Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays.  My mom always did a great job of making it magical, and I intend to do the same for my own children one day.  You know all of those Halloween episodes of Roseanne?  That's totally how my family was.

In the meantime, it's a great excuse to dress up in costume and pretend to be someone else for a day!  I'm still recovering from my scarlet fever, so I'm staying in and just handing out candy to trick-or-treaters tonight, but I did manage to put on a costume for school:

You can't see it in the picture, but there are tuning pegs on that bone necklace.  I suppose some cellos must be included in my kills.  The hair was surprisingly easy to accomplish with the help of some very tight rag curls that I put in last night before bed.  I woke up looking like Bozo the Clown, brushed it out and sprayed it, and I got cavewoman.  Works for me.

For my orchestra's annual costume concert, I dressed as Marge Simpson:

A lot of people mistook me for Thing 1 or Thing 2, I think largely due to the bright blue of the hair.  However, the shape of my hair is completely different, as is the costume.  I know I'm wearing a red sweater over the trademark Marge dress, but there's only so much skin you can show at school, especially if you're the teacher!

Two of my previous costumes, as well as Marge, are visible over at Mental Floss right now, but they definitely pale in comparison to some other costumes!  Today at school I saw a wide variety of "Sexy (insert whatever here)" costumes on girls.  It's so sad that these are the majority of available costumes for women and young girls.  However, I saw quite a few creative ones as well.  There is a great tumblr by the group Miss Representation that is showing creative and non-skanky costumes right now.  Go check it out!

I had fun with my IB music class discussing scary music today.  We watched Keeping Score's video on Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (don't do drugs, kids!), listened to and followed with the unconventional score of Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, and watched the most incredible animation I have ever seen (made using sand on glass) to Schubert's The Erlking.  The kids enjoyed it, and to my great amusement, had the same reaction that my kids last year had when I explained what the elf king was.  "So, it's a German Cucuy?"  Yeah, pretty much.   Happy Halloween, everyone!  Enjoy the animation.

Miss Scarlet, in the Throat, with the A Streptococcus

'Tis the season to be sick.

I don't know if it's just coincidence, but a week after my first infusion of Actemra (which suppresses the immune system) and a week after finishing 30 days of prednisone (which also suppresses the immune system), I have Scarlet Fever.

Don't worry too much; Scarlet Fever won't kill you nowadays like it and other diseases did in your elementary school days of playing Oregon Trail.  Really, this is strep throat caused by A Streptococcus, and my body is simply reacting to a toxin produced by the bacteria-hence the rash.  Of course I feel miserable, but I've felt worse.  On a scale of "screw it let's go dancing" to "take me to the ER now" I'm at about "I'll do my own grocery shopping but then I'm staying home and watching stupid movies, because holy crap I'm exhausted."  This isn't quite like that time in college when I got the mumps and had to be quarantined by the CDC, even though I am contagious for the next 24 hours and have all of the nasty symptoms pictured above.

I'm fortunate to have a really good nurse practitioner at my local urgent care facility who knows my rheumatologist and knows the RA drugs pretty well.  He gave me a shot of antibiotics (my rear end is quite sore now) and a ten day prescription of oral antibiotics.  Because he's a good healthcare professional, he gave me the option of steroids.  He said they'd really help with the swelling, which is fairly impressive at this point (my right tonsil is full of pus...ewww), but that he'd understand if I didn't want them.  I didn't.  30 days of prednisone in the last month was enough, thank you.  I guess I could have asked for painkillers, but like I said, I've felt worse and quite frankly my body doesn't need any extra crap. Doctors and nurses, take note: when you're dealing with someone who's had a chronic disease for more than 20 years, it's nice when you involve them in their own healthcare.  The urgent care nurse (who I liked the first time I went because he proclaimed my old and very much unloved rheumatologist "an arrogant pig who I wouldn't allow to shave my cat") also told me that he could literally smell the infection on me.  Ick, ick, ick.

I have to be careful with strep because my immune system is the equivalent of a poorly cared for 1971 Ford Pinto, and strep can very easily become rheumatic fever (heart problems) and/or post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys, and your big word for the day).  Strep is sometimes even a trigger for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which is what I was diagnosed with as a child, and can aggravate RA.  I'm a little concerned that I may have to postpone my Actemra infusion on Friday, but will call the rheumatologist Monday to be sure.

Anyway...I'll likely still go to school on Monday, and I'll likely wear a costume, but there will be a lot of sectional work instead of full rehearsal.  I promised the IB kids scary music (Erlking, Symphonie Fantastique, and Penderecki's Threnody), so I will have to do some talking.  Speaking of IB, we've had some cool moments in there where the kids have been able to apply what they've learned in my class to other classes.  They've also told me that my class is the "most international" of all of their IB classes.  Win.

For the rest of the weekend, I did go grocery shopping.  I'll probably feel worse if I eat greasy delivery food all weekend.  Also, I needed cat food.  In the event that I'm so sick I'm rendered unconscious (unlikely), I don't want it to end in a news story that includes the words "and then her cats ate her face."  I'm going to make some miso noodle soup tonight because it's basically vegan chicken noodle.  I'm also trying out some easy to swallow and fall appropriate recipes from My New Roots: ginger roasted carrots, raw salted caramel apple dip, and white velvet soup (a personal favorite that I have already enjoyed on many sick days).

Remember to wash your hands frequently, cough and sneeze appropriately, and eat healthy this week!

Caffeine IV Drip

Seriously, do they make one?  I want one!

This week was not as crazy as it could have been for being the first week back from fall intercession, but it was still somewhere on the nutty scale.  This week saw the turning in of grades, preparing freshmen for region auditions, helping IB kids with extended essays, and last night, working concessions with my kids at a football game.  I don't know how much we'll keep, but the stand made almost $3500, so the five and a half hours were worth it.

Next week will be even crazier: Monday, freshman region auditions.  Tuesday, performance for the superintendent.  Wednesday, staff development and full rehearsal.  Thursday, concert.  Friday, crash.

However, there is good news!  If you can't have caffeine in an IV drip, you can have the next best thing: a new RA treatment.  For about the last month I've felt like crud and have woken up every morning in varying states of pain with my joints stuck at various angles.  My doctor determined that my Enbrel probably wasn't working anymore after a good 5 year run and it was time to switch meds.  After satisfying the insurance loophole of trying Humira first ("Heck, I'll give you a box of Humira, you can take a shot today and say you tried it!"), putting in insurance paperwork, etc., I got my first infusion today of Actemra.

Actemra is a fairly new drug, I guess, but my rheumatologist likes it a lot.  It's given once a month by infusion at the hospital and works by blocking some B cell receptors that apparently play a role in immunity and RA.  One of the ladies next to me at the infusion center is on her 4th round and said it is working well for her.

Anyway, after registering with the ER and waiting forever (good crowd watching, though!) I got taken upstairs to the infusion center, weighed (prednisone added only 7 pounds this month, but I swear it feels like 20), and briefed on side effects and when to call the ER, etc.  The infusion nurse then told me that some of their patients have actually started to feel better halfway through the infusion-one man who came in couldn't even close his hand and by the end of an hour and regained full function.  We did the usual did you get your flu shot, have you had a TB test, be careful with germs conversation and then started hunting for veins.  I have really small veins and am a hard stick.  The nurse asked me which arm is better and I just said "good luck."  After sticking me once she went and got a baby needle and used that instead with much better results.  This nurse has a daughter with RA and is very careful with the joints-she started looking for a bigger vein further up my arm, then noticed how swollen my elbow was (I didn't even think of it till she pointed it out!) and went back to my hand.

They started me off with just the saline and then brought the medicine up from the pharmacy-wearing a big blue smock and heavy duty gloves and carrying the IV bag in a big plastic bag that said "caution: chemotherapy drug."  The nurse told me that they have to follow chemo protocol with this one, but that if it splashed on them they probably wouldn't freak out the way they would with the cancer drugs.  

The infusion only took an hour, during which time I was given some blankets and a pillow (the room was cold), some apple juice, and a chocolate rat on a stick because one of the nurses was assembling some Halloween bags for the kids in her family.

My hand is still sore from the IV and I am still in pain, but since I don't currently feel any worse, we'll take that as a good sign for now.  Side effects for all of these drugs can be scary, so I'm hoping I don't get too many.  I go back in two weeks for my next infusion and hope to see some results soon!

Now to go find some diet coke....

Sofa 3.0

The free sofa I scored back in August has been upgraded again.  The lady who I got it from found one of the seat cushions, so I took it down to our local fabrics and foam store and had them cut a duplicate.  Then, I used extra material from the original cover and some upholstery fabric from Hobby Lobby and sewed new covers for the cushions.  Here is sofa 3.0:

As you can see, the cushions are a little uneven since one is brand new and the other is old.  Also, the cats have taken it over.  There's not much point in me even trying to sit on it.

I also decided to finally put up curtains in the living room.  I think they really class up the joint, don't you?

As you can see, I also put up some Halloween decorations recently, because I love Halloween.

I'm quite proud of my outside decorations.  My scarecrows have a reputation for scaring the pizza guy. Last weekend, though, they managed to scare some religious folks distributing pamphlets on Saturday morning. I felt kind of bad, but then realized that these people did wake me up, and while I know their intentions are good, I'm quite secure in my own faith, thank you very much.

Now, for those of you following All My Kittens, an update!  Both are doing quite well and have taken to making lots of noise in the room where they are living.  It's a good thing White Cat and Moe are deaf.

I finally got the opportunity to check, and LJ is not, as previously thought, a boy.  The Kitten Formerly Known as LJ is becoming cuddly and will let me pick her up and hold her.  Mac still believes that I am the devil incarnate.  Her emails and Facebook posts are kind of rude, too.

Anyway, LJ needs a new name.  Suggestions welcome.

Dammit, Janet! Absurdity for a Good Cause

Tonight I had to play a wedding on the other side of town.  Even though my body has been uncooperative as of late thanks to the RA, I hate to waste a perfectly good trip across town and decided that it was mind over matter and dang it, I was going out!  After leaving the wedding I took myself out for sushi and then met my friend Marni for coffee.  I don't actually drink coffee, but I may now be addicted to Earl Gray lattes.

On a whim I checked Facebook and discovered that the organization who funds the city's feral cat program was holding a fundraiser in the form of a midnight movie downtown at a historic hotel.  They didn't specify which, but given that they said "audience participation" and "props, but no wet props such as hot dogs" I figured it was probably the Rocky Horror Picture Show-and it was!  I showed up just as the doors opened and paid $10 admission plus $3 for a bag of props-all of which goes to fund PetsAlive.

After enduring the "hazing of the virgins" (a rite of passage for all who have never seen the film in a theatre), I settled in to watch the shadow cast perform live right along with the movie.  They did a great job and we all enjoyed shouting rude things at Brad and Janet and throwing toast.  There was an older couple who left about 15 minutes in.  I don't think they were really into the participation aspect.  For me, this was like Roswell condensed into 90 minutes.  Since they do the show the second Saturday of every month, I'll definitely be back-in costume and with some practice on doing the Time Warp.  I think I could pull of the costume for Columbia, and it won't surprise any of you who know me well that I already own the majority of the items needed for it.

It's a small world.  One of the ladies volunteering was discussing teaching with another volunteer who teaches math at a local high school.  I turned around and joined the discussion on standardized tests and why I'm glad we don't have them in fine arts, and was asked where I teach.  The volunteer mentioned that several of our students had helped her on a project and I asked if they were IB kids.  She said no, that she wasn't aware that we had the IB program, but she's an IB grad!  She is also a musician and took the music exam HL.

Even smaller world-I asked the volunteer her name and found out that she is one of the women I spoke to last week about getting the mother cat to the vet to be spayed.  When I spoke with her she said she was out of state at a funeral and today she mentioned that the funeral was in Kansas.  Three guesses which town.

Anyway, for those of you following the ongoing saga of All My Kittens (and since my page views increase every day, there must be a few....if you're stalking my blog, leave me a comment so I know who you are!), the kittens are doing just fine.

Last night LJ fell asleep in the sink rather contentedly while I petted him, and tonight ate part of his dinner in my lap.  He is getting much better about being picked up.  No purring yet, but he does seem to enjoy being touched more now and last night even let me use the flea comb on him (no fleas!).  Mac will let me touch her if she's eating and will come close to me to get to the food, but the minute she figures out what's going on she hisses and I usually get swatted.

Both kittens played with a toy for the first time tonight, which took quite a bit of coaxing on my part.  They have also started to groom themselves more in my presence, which is a good thing.

Kitten Socialization, Day 4

This is basically a three minute video of kittens eating, and you have to listen to me talk (sorry), but you can see the following:

1. Both kittens will now eat off of my fingers and let me touch them.
2.  Short/broken whiskers.  Hopefully these grow back in shortly as the overall health of the kittens improves.
3.  They really are tiny.  The spoon is one of those very small teaspoons if you need a reference for size.  Both fit pretty darn comfortably in the sink, too.
4.  They don't seem to have their adult coats yet, but Mac looks like she could end up being long-haired.
5.  They're kittens, so naturally, they're adorable.
6.  They're very messy and enthusiastic eaters.  In less than an hour they made it through a whole can of food and a jar and a half of baby food.  They get the hiccups, too.  

Kitten Socialization, Day 3

Sorry, no pictures again.  But I will share some videos that I have found extremely helpful.

I've decided that the guy in these videos deserves some kind of award, not just because of the obvious kindness he displays toward animals, but because apparently his "day job" is resident stage director for the NYC Opera at Lincoln Center.  He's also a vet tech.  Maybe that's what I should do in my free time when I'm not teaching orchestra....because I have so much of it....anyway.  Here are the videos from Mike Phillips at the Urban Cat League in NYC:

Both kittens will eat off of the spoon, but Mac still hisses at me when I enter the room until she realizes that I'm just there to feed her.  She's very smart and reluctant to be lured closer with food.  I originally thought that she'd socialize faster, but it looks like I was wrong.  LJ, on the other hand, will lick food off of my fingers and let me pet him.  Today he even let me pick him up and put him in my lap.  He was pretty wide-eyed and scared but not at all defensive and continued to eat when prompted.  I got him off the ground and against my chest for a couple of minutes, which is a huge step.  He's going to make a great mellow cat and has very expressive eyes and a very adorable expression in general.  Mac is going to take some more work.  Hopefully once LJ is comfortable in laps I'll be able to separate the two a little more.  

Anyway, these are hungry little guys.  They went through three jars of baby food and a can and a half of regular food today.  It shouldn't be any problem continuing to socialize with food!  Both kittens also look considerably cleaner and fluffier after their bath yesterday, but they are extremely messy eaters and as a consequence are a little grody again.  Maybe they'll clean each other off.  

Kitten Socialization Day Two

No pictures today because I just don't want to take the time to upload them-sorry!

We made great progress today but unfortunately most of it just went out the window, and we are back to where we were last night.  However, I felt that this was necessary to ensure the health of the kittens.

This morning I found both cats in the nest I made for them instead of in the sink.  They no longer climbed the walls when I came in the room, but they did hide.  I broke out the baby food because that's the food that they like the best (it truly is Kitten Crack!) and patiently waited for them to eat.  No dice.  I finally put some on the end of a long spoon and held it to LJ's lips.  After a few minutes, he hesitantly licked the baby food off of the spoon, and then he couldn't get enough!  Between the two kittens they went through 2 1/2 jars of baby food and half a can of cat food today.  I progressively moved my hand down the spoon and pretty soon LJ was eating off of my fingers with no hesitation.  He even let me touch him and hold him in a towel for a little bit.  Mac took longer to come around-she let me feed her off of the spoon but barely came to the edge of the tunnel.  I won't try finger feeding her because she's a chomper when she eats, regardless of what it is, and I'd like to keep my fingers.

I laced the food with Bach's Rescue Remedy*, and both cats seemed to mellow quite a bit.  I also have some  Happy Traveler, which I'll probably try tomorrow morning should the cats still be freaked out from tonight.

*does not involve playing Bach Suites for the kittens.  May or may not make you better at actually performing Bach.

Now, for our socialization setback.  Both kittens had extremely flaky skin and horrible looking coats.  Furthermore, they turned every surface they lay on black.  I was concerned that they had fleas, which we know can make a cat anemic.  Given how skinny these two are it would be the last thing they need.  I went in there with a snowsuit and leather gloves just in case.  The "snowsuit" consisted of two pairs of jeans, snow pants, a long sleeved shirt and sweatshirt, winter coat, extra long rubber gloves, leather gloves, and safety goggles.  Think this is excessive?  THEN YOU'VE NEVER TRIED TO BATHE A CAT.

With LJ it wasn't really necessary.  He allowed me to scruff him and went limp instantly with a minimal amount of hissing.  His entire bath (in warm water and two drops of Lemon Joy, laced with the Bach) took about a minute including rinsing, and he allowed me to cuddle him in a towel for about two minutes afterward.  Mac was a different story.  It took me forever just to scruff her (which wasn't as effective as I would have liked with her), and she went from defense to all out attack mode (snowsuit!).  Poor baby.  She's a little traumatized by the whole thing, and although I don't think she'll die from stress or anything I sure hope she snuggles in those warm towels and gets dry in a hurry, because she had all of her limbs fully splayed and wouldn't allow me to put her in a towel at all.  LJ, no joke, watched her entire bath from the shelf above the sink.  Both kittens urinated shortly after I got them in the bath they were so scared, but like I said LJ took it more in stride.  I didn't get any fleas off, but we'll see if any drop off tomorrow morning or if that was a false alarm.  Either way, that water was brown when I drained it before rinsing each kitten.

We are back to square one for socialization tomorrow, but given how quickly things moved today I think by the end of two weeks we should be on ok footing.

Break Boredom: Taking on a Project

October means two weeks of fall break in our year-round district.  For us fine arts folks it isn't completely a break; I spent all day Saturday judging middle school all-region auditions, will work with my high school students all next week to prepare for their auditions, and will judge high school auditions the last weekend in the break.

I do, however, have a lot more free time.  On Saturday I went to Walgreens and spotted two little kittens running around the parking lot.  Catching them was unsuccessful.  They would eat near me but wouldn't let me get too close or pick them up.

I went back Sunday morning intending to trap both of them, and caught their mother instead.

Our city has a feral cat program, so I took her to the vet this morning and had her spayed and vaccinated.  Vets that participate in the program can only take five cats a month, and there were three or four other people picking up feral cats when I went to get her this evening.  She'll be on my porch the rest of the night and will go "home" in the morning.  Her ear has been tipped to identify her as altered and off limits to animal control.

Meanwhile, I went back for the kittens Sunday evening.  I just know the people at Walgreens thought I was nuts with the trap set up.  I grabbed a book and just waited.

The black and white kitten, who I've decided to call Long John Silver (because of where he was found and his apparent personality), is overall more defensive and cautious.

The calico, who I've decided to call Mac (I used canned Mackerel as bait in the trap...it reeks, so cats love it) got a lot closer to me than LJ did and was the first to show up Sunday night.  As soon as they saw my truck, both kittens waltzed right up, but LJ hung back a little.

I'm guessing the kittens are 8-10 weeks old, although they're awfully skinny and dehydrated so I'm not sure.  LJ got trapped first and it took another half hour for me to get Mac.  After thoroughly sanitizing the bathroom and kitten-proofing it, I let them loose and they both freaked out.  

When I got up this morning I found both kittens in the sink. 

Note LJ's defensive posture.  He's going to be difficult.  He also attempts sustained eye contact when I'm trying to avoid contact, which is a threatening gesture.  I have to be super careful with him. 

Today was rough.  Mac goes crazy every time I walk into the room and literally climbs the walls. She even hissed at me earlier!  LJ retreats to the sink to plot world domination.  Neither will touch any food yet.  

So far, my plan is to first get them to associate me with food.  Day one consisted of me walking into the room, avoiding eye contact and speaking softly, and putting food very near the kittens but far from me.  I'd then sit on the floor and basically ignore the kittens and read or play with my phone.  No luck yet, but it's been a full 24 hours now since they've eaten, so hopefully tomorrow they'll come out of hiding long enough to at least get some food. I have canned food, sardines (my cats think they have died and gone to heaven, as they get leftovers), and kitten crack, otherwise known as Gerber chicken and gravy baby food.  The goal is for them to be eating the baby food off of my fingers in two weeks.  Of course this timeline is dependent entirely on them, so we'll just have to see what happens.  It's going to take a lot of patience.  In the meantime, the kittens have a radio tuned to NPR constantly to get them used to human voices and to bring them up with good taste in music.  I'll keep everyone posted on the progress.  Once I get them socialized, they will need homes!