Are you okay?

I’m not exactly feeling burnt out, but I think come December I will stop doing commissions for a while (maybe a long while) and take some time to think of a coherent idea for a portfolio. I’ve tried finding work outside of friends and acquaintances, but there’s been zero movement of the needle.

Of course, I will finish what I have already and probably accept any last minute requests, but once Thanksgiving arrives that will probably be my cutoff point.

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I’ve often found myself inexplicably exhausted and/or depressed before bad news hits. Sometimes I’ll feel like hell for days before finding out why.

A couple months ago I had a few bad days like that right in a row, culminating in one day spent suddenly almost weeping for no reason every couple hours. Then I got an email from my BFF.

An old friend of ours had gone into the hospital, most likely for good. Fucking cancer.

The last four days I’ve had enough sleep, but felt tired, very listless, and inexplicably very sad. My BF called me from bed Friday night, and instead of saying good night again, he asked me to come upstairs.

His bedside lamp was on, and he asked me if I’d ever seen our older cat breathing as rapidly as he was at the moment. I was shocked. He may as well have had his tongue hanging out, panting! When he came downstairs to eat, I saw he’s also suddenly lost a lot of weight. I didn’t notice his being so skinny before Friday night! He’d been eating and drinking his usual amount.

My BF said he was going to make an appt for him to get a check up, since we’d just got a card from the vet saying he’s due for one. He obvs decided instead to try to get an emergency app’t on Sat.

They aren’t open Saturdays, nor Sundays.

He’s going to get a message to them, asking whether he can take him in on Monday. They’ve always been really good about fitting us in when something awful’s going on, so I’m hopeful. They are also an excellent vet hospital, so if there’s any hope, and if we can afford the treatment, they will provide great care.

We’ve had cats who lived well into their teens, but The Woo has had many varied health problems off and on since appearing on our porch at around a year old. I think he may be ten years old.

sigh

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My BF got an appt for The Woo Tuesday morning. Fingers, toes, and eyes all crossed.

ETA:
He has lung cancer.
They gave him a cortisone shot to help make it easier for him to breathe.

And we’re going to carry on as we always have, just spoiling him until the end.

That’s what we were going to do anyway.

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I’m so sorry. I’m sure you’ll give him good care.

We need a hug emoji with the expression of :cry:

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Pig Hug GIF

Do they know what stage? What treatments are they going to do?

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… at first I thought you meant “the woo” was a symptom and your b.f. had cancer :grimacing:

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Crikey! Sorry about the mixup!
jaw

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My BF didn’t say if they even mentioned what stage, but said it had rapidly metastasized. They gave my BF the website of a place to order a medication in drop form.

He’s breathing much more normally today.

I suggested we get some baby food, as he’s become picky about food in his old age. A vet recco’d it to us for picky, ill cats, and it’s never failed.

Last night we’d ordered dinner from Bucharest, a great shwarma place, and we got The Woo their chicken bites. It’s pieces of their super tasty grilled chicken cut up in smol chunks (it would make killa chicky shalad!). I pick out pieces, ahem clutch them in my little hand and rinse them off in the sink (to remove any spices he may dislike), break them up into tiny pieces, and he happily noms them.

Baby food ain’t cheap, but it’ll still be cheaper than ordering chicken bites from Bucharest!


Twitch, AKA The Woo/Twitchywoo/The Fish/The Golden Wu/Prince Wu during happier days in July.

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Poor thing! He’s got you guys taking good care of him, so I’m sure he’s going to be comfortable for however much longer he has…

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Oh, no! I’m so sorry to hear this.

Spoon Wan GIF

Please give your kitty some love for me. (And you take care of yourself, too.)

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Absobloominlutely! Thank you!

Thank you, and will do!!!

Young Topaz, the little shit, decided to increase my anxiety by orders of magnitude by disappearing. He always makes an appearance when my BF comes home, but today at lunchtime, his damn ass was nowhere to be found!

I made a complete search of the house w/o success, so, freaking out extra hard, I went out on the back porch and called and whistled for him.

Nothing.

I went out on the front porch, and called and whistled. There was a smol “Mew?” so I got louder. More mews. I walked over to the side of the porch, and the little shit squoze himself out a drainage hole near the bottom of the porch, mewing. He looked at me and flopped and rolled. I grabbed him.

He obvs sneaked out when my BF was coming or going with Twitch, or when he split for work.

Topaz hasn’t been tested for it, but b/c The Woo has FIV, I told Topaz he better not have hung out w/any strays!

Little fucker gave himself a long bath, and is sleeping on a chair looking soooo innocent.

Cats!

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Baby food meat purees (chicken, turkey) were the only things my much loved much missed Alpha Cat would eat as her soft tissue cancer progressed.

Cancer in cats is so goddamn stealthy. I’m so sorry about your sweet Woo. Much love from this crazy cat family to yours :cry:

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Awwww. :cry:
Baby food sure can help a lot.

The Woo is definitely one of the sweetest cats with whom I have lived. Only the incredibly aptly named Favorite, and Toasted Almond (named for his coat colors, but also sweet as ice cream) even approach him for sweetness, but I think none will ever surpass Favorite.

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We are so not okay.

I’ve exhausted this Red State’s unemployment “benefits” without landing a job, despite applying for 10+ jobs a week. Now even that paltry supplement is cut off. The GoFundMe was great for like two weeks, but now crickets. I tried approaching all the local churches in our town, and the Quaker church my mother attended before she died. Nothing.

But wait, it gets worse! I found a sweet remote job that would fix all our problems! Oramed Pharmaceuticals reached out to me for a remote data entry job! I thought it would be perfect because without the commute time to a job in the city I could actually take care of Pussycat and the horses within a not too outrageous timeframe every day. I had an extensive online interview via Skype chat and they emailed an employee manual and all the documents to get onboarded and I signed up and then

Instead of a package with the laptop, HP scanner and other equipment I received a UPS flat letter, sent from some dude in the Bronx, with just a check for $4700 from a construction contractor in Arkansas.

I gave these motherfuckers my social, drivers, and bank account info. I’ve had to freeze my credit and close out my fucking checking account. I guess it’s my fault for falling for the scam by not heeding the giant red flag of A DECENT FUCKING WAGE AND BENEFIT PACKAGE.

Consider me enlightened and even more cynical.

But wait! It gets worse! Turns out the health insurance I’ve been paying for for years now through the ACA marketplace thing (aka Obamacare - since my cheap ass former employer didn’t offer any benefits), guess what? Nobody accepts it! The surgeon at the hospital the night Pussycat was admitted doesn’t take it, so none of the follow up care is covered either. She was in hospital for three and a half weeks. They sent us a bill for over $90,000 - not $9,000, which would already be impossible to pay, but NINETY THOUSAND DOLLARS!

You might as well make it million! I mean what the fuck. And all these fucking redneck assholes around here, all broke as hell, voting against that “socialism” because they’re stupid racist pieces of shit. Jebus wept.

Anyway, please if you can share the GoFundMe on your socials. Thanks!

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I’m so sorry to hear about what happened with your job hunt. :pensive: It makes me so sad and angry that this happened to you.

And now your insurance issues. :rage: Maybe someone on the BBS knows about how to handle medical debt? I think you should research this a bit before you begin to make payments to either the doctor or the hospital.

edit to add missing “k”

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NPR has an ongoing segment about medical debt, they often have solutions and tips on how you can navigate these systems and even get help…

You can also talk to the hospital directly about getting relief and help for your bills. They should have a number on the bill you can call to get help. I know it’s a red state, but even down there the people working in health want to help and want to get your wife the care she needs. Reach out to them and see what they can do to get the costs lowered and to do a payment plan of some kind.

And you shouldn’t feel bad about falling for the scam. Scammers seek out people with struggles just like yours, because they know that you are struggling and in need. Keep looking for work online, I’m sure something will come up if you keep at it.

I’m very sorry once again.

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