busybee fluffy rambles

Today I finally had an appointment with an ENT and an audiologist, as part of trying to figure out what’s going on with my vertigo.

The audiologist didn’t find anything wrong with my hearing and said it’s normal for someone of my age. (She also told me the correct pronunciation of “tinnitus.” It’s like TIN-nit-iss.) She didn’t have any idea what might be underlying my tinnitus but I’ve had it my whole life and it doesn’t seem to be relevant to anything going on now.

The ENT didn’t see anything particularly out of the ordinary with my sinuses from what he could see in this basic exam, but he wanted to bring me in for a more focused CT scan, especially since my previous cranial CT scan found sinus polyps as being a thing, and I have such a long history of chronic sinus issues. So that’ll happen in a month. In the meantime he also referred me to a physical therapist that can do vestibular rehabitation, and he thinks the prognosis for that is really good.

Hopefully I’ll be able to feel comfortable driving again soon, because gosh do I not like being stuck in my little bubble.

I knew things were going to be bad, but I wasn’t expecting just how out-loud bad they’ve been starting on day 1.

Erin in the Morning is a great site to follow. Also What The Fuck Just Happened Today?

I have deactivated my Facebook. Not that I was very active there anyway but it’s clearly not the place for me, per the CEO’s own missive.

I’m flying my pride flag high. Soon I’ll be hosting someone who’s escaping from a deep-red state for a couple weeks, I hope to do more to help my local community.

Everything important in my life feels like it’s either under attack or has become a shouting match.

I hope I can get in a good headspace for working on music. I have a game jam coming up this weekend and a month-long one in February.

Tomorrow I have a small show in VRChat and then I have my appointment with the ENT which will hopefully help me find a solution for my vertigo, and after that I have the first night of choir practice for this season, and I’m holding on to what I can.

Stuff on my plate right now, for the immediate future:

• Have some lunch
• Finish reorganizing my bedroom
• Laundry
• Get around to editing and posting my VRChat concert recordings
• Tidy up my recording studio

Longer-term things:

• Get around to replacing the failing security camera on my studio entryway
• Work on some music, gosh darnit
• Gather and donate/sell all the disused crap treasures I don’t want anymore that could do others much more good
• All the other stuff

I forgot to post about it here but Tyler’s problem turned out to be much simpler: he had fleas. A really bad case of them, which should have been obvious to me, but I am apparently oblivious to the difference between “he is unable to clean himself” and “the crusty junk all over his hindquarters is flea poop.” And the pain was just because he was super overwhelmed by, y'know, having bugs crawling all over him and biting him.

He is now on flea medication, as is Fiona (even though she never got infested, better safe than sorry), and he’s back to his old cuddly self. I also thorogughly combed him and disposed of so many dead fleas, and have done so much laundry.

I think I’m going to try once again to keep Tyler and Fiona indoors all the time from now on. Wish me luck.

When I adopted Tyler, his tail had a couple of kinks in it, apparent signs of dislocations or other injuries. The vet said that they’re just a normal thing that happens to some cats, and that it’s generally not harmful to them and there isn’t really anything that can be done.

Unfortunately, Tyler how has a third kink in his tail, and this one’s pretty close to his spine, and he’s clearly in pain from it. He’s been unable to clean his hindquarters anymore (which he was never great at to begin with) and whenever I try brushing him or even gently petting him there he’s clearly in a lot of distress. Even just lying in place he’s having a lot of trouble getting comfortable.

So, I’m going to take him to the vet, and I expect that whatever they find it’s going to be pretty expensive to take care of. Sigh.

From what I’m finding online, most likely the vet will want to do some x-rays, and depending on what they find they might either need to set the joints and splint his tail for a while or, unfortunately, they may need to amputate.

But he’s clearly in a lot of pain and I want him not to be!