Akira Update

After my last post I wanted to update everyone on how my baby Akira is doing.

After the vet gave her a massive dose of a potent antibiotic, hydrated, and force fed Akira, Akira threw up all the food she was given. The vet was really nervous about it, but decided not to feed her any more, gave her ZERO medications, and left her overnight to sleep. She told me the next morning she was scared Akira might be dead. That's how bad she looked, guys, no joke. I had the same fear.  She called me the next morning and asked me not to come until 4pm, she wanted to keep an eye on Akira, but that Akira had turned around somewhere in the night.

When the vet had come in the next morning, she said it was like a different cat. Akira ate all of the food she felt safe giving her, and was responsive and alert, which she hadn't been the day before. By the time I picked her up, Akira was actually meowing and looking around with her eyes fully open.

She told me she was a little nervous, because she had done nothing, all she had done was take her off the medications. But I think it was a combination of taking her off the phenobarbital, and giving her a massive antibiotic, because I think she had an infection of some sort... but that might be wishful thinking. My instructions from the vet was to keep Akira off everything but the steroid and the antibiotic and watch her carefully for seizure activity or signs of getting worse.

It's been amazing. It's like a miracle. She is back to being a little gobble beast and eating all of her dinner, she's regained her sense of balance, she's alert and aware, comes when called, and even played fetch with me the very day she came back home. So far I have kept her off the phenobarbital and she hasn't had a seizure... I'm hoping it remains this way. She's the sweetest little kitty I've ever had, just so innocent. She doesn't deserve these health problems.

The best part is, I was prepared to pay the vet $500 or more... It's just what I've gotten used to with these people.. but no. The final bill was $45. Holy. Crap. $45. I was so shocked I just stared at her office manager like... what? $45? I almost lept over the counter and kissed her! I was so happy. This vet worked miracles on my baby and barely charged me for it. I mean, the overnight stay alone should have cost me at least $50. But she checked out both cats, sub-dermally hydrated Akira, gave her an oral antibiotic, fed her, watched her, all for $45. Maybe she'll send me a bill later, but I have my doubts.

Here's a cute picture I took of Akira last night. She managed to sneak into my room and nestle herself into my bed. She looks so comfy :). 

Anyway, I'm really happy with how Akira is doing. She seems totally back to normal and I couldn't ask for more. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for her. I think they worked.

Awesome Weekend

So tomorrow I'll be 31 weeks and I'm definitely starting to feel the effects of pregnancy on my body. I wanted to preface my blog with that in mind, seeing as how I accomplished so much despite my huge belly.

Our friend, Chris Sawyer, came to town Friday. He has a work conference all week in San Francisco and decided to take advantage of it and come early and leave late to hang out with his best friends, me and Jeff. At least I tell myself we are his best friends, because we love him so much.

We met up with Chris in San Francisco to eat at this cool Mediterranean place that was really high brow, lots of fancy people who looked important. It was awesome because we are from Austin, so when we saw the restaurant was "business casual" we took that to mean jeans and a decent shirt... apparently it means wear a suit without a tie. Who knew? We had fun, though, tasting cool dishes we'd never heard of and eating delicious desserts. We laughed all night and it was really nice to get out and do something since Jeff's been working so much. Once we finished our very expensive meal, we drove Chris back to our place which is about an hour north.

Sadly, Jeff had to work Saturday, and though Chris was going to help him, he ended up not being able to get on station due to some incompetence at the front gate. So Chris and I decided to go hiking at a place not too far from my house, it was really fun. We hiked 2-4 miles, and this is real hiking, not the "hiking" they had in Austin that was flat and hot. We were actually going pretty steep uphill. I got a lot of comments from other hikers about my baby being born in the woods lol, but I was really proud of myself that I stuck it out for about 3 hours.

These trees were all over the place during our hike. Chris called them the Teriyaki Beef Jerky Trees. 

One of the better views from our hike, you can see the grape vineyards

Once our hike was over, we went straight to Petaluma to the Saturday Farmer's Market. It was really awesome, they had great fresh fruits and veggies, and the location was perfect because it was downtown so we were able to get lunch there and rest our feet for a while. We also found this magical candy store and had fun looking through all the candy we used to have as kids. This place was hard core, they had EVERYTHING, and they even had the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie playing on repeat all day. So of course Chris and I had to buy candy cigarettes, taffee, zots, and these hilarious jelly belly beans that were a mix of good and gross flavors, our plan was to trick Jeff into eating them.

Once we finished there, we went back and bought some fresh produce, and went home. As soon as we got home, we went to pick up Jeff so we could go see Route 1 (the highway that runs along the shore) and go to Bodega Bay. We tried to trick him into thinking we were smoking doobees with our candy cigarettes but he didn't fall for it :(. Even though Jeff drove like a bat out of hades, we didn't make it in time to see the sunset, but we did go to the beach anyway, and it was pretty sweet.

Here's Jeff and Chris on the Beach at night.. I am not sure what Jeff is doing but I think he might be going for some hand holding action.

And here's Jeff and me at the beach.. it was gorgeous but my iPhone takes horrible pictures at night.

So in one day, I hiked in the hills, went to a farmers market, went to a candy store and then ended up on the beach eating clam chowder on the water. It was a full day.

Sunday, I convinced the boys to go to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, an hour west of here. It was so fun! I am now officially over Jelly Beans because I definitely ate too many, but the tour was fun and we had a lot of fun tasting Jelly Beans, taking funny pictures on their camera (which was SUPPOSED to email them to me but never did), and just horsing around. We then drove back home, tried the famous In-N-Out burgers (they were delicious), and Jeff and Chris played Borderlands while I rested my swollen feet. Then Chris started making Jeff eat the Jelly Beans, playing Jelly Bean Roulette if you will. It was hilarious. Every single time except 1, Jeff got a gross Jelly Bean. He tasted a Centipede one, a Booger one, a Baby Wipes one, etc. I was laughing so hard, I wish I'd video taped that. After that, we went swimming in our pool which Jeff SAID was heated, but it was freezing cold. I did manage to do several laps, it's a great lap pool, complete with lanes. I was trying to repent for my Jelly Bean eating. Meanwhile, Jeff and Chris kept jumping back and forth from the hot tub to the pool for fun... no words...

Jeff in his Jelly Belly Hat

Chris in his Jelly Belly Hat

It was really fun having Chris here. Today I took him back to San Francisco so he can be at work, and will either meet him on Halloween night to party it up in San Francisco or see him Friday when we pick him up for the next weekend adventures! Yay! I really needed this after all the crap I've been dealing with out here all alone.