Month / August 2019

by thejollyhistorian

Rusty Update!!

The doctor called today to say that the treatment was administered and Rusty was doing well.  Now it is a matter of waiting until he reaches the level of radiation that the government has deemed safe for him to be released.  Right now the thought is probably Wednesday.

In other news, tonight’s post was going to be a step-by-step rundown of my installation of a Daystar Bull Bar on my 2018 Jeep Renegade, but life had other plans.  We bought a new blade for my folks’ lawn mower and when I was turning on the light in the garage, my hand brushed against the corner opening up a little gash.  Of course, it is my right hand, so that ended my thoughts of installing the Bull Bar today.  Guess I’m gonna be a lefty for a while!

More later on this week as we bring Rusty home and work continues on the Renegade.

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by thejollyhistorian

Radioactive Rusty

We dropped Rusty off at the pet hospital in Richmond today.  Rusty has feline hyperthyroidism where errant thyroid cells produce too much thyroid hormones creating all sorts of problems.  Weight loss with an increased appetite were the two symptoms that we discovered.  The treatment option we chose is radioactive iodine therapy.  The thyroid requires iodine to produce the T3 & T4 hormones.  In the case of hyperthyroidism, the errant cells are doing all the producing and the healthy cells are currently “off”.  So with the radioactive iodine therapy, radioactive iodine is injected and absorbed by the bloodstream.  The errant cells absorb the radioactive iodine which eventually kills them.  When all the errant cells are killed (or enough), the healthy cells are restarted and the thyroid operates as normal.  There is roughly a 95% cure rate.  Rusty will have to spend a few days in the kitty hospital until his radiation levels are at the acceptable level where he can be discharged, and we have to treat his waste in a special way for a few months, but otherwise this seems to be a simple procedure.  This is the same treatment that is available to humans with a hyperactive thyroid – its just the humans get a radioactive iodine pill.  I will update as the treatment progresses.

Hopefully my layman’s explanations make sense.  If you want more information, I suggest a quick search for Feline Hyperthyroidism and perusing legit websites like Cornell University, Washington State University, or WebMD Pets.  Also, there are more pictures from Rusty’s visit on my Instagram: thejollyhistorian.

by thejollyhistorian

A Blog Reborn

I’ve been contemplating for a couple of weeks now as to whether or not to continue this blog, shut it down, or just let it lie static.  I haven’t written in a couple of years and it is quite possible that any followers I had may have just drifted away.  I have kept a social media presence on Instagram (@thejollyhistorian) which is where I do most of my posting these days.  On the other hand, I am paying for thejollyhistorian.com and I should do something with it.

Why blog?  It isn’t necessary for my job (BTW, see the About Me page & my Disclaimer that my opinions are all my own).  I am not a business or an aspiring actor where I need to keep people interested in me to get a leg upon the competition.  I’m just an ordinary guy who occasionally gets the bug to write.  My original blog ushistoryfiles.wordpress.com was started because I wasn’t doing much thinking / writing about history and I needed an outlet.  While I enjoyed writing it, eventually I felt one-dimensional.  History is a BIG part of my life, but there is a whole lot more that I am interested in and I might want to write about.

So all this is a long winded way of saying, “here I go again”.  I’m going to restart this blog and write.  About what?  Why a whole bunch of things: History for sure.  Travel? Certainly.  I also love LEGO and have a kick butt collection, so I’ll probably post sometimes about that.  I also own a Jeep Renegade so there may be posts about the upgrades or even some off-roading trips.  Cats? Sure, I have a bunch (four).  Heck, I’ll probably post about yard work, home ownership, and who knows what else.  I’ve reformatted the blog and hey, the first post is about blogging.  It’s a start.