the airport on Friday, I found three incidents of cat barf with hairballs in the family room. I didn't panic as this happens with cats and Maggie was up and happy to see me. I put my bags down and went upstairs to find speckles of blood on the carpet in the living room, along with some dried drool and blood on the Maggie's blanket on the back of my sofa where she sleeps.

Okay, with this, I panicked.

I put her in her carrier with no fight from her and drove to the veterinary ER nearby. They did some blood tests and some x-rays. They found her stomach had a lot of food and gas in her tummy, but no blockages. The veterinarian concluded that she probably had been overeating, resulting in the cat barf. The cat barf likely irritated her esophagus, which resulted in the blood in the spit-up and on the carpet. The vet gave her an anti-nausua shot, an antacid shot, an antibiotic, and fluids. She wanted me to give her bland food for the next day to ease her digestion. Maggie seemed better and I drove her home before Mike showed up for the weekend.

Maggie seemed better on Saturday with no incidents of cat barf or drooling.

At 3 AM this morning, Maggie began violently convulsing on my bed, waking me up. By the time I got the light on, she had fallen from the bed and was seizing on the floor. Mike woke up and stayed with her while I got dressed and got her carrier. By the time I got the carrier, Maggie was awake but disoriented. She didn't fight me getting in the carrier. We drove her to the Vet ER again and luckily the same veterinarian was on duty.

We were there about an hour and Maggie seemed to be back to normal, even a bit more affectionate (which is usually isn't). The vet recommended leaving her for a day so they could observe her. They're not sure what is causing it, but they'll conduct some more tests. The vet said she'll call me tonight with an update. So we left Maggie at the vet hospital and headed back to my house to get a bit more sleep.

I'll be going back to the vet tomorrow morning to see her. Hopefully, they'll have good news.