Thanksgiving 2011

For the first time in many years, Jerry and I spent Thanksgiving with the Brewer side of the family. Everyone met at at Moody Gardens and we might have had the largest table there!

They do such a nice job at that hotel, they had a pretty fall display with backdrop for guests to take a family photo. I think the backdrop might have been more effective earlier in the day, but when we took our photo after 2pm there was too much light overhead - washing out the screen. Other than that, it's a pretty good photo of all the kids in our group.



Everyone is so busy we don't get together very often and it had been a long time since we last saw Steve, Becca and the boys. I can't believe how grown up they are!



After our Thanksgiving photo, we rounded the corner and decided to take advantage of the Christmas display for another group shot. Our crew, minus Jerry and me (you've seen enough of us anyway).



On Friday morning, before the UofH game, Jerry and Bob played golf and I tagged along for part of the round. The course looked good, considering the drought.



Bob was in good form.



Jerry, as well.



On the back nine, we came across a group of Spoonbills ...



you can see the shape of his bill and the hot pink feathers ...



drying out his wings ...



A young Spoonbill out fishing - only the feathers on the underside of his body and wings have turned pink, but he'll catch up with the rest of them soon!



It was a great, long weekend and we certainly have a lot to be thankful for!

Ike is in on the Action!

Ike at play ...




using the boy's toys ...



and getting a little work out between naps.

It's the Little Things in Life

After the misery of the last few weeks, it was fun to see Elvis getting back to his normal, goofy personality.



He LOVES a grocery bag ...



and had a good time with these pink holiday bags from Central Market!

About the Ear ...

We've had continued success with the ear and while it's not standing up, it's no longer infected. This is a blessing after everything he's been through.



My sweet boy ...



The inside of the ear looks much better, with "the bulb" having contracted a great deal over the last week. There is still a fairly thick, hard area pulling the end of his ear over, but it is encouraging that the cellulitis (inflammation of the connective tissues and subcutaneous layers of skin) is improving and the ear is "thinning out".



Obviously, we've got crinkling going on here, but I'm trying to remain hopeful that he will not end up with his ear completely "wadded up", as it has been described to me. I've had to abandon my "Breathe Right Nasal Strip "splint therapy" because he reached up there on Monday and ripped it off - along with the fur on top of the ear. It's great that his fur is growing back in because he sort of looks like E.T. without it!



We have twice-a-day ritual with the "treatment pillow". He's so worn down at this point, he pretty much just lays there until I'm finished with whatever medical process is due at the time. Pam was over yesterday and he could barely muster a hiss when she reached for his ear ... ;)



One of the ways we're working on the internal inflammation is holding his special, kitty-sized cold pack on the ear twice a day, while I gently massage and straighten the ear. I have no evidence that it will work, but I keep thinking that if I can take a little pressure off the ear, and prevent or slow that scar tissue from contracting, that we may have a better cosmetic outcome.

As crazy as it sounds for a cat to like having something cold held against his ear, he almost seems to enjoy it. I think the ear was so hot and painful, at the peak of the infection, that it was a relief to cool it off.



And this "tail attitude" is a signal that the photo session is over and his ear is quite cool enough - thank you!

That's Not "Fall Color"

It is the color of drought and the death of thousands of trees in Memorial Park.



Each week this summer, Jerry and I have watched the slow death of hundreds and hundreds of trees. Not young saplings trying to develop roots, but established pine and oak trees upwards of 50 years old.



Since the wildfires in early September, the Park crews have been identifying dead trees and cutting them down.



In recent weeks, hundreds of trees that had been hanging on - waiting for a drought busting rain - have died and in preparation for a dry, La Nina winter, the Park crews are working overtime to clear them out. The Chronicle stated that 1200 have been cut down to-date, with another 2800 identified for removal.



If you live in a neighborhood, and you're watering twice a week on the "rationing schedule", you've probably noticed that your own trees don't look happy, but they're still alive and green. For us, Memorial Park IS our back yard and watching these trees die is a sign of things to come.

I started running at the Park in the early 80's - Jerry much earlier than that - and had many "landmark trees" that charted my progress and identified mile markers. When I wanted to quit, I'd tell myself ... just make it to THAT tree. As of Monday, only one or two of these trees is still alive.



Most of us have never considered the long-term effects of a severe drought - things haven't been this bad since the early 1920's. Our sources of water are literally drying up - as we flew over Lake Conroe on Saturday we were shocked at the drop in water level ... the lake has contracted well below the length of the boat docks and piers. Central Texas watched this happen on Lake LBJ, Travis and Austin earlier in the year and, in recent weeks, there have been amazing dust storms in the Panhandle and West Texas.

This summer it was dry and hot, but we had shade provided by these big trees. Next summer, the trees won't be there to offer protection. Many animals - both good and bad - will be displaced and, like the trees, will not live. Drought is much more "than not enough rain".



There are many important causes in need of funding, but the Memorial Park Conservancy is asking for donations for trees. If you're interested, visit this link:

http://www.memorialparkconservancy.org/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

Not all of you live near the park, but this drought is wide-spread and I'll bet there's an effort in your area of the state that also needs support. My weather sources have said that if we don't have an early season Tropical Storm next June, that we can look for another summer just like this one. That's not encouraging news when combined with the prediction that weather patterns could cause drought conditions in Texas for up to nine years.



Yesterday, we received just under 2 inches of rain and that is a blessing. We need between 15 and 20 inches by the end of the year just to break even. Say a prayer, do a rain dance, we need rain!

Cougars, Copperheads & Cat Ears

On Thursday, Jerry and I headed to New Orleans for the UofH football game against Tulane. We thought it was a great excuse to hit the Crescent City. We've both been working a lot and I've been pretty stressed out over Elvis' ear, so it was good to have a break. Of course, I was still stressed out about the ear.

We don't know what all was going on in the French Quarter, but finding a decent room at a decent price was a bit of a challenge. We ended up at one of our old favorites - the Omni Royal Orleans. We've stayed in this hotel many times, but this trip we ended up in one of the smallest hotel rooms known to man and it was right next to the elevator. Ugh! Even though we had to practically "crab walk" around the bed, we had a nice view of the courtyard and watched a candle-light wedding on Friday night.



In New Orleans - well, almost anywhere with me and Jerry - it's all about the food and we definitely ate our way across the French Quarter. We kicked off our feeding frenzy at Maspero's with some pretty impressive poor-boys, followed by a long walk out Rue Royal.

The UofH Alumni Association had organized a nice gathering at Walk Ons that afternoon before the game and we headed over there about 5pm. Game didn't start until 7pm, but we snagged one of the few remaining tables and split a burger while we watched the flow of red-clad UofH fans pour in. Soon the place was completely packed and we ran into several people we knew - y'all know Jerry doesn't go anywhere without running into friends.



We hadn't been to the Super Dome since December of 2006 and, at that time, it was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. I have to say that I was impressed with both the exterior (new sponsor and lighting effects) and interior (fully remodeled and updated) this trip.

We took this photo when we first arrived, but soon there were a lot more Houston fans around us. Houston had a much better showing than Tulane and I guess the final score of 73 to 17 says a lot about why the "Green Tide" didn't show up to support their team. Go COOGS!



Friday morning, we were up and out the door before anything opened and hit the streets for a pre-breakfast walk



... followed by Cafe Au Lait and a couple of Beignets at Cafe DuMonde. It's such a tourist trap we never go there, but we were early enough to grab a good table and a bad waitress.

This is a shot of the kitchen (out back) where you can see them frying up those Beignets. I guess it's a bit like "sausage making", if you saw this first you probably wouldn't enjoy them as much ... although that powdered sugar does dress them up a bit!



Friday was Veteran's Day and it was interesting to see the LSU and New Orleans Saints flags replaced with rows of US flags along Bourbon Street. There were several celebrations for servicemen around town.



Later, we were back on Rue Royal, looking for interesting art, and literally ran into Tony Bennett walking out of a gallery. It's always strange when you see someone famous just walking down the street like the rest of us. He seemed like a nice guy, he had a few "handlers" with him and was friendly to people who approached him. Looked great for his age!



Here are some pretty scenes from around the Quarter ...



All of the buildings have a lot of character



We had dinner Friday night at NOLA and the food did not disappoint (no Emeril sightings). I highly recommend the Shrimp & Grits (sweet/spicy creole version) and the Warm Ooey-Gooey Cake. Check it out the next time you're in the Big Easy!

Although we'd walked all day, we thought that Ooey-Gooey Cake might need to be worked off a bit, so we headed towards the river and back through Jackson Square.



In New Orleans, you always see street musicians and performers of all sorts, but this was something different!



So while we were livin' it up in New Orleans, our cat sitter - Ray "cat whisperer" Waller - was running back and forth from Houston to Deer Park instead of kicking back after work and enjoying riding his bike in Memorial Park, like he normally does when he's on cat duty.

Wednesday night, Toni and I were exchanging texts and confirming everything about Ray's stay with the boys, and she mentioned that Jerry Lee had a strange, swollen spot on his leg and was walking with a limp. We talked about a stop-gap treatment to get him through the night, but when Toni arrived home from work on Thursday poor Jerry Lee couldn't even stand up and the leg was badly swollen with an open wound.

Ray raced home and they took Jerry Lee to the vet where he was diagnosed with a Copperhead bite! YIKES!

The only place he had been was in the house and in their back yard, where Memphis plays along with Annie the Border Collie and Jasmine the cat. It was sort of a miracle that Jerry Lee lived through the day on Thursday with that much venom, but I guess he's such a large dog that kept him alive.

Here is a photo of the canine patient - he's had two trips to the vet where he got six shots each time - everything from anti-venom to antibiotics - and he'll be headed back for a check up next week.



And this brings me to the last topic of this blog post - cat ears. Although the feline patient did not cooperate with Ray, he was able to get the Silvadine cream on the ear while we were gone. Elvis missed 4 doses of his antibiotic, but we resumed full treatment Saturday afternoon and I think the surgical site looks much better.



The ear is still thick in the center, but the "bulb" has definitely contracted and the edges around the original hematoma seem to be getting wider.



Unfortunately, they're also getting more "ruffled".



This is a good comparison shot, where you can see his normal ear on the bottom and the damaged ear on top. We need to get a little more swelling out of the tissue at the top of his ear (so it's not as heavy) before we'll know for sure if the ear will ever stand up again. Of course, it will always be "crinkled", but we would be happier if it would stand up. Aside from making him look like a dog, he hates the way the ear feels flapping around up there.



We've expanded our veterinary prayer circle to include Jerry Lee and hopefully they'll both get through their ordeals without too much permanent damage!

WARNING: AGGRESSIVE OWNER

On every prescription or note out of the vet clinic about Elvis, the warning AGGRESSIVE PATIENT is written in all caps. After yesterday, the same words will be written next to my name. I'm not going to tell the whole story, because I would have to use words banned by the FCC. Let's just say that it's been a really rough week and Elvis is still suffering. Momma bear is not happy about that!

Monday afternoon/evening, he looked great. You know how anything looks after a surgical procedure, but I was still encouraged that after WEEKS of pain from the hematoma we were on the path to healing. Tuesday morning, not so much.



With a 50% chance of infection and a 50% chance of the hematoma/fluid returning, you would think that we would have hit the jackpot on ONE of these items. Nope.



Can you see the misery in his pharmaceutically enhanced glassy eyes?



And this ear - this beet red, swollen ear - I am supposed to wash 2x daily with Peroxide and then squeeze the heck out of to remove any fluid that is collecting. Great times for Elvis ... and for me.

Wednesday morning, the swelling had increased, the texture of the ear had become even more solid/hard and the incision looked terrible. Needless to say, it was infected.

After taking Mom to an infusion appointment that morning, Dr. Pittinger (Chief of Staff and A#1 Jackass) who was backing-up Dr. Rose on her day off, agreed to work us in. Apparently he is afraid of cats because he would not come closer than FOUR FEET AWAY and didn't even stay in the treatment room long enough to have a discussion. He certainly did not feel of the ear, which was a big concern. I left with new antibiotics after waiting with a sick, "DANGEROUS" cat (who did not make one sound or move one muscle) wrapped up in a bath towel like a mummy for well over an hour. Lovely.

Thursday morning, after being up all night AGAIN, I called in a vet tech who worked for Memorial 610 for many years, but quit this summer. She came to the house and helped me drain the ear, she called Dr. Rose and gave her the clinical run-down and then helped us get back to the clinic for Dr. Rose to see him. At this point, I wasn't thrilled with Dr. Rose and would have slapped Dr. Pittinger if I had laid eyes on him.

The thickened, swollen tissue of the ear needs a cortisone shot, but cortisone inhibits the immune system and cannot be used with a raging infection in the same area. More good news. We leave with the plan to continue the antibiotics from Wednesday, apply hot compresses to the inside of the ear and keep trying to get some fluid out, put an ice pack on the outside of the ear to reduce swelling and wait for the infection to clear.

He felt so bad on Tuesday and Wednesday, I held a cold pack up to his head and he pressed his head/ear into it and stayed completely still for a long period of time. Very unlike him and cat's don't like cold.

Yesterday afternoon, we had a cat-nap convention in my office. Denny confiscated the car kennel for his nap.



And I brought Ike's down from his room. They like the car kennels better when they're not in the actual car.



He couldn't sleep last night - constantly flicking the ear and shaking his head and getting up and kicking it with his huge back feet - so I tried hot compresses at 1am and then gave him a half dose of pain meds. He was able to sleep after that and I'm no expert, but the ear looked a little better this morning. It's still pretty gruesome.



Elvis with the hot compress ...



this went on for about 20 minutes. It must make him feel better because he didn't make a move to escape. Doesn't he look dangerous?



After his morning meds/procedures he got a DOUBLE TREAT - a small saucer of malted milk, followed by a short walk on the leash out in front.



PHOTO WARNING: I'm attaching these close up photos for comparison to the ear before surgery and right after surgery on Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, he's come full circle and now he has an infected hole in his ear!



Swelling/inflamed tissues as thick as the hematoma at its worst.



If you have the energy after reading all of this, please say a prayer for my Elvis that the infection will clear and he can get back to being an AGGRESSIVE, FRIGHTENING cat really soon. I'm not sure who is more exhausted, him or me!