still alive and a brief brush with death.

yes. i have not updated this in a pretty long time. and for that, i'm sorry. i have no excuses, really, save laziness and distraction. maybe some being out of townness and a poor sick rat.

you see, hazel developed some sort of lung infection, poor thing. there were a few days of sneezing and squeaking (rats don't usually squeak) and a stuffy nose that i thought would probably go away. but then it worsened. and worsened. and her breathing became more and more laboured. and i then i started to get worried. so i looked up a vet that said they treated small animals and gave them a call to set up appointments. they were entirely reassuring and made me feel a whole lot better about taking her in someplace.

so i did. and the grave look on the vet's face as she examined the rat x-rays (i wish i could get a copy of those. they were cute.) made my heart sink. i cried at the vet. i stood with my back to the front desk and tried to compose myself before i had to talk to the vet again and tried to catch my breath and not just lose my shit. and i thought i had, i really did. but when she came back to ask me if i wanted to do the "iron lung"-esque treatments and i just started crying.

and so we did. the treatments. and i gave her antibiotics. and she wasn't that much better after the first few days. and she would just come home from spending all day at the vet and sleep. on the third night she slept on my bed for a good eight hours. and then when i was walking into my room around midnight, i kicked her. she was running around. it was like she had suddenly felt a hundred times better. out of nowhere, she was acting better. eating food. and then after that, she just got better and better. and now she's back to stealing things and wreaking havoc. the other day, on a hot afternoon (i have no air conditioning) she climbed up on the coffee table and fell asleep. too cute.

it was touch and go there for a while. i was really, really worried about her. i know she isn't going to be around forever. she's a rat. they don't live very long.. but she is my friend, my buddy, my pal. she is a living creature and she's awesome. so. i did what i could. and she's still here. wahoo!

other stuff is happening. but. i think i need to space these updates out. make it seem like a lot. ha.



anyhoo. i'm still here. in the biggest little city. that's where you'll find me now.