What We Did Last Summer - Entry 1

I always said one nice thing about Pensacola was that it was close to a lot of interesting cities. Of course, we only made road trips to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Destin. Apparently, I just blanked on the idea that Des Moines was close to quite a few places, too. Omaha is 2-3 hours away, Kansas City is the same, Minneapolis is 4 hours, Chicago is 5, St. Louis is a day's drive, and Mizzou is about 4 (I couldn't leave CoMo out:).

So, about a year ago, I realized Green Day was playing in Minneapolis in July. I have loved them since 8th grade. So I begged Jeremy (and it really didn't take much arm twisting), and we decided to make a weekend out of it. The only downside was that my friend Lois was leaving that week to go visit her family in California, so we wouldn't be able to meet up with her.

We drove up on a Friday afternoon because the Twins were in town, so we decided we'd go see them, too. We found a hotel right across from the Target Center, which meant the Metrodome was within walking distance.

I had been to the Twin Cities several times as a kid. My dad's best friend from the Marine Corps lives there, so we took several trips to visit. I had never thought that it was that great of a place. And when I went to visit Lois a few months before the wedding, it was January and cold, so we didn't do much exploring. I was very surprised at what it has become.

We had a decent walk down and back to the Metrodome. Not once did I feel unsafe. Downtown Minneapolis is really clean and safe. There were several cops and security patrols around. And, there were a bunch of bars and restaurants around. I was really impressed. If I were just out of college, I think it would be where I would want to move.

It was nice to go back to the Metrodome one more time to see a Twins game. It's the only ballpark that I've been to where I was on the jumbotron. Granted, I was passed out, but I was on there - mouth hanging open and everything. It was a good game, and I was very happy to find they had microbrews there. This resulted in me not realizing it was the bottoms of the 9th and that the game was over.

The next day, my dad's buddy came and got us for lunch. We got to see Dinkytown and part of the campus. We also started the search for Jeremy's hockey stick. Fun times.


We also explored some of downtown. I was a little bummed that I did not have a hat to throw next to the Mary Tyler Moore statue. Downtown is basically a shopping area with the typical shops and restaurants. But, that also meant we got to have a good choice of where to eat for the concert - and we ended up going with Hard Rock.

I should also say that our hotel was extremely fancy -- but we got an amazing deal on it. However, I also realized that Green Day had the penthouse for the night. This may have resulted in me trying to figure out how to sneak up there. But, considering that the lobby was three floors up and around a corner, I didn't think it was going to be that easy. I was a little bummed that I realized when we were packing up that there was a pillow menu. But, I did keep our Hermes soap -- even though it reeks.

Since we stayed right across the street, it was really easy to get to the concert. The amazing thing was that as we walked out of the hotel, we ran into two people I went to high school with. With all of the people that went, it was an amazing feat.

We had pretty decent seats, but that was a minor thing. The concert was absolutely amazing. They played for about 2.5 hours, and they played the old stuff and the new stuff. The kid next to me thought I was weird as I was belting out the old stuff - I shouldn't have been surprised -- it came out before he was born. I'm very glad we went. It was fabulous.



To finish out the weekend, on our way home, we stopped at the Mall of America. That wasn't too exciting. It's just a big mall. Ikea was lovely though. Des Moines needs one. We also spent quite a bit of time at Hockey Giant - a department store of hockey stuff. I was not so excited; Jeremy was like a kid in the candy store.

So, it was a good weekend. Both of us were very happy with it. It was a nice little mini-vacation.

Not a good way to restart the blog

I'm going to skip the fact that I haven't posted on here in a while and get down to the bad stuff.

Last week, Chewy started acting weird. She wasn't eating, she looked skinny, she was quieter, she was clingier, and she wasn't cleaning herself very well. She got better over the weekend.

Then Monday, she started acting odd again. On Tuesday, she wouldn't headbutt Jeremy. So, I decided I'd cancel my job for today and take her to the vet. Both of us figured she had a sore throat. It made sense.

I got up early and called a vet to see when I could bring her in. By 9:10, we were waiting for the vet.

I knew it wasn't good when the tech said Chewy didn't have a fever.

I got even more nervous when the first question the vet asked was if Chewy had been tested for Feline Leukemia.

By 9:30, she had used the cancer word. Lymphoma to be exact.

After feeling her neck, the vet found two massive lumps. Lumps that I couldn't believe how big they were. I had no idea they were there.

So, they took some cells from one of the lumps. These will actually be sent off to a cytologist to look at closer. The vet looked at them to make sure they were viable and weren't just red cell matter. She said she was pretty sure there were lymphocytes.

She asked if I wanted X-rays. I said yes. I wanted a clearer picture.

The X-rays showed that there are two massive lumps in her neck. They're pushing Chewy's trachea all funny. They're not pinching it. But the fact that it is no longer straight explains why she's been coughing, why she'll only eat wet food, and why she hasn't been eating much. She has to keep her head down to feel comfortable. Luckily, her other organs look basically okay. There do appear to be two masses on the lymph nodes around her heart and lungs. But no tumors on the actual organs.

The more disturbing thing was that Chewy has a BB stuck in her back. She's 13 now; she hasn't been an outside cat in 9.5 years. I was pissed. I was ready to drive to Eddyville and just start beating the shit out of people. But obviously, it's not bothering her since it's been there that long. It's still wrong.

Anyway, we are supposed to hear back about the cells by Friday at the latest. They may not be able to get a solid diagnosis from it. That would mean getting a biopsy,which means cutting a big chunk out of Chewy's neck.

I asked the vet what she would do if it were her cat. She's actually gone through this with her 13 year-old-lab. There is no cure for lymphoma. They can possibly put it into remission with chemo. But that would only prolong the inevitable by a few months.

Jeremy and I have decided that's not an option. We're already pretty anti-chemo because of our personal experiences with our parents. Not being able to explain it to Chewy makes it even worse. This also means that we're not going to do a biopsy either. We're just going to be monitoring her, and when she starts to get worse, we know what we have to do.

I have been a mess all day. It's hard to know I'm going to have to say good-bye to my buddy. We've been through a lot together: moving, sickness, college -- she even gave approval for Jeremy. She's never acted like she's gotten older. It's weird to see her actually act her age.

I know this is the right choice though. But, in the mean time, Chewy gets to eat whatever she wants. This means she gets to have a treat of Hagan-Daas every night. She's rather happy about that.