sneak preview: drag me to hell

ugh

Dear Blog,

Had to type something to clear the top of this thing off.

I'm going to start doing little mini-prints. Each print will be a little 5x7 edition of 10 for $10 each.

Some will have dinosaurs.

comfort

As if on cue, a quilt from Derek's stepmother arrived in the mail, concocted of various worn out t-shirts we had sent her months ago.

the little one with the big heart

Matilda didn't make it. She died yesterday afternoon, shortly after a visit from us. We brought Murphy to see her, and her favorite blanket. We think her squeaks and groans she made were her telling us goodbye.

I had worried that the venom would damage a vital organ, like the kidneys, but in the end it was the blood that was destroyed and never fixed. After 7 transfusions (4 blood and 3 plasma) her heart simply gave out.

When we first adopted her, she was a timid stick from the streets. A jittery almost shy girl who would burrow and hide throughout the house. Over time, she become a snuggle companion, fetch player, and an ever more creative burrower. She slept in bed with us, and was ecstatic when we would return home, dancing on her hind legs and patting the large window pane in our side door with her little claws. She became happiness personified.

We keep saying how unfair this is, how the little one got a raw deal. But I think the rawest deal of all would have been her dying alone in the streets downtown, which would have happened had Harmony not rescued her. Emaciated, fearful, and un-loved to a vibrant loving, loud soul. It didn't last long enough, but at least she had that.

At least she had us, and for a little while we had her.

matildabeast

PUPDATE! Day 4, PM Edition

Third plasma transfusion in progress, BUT she did stand up, turn around, and pass out all on her own energy. Sure, it was ALL her energy, but a little victory. All the Vet Techs are super optimistic and ecstatic with her progress.

PUPDATE! Day 4

Just got off the phone with the vet.

THE GOOD: She seems to be in less pain, she was propped up and sat for a little bit. She drank some water on her own and didn't throw up (given how swollen her face and throat are, I'm not even sure how this is possible, but yay her). Her blood pressure is holding.


THE BAD: Another blood transfusion. Another Plasma transfusion. Something, be it her body or the venom, is destroying her red blood cells and not making anymore -- very bad for the healing process. Her count dipped back to 13, its original low. It should be high 30's-low 40's.

PUPDATE! Day 3

We saw he last night, the swelling on her had (the top part) HAD gone down quite a bit. She had been moved into her own kennel, no longer on the ER table, and she was apparently barking at other dogs. All good signs.

PUPDATE! Day 2

Her swelling has decreased a bit, but overnight she required a blood transfusion because of high anemia (this on top of the plasma transfusion). She's doped up on pain meds, and we'll go see her later today.

- Her red blood cell count should be in the high 30-40's. It was 13. post transfusion its 22, not perfect but an improvement

- The top part of her noggin is apparently less huge, and now she's more a of bullfrog with a giant swollen throat

- Still not eating, blood in the stool, blood in the urine, but both expected given kidney damage/some bleeding from the lower intestine

- on a lighter note, the blood transfusion was free, because she's small and they had an open bag

bad fridays, better saturdays

We've had quite an unpleasant adventure here lately, as dear little sweet Matilda was bitten in the face by a rattlesnake yesterday. After a hairraising race to the vet, here's how things stand today, almost 24 hours later:

- Her poor head is swollen 3 times its normal size, she looks like the elephant man.
- Her kidneys are working again, producing urine, which will help detox
- she's on her third and hopefully final vial antivenin, which will help stop the venom from destroying more tissue
- she's blinking and more alert, more vocal too (she is not very happy)
- we brought her favorite blanket from home
- she's on IV liquids, no food
- she's under going a full plasma transfusion, as most of her blood was toxic
- if all goes well, she should be in the ICU at least 2 more days

lighthouse 2.0

review: star trek

review: monster camp

lighthouse

newsbits

- No sooner do I track down a piece of Chris Pine Lantern fanart does a new name get thrown into the casting ring: Bradley Cooper.

- The Japan-set Wolverine sequel is a go. I'm finding it hard to optimstic.

- Ryan Reynold's Deadpool is getting a spin-off prequel. I'm finding it hard to optimstic.

- It seems like almost everyone I know but myself has seen Star Trek. I'm seeing it Friday at 1. Review forthcoming.

- My extreme dislike of Danny Gokey and a vengeful American Idol set out for blood has a wonderful horror movie percolating in my head.

- I'm not really a "horror" sort of guy, but I do have a soft spot for space terror, so I'm sort of looking forward to Pandorum, which looks to be this decade's Haunted House in Space (see: Event Horizon), much more so than Sunshine.

spaceboy

The rumor of the moment is that Chris Pine (Trek 2.0's Kirk) is being considered for the role of Hal Jordon/Green Lantern. I've yet to see him in anything, but almost everyone I know who's seen Star Trek has loved Star Trek, and its sort of hard to love something and hate the lead.

Sure it'd be nice to have two franchises under your belt (*cough*christian bale*cough*), but would starring in GL be redundant? As the script stands, Hal Jordan is a hotshot pilot who bucks authority and through great circumstance becomes a hero that saves earth...which sounds an awful lot like J.J. Abrams's vision of James T. Kirk.

review: x-men origins - wolverine

- A month ago ER left NBC after more than a decade. How will NBC deal in the fall? By greenlighting two "high-octane" medical dramas (Trauma and Mercy).

- NBC also renewed Heroes, again just "hoping" for it to magically get better. They'd be better served killing the cast and rebooting.

- Telling soldiers to "hunt people" for any cause is warped, especially if you're told to "hunt for Jesus."

in brightest day...

I'm expecting the worst from Wolverine, I'm trying to moderate expectations for Star Trek, I'm getting more jazzed than expected for Terminator Salvation, but the movie I'm most looking forward to this summer is ... not a movie. It's "The Blackest Night" crossover event in the Green Lantern books. Superpowered deceased DC character Black Lantern Zombies. Epic.
I'm also jazzed for Green Lantern First Flight dvd, even if I'm OD'ing on his origin story (something heavily featured in the live action film script as well). I'll suffer through for some emerald action.

newsbits: finding nemo

After a busy weekend (birthdays, wedding, and the like) Sunday is being mellow. Expect my Wolverine review tomorrow night, as I brace for the worst.

- Has anyone thought of hiring drug cartels to fix our infrastructure? I'm pretty sure that 4,200 foot NORAD worthy tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego is solid. Hell, can we get them to build us the subway extention to Santa Monica?

- I don't like how Michael Mann's Public Enemies is shot. I guess I'm old fashioned, but I want grit and film grain in my period films.

- The Rock is teaming up with Disney (again) and McG for a remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Interesting since early buzz stated that McG wanted Will Smith for the role of Nemo (assuming of course that The Rock is playing Nemo) in what's rumored to be a quasi prequel to the source material.

- Chace Crawford starring in a remake of Footloose, taking over from a bailing Zac Efron? I guess those gay rumors were unfounded...

- Rumor has it that NBC renewed Chuck, Southland, Parks and Recreation, Medium and Law & Order. Southland's renewal however, isn't what it seems -- NBC just ordered 13 episodes total to fill out the midseason, no word yet about the fall. The show's tumbled since its premiere, and I'm partly to blame: the last 2 episodes are still sitting on the DVR.

- There's still no official airdate for Torchwood's 3rd season/miniseries thing, but the British Film Institute will host a preview of the first episode in London on June 12th.