Almost living at the vet's

Another week of multiple vet visits, this time in Chitre as well as Pedasi. Cagney is the culprit once more. His leg is healing in nicely, but he has eaten little and tends to retreat under the guest bed much of the day. So, after examining him, the Pedasi vet suggested he may have a large hairball and we drove off to the vet In Chitre for x-rays and blood work. The x-rays were negative - normal stomach and bowel, no sign of any obstruction. However, his blood work was off a little - I knew as soon as the results printed, but we waited for the vet to explain. Yes, his red cells are a little low ( no wonder with that bleeding episode!), and his white cells a bit high (yup, he's been fighting an infection). The two vets conferred and Cagney got an IV dose of antibiotic and vitamins. Good kitty...no resistance and we thought he seemed improved when we got him home. Next day, he won't eat, and we've been told to take him to Pedasi for more antibiotic. This time, the full IV treatment and he was exhausted at the end, as were we! Today, he wants to hide again, eating very little, but looking ok. He has lost some weight, although with all his hair he still looks like a big boy. What to do next? We want to give him some time to recover, but this is too worrisome after what happened with Bogart!

Meanwhile, Mitzi has doubled her size, wants to play, eat, and stalk. She is a little delight, and makes us laugh despite our worries over Cagney.

Around the house, all is functioning well right now. Hot water every day is a delight! Our site engineer, Pedro suspects there may be a problem with the hook-up to the community water system, and we need to investigate this. Today we were supposed to have our bedroom closets installed, but no sign of the installers by 4 pm, so maybe manana? I long to hang our clothes up properly.

The weather had been windy as heck for a few weeks, with lots of morning cloud, but that seems to have disappeared now and days are balmy with little wind. Hard to believe we have spent a whole winter with no snow, no rain, no chilly temperatures. It seems surreal! Another month plus of this, and the rainy season starts which means rain many days for part of the day, a change in wind direction, slightly cooler temperatures. There really is no bad weather here. Today I booked a visit to Canada for mid-June and will be away for 15 days plus travel time. I am using Chris' Aeroplan points which saves at least $700 plus dollars. I really will enjoy connecting with my pals, and seeing the family will be a joy.

My Spanish is improving - Chris is impressed, but most Panamanians aren't! I can carry on a brief conversation, but with poor grammar (if any), occasional Spanglish or English, or gestures to fill the gaps. I ordered lunch at McDonalds without getting the wrong order! I think of taking lessons, but have been too lazy to search out a source. Instead, I knit, read, blog, write, photograph, and generally act like I am retired!