Expensive Weekend: Emergency Trips, Decorating and Footing the Bill for a Stray Kitty

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photo credit: pfala

I can’t say how stressful the past week has been both emotionally and physically. I have been near tears several times and broke down a few more because at times it became too hard to manage. Thankfully I’ve had supportive friends, family and even professor who is letting me complete a take home final as things were touch and go once again this week. But all of this wouldn’t be complete without some sort of maniacal spending would it?

Emergency Trips

All in all our trip to NJ, NYC and back to MD came out to $1183. This includes transportation(rental car, gas, insurance), hotel, eating out, FIL prescriptions and diet related food and supplies. Looking back we should have driven our own car but with the sucker at 130k miles I didnt want to risk it. My car is in good shape but I just felt better doing all that run around in rental. Bad decision, they are money pits if you have your own vehicle.

[Aside]

Slowly but surely we are educating ourselves as to the diabetic and high blood pressure diet. It’s sort of a tight rope, he can’t have sugar or sodium but he needs to have enough so that his sugar doesn’t dip too low. A few days ago his sugar was in the high 400s and today it was 90. That’s apparently too low which caused some dizziness so we are thinking of taking a class of sorts to get better acquainted because EVERYTHING for him is sugar free if its processed.

Other than that we’ve been making him fresh fruit with high fiber/low/no sodium meals. His BP is also now hovering around 126/70 (previously 204/80) so that is really really good and I am thrilled with his progress in a matter of days. Still, it’s expensive, LOL! I can see why the AMA isnt invested in a cure for diabetes because I am sure they are making BANK with diabetes related supplies.

I digress.

A few of you have written asking about my search results for senior health care and I will write a follow up post on my results as we are still comparing plans, ie medical discount plans and insurance plans.

Decorating the House

Now that classes are over until the 13th, I can get back to decorating the house. We plan to purchase a dining set, two living room chairs to compliment the Domain leather tufted sofa. [Me loves it long time! LOL!] Along with a few plasma or LCD TVs. Tv isn’t my thing but with my FIL here he’ll want one in his room and we need one for the family room and the basement man room. It doesn’t help that our neighbor bought a 50 inch plasma HDTV and had my hubby wanting one after having a show off session LOL! So we are on the hunt for a 42 and 50 inch flat panel TV. Damage minus the chairs? Around $1600. Im not in love with the chairs I have selected from Overstock.com, so ehh they can wait.

$400 in Vet Bills for a Stray Kitty

Now before you jump down my throat and tell me how I’ve lost my mind paying for the medical care of a stray cat, I love cats and well, I have a soft spot for them. We’ve been feeding this cat since he was old enough to walk to our house after being born just a few months before. He is also the brother to the cat we adopted back in February but my spouse wouldn’t allow me to take this one indoors. So we agreed to feed him twice daily outside. He’s actually quite the spunk and often follows me around the neighborhood on walks and when Im in the backyard.

As we arrived home this afternoon he was laying in the bushes with belabored breathing pretty much on his last leg. So my girlfriend and I took him to the Beltway Emergency Animal Hospital and they fixed him up. He was tested for Feline HIV, Feline Leukemia [negative], given X Rays, intravenous fluids and treated finally for Pneumonia. He is doing better and was given a 90% chance for recovery. I’ve been visiting and feeding him every few hours because he can’t smell his food so he needs to be fed with a syringe.

I have no, not one regret as it was totally worth it. Like the sissy I am, I broke down in the waiting room when they told me that if I couldnt pay $1100 the best option would be to put him to sleep. So the doc went the conservative route which was to not admit him but to do all the above mentioned and send us home with antibiotics and special cat food. Im not sure why I’ve taken to him in this way but I have, I’ve accepted it and all hubby could do was say “well I know your heart and you did the right thing because you would have been sick if he died outside and you did nothing“. He kissed my forehead and continued watching the game.

He took it better than I thought. Well better than my FIL who looked at us cross eyed when he figured out that it wasn’t one of our cats (they are all orange tabbies) ROFL! You had to see his face. *snicker* So this is one of the larger expenses that I didn’t consult him on and I was a bit concerned that he would be upset. But he wasn’t so I’m cool if he’s cool. Honestly, the man is looking forward to the delivery of his TV so he’s aaaallllright!

So please welcome AJ to the family. Now we have Scotch, Max and AJ. I love Scotch and Max, but right now AJ warms my heart, he’s been a trooper and a feisty little one. I can safely say I am back in the saddle with one more final exam to submit tomorrow and my optimism on the rise. Thanks for the patience with the blog and all your emails and well wishes. We appreciate it.