Wednesday, November 24, 2010

New Baby!
...today I adopted my second Beardie (and from the same place as my first, Kayla). Initial impression is a 4-month old male, but time and vet will tell.

When Kayla died, I realized that I needed to adopt again and soon. Dragons are excellent for anxiety and depression (which I have anyway) and mourning is no exception to that. I remember when Brownie died, that there was a window for adopting again and it passed by. I wasn't willing to do that again.

But I wasn't planning on adopting today (nor any other day I ever adopted). I just told myself to walk in to the 2 pet places in town and do my upmost not to be overwhelmed. It's part of the process. First stop had a Beardie who was under observation for illness (never ever buy a sick pet), next stop had one Beardie who was younger and a tad more skittish.

Apparently I was in there for an hour "whispering" until the little one came towards me, ate in front of me, tried to scratch some ear-shed off, licked at me, and then "climbed" at the corner. Like with Kayla, I was the one who got the liz into the box, after I called Mom in and held the little one for a short while.

At home, Dad had washed out all of Kayla's things back on the 18th, the day she died/we brought her body home. While on the phone with the local reptile rescue (finally called me back) I got licked and licked and licked until finally I got the "put down the phone and pay me some attention!" AHA! Paid attention while I gave a tour of the house. Still a bit scared by new surroundings tho. Store said it's 8 months old. Size says 4. Initially, I said it was a boy, but if it's really *that* young, then it could be a while before we know for sure.

Anyhow, the new dragon is here. Is already quite attentive and communicative (reptiles are *BY FAR* smarter than generally given credit for) and alert. Dad's taken 1 photo. Now I have to update my Flickr account. But not right now.

So small, so soft, so smart. <::sigh::> :-) <3

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posted @ 8:52 PM  |   0 comments  |  

R.I.P. Kayla
A post I had hoped to make 10 years from now.

Kayla developed an itchy spot which she *loved* to have scratched this spring. It got a little dark in color, and a little larger. She had on-again off-again eating habits, but showed no signs of distress. It wasn't until about 2 weeks ago that I discovered a berry-sized bump in her sinus cavity directly behind said spot. It had never been sensitive before now.

Her symptoms fooled me. She was shedding and brumating and appeared to have a sinus infection/cold. Even her tail faked me out. She would let me rub it and give her a warm bath, after she figured out I was trying to help her. It wasn't until the morning of November 17th...she became very limp, and liquid drained from her left nostril and mouth. Off to the vet, a stay overnight. I called "after nine" like they said, and she had died within the past hour.

We buried her in the backyard underneath where her fountain sits during the other 3 seasons. I'm still not completely over this (obviously) since it was so sudden.

She had gone on a 2.5 week trip w/Dad & me to Clayton New York and then to the Washington DC area. I had plans to get documentation from my pdoc saying that she was officially/legally my therapy pet.

She was my baby, my friend, my partner, and my first dragon. No need for "Rainbow Bridge" postings- I know I'll see her again in Heaven. And that she's no longer in pain. I also now know that the Bearded Dragon is the critter I need to have petwise, and that Beardies need to be listed and accepted as service/therapy animals on par with with seeing-eye dogs/horses and PTSD aids for returning vets.

Love you forever Kayla! All that "Dragon Whispering" has already paid off in multiple dividends...

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posted @ 8:38 PM  |   0 comments  |  

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Dull No.2
Spoke with my current family doc about my "fibrofog": the fibromyalgia version of the million-times-more-painful version of the meds-induced cognitive disorder symptoms I've had over the past decade+. And no I didn't invent the phrase "fibrofog." :-)

Instinctively, all of my life my brain has felt like a dulled pencil that was once sharp and thus I've had this yearning to grab a magical sharpener to get it back to where it once was. Trouble is, I don't know when (earlier than age 5) or how much sharper my brain used to be. Doctor's order is to keep playing brain-boosting games. Gamer by doctor's order- now there's a new one.

Good news is I was already a gamer anyway. Board games as a kid, crossword varieties during the worst of my medical oddessey, and now I'm playing Wii and PC games. They finally made games that I'd like much less be able to play! Back in '96-7 I bought those Lucasfilm collections of Star Wars games but for some reason the joystick and I just couldn't get along.

Not to mention the rant I could post about how the majority of computery games require you to buy the cheat codes books in order to just get to the next friggin' level! You have to "cheat" in order to win! Gee now, what does *that* tell us about society?!

Easter Eggs- yes.
Cheating- no.
Guide book for those who have actually made a good faith effort using their own brains and geuninely need a little help? - Oh yes!

Meanwhile, Indy's mayonaise is long past expired, he'll never pick up the genuine candlestick, much less find out why that carving is more deeply etched. Harry still can't get Colin's wand down to him or move the benches nearby due to the invisible wall which looks like a bug. But the Miis are happy and mingle, and Super Paper Mario can go anywhere he likes and be thanked by creatures everywhere.

As for RPG-type games, I'll buy the books (Star Wars only) but I can't play. The Fibrofog has put them on the "Do Not Admit" list for some dumb reason. They're exactly the kind of thing I could play if I wanted to, but like their cousin card games, I can't.

Poker- yes.
Pokémon- no. (sorry guys)

Anyway, this Gooball needs to eat and stare at the 7-pack multi-sided die she bought yesterday at Heroes & Dragons because she likes polyhedrals.

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posted @ 2:30 PM  |     |  

Dragon Along...
During Kayla's yard inspection, she actually crawled onto my hand when she was ready to go to a new flowerbed! Usually she'll just sit there so I have to grab her.

But despite the exercise I've gotten doing yardwork and carrying bricks, I've gained weight.
My fault- been yogaless.
Kayla's gained weight too.
My fault- I fed her too many crix (crickets) post-brumation.
Granted most of that weight was constipation.
Too many exoskeletons.

Constipated dragons can die from sepsis, so we took her to the vet that's an hour away. Longest ride we've had Kayla on. The vet practice is the same as Merlin's, my tabby cat from well over 10 years ago. Good news- she pooped the next day. You know you're a Mommy when you cheer when your baby finally poops after well over a week.

Vet also confirmed my earlier suspicion that she's in her 5th year goin-on 6! She's still climbing the cage, but it looks more like she's trying to wake me up during my morning Ativan Nap. Probably just wanted out yesterday when I wasn't here, or saw another one of those millions of caterpillars that come out this time of year all over the Southeast*.

She broke her diet - she's eaten 2.

Lately she's only been eating 2 crickets and that's it. I know the recent poo issue scared her into it, but I'm flummoxed as to why she's stopped eating greens tho, usually she loves romaine. I cleaned the cage but that didn't help (neither the appetite nor the climbing). Hmm...will leftover honey Greek turkey help?

*I really need to look up what species they are.

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posted @ 2:16 PM  |     |  

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Friskies
No, not the ol' cat food- Kayla's got the special Spring Fever and is constantly climbing the walls of her cage and rearranging her furniture (food bowl untouched). When it stops raining, I think I'll let her dig the holes for these seeds I got for the barrel garden. Meanwhile, my nose tells me that Dad's pruned the rosemary bush again. And they're on trays. In the den. Again. Good news is, hopefully I won't be having headaches for as long as they're about. Apparently you can kill a headache by sticking your nose in the rosemary jar. I wonder what happens if you snort it by accident. This coming on the heels of our state government increasing the cigarette tax up to "still the lowest cigarette tax in the nation".

<.sigerette tree thinks the cigarette tax should be the highest>

Kayla could care less about that of course, she's got the same problem I have: lonely hormones. Back to the music playlists, then.

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posted @ 11:55 PM  |   1 comments  |