15 thoughts on “December 20, 2023: Be Our Guest”

  1. Estrellas scored two in the fourth and defeated Aguilas 3-1. Miguel Sano was 1-for-2. Raimel Tapia was 2-for-4. Starter Jorge Martinez (2-0) got the win, pitching five shutout innings while giving up no hits and four walks and striking out four. Neftali Feliz (10) pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out two, to get the save.

    Margarita scored two in the first and defeated Caribes 6-3. Willians Astudillo was 1-for-4. Luis Sardinas hit a home run, his sixth. Starter Edgar Escobar (3-4) took the loss, pitching 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks and striking out four.

  5. Monday was a long day here at Chez Hayes.

    Background: I kept the Poissonnière home from school last Friday because she was running a low fever and complained of weakness. She slept the from 8am to nearly 2pm, and then bounced back with some energy. She was sick all weekend with fevers running as high as 103.5°F. A home COVID test showed negative. Early Sunday morning she woke up and complained she was getting the spins when she closed her eyes. Her eyes were also bloodshot. A 24/7 telehealth “visit” suggested we get her tested for influenza, RSV, & strep, which no longer presents with a signature sore throat. Monday morning we went to urgent care, where she was tested and we were told we needed to monitor for a fever on Tuesday, at which point we needed to go straight to the ER and ask for her to be screened for Kawasaki disease. The Poissonnière ultimately popped positive for Influenza A and has not had a fever since Monday.

    Shortly after getting home from urgent care, I was working in my office and heard what sounded like a cat trying to throw up in the living room or kitchen. We have a new couch that I’m overly protective of (it being a custom order that took five months over the quoted time to be delivered from LA), so I went out to make sure Wally wasn’t going to throw up on it.

    Instead, I found Wally choking on something and foaming at the mouth. He couldn’t dislodge the object and we couldn’t swipe it out. I called our vet’s clinic and they said to bring him immediately.

    I drove him to the vet in my lap, choking and wrapped in a towel. By the time I got him there (3 miles away), Wally was purple. I ran him straight into the back. We got him on oxygen, but he couldn’t clear the obstruction so we had to sedate & intubate him.

    The vet said cats don’t instinctively switch to breathing only through their nose if their trachea is obstructed. He was barely able to inhale but couldn’t expel the CO2, so he was slowly & excruciatingly suffocating until he was intubated. Only the vet & a tech were in clinic, so I was their third set of hands for about twenty minutes. X-rays were inconclusive.

    Eventually the other vet arrived and they pulled the tube, which had food in it. They tried prying out anything that might be stuck with a bunch of small instruments, but nothing was coming out. So they reintubated Wally to get him back on oxygen.

    Ultimately, the other vet took Wally back off oxygen and shook him upside down several times — and suddenly the previously invisible wedged kibble popped out! Wally started breathing on his own again. They expect he’ll be fine, though we have to watch for pneumonia in case some of the food wound up in his lungs. So far he seems his usual self.

    Our vet has been practicing for 45 years, and this is the first time she’s seen a cat nearly choke to death. Very relieved we kept that streak alive.

    2. I get officially ill watching Embiid, so I made the wise decision to spend the evening building the BttF Delorean my wife got me for my birthday. It's pretty rad.

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