So let's see where to begin....
Gracie Ok, so Gracie has these cloudy spots in her eyes. Took her to the vet last monday, spend $55 for an eye dye test and drops. Questionable what it was. Questionable whether it was a hazard to Mika. Finally, today, we took her to the rescue woman (Pat)'s vet for a second opinion. Took her to Pat's vet because we damned well weren't going to pay for it a second time. Her diagnosis? Florida Keratopathy.
Florida Keratopathy
Corneal opacities apparently unique to tropical and subtropical climates. Multifocal, round, gray to gray-white, fluffy, cottonlike opacities of varying size are commonly seen in the corneal stroma. These opacities occur in warmer climates and have been referred to as Florida keratopathy, Florida spots, and Florida fungus.
Clinically, this disease is characterized by anterior stromal opacities of variable sizes. The corneal lesion is visible as a large, light-scattering opacity, with a dense center and a less dense periphery. These opacities occur at varying levels throughout the corneal stroma; however, most appear in the anterior stroma.
The condition appears to be self-limiting and does not seem to respond to topical corticosteroids and antifungal drugs. The corneas are devoid of any evidence of inflammation, and the eyes exhibit no discomfort or irritation. The corneal epithelium is intact, and Schirmer tear tests values are within normal limits.
Reference: Veterinary Ophthalmology, Kirk N. Gelatt, VMD
She even showed it to me in her book on animal eye conditions (most likely the one referenced above) because I have to say, I was a little skeptical that it was made up. I had never heard of such a thing. And both Kush and my mom's two cats were (and in the case of hers, still are) indoor/outdoor cats and have never had such a thing happen. But, if that's what it is - and it does fit the described pathology - then it's not infectious and finally, we can start introducing Gracie and Mika to each other.
The good thing about them being isolated these last eight days is that I'm pretty sure Gracie had an upper respiratory infection which could have easily been passed on to Mika. Think kitty cold. So, she's perked up significantly the last couple days and seems ready and eager to take over the rest of the house. Next few days will be more interacting of smells and familiarity between the two. Wish us luck, we're going to need it.
Projected Paths - Francis So.....there may or may not be another hurricane heading our way next weekend. It depends on who's projected path you look at. Weather.com shows it landing in south Florida by Saturday PM. NOAA is showing that it will turn and hit the east coast of the state Saturday afternoon. And then, there's the convergence of paths which are all on this one page which show the different places that it might come to. The one in orange would suck. The rest wouldn't be that bad where I am over on the west coast. Anyway though it's something to watch. May change the shape of Labor Day Weekend plans (not that there are any at the moment, but still). Something to watch.
Apartments - the search continues We looked at more places this weekend. Found another we really liked. Two and a half months free rent, pro-rated across the 14 month lease? Still almost $100 more a month then we're paying now. *sighs* Though the manager here finally gave us a copy of the mold report (we've only been trying to get a copy since July) and mentioned another property not far from here that she could get us into for the same price as we're paying now. Tomorrow we're going to look at it. No roman tub though *pouts*. Heh. If it's nice, it might be the solution to the problem. If it's skanky though, we'll keep looking. I'm not moving from one shithole to another, no thank you.
Oh yeah and the report? Despite her continues protests that "the report was negative!" her telling Cy (who helped out representing us legally in communications with her) that there is no mold, and despite walking in the apartment and telling us there's no mold to our faces, page after page clearly states there's not only mold present, but in high levels. "As referenced above, several species of mold were present within the facility." In fact, the total amount of molds present in the apartment air sample worked out to be 1,116 colony-forming units per meter of cubed air vs. 391 outside. Eeew. They go on to discuss how the highest concentration mold, Cladosporium, causes a host of health problems including obvious link to my horrible runny nose, congestion, coughing, sneezing and related breathing problems I've been dealing with that I never, ever have normally. (Sinusitis anyone?)
Beyond that, things like keratitis ("A non-penetrating erosion or open sore in the outer layer of the cornea, the transparent area at the front of the eyeball"); onychomycosis ("Onychomycosis is a fungal infection that causes fingernails or toenails to thicken, discolor, disfigure, and split"); pulmonary infections (inflammatory reaction in the lungs) and skin lesions are all caused by this mold. Wonder why I want the fuck out of here?
New Case - reduced PC woes? Ok, I'll end on an up-note. Goodness knows we need one after all this other crap going on. Love got me a new case for my computer. Brand-spankin'-new and cool. A friend at work ordered it to build a new computer. Problem was that it came with a very small dent in the side. They called the company, company says they'll send a new one and go ahead and do whatever with the old one. So, Love got it for nothing and we set it up this weekend.
The good thing is that it has a larger power supply and much better fans/cooling. So I'm able to leave my pc on again for longer stretches of time. I still need to get a UPS sooner rather then later, because our power still blinks out for no reason at utterly random moments and that can fry out all sorts of parts of the computer and damage my hard drive. So, while I can't leave it on if I leave the house, I can at least leave it on all day during the day. Which is so much better then the turn on once a day for an hour thing I had to do before.
Besides, it looks cooler.
the front as you can see is black....
...and it has a neon blue light in it and a clear side panel! *laughs*
And Mika of course thought it was her lucky day since she had a nice box to lay in.
Alright, that's more then enough for one entry! Sheesh. If you made it this far you deserve a cookie. Ta for now.
~ castles of sand by Memory and Dream
at 8/30/2004 07:48:25 PM ~
~
