Last week I developed a horrible pain on the back of my tongue and upper throat area. I had to gargle with salt water dozens of times a day, and was taking two Advil every six hours for the pain. I was sure I had something God awful, and of course it was the long weekend, so I knew I would perish without medical intervention. As luck would have it traffic was low to the walk-in clinic nearby so I drove straight down.

There was only one man in the waiting room, so it was a quick visit. I soon saw a doctor who looked into my throat and said, “I don’t see anything alarming.” I was in shock, “You don’t see ANYTHING in there?” I asked. “Nope. Probably just a virus, continue to gargle and take pain meds.” I left saying to the receptionist, who I happen to know, “turns out I’m a hypochondriac.”

Probably some kind of mental reaction to all the care and feeding of the 99-and-a-half-year-old. I’m back to Osoyoos again today, despite having just been there last week, because mom’s in poor shape right now. Last week Luke had found her sitting on the bathroom floor, naked from the waist down, and had to wrestle her into her bed. This caused a few days of confusion, but she was watching the vice-presidential debates last night so she may be making a comeback.

Calvin’s cat Felix had his canine tooth knocked out at the root, and as a nerve was exposed it had to be dealt with by a vet. He took Felix in for an exam, then there was surgery booked for the next day to remove what was left of the tooth. I was in Osoyoos so emailed him and said how much did the vet soak ya for that, and he replied $1400. Can you imagine? I think this is why there are so many pets at the SPCA.

My cat George is just recovering from an abscess he had in his cheek, and which began mid July. It’s the cat’s own fault, as he loves to fight, and he’s also too crazy for surgery, a drain, and a cone. Or I should say I’m too mentally fragile to deal with that cat under those conditions. So he and I have toughed it out, it’s now healing with just a small scab remaining on his chest. Cost? Zero, to both my bank account and my nerves.

But I don’t blame Calvin as his cat is his number one companion and best friend. And you can’t leave an exposed nerve. I could tell Felix was feeling bad prior to the surgery as he loves canned food, and when I went downstairs to open a can for him, he refused it. Poor little cat, but all better now, and back to being allowed outside during the day.

I was thrilled to find a neighbour who’s an expert in WordPress so I now know how to add all of the blogs I wrote in 2006. And magically, WordPress will place them way back ahead of all the others, so it appears as though they’ve always been there. They were always on my website, but for some reason were missed when it was migrated over.

I’m slogging through my memoir of the ten years of the fruitcake business. I’m torturing my editor Judith by sending it to her chapter by chapter. I sent chapter one, she sent a full page of comments. I fixed chapter one, worked on chapter two, and sent her that. This will go on for a while as once each of the ten chapters have been worked on by me after her comments, the poor woman will have to read the entire book and do hard edits.

But as I said to her, you were the one who wanted to be an editor, so cry me a river.