1 Year!

December 11th will be my 1 year transition anniversary! I'll celebrate with phallic ice cubes in beverages and some kind of yummy vegan dinner, or something along those festive and appropriate lines.

I also finally had an appointment with my hormone doctor earlier this week. I was a bit anxious because this was my first appointment uninsured, but when I called I was told that she had a flat rate that I could pay at the appointment. So I saved up enough, got there and instead of wasting my money and meeting with her (since I'm feeling fine and haven't noticed any problems), I was sent down to get my blood work done (so she could look to see how my innards are doing - liver, hormone levels, etc.). Woo! How efficient!

I haven't heard back in regards to results, but tomorrow when I go in for a prescription refill the pharmacist is supposed to give my doctor a call and will adjust my dosage depending on the results. I've been on the exact same dosage all year, so ... I'll see if it changes or not.

On a side note, earlier this month a friend of mine who works at the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter called me in regards to a skinny mom pup and five little pitbull puppies who would, for sure, not make it in the shelter (due to the special time/resources puppies need, especially sick ones, on top of the exposure to diseases from other dogs), asking if I could be a foster home in the event the foster she'd found fell through.

I called my roommates and they approved of my accepting to be a Plan B Foster - and, one week later, I got a call saying that the initial foster parent had been caught hitting the mom dog and so the pups were taken away and brought to my place.

Unfortunately, two of the pups didn't make it, so I ended up with three. All of them are 5 weeks old. And, low and behold, these pups are A LOT of work. For whatever reasons, the mom dog (Emma - who is only about a year old herself) hasn't entirely bonded with her babies, so it's difficult to get her to nurse enough.

But now, a little over a week later, the three puppies are gaining weight. They're much more active. Emma is shiny and energetic and perfectly fit plump. They'll be ready for new homes in no time! One of the pups has been struggling with some kind of respiratory issue, but after I introduced a humidifier to the bathroom that is now a puppy incubator, he has been doing much better. Bit by bit.

Here is my poor foster co-parent, Jay, being ravaged by the more-energetic-every-day puppies:

Moving on.

I did some photo and video documentation earlier since, well, it's been a while and it's almost been an entire year; so I'll make that little post in a moment here.