So - come up to the lab, and see what's on the slab.
I see you shiver with antici... pation.

So, I went back to the Chinese Doctor.  He's obsessed with the way I sit and says my spine is curved out a little instead of in, so he just loves jabbing his fingers, fists and elbows into my spine to get me to sit up.  To bad it hurts so much I have to lie down after!

More acupuncture needles... but only nine this time.  I guess he thought ten was overkill!  Of course, this time they decided to hook up electrodes to four of the needles and have them send pulses of electricity right into my muscles.  I say we never get into any kind of a war with China, EVER!  If they do this for healing, just think of what they will do for torturing people!!!

Back feels better, but still sore.  Still would love to know exactly what I did to it, but as long as this keeps working I guess I have to suck it up and take it.  I'm not sure about the electricity though... some points it wasn't bad, but some felt like a little too much juice into my poor body!  Never really realized how much a hurt back can throw your entire day or week off.  Gonna hit the hot yoga class this week at the gym and try to loosen it up that way too.  Why not... a little Chinese Medicine and a little Indian stretching...

I have no clue what I did to my back this week, but it has just been getting worse and worse.  Can't sleep, can't move fast and I sound like an old man when I bend over.  After trying to just mend on my own (sitting on the couch watching kung-fu movies) I finally sucked it up and went to see my favorite Chinese doctor.  He was even nicer to me this time... he gave me ten needles in my back, plus the bonus of Chinese Cupping, Scraping and I can finally touch the back of my head with my own feet!  What a wonderful trip!!!

We did the Chinese cupping in Thailand at a new spa that opened up by our hotel.  It was run by a Taiwanese couple and they were giving everything for 50% off to start the business, so a one-hour Thai massage should have cost 500baht (18CAN), but since there were two of us it was like getting buy on get one free.  We went three nights in a row I think, and the one night we decided to get the cupping done as well.  the cupping was done in the traditional manner with the cups heated up with fire and placed n the skin in order to suck the blood and toxins out of your skin and muscles.  Eva's back wasn't too bad, but mine was pretty bad.  I had the bruises for almost three weeks after.  It's an interesting experience, and the fire cups (instead of using a pump to suck the air out) is a lot more painful, but also more precise.

Here's some shots from Thailand...

The Thailand stuff looked really bad.  My lower back and shoulders were the darkest of the bruises.  The cups were left on for about 25 minutes, but the Shi-Fu (Master) readjusted a few of mine half way through to make sure they got everything.  It's not like it really hurts, but it is very uncomfortable as all your skin is being pulled into the cups and you cannot move at all while it is happening.

So yesterday at the Chinese Doctor I had eight needles put on both sides of my spine and two at the base to relieve the pressure of the back.  I know it sounds strange to do, but it really works.  Of course after the needles I then had more cupping done, then Gua Sha, which is the Chinese scraping technique with is like running the edge of something like a credit card over your skin to draw the blood to the surface as well and really give the muscles a deep manipulation.  And just to make it even more fun, then the assistant twisted my body so many ways, parts I never knew could crack did, including laying on my stomach and having him take my foot and twist it across my back and up so my foot was beside the opposite ear.  this may be why I am still laying on the couch today.

Here are a few shots from Eva's cell phone of the needles and the cups in place on my back...

The red is the light from the heat lamp they had on my back the whole time.  Eva kept trying to get good shots, so she moved it a few times.  Such a loving girlfriend!  No shots of the scraping, but my back does look really nice now that I've been poked, sucked, scraped and twisted...

The cups didn't bruise that badly this time, but the scraping did wonders to the color of my skin.  Also, the camera seems to have added about 40lbs into my lovehandles and makes me really wish I didn't eat that second Easter Creme Egg after dinner today!  Oh, and for those of you keeping track (and my sister who is having a fit that I am going to look like a long-haired hippy freak at her wedding in two months), no, I haven't cut my hair since 2008...

Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it
My hair...

Lord I Was Born a Ramblin' Man...

The boys have been busy lately.  Malaysia/Borneo in January and Thailand in February.  It's a good thing they let me come along with them on their trips sometimes...

Domo discussing why Avatar was overrated with part of a Malaysian Wedding feast

 

The Boys with Eva and her new Malaysian Sister-in-Law Ivy
and Relaxing on the beaches of Koh Samet in Thailand



Building a inuksuks in Thailand



Fun with the setting sun over the Gulf of Thailand





Early morning on the beach with a bottle of Thai beer and sand in their shorts.

Next trip for The Boys will be a return to Canada in June, and then a summer trip that is yet to be planned.  Domo wants to go to Sri Lanka, but Pumba is fighting for Nepal.  But, there is a baby due in Malaysia that we may go visit as well, so no matter what, The Boys always have their bags packed and ready to go.

A quick update on Mouthy.  After taking her to see a specialist a few months back, they decided to remove the injured eye completely.  I was beginning to notice her having real problems with the eye, but I didn't want to have to do this to her.  We took her from the street to get her some treatment for a respiratory infection, meaning for her to go back in a few weeks when healed.  Then the eye problem was discovered.  Then the facility that held her didn't know what to do with her, keeping her in a small cage, away from other cats to avoid more injury.  This was last May.  Mouthy is now sleeping on my couch, getting fur everywhere, attacking my feet whenever I come out of the bathroom and cuddling up with Eva any chance she gets when the two of them steal my couch from me.

Mouthy has gone from very untrusting streetcat to a great pet with a lot of attitude, a huge personality and a lot of love to give.  I absolutely love having her here, but I am looking for a more stable home for her for the rest of her mouthy little life.  Within days of the eye coming out she was better than I had ever seen her.   Sometimes she does bump into things with her limited depth perception, but it keeps me entertained. 

Mouthy is awesome and it makes me feel good having been there for her for all this time.  Maybe she'll be here for a while longer, or just a short time, who knows.  Hell, I'd even bring her back to Canada if anyone back there wants a very unique looking, unique acting, one-eyed, one-eared cat!!!

Oh, You're Down... Here... Let Me Kick You Again...

Mouthy's eye has become infected again and had to go to the vets this morning to have the stitches removed and have the eye cleaned out.  This vet is a specialist for cats and thinks the eye may be almost useless and will run tests tonight and tomorrow before deciding on what has to be done.  So, after seven months off the street, she may lose the eye completely.  Maybe it will actually alleviate the long-term problems, but this cat has been through so much.  I hate to see it happen, but if it is for the best, then I guess it will have to happen.

Puffy, the Feline AIDS cat is getting better.  When she was brought in she was skinny because her entire mouth was an open sore.  They tried to swab her gums and they basically came off like wet paper.  They got her infections under control and she is eating and healthier, but there is no cure.  She can be released back, but to where?  I almost feel like an asshole saying it, but do I really want her in the group with Moustache, Wrong Place, Toughy, Princess, Baby, Big Orange and the others?  It can be transmitted through bites from a fight or sharing food.  They all share food!  They are street cats.  The vet said the group may already be infected and the stronger the cat the better off they will be, but I know Princess and Wrong Place do not have strong immune systems like the others.  Part of me thinks I should take her somewhere safe, away from the others, but then I'm doing to her what everyone here does with their cats... dumping the problem somewhere else.  I really don't know what to do with her.

And to top it all off, I got a call that someone found one of our CNR cats very sick by the bridge and took her to the vet by my house.  I went to see who it was after work.  It's my buddy Wulai.  I knew it was him when I walked in the door and he answered me when I called his name with his little, squeeky meow.  Looking at him, I couldn't tell as he was laying on his side, an IV in his arm, not even able to move his head and urine dripping down to the tray below him. 

The vet showed me the tests and the X-ray.  All liver, kidney and system functions are normal.  There is no damage internally or externally to him.  The only thing that looks different is the stomach and intestines are inflamed as if they are infected.  This is a sing of being poisoned. 

I've seen the after effects of poisoning on cats and even had to bury one less than 72 hours after being released after being fixed and given a good meal at my house.  I've never seen what they look like when they haven't died (and I don't want to say yet, but you should see the poor guy).  He still knew my voice as he talked back every time I spoke to him, but unlike any other time I have ever seen him, he didn't move.  Wulai is (I refuse to say 'was') the kind of cat who not only rubbed against your leg for affection and attention, he put his whole head and body into it and sometimes it was like taking a ground shot baseball to the shin.  He always wants to be everyone's best buddy, and what can I do for him except stand at the cage and speak softly to him to let him know that I'm still there for him, even if I can't be at the vets 24 hours a day to ensure he is okay.

I have to go and check on the rest of the crew now and make sure the others are accounted for and okay.  Wulai lives in the pride along with a lot of babies and female cats including Mommacat, Crazy, Crazy Momma, Calico, Orange Nuts, Callie, Bunny and a few others.  If it was in food, I'm very afraid he isn't the only one who may have eaten it.  Wulai was only #11 of the 46 cats we have taken in to CNR.  He's one of the old timers, and now he's just laying there not knowing anything except the pain. 

They all deserve so much better, I just wish I could give them more...

left - Wulai relaxing with his best friend Princess
right - Mouthy, the one-eared, one-eyed cat

I guess one thing I did get out of India was a new interest in The Beatles and the creation of The White Album. 

I just got the new Paul McCartney Live CD and DVD from Starbucks back home and can't stop listening and watching it.  I think this is the song that makes me miss home the most...

Feline AIDS...

What else are these cats going to have to go through in their already tough lives.  I just hope we got Puffy in time to save her life, help out with what is left of her life, or at the very least, protect the rest of the pride from contracting it as well.

Her mouth is full of open sores and she can barely eat anything hard, or with any kind of salt content.  She will need a special diet of boiled chicken to try to build her strength back up.  She is too weak now to go back as the weather is colder and she has no body fat whatsoever.  It breaks my heart that she has this, and I really fear for the others from her area as she has been with the group for over two months in this state.

Now I am going to be worried about the Stairway Pride for a long time to come...

Back in the C, N and R...

Almost seven months to the day that we ended the CNR of the cats at the Bitan Bridge, we're back and after just one night, I'm scratched, bit, cut and bleeding.  It feels damn good!

Two of the last cats we caught were pregnant and we didn't get them before they had their babies.  Two survived, which we don't know if they are brother and sister or not as both mothers took care of them.  They are both now big enough, and friendly enough to get fixed without any problems... or so I thought.

The male who I named Orange Nuts is super friendly, lets me pick him up and play with him and he follows me everywhere at the bridge.  Callie, his calico little sister, is more shy and stand-offish, but still very sweet.  We figured they were a good start to the possible ten or more cats we need to pick out of the different prides.  They were pretty easy catches, but with a little time in between hands on catches, I forgot a few things...

Never, no matter how friendly a cat is, pick him up by the sides like a house cat and bring him towards a cage.  He was happy, he was friendly... then he saw the cage door open.  Before I knew it he was twisting and had all his claws in different parts of my skin.  I could have let go, but I knew it would be almost impossible to get him again if I did, so I held tight and got him in.  All four fingers on my right hand plus the palm of my hand are cut, plus two fingers and my wrist on my left are sliced open pretty good.  This is only a seven month old kitten.

I got gloves for Callie and got her by the back of the neck and the back legs so there was no way she was going to fight out of my grip.  She did attempt to tear the cage apart from the inside out which was impressive for being the smaller of the two.

The best part of the night was Brandy's catch.  One of our old catches has been very sick.  We are guessing it may be feline AIDS.  She showed up about two months back drooling, violent and not being able to hold down food (and no, it;s not rabies... Taiwan has never had a case of rabies).  For the longest time she could barely eat, choking it up or growling and screeching in pain attempting to eat.  We thought maybe there was something lodged in her throat, but she won't let anyone near her.   In the last few weeks, she has become more active, but smaller.  She was a regular sized cat before and is now a quarter of her size.  You can see her ribs, her fur is falling out and very matted, she can't meow properly and still has trouble eating.  I hate to say it but she looks like she should have died a month ago.

For some reason when Brandy came to visit the cats with me last week, the sick cat followed her everywhere.  Brandy caught her before so maybe she feels a connection to her, I don't know.  Neither of us have caught a stray in a long time, but Brandy was smart and knew she was hungry, so she put the food in a basic carrier and just allowed her to go in and eat it.  When she finally had three legs and her very shrunken body in, Brandy closed the cage and quickly locked the door.  Of course the cat had a fit and we couldn't pick up the cage for fear of the loss of our fingers, but I've been trying to get this cat looked after for a long time now and it was just the simple trust she had in Brandy that will get her the help she needs.

So, we are now up to 46 catches at the bridge.  I don't know where we stood with points when we finished last time (I know it's bad, but we are competitive with each other), so if we start again, I would have to say I got two points tonight for Orange Nuts and Callie while Brandy scored at least five for the sick cat.  I think I should get bonus points for blood loss, but I will reign supreme when I get Big Orange, the 50 point cat into a cage by the end of this month.  He trusts me now after a year and even if I lose a limb, I'm going to get him...

I hope!