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Message: <blockquote data-quote="IndyPendant" data-source="post: 3670751" data-attributes="member: 8738">This is a bit of a long read, but it is a rather amusing story for the most part.  Feel free to ignore it if you'd like.  I typed this up originally for my players in my campaigns, so I thought I would refine it and share it here on the forums as well.Last Wed evening, my company had a Team Spirit event. Kayaking in a bay here called Deep Cove, with a barbecue afterwards.Since I've enjoyed kayaking the whole 2-3 times I've previously done it, I decided to go.It was fun.Even tipping over and flipping under the water wasn't bad. (I swim like a fish, don't get cold, and the water wasn't too bad for sea and city.)*Losing my glasses in the process*--not so much fun.When I went under, my first reaction was "OH {censored}! GLASSES!" and grabbing at my face.  But they were already gone. So I started looking about desperately to see if I could find them.  It was only after that, that I thought "Hmm. I'm sitting here upside down in a kayak, under water, looking for glasses that are almost certainly long gone by now. Perhaps--just perhaps, mind you--I should free myself from this splashguard/brace thingy and get some air." : )Got out, turned the kayak over, had coworkers pump it out, got back in, sealed up, and rowed to shore.  Sans glasses.  And a lesson learned that I will never, ever forget.And then!After we get back to shore, since I'm soaking wet with slightly oily, probably filthy seawater, I decided to get my gear from the car, and change into dry clothes. I do that. Then I decide, since I've still got another hour until the stores close, I would make a phone call to see if I could arrange an optometrist appointment, since it's been two years or so since my last one.I'm careful to find out where we're barbecuing first--the coworkers running it point towards a covered area just inside the trees near the kayak rental place--and I watch them all head off in that direction while I'm on the phone.I swear, only 1-2 minutes later--*definitely* not more than five!--after the last few stragglers head there, I complete my call and follow after everyone.No one is at the covered area.*Hrm.*So I figure, maybe they actually meant the barbecue was down the path a bit further, and not at that actual area. Maybe there are more barbecue spots further in. I head further into the forest.(I'm not concerned about that; while I could get lost--no exagerration!--in a 12-store mall or something, I just don't get lost in the forest. I could--and have!--go hiking for half a day in a random direction in the forest, not following paths, just a random direction, then turn around to retrace my steps, and arrive within a few dozen meters or less of my starting point.)Follow the path for a while. Nothing.Try taking a different path back. Nothing.--This 'forest', btw, is about the size of like 3 city blocks.  And about this point, I realize that while we had cellphones, we didn't exchange numbers.I'm crisscrossing the area for fifteen minutes, wondering how in HELL *sixteen people* could simply VANISH in less than five minutes?!?I start asking people at random if they've seen a large group anywhere, or if they know where such a group would have a barbecue nearby.  Follow their directions, if any.  Nothing.Since I've just lost my glasses, and I'm nearsighted, I'm looking at fuzzy people shapes in the distance, and wondering if any of them are coworkers.  I'm trying to smell for barbecue smells.  Listen for barbecue noises.  Nothing.I begin bellowing the name of my company as I go, hoping someone will respond.  Nothing.I return to the kayak place after about twenty minutes of searching, and ask them. They tell me to try the *opposite* direction from where I'd seen everyone go. I decide however, that since I scoured practically every inch in *right* direction, I may as well try the wrong way.Nothing.By now, nearly thirty minutes of searching has passed, and I'm starting to get seriously pissed. As well as extremely bewildered. I call my wife, in case she's home a little early; if no one comes back for me from the whatever Alternate Dimension they disappeared into, I might need a ride home...When I return (for the, oh, twentieth time or so) to the central park area we all began at, two of my coworkers are there....Which is how I discovered they had all decided to go to a pub and eat there instead.Leaving me behind.And not noticing for, I estimate, up to fifteen minutes.  I would probably have been seriously pissed off......Except for what happened *next*.I finally get home that night to discover that my cat, who hadn't been eating for a day or so, also hadn't eaten anything all that day as well.  That makes at least two full days of not eating so much as a single kibble.  She had also thrown up a few more times (making a good half-dozen times at least, in two days), and her vomit was now pure, foamy bile.This cat is nine years old, and exclusively an indoor pet. I first got her as a kitten, when I was still single. She's very much *my* cat, in a way that, as a happily married man, I will never, ever have again.  Just as one example of literally hundreds--she could be laying contentedly on my wife's chest, and if I so much as turn my head and look in her direction, she leaps off my wife instantly and trots over to me, meowing excitedly in her usual "Oh! Oh! Are you going to *pat* me now?!?" way.  --Which btw drives my wife nuts, sometimes. : )  This cat follows me around, yowls when I'm not around, constantly rubs/calls/seeks my attention, loves sleeping beside me, etc etc etc.  Essentially, my Companion. Has not been eating for over two days.Vet appointment the next morning.Vet keeps her for the day in a cage, takes x-rays and bloodwork, gives her some meds, and then essentially says "Based on her symptoms, it's unlikely it's untreatable--cancer, leukemia, or that sort of thing. But I don't know what it is."  --Of course, he doesn't put it quite that way, but that's basically the gist of it.  He gives her pain meds (in the hopes that her pain, if any, was what was keeping her from eating) and anti-nausea meds (to help her keep the food down if she *does* eat).They couldn't find anything definitive in the x-rays: there was "some sort of swelling" *somewhere* in her lower half. But he didn't know what it represented, or where it was exactly.  The bloodwork showed some slight lows and highs, but nothing extraordinary, and certainly nothing to explain her behaviour.   My cat's eyes were dilated, and her mouth hanging open (she has never, *ever* done that before). The vet said that was most likely either the pain medication, or the pain--so leaving her on it or taking her off it could be a bad thing, depending on which it was.  That's the sort of vagueness and frustration I've had to deal with all last week.(Not disparaging the vet, btw; he seemed quite competent, and my daughter volunteers there now.  I've heard good things about him, and I doubt he would give *me* any sort of a runaround, even were he inclined to, under the circumstances...)2 more days pass.  No food.  For over 4 days now, she has eaten absolutely *nothing*, and only drank water sporadically.Friday morning, she's shakey, glazed-eyed, unresponsive, and I can feel her bones when I pat her.  I am *seriously* freaking out--and I rarely ever freak out even a little bit.  I take Friday off work so that I can stay home and take care of her.  I spent half of last week wondering if the total time I had left with my cat would be measured in days.  My daughter (who, as I mentioned, volunteers at the vet) and I start forcefeeding her as much semi-liquified food as she is willing to take without *too much* violent struggle, every half hour to an hour.  --Which wasn't much, at all.  A few CC's at a time.She's not quite bad enough for IV/fluids yet, according to the vet.  And...that costs a fortune. The next steps, apparently, were ultrasounds and possibly even exploratory surgery, if she didn't pull out of it on her own over the weekend.  So I was also facing the prospect of spending thousands of dollars on the *off-chance* of keeping my Companion...or potentially having to let her go.  That would have been a *brutally* harsh choice to make...But she ate Friday night. : )I remember kneeling on the floor, a great big dopey-looking grin on my face, just watching my cat gobble her food down.  (My other cat kept trying to get my attention, reminding me I hadn't fed *him* yet.  I completely ignored the poor starving beasty until he started heading for her food.  Then I finally got up and fed him...)She's been eating ever since, and keeping it down. She's still rather skinny, particularly in the hips.  I still have no idea what was wrong with her, and I probably never will.  But she's pretty much back to her regular, perky, annoyingly meowy self.So.In conclusion, Wednesday evening, by my rough estimate, including the new glasses, vet bill, and (unpaid) day off work, has ended up costing me well over $1000 (Cdn) dollars... : )</blockquote>

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