Followup on Blue - and Me Too

Dang it. Don't you hate when that happens? I just lost four or five paragraphs (probably really dynamite stuff, too) of this mornings effort. I thought I had saved it when I went to look at my previous post to make sure I wasn't going to repeat myself too much.

When I tried to return to the edit, it said there was nothing to edit, that nothing had been saved. Arrgghh! I don't know if it was me or the Blogger software - or both. Either way, it's aggravating and frustrating.

I'll try to recreate what I can remember of it.
...

There. Wasn't that fun? I'm an absolute blank. Oldfartitis at work, I guess.

So, what was it I was going to write about? I know one thing was going to be an update on Blue's condition. I guess that's where I'll start.

The immediate crisis is over. Blue may have had an epileptic seizure, we're not totally sure. She seems to have gotten over that pretty well. There's still a very slight limp and sort of a head wobble sometimes. The tests Dr. Sheila ran all turned out negative with the exception of the thyroid test. Cats normally have a thyroid reading of low fifty's - Blue is currently running 108! So, she definitely has an over-active thyroid or hyperthyroidism.

That would be the bad news, except Sheila is out of the necessary medication for that. And, a new shipment isn't due for two months yet. Sheila has asked a local pharmacist to try to locate appropriate meds for treating this. Probably would be easy if the patient was people, but for the low doses a kitty would require, that presents a completely different problem.

Anyway, the near-term fix, per Dr. Sheila's direction, is Blue can eat as much of anything she wants, and as often as she wants it. Tuna, tuna, tuna. That's Blue's shopping list. Ours includes tuna, but also includes condensed milk, yogurt, Ensure, and some other fatty good stuff, if we can get her to eat it. We'll be shopping today.

Is this the kitty equivalent of laying around, eating bon-bons?

As for me... I had my blood pressure taken the other day. Dr. Allen told me my BP is now that of a 30-year-old man. I knew I was getting younger.

I also had a couple of tests done at the Corozal Clinical Laboratory. Cholesterol and thyroid for myself. My cholesterol, at least one number, is 148.3. Much less than the +225 or so that it was a few months ago (The report didn't give the other number). It's all this good eatin' of rice and beans. Well, that and Belikin, no doubt.

My thyroid, I'm guessing, is doing about the same. I don't know. I can't interpret the numbers myself. After I picked up the results, I went over to the Evergreen Pharmacy to let Dr. Allen read them and tell me what's what. He had been called away on an emergency (I don't know if it was medical or what) and wouldn't be back till Wednesday. So, it'll just have to wait till then. Good news, anyway, on two things, BP and cholesterol.

The two tests cost $99BZ. I had them done at 8:30AM, and the results were ready at 11:30AM. I noticed on the envelope the technician stuck the report in, that the lab also does house calls and is available for 24-hour service. How cool is that?

So, at two in the morning some time, if the urge hits, you can call up, have the lab tech come to your home, and put your mind to rest on that pesky medical condition you've been losing sleep over.

Now, the lab office itself is nothing to write home about. The waiting room is about 3' x 8', with a Naugahyde couch, two plastic chairs, and a corner table, all lit by a dim, fluorescent 2' bulb, about ten feet up on the ceiling.

The room where the blood draws, etc., are done is just around the corner, separated from the waiting room by a piece of plywood - no door. There, you find a small plywood table, a chair for the client, and one for the tech. Lit by the same bulb as the waiting room.

The lab part of the operation is through a swinging door to the back of the building. That's all I know. I couldn't see anything past the door. That area is lit by it's own fluorescent bulb. There's also a small window so the tech can see out to the waiting room. It also has a cutout so he can hand you your results, or, I suppose, so you can pass in any samples you may have brought in with you for analysis.

Not quite the same spiffyness of the States, but, it's functional, and, I can't recall any lab up there offering house calls and 24-hour service.

New Friends from Here and There

Just wanted to introduce you to some new friends we met yesterday here at Copa Banana. Barb and Jeff Wean who are from, would you believe it - Blaine, Washington.

Barb, Bill, and Tony

 If you're not from Washington, that probably doesn't mean much. Just imagine, we're about 2,700+ miles from home, and we meet a couple who're from about 150 miles away from us! We're all escaping the rain.

The other gentleman is Tony from Menzies Transportation Services here in Corozal. He has been their driver/guide for the past 3 or 4 days. We're going to try to hire him to do the same thing for us.

The Weans are an entrepreneurial and adventurous couple basically looking for the same things we are, including moving down here. They're curious about Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua in this case is pronounced just the way it's spelled instead of the island pronunciation of leaving the "u" out. So, we might go there and check that out as well. We're flexible.

We splurged and had pizza tonight. Marcelo's Pizza. Mmmmmm good! It was only $25BZ for a large pepperoni, cheese, and shroom pizza - delivered.

We found a good way to get beer to the hotel. Greg, one of the owners said he will call the beer truck in the morning and will give us a case of empties to swap with the driver for a full case of Belikin. Since there's a $0.35BZ deposit per bottle. That's a good deal. Plus delivery to our door! It just don't get no better!

I rode a bike into Corozal this afternoon and went to the New World Grocery on Santa Rita Road. Small Chinese-run operation, reminded me a lot of the stores we used to find in the islands, mon. Not a huge quantity of any one thing, but a lot of things nonetheless. I bought 8 bottles of Belikin, a block of cheddar, a big box of corn flakes, a box of soy milk, chocolate cookies, can of peanuts, and a can of Pringles. All this for only $56BZ. I threw the beer into the front basket of the bike and everything else into my day pack and pedaled back to the hotel. My first shopping experience in Belize.

Of course, I forgot I was dealing with Belize dollars and the shopkeeper was trying to tell me I was going to write too much in traveler's checks. At about the time I caught what he was trying to say, an expat who came in line behind me said, "remember where you are". Good advice. Thankfully the shopkeeper was honest, cause I completely forgot about two BZ for one greenback. Not quite a resident...

We're meeting tomorrow with Connie and Greg the owners, to talk to them about the process of moving here, etc., etc., etc. Connie did say that about half of what you read on the Internet about Belize is BS. So, it will really be interesting to get their perspective on things.

Dianna's still sore, but feeling much better. Beer and aspirin - the miracle drug! I think she's going to wait for Tony and his van to explore Corozal. We'll keep you posted.

Benjamin - in One of His/Her Favorite Roosts

I think I mentioned Ben, the Copa Banana informal House Cat elsewhere in the blog. The shot above is a candid one of him resting after a night of carousing... er, I mean, "working". He's a cool kitty. I shot this through the dining room window of the Copa.