Basil's Surgery, Promotion, More

Apologies for the lack of blogging lately, we've been busy and somewhat distracted for several reasons I hope to touch upon here.  Basil needed surgery, I'm getting the overtime blues yet moving up at work, and with spring comes chores that need to be done.

My last post had Basil feeling better but, alas, it was temporary.  A week ago Sunday morning we had to take him in to the emergency vet again because his urinary tract was blocked once more.  We had talked about it, and if this happened again we were going to go ahead with the surgery.   Basil stayed at the vet, surgery got bumped on Monday due to another emergency so he wound up having surgery on Tuesday afternoon.  The surgery was to shorten his urethra so when he forms crystals in his urine they don't get caught in the bend or near the tip.  Now he'll pee like a girl cat, essentially.

After the surgery, they let him come home midday Wednesday, but he has to wear a cone, take medicine and use a special cat litter until he's healed.  We also needed to keep the cats separated, which has not been easy.  He'll have to wear the cone for two weeks following surgery, then he'll have the stitches removed and have to wear it for at least several days still after that.  My wife has been able to get him the medicine in food and pill pockets.  And our home has been divided into three segments; the back bedroom and porch where Basil has been sequestered, the living room and kitchen (and basement) where Hamish has been kept, and the neutral zone - the area in between that has our bedroom, the hall of doors, and the bathroom.  At nights we've had to include the neutral zone in Basil's territory so he can sleep with us - he wouldn't have it any other way, as we found out the very first night.  We've also been moving that barrier so the cats can see and smell each other but not physically interact.  There's been some hissing and batting under doors, but overall it does seem to be getting better so hopefully we can have them together soon.  But Basil does need time to heal without worrying about Hamish coming after him for smelling different.

Weather-wise it is definitely spring.  Most of the snow has melted and plants are starting to come up.  I got outside yesterday to get the yard raked but it's still a bit early for cleaning up the garage and getting ready for summer, though I could get the bikes down and give them a once-over at any time.  Soon it should be consistently pleasant outside, but for now we still have temperatures bouncing up and down, above and below freezing.  There has been regional flooding of some rivers and some communities but we have not had any issues with our lake system like last summer, and hopefully we won't at all.  I should get down to the creek and get a picture, but maybe in a future post.

Work has been keeping me busy with mandatory overtime, but every few weeks they have to give us a break from it, so just regular hours the next couple weeks, thankfully.  Also, I've accepted a promotion that will be effective tomorrow.  I've only been back in this department since July, but they've seemed to be grooming me for this ever since.  Although I'm not in a supervisory position (and do not want to be anyone's supervisor), it is a leadership position and I've already had to tackle many challenges thrown my way.  I've also had to undergo several background checks to varying degrees - including a high level government background check.  This had me being grilled interviewed by a federal agent because I had neglected to mention something rather inconsequential that happened almost 30 years ago!  The government takes things like this very seriously.  Hopefully soon all will be settled.  I have nothing to hide, after all, and this will certainly prove it once again.