visiting cats

The best part about visiting the farm without the boyfriend is that I get to cuddle with the cats. I have Nanner, a petite tortie, on my lap right now and Beezle, the black and white pigeon-eating monster, is making bizarre whistling noises a few feet away. I generally have to watch my cat exposure carefully, lest I convey cat dander to any of my cat-allergic friends.

Since the boyfriend actually like cats, I can conceivably talk him into allergy shots and then we could have a cat. How well do allergy shots really work? We learned about them briefly in immunology: the repeated introduction of small amounts of allergen gradually switch the immune response from TH2 to TH1. The TH2 path involves immunoglobulin E, which triggers histamine release and the well-known effects of allergy, ex. constricted airways, runny nose, swelling, etc. The TH1 pathway, on the other hand, has less drastic effects on the body, since the production of immunoglobulin switches from IgE to IgG. IgG does not trigger histamine release. In addition, T-cells that react to the specific antigen eventually become anergic.

Now if only all autoimmune diseases were so easy to understand, we'd be set.

TGIT

I am enjoying the absence of people. My parents headed off to Vegas the night I got called in for five hours. I gripe SOOO much when I get called in, my poor boyfriend doesn't know if he's supposed to tell me when the clinic has left a message with him (I was on my way home and missed the call). And then I spend the first hour going "hatehatehate", the second hour "I'm missing bellydance, aargh!" and then the rest of the evening is fine because I've missed bellydance and how much worse could it possibly get? Well, there weren't any emergency back surgeries that came in, so it didn't get any worse, but I was fully expecting one might roll in any moment. As opposed to weekend before last, where I got to spend ten hours of quality time with the surgeon and anesthesiologist. And an additional five hours of quality time with the cartloads and cartloads of bloody instruments that all needed to be cleaned. I got home at five a.m.

But now I'm not on call for a couple of weeks, which lightens my heart. As for today, no school! As I mentioned, the parental units are off seeking sunshine, and my boyfriend went home with his family, which leaves me with the farm full of dogs and cats (who I can hug because my cat-allergic boyfriend is not around). The bedrooms at the farm were cold, so last night I slept on the couch, which Nanner acting as a very localized heat blanket. Nanner has really mastered the art of staying inside as soon as it gets cold. She finds the person least likely to kick her out and cuddles up quietly, and if they show signs of impatience she starts purring. Since I was the only one home, it was an easy sell.

School switched into high gear the last month, or maybe I did. I think I have passed the most recent round of exams with grades more toward the middle of the pack, which pleases me greatly. A's are awesome, but I am perfectly happy with B's. Even a high C does not offend my sensibilities. (Really hoping the bacteriology exam turned out at least that well). About a month ago I had one weekend with nothing else scheduled, but to study...it was bliss. Since then it has been more of a marathon, with me swearing on a daily basis to never volunteer again, since there's always something else that comes up too. So I'm not too distressed at having nothing going this weekend, although I have a long list of errands I would like to run. Alas, I do not want to go anywhere near the stores tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it's not a good idea to buy glasses online.

And now I have to go take care of all the animals I promised to take care of today.

Joys of vodka

Things to do with vodka:

Make vanilla extract
Make amaretto
Use as a fluidizer for hydrophobic pharmacological drugs
Rescue cats from antifreeze poisoning

I've only done the first two, myself, but according to one of the doctors at the school the bit about cats is true. See, anti-freeze does terrible things to an animal (or small child) that consumes it. It gets into the gears of metabolism and gums them up, by latching onto a particular enzyme that deals with alcohol (which does show up as a by product of a working organism). Puppies like anti-freeze because it tastes sweet, so they show up in emergency rooms not infrequently. For them the antidote works fine. It was developed for people, of course, but you just dose the dog on the same basic parameters.

In cats, however, the antidote doesn't work, at least not nearly so easily. By sextupling the dose, it turns out it works just fine, but it took a few years to figure that out. In the meantime, vets found they could treat cats by dosing them with ethanol--i.e. alcohol--which kept enough alcohol-metabolizing enzymes busy that they didn't get dead-ended by the antifreeze. Bodies are pretty good at getting rid of toxins eventually. The cat would get over the poisoning, albeit with a nasty hangover.

Long live novel uses for liquor.