5:25 p.m. - 2004-01-15
Bad Circulation
I've been absolutely freezing this past month, and I haven't been able to figure out why. As a native New Hampshire-ite, I'm genetically programmed for cold. Our house is usually about 62 - 65 degrees, which ordinarily I would consider pretty warm for this time of year.
I honestly don't remember being this cold last year. I mean, so cold I continually have a down vest on, and my hands are turning blue? So cold I'm wearing gloves in the house? So cold I can't get any work done?
Bruce and I have been puzzling over this for awhile now. Today it finally hit me, like a bop on the head from the heavens.
I had vasculitis this summer. It's a condition that people with lupus sometimes get where the immune system attacks the blood vessels close to the skin. Actually, any blood vessels can be attacked, I guess, and it can be quite serious. Mine, however, seemed to behave itself quite reasonably, producing strange, itchy hive-like welts that had long tails, obviously following the lines of the blood vessels.
They were itchy, and I looked pretty scary, but they eventually went away without doing any damage. Or so I thought.
Evidently they left some scar tissue in the vessels, or...something....which is messing up my circulation. Yup, that's a scientific term - messing up my circulation. And leaving me freezing to death in the process.
So today I decided I really cannot spend the rest of January and early February in bed with a heating pad. I really must deal with this, because I don't think the situation is reversible, and I can't lose two months out of my life every winter because I'm cold.
So I put on my down vest and my thermal undies, drank a gallon or so of ginger tea, and did some calisthetics. The ginger tea is supposed to help circulation. I think it mainly works because it has that wonderful ginger-ey snap to it, that makes you think you're warm, even if you're not.
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The Blind Half-Siamese Adoption Machine is still lurching forward. I have been having protracted email negotiations with his foster mom, a wonderful woman named Sarah who runs the local feral cat rescue group.
She is excited about us taking him, but wants to make sure we know what we're in for. We're excited about taking him, but we want to know what we're in for, too. So we've had long exchanges about how this kitty is quite large (15 pounds!), and needs insane amounts of affection due to having been abandoned. He'll need toys that either smell profusely of catnip, or, preferably, make loud noises when played with.
He also has a very active lifestyle despite being blind. The way Sarah talked about this made me worry that Kitty is going to be needing a membership to the local gym. I have this image of him on a daily jog, dressed in Spandex gym shorts and led by a seeing eye dog.
He will also need to spend some quality time with a veterinary opthalmologist. Fortunately, the one Sarah works with is the partner of the one we took Miss Bunny to. I feel very comfortable bringing this kitty there.
And Sarah, bless her heart, has informed me that she and her husband will pay for any treatment the kitty has to have. I don't think we're going to let her do that, but it's nice to know we have a back up in case he needs a pantload of surgery.
We'll meet him Monday night. Depending on how it goes we may actually take him home then. Bruce is already talking about trying to adopt a whole tribe of blind Siamese cats and naming them after the Blind Boys of Alabama.
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