Atropa, that sucks. Have you managed to convince your doctor to prescribe laudanum and a trip to the seaside?

Welcome to the world, great-great niece! (how can you have so many greats, Tep? Not that you aren't great-great, so I don't know why I am even asking, forget I said anything)

The newest little gal is a great-great because (follow this path) Tim's nephew married a woman who's about 10 years older than him, and she had 2 of her kids when she was kind of young (her kids are our great-nieces and great-nephew by marriage), and one of those kids (great-nephew) is about 20, and he's the one whose GF just had the new wee baby, which makes the new wee baby a great-great.

Tim's brothers have 8 kids between them, and those kids are all having kids, and some started early, so there's a range of ages when it comes to the great-nephews and great-nieces (oldest is 16 and the youngest was born on Thanksgiving 2025), and they all just call us plain old aunt and uncle without the greats in front of the title, because it's just a lot easier.

Shir that sounds like an excellent plan. I have a plan to go to a rage room with a friend for Galentines (her request). Figure it should be fun to smash some plates and stuff

Atropa, that sucks. Have you managed to convince your doctor to prescribe laudanum and a trip to the seaside?

Alas, not yet. If I have to do another round of antibiotics, I’ll see if she’ll do it.

they all just call us plain old aunt and uncle without the greats in front of the title, because it's just a lot easier.

Yeah, this is the way. It apparently drove my mom nuts when my dad introduced all his relatives to her as Aunt This or Uncle That and couldn't even tell her how they were related (if they even were, they weren't always blood relations) but I wouldn't be able to keep track if I did know!

This seems like a good year to have actual plans for Galentines. I do not, at present, but there's still time. If nothing else I can take myself out for pancakes, I suppose. I always have my invisible friends in my phone with me.

I also recall Dichen Lachman playing a flat affect vampire on the US Being Human and a flat affect Inhuman on Agents of SHIELD. I assume she'll be putting all her practice at not emoting to good use in this new series as a vampire/hunter?

If it helps, dcp, my sister had cataract surgery last year and it was way less awful than she’d feared.

I had both eyes done last year and even with my extreme wimpiness it was fine. I did insist on calming meds. Being able to see so well made it more than worth the anxiety.

Brought my mother-in-law here for her transition from rehab to home. Let's just say it is a lot.

The eye surgery I had is very similar to cataract surgery. I mostly recall them giving me some calming meds and asking how I felt and me being like “well 30 minutes ago when this was still 45 minutes away I was calm but it’s much closer now and my calm is burning down”

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I hope to be around more now, and especially to get caught up on all y'all's lives.

Cagney died 24 hours ago. He was still strong, and barky and stubborn and loved by the masses, and constantly begging for more food. But four days ago, he began showing signs of extreme pain. He never yelped, or indicated where it was coming from. But, for the first time in his life, he refused food. And, it showed in his overall posture. But, since arthritis was so much a part of that long dog's adulthood, I just adjusted his pain meds.

On Tuesday, it was one crisis after another. A neighbor took us to the emergency room and sat with us for six hours.

At that point, it became a swirling series of 'it's this. no wait, it's probably that, noooo. it's definitely this other thing.' Except it ended up being none of those things. He spent 45 hours on very strong drugs. (thank the gods)

I was definitively clear that I would not let him suffer, and I was not banking on false hope, but his vital signs were all _normal_. He did not have cancer and there was no musculature or spinal excuses for the pain. An ultrasound showed some organ anomalies, but none that would have required surgery.

In the end, he took the decision out of my hands by simply shutting down. We helped him along yesterday morning. No pain. No fear. Just peace.

I'm so grateful for the lessons I learned that helped me to keep Cagney healthy and happy for 5076 days. 3 years beyond a Basset Hound's usual.

And, I am incomplete. I genuinely do not know what is next, and I'm not what you would call okay, but it's not like when Bartleby died. I'm just unmoored. After 23 years of having a quirky, challenging and beloved dog glued to my side, I feel like what happens when you've been on a boat for a long time and suddenly have to stand on dry land.

I'm sorry to parachute in and take up so much space. But, you've known me, and them, for so long, it felt right to close the story.

Bonny, it's so hard to walk the line between not wanting to make that decision too soon but not wanting to prolong pain and suffering, and it's only harder when so many of the test results and signs are "normal." You and Cagney were so lucky to have each other, and I'm so sorry for your loss.