15 posts tagged “love”
A lot of Blythe people are doing their dolls' favorite fifteen items on Flickr. I decided to do a photo for Plum! She has so many favorite things... It was difficult to fit even just fifteen of them into one shot. o_O
And actually, all the items in this photo are Plum's favorite clothes and accessories, not just the fifteen that are tagged on my Flickr. I cheated a little! But I only tagged fifteen of the items, haha. ^__^
I can't wait to take more photos of Plum in the outfit she's wearing right now. She's totally dressed for autumn and winter. I dressed her and Jinkies the other day and they look so cute next to each other. It's been super cloudy and rainy every day this week so there haven't really been any opportunities for me to go outside and get good lighting for photos. I was lucky I got a chance to jump outside for this quick photo today. In fact, I almost didn't get any shots in because the tiny dresses started getting blown away. x_____x Shawn stood outside with me and made sure it all stayed in order, tee hee.
So much has happened since I left for BlytheCon. I'm not sure I can go through every single thing I've experienced, but I'm definitely going to try. To sum it up in a sentence: BlytheCon was amazing. I can't believe how busy I was over the past few days!
When I arrived at Rebecca's house in Indiana, everything seemed to fall into place. All my insecurities disappeared... She made me feel so welcome and I'm really thankful for that. As soon as Shawn and Ryan left, Rebecca and I got down to some serious dolly business. We talked for a long time as we got ready for our trip to Atlanta the next day. I helped her make a sign for her booth while she cut up some business cards, and I showed her all the dollies and toys I brought with me. I really felt like we had known each other for years.
Sherri arrived early the next morning. Like I told both her and Rebecca, I was so nervous about meeting Sherri. O__O She's been one of my idols ever since I started collecting Blythes; her saran and mohair reroots are incredible-- one of the absolute best rerooters in the world! I felt intimidated before Sherri arrived, but as soon as she arrived, my nerves settled down. She was so down-to-earth and so much like me... I immediately felt like I could relate to her, and that doesn't happen very often when I meet new people.
Our ride to Georgia was extremely long: about nine hours. Surprisingly, I didn't fall asleep once. Haha, Sherri, Rebecca and I talked the entire time-- about dollies, Pet Society, our lives, and so much more. In fact, we talked about so much, I'm almost afraid I'm going to forget some of the details. A long car ride was the perfect way to get to know Rebecca and Sherri even more.
We were able to settle into Rebecca's mom's house really quickly. I think it's because we were all so tired and hyped up for the next few days. For a while, we sat around exchanging dolly clothes and stories about our girls. I've never had the chance to talk for hours on end about dollies in my pajamas before... I wish I could do it more often. I felt almost spoiled for having such a great vacation so far. My sleep was wonderfully deep and comfortable.
Friday was the day dedicated to the Georgia Aquarium. Sherri, Rebecca, Rebecca's mom and I all went. We were all a little disappointed at how little there was to do at the aquarium, but everything that was there was really beautiful. My favorite part of our visit was definitely the tunnel that's underneath water. To be surrounded completely by water, fish and sharks was incredible. We all loved that part so much that we decided to walk through the tunnel a second time before we left.
One of my other favorite things about going to the aquarium was how interested people were in the Blythes we brought with us. Sherri brought Penny (her @Nai custom); Rebecca brought Tallulah (Betsy's crazy cross-eyed custom); and I brought Nami. We not only had visitors coming up to us to ask us about our dollies, but the aquarium's staff expressed even more interest. A security guard wanted to hold one of our dolls. A few of the staff members in charge of taking photos asked me a bunch of questions about where Blythes could be found. And the absolute best Blythe experience was at the end of our aquarium trip. As we were paying for our items in the gift shop, cashiers started piling up behind the registers to ask us all questions about Blythes. They couldn't get enough of our girls and left customers waiting in line and at registers so they could see the dolls! Rebecca, Sherri and I all took turns showing them our dollies. They loved changing the doll eyes. Rebecca and Sherri got a few photos of all the staff people (like seven or eight, I think) asking us questions.
Dinner that night was fun. The four of us went to a restaurant where we had some delicious meals. I had a shrimp and alfredo meal. *drool* It was so delicious and it was a relaxing experience to have before the busy day ahead of us.
Finally. Saturday was BlytheCon. All of us were so antsy before we left! We had packed most of our stuff up the night before so we got to the con on time. Because Rebecca was a vendor so we could get into the building before any of the other attendees (which I was happy about because I didn't want to be stuck outside in the cold). The girl she was supposed to share a table with was sick so Rebecca had the entire table for herself. I helped her set everything up and went back-and-forth between the convention room and outside, where more and more people were starting to arrive. I switched between taking my three girls out; a lot of people seemed to already know who they were, especially Pigeon! I had fun posing for photos with my dolls and everyone was incredibly nice. <3
The convention was so much fun, but it all seems like a blur now. Everything was so fast paced. I somehow lucked out and was one of the first people to register. Because of that, I got into the con fast enough to check out all the vendors and their items. I snatched up everything I was instantly attracted to-- oh gosh, my loot is all so cute! I keep looking at all the clothes and accessories I bought.
I was constantly meeting new people. A lot of the people are friends I've had online for a few years. I felt like crying a few times because I was so excited to actually meet some of them in person. After all these years... finally! Pigeon's customizer, Megan, was there. She was one of the main reasons I knew I had to attend BlytheCon. She was such a sweet person and I feel like I know Pigeon more because of meeting Megan. I feel bad about not remembering every person's face; so much was happening at the time so I knew it would be impossible to remember everything.
One of the most exciting parts of the day was the raffle. I only bought five tickets but THREE of my numbers happened to get picked. O____O Because one of the items I won was a double, I only got two of the prizes-- I didn't mind though. The big prize I won was a free mohair reroot for a Blythe. The second prize I won was a free Blythe application for an iPhone. Because I don't have an iPhone, I gave my prize to Rebecca. I was so excited (and surprised) that I was shaking the entire time after my numbers were called.
Needless to say, the entire event was more fun than I could have ever imagined. Like I told Rebecca and Sherri later on, the BlytheCon trip was the best vacation I've ever had. Getting to know both of them is probably what I love most from the experience. Unlike the friends I had in high school and college, I connected with Rebecca and Sherri. They didn't make me feel socially awkward and we shared so many interests. I think it would have been impossible to not love those two girls.
All of my photos can be viewed on my Facebook BlytheCon 2009 album and in my BlytheCon 2009 Vox Collection.
Many thanks to Shawn and Ryan who drove me all the way to Indiana. Many more thanks to both Sherri and Rebecca for being the sweetest friends ever. And a lot of other "thank yous" go to those of you who followed my adventure on Twitter!
Last Sunday (Father's Day) was one of the scariest days of my life. Ed, my kitty of two years, went missing for a day. I hope I never have to go through that type of experience-- with a kitty or a child-- ever again. That type of fear is something no one should have to go through. It's deep, and it hurts. It sits in the pit of your stomach and refuses to go away until something good and/or miraculous happens. Ed, I learned that day, was a big walking furball of miracles.
The day started off well. Shawn and I had moved in to our new apartment the day beforehand and we were pumped up with excited energy about finally getting out of Milwaukee. Since we didn't have our internet set up at the new place yet, Shawn had to stay the night at our old apartment because he was on call for work and needed instant access to the internet. Kathleen, who helped us with the move the previous day, stayed the night with me instead. We had brought over the kitties and Fru during the move and I didn't want to leave them alone in a new environment on their first night.
After unpacking more things that Sunday, Shawn showed up to make sure everything went well with the cable/internet guy. He brought along more of our stuff from the old place, and he and Kathleen started moving it in. What I didn't really take note of at the time was how they had left all the doors to the apartment (leading outside) wide open so it would be easier for them to move heavy objects into the building. After they finished, and Kathleen left, Shawn and I noticed that Ed was MIA. At first, I figured that she had just found a new hiding place between all the boxes, or in the cabinets. (I discovered Ed could open all the cabinets herself that morning.) After searching every corner of the apartment for a few minutes with absolutely no luck, I started to get that panicky feeling inside.
Ed. Was missing.
I then pointed out to Shawn, who was very calm, that all the doors in the apartment had been left open. I started to think. "What if she decided to explore and ran outside?" The idea seemed unlikely at the time since Ed is afraid of everything, but we were out of ideas. We started to search our apartment building and then the grounds around our building outside. After 25 minutes (during which the cable guy decided to show up), there was still no sign of Ed. I called Mom and asked her for ideas since she had been in this situation many times in the past. (She's taken in over 200 lost and stray cats during her life.) She helped me remain calm and made sure I followed her instructions to check all the bushes and small hiding spots, and then to talk to everyone I came across to ask them if they had seen a black and white kitty with a black dot on her nose. (-__-)
An hour passed. Still no Ed. By that time, Mom, Beth, Kathleen, AND Jeremy were on their way to help us out with the search. Shawn had to stay inside with the cable guy so I was mostly doing the searching at first. They arrived and we spread out, searching not only my whole apartment complex's neighborhood, but also the surrounding neighborhoods. We double and triple checked both the outside apartment grounds and my apartment, the whole time calling, "Eeeed! Come here, honey! Come on, come out, sweetie!" Something just wasn't sitting well with me; Ed is afraid of everything and doesn't even come out of hiding when there's a lot of commotion (like people moving stuff into the apartment) around her. There's no way she would go anywhere near our apartment door with Shawn and Kathleen moving stuff in. I kept checking my apartment periodically, because I kept thinking that she could still be inside, laughing it up while all of us looked for her. Everyone else did the same thing.
Four more hours went by. It was over 90 degrees outside with no trace of Ed, or even a cool breeze to keep us somewhat sane. By that time, Beth and I decided to take a break. We headed into my apartment and sat on the floor and talked about Ed. Something still didn't feel right about the whole situation. After about fifteen minutes, I heard a shuffle from the next room. I figured it might be Isis, or just my imagination. And then it happened.
Ed walked out of the kitchen, sat down right in front of Beth and me, and acknowledged us with a yawn.
I screamed, "ED!" and ran over to her, throwing my arms around her big (she's quite huge) neck. I picked her up and swung her around while Beth laughed and ran over to us. After everything all of us had been through-- the worry, the panic, the dehydration-- Ed had been inside, in a very secret hiding place, the entire time!
Beth and I followed her back to her hiding place a few minutes later. As it turns out, Ed had opened the cabinet door under the sink and crawled into a hole in the wall that was barely seeable to the human eye. How in the world did a cat of her size get into that hole in the wall? No idea. At that point, I didn't even care: Ed was back and she was safe. That "little" trickster got the best of ALL of us.
Shawn proposed today: March 13, 2009.
More details to come in the next few days. ^__^
And yes, I have a Hello Kitty engagement ring!
On Tuesday, September 23, 2008, Yukimo passed away. After two perfect years of friendship and companionship, it was just... her time to leave.
On that particular Tuesday, the both of us had woken up on a pretty, sunny morning. Although Yuki had become weaker because of her old age, she didn't show any signs of illness that day. As I was wrapping up work and getting ready for my night class around 4:30 in the afternoon, I noticed that she had become extremely slow when walking around the cage. Within just an hour, I realized that she wasn't going to make it.
Her passing is by far the hardest thing I've ever had to go through. Honestly, I don't know how to bring up the courage to write this post... which is one reason why I had to wait a month to announce her passing. Shawn and I went through an extremely emotional period, but I have to say this: Yukimo, whether healthy or sick, was just amazing.
In early August, I had woken up on a Saturday morning to find that she had suffered from what looked to be a stroke and something happening with a tumor during the night. The shock hit so badly that I couldn't eat for the next few days and almost ended up in the emergency room. I had never felt that much pain before, both emotionally and physically. Yukimo meant everything to me. Somehow-- through some miracle-- Yukimo came back to me for an extra month and a half after that horrible happening. Even though she had lost half of her blood in those few days, I was able to nurse her back to health by feeding her and giving her water and juice by hand. After two weeks of hand-feeding her, she was back to her old self. I was in another state of shock-- a good one though. Seeing her run so fiercly in that wheel for those extra weeks was the best gift I could have ever hoped for.
So when September 23rd came around, the shock wasn't as big as the first time. I had been preparing myself for letting Yuki go... but it still hurt so much. The pain is still unbearable and I sometimes have to take a breather from whatever I'm doing to calm down and try to remember what good times I had with her. I guess this post is just another step towards moving on. I loved, and still love, Yukimo. I always will. Like I've told so many people: Yukimo wasn't just a best friend to me; she was my companion. She was with me every second of the day when I was at home, and I miss her so much.
To commemorate Yukimo and the time we had together, I'm posting the first video I ever took of her (back in 2006). In it, I'm introducing Yuki to Mom and Kathleen (since Beth and I were away at college). It's the first visual aid I have of Yukimo.
In memory of Yukimo, September 2006 - September 2008.
About four months ago, only a week or two after I wrote about Yukimo becoming sick, I was completely caught off guard by a crazy discovery.
Yukimo *gulp* is a boy. Yuki is not a girl like I had thought for over a year and a half. No, Yukimo decided to play the trick of all tricks on me by changing sexes (er, genders?). Oh Yukimo, what will you do next?
Here's what happened. While I continued to worry about the "womanly bleeding" (chuckle, chuckle) that Yuki was going through, I noticed that her slower movements were changing into what she used to be like when I first bought her; she started running around her cage and in her wheel with the energy of a young, baby hammy. I'll admit that I was really happy that Yukimo was finally coming around and turning into her old self. I had my doubts for a while though-- usually little happy moments like this don't last for long. I figured that she was just getting a second wind or something. I was wrong though.
One day, while holding Yuki and checking to see if she was still bleeding down there, I noticed something extremely odd about her lower "womanly parts." Something else was there instead-- something manly. At first, I became worried and thought her intestines might be falling out (seriously, hammies are too unpredictable for that not to happen), but on a closer look I realized that Yukimo was, indeed, a boy.
When thinking back, I'm positive that Yukimo was once a girl. Not only was she in the girl hammy cage at the pet store (where workers at pet stores often make mistakes with this kind of thing), but I made sure to check a lot over the months she was with me. I had mistaken other boy hammies for girls when I was younger, but the reality of the situation always became evident after just a few weeks of them living with me. Yukimo was with me for too long for me to not notice. I just know she used to be a girl; it's a feeling.
Here are my thoughts on this unexpected discovery: the old Yukimo must have passed on (er, died) and this version of Yukimo was reborn. Back when she was sick, Beth kept telling me that I should probably start to think about letting go of Yuki. She exhibited too many signs of old age and sickness to think otherwise. We've experienced the loss of small pets before and it's better to come to terms with death instead of ignore it. I started to think about it more but I had to stop when I realized that Yuki was suddenly full of life again.
Yukimo must have gone through some sort of reincarnation in her sickness. Either that happened, or she's a hermaphrodite hamster (meaning she has both male and female parts). I wouldn't put this odd happening past Yukimo. She's a crazy trickster who loves to mess with peoples' minds!
Since Yukimo's rebirth, she's been just as lively as when she was a baby-- even at the old age of over a year and a half. Also, the bleeding has completely stopped. (Yay!) I really do think there's a connection between the discovery and the bleeding, but I can't quite pinpoint what happened. I'd like to talk with a hammy specialist sometime.
I'm still in shock over this whole thing. Every time I see Yukimo running her little heart out in her wheel, or jumping up on the bars because she wants attention, I can't help but be grateful for this huge extra amount of time that I'm being given to spend with her. I had hammies when I was little and none of them ever lived such a long, happy life. Not like Yukimo.
I've decided that even though Yukimo has revealed this secret, I'm still going to refer to her as a girl. I tried replacing all my uses of "hims" and "hers" and "he's" and "she's" but it was too difficult to break the habit of referring to Yuki as a girl. I figure that I'm at least acknowledging this discovery by telling people about it (and how amused I am by the whole thing), but for now, Yukimo will remain a "she" when I'm talking about her. ^__^
She's the best hamster I could have ever hoped for-- and definitely the trickiest!
Ever since the semester ended, I've been adjusting to a lot of new changes. I really don't know how I want to sum up the past few months, but I think the best way to tackle the task is by creating a list and then expanding a little on each point. (This is what happens when I have to make lists for both work and school; it starts pouring into my personal life, too! Haha.)
Shawn and Kathleen graduated. I'm not a fan of going to big graduation ceremonies, but as it turns out, I had to go to two within the same month. Shawn had to deal with my bad mood that day (I feel like I kind of ruined part of the experience for him... Bah!), but it ended up going really well. He's completely finished with college and education for the rest of his life. I'm so proud of him, and I couldn't be more jealous. ^///^
Since Shawn graduated, he's been working full time for Kohl's Corporate. Whenever any of my family members, or one of our friends, asks how he likes his job, he always tells them that he doesn't really like what he does there. Even though he says that, I know he really likes it. He's been picking up a ton of responsibilities: going to meetings, being "on call" for days at a time, attending events held by his team, etc. Whether Shawn wants to admit it or not, he likes being needed for something. He really should feel that way, too, especially after all the work he's put into the past few years in school.
Kathleen graduated high school and has been getting ready for college. She's going to the same university that Beth and I are at, which I'm totally psyched about. <3 As happy as I am for her, I have to be honest about the whole situation-- it's been a tough few weeks for her and the rest of our family. We've all been going through some major adjustments and there have been a lot of hurt feelings. I'm not sure where I stand on all of the issues anymore, but I do know that I'm trying to focus on making Kathleen as comfortable as possible with her new living situation with Beth. It's interesting how so many changes in just Kathleen's life have impacted the entire family. Something like this has never really happened in this way before.
My internship is going well.
I'm moving in with Shawn in a few weeks. Even though Shawn and I have lived in our current apartment together, with Beth, we finally found a place for just the two of us. We looked around for a few weeks, did some research, and then found the perfect place for us to live for the next year. I started getting a little stressed out when we were looking, because I hated the fact that I felt "homeless" but everything worked out in the end. The biggest challenge for us now is buying all of our furniture and still having enough money for rent. Like Shawn keeps telling me, we "have to take it slow." I guess I'm just excited about the idea of having an entirely new place to live with all new furniture. It's like I'm putting together a new family or something! ^__^ Slow steps are good.
I had to tell Dad that Shawn and I were moving in together. I had to do it. I mean, after all the years that Dad and I haven't been able to communicate, I had to tell him that Shawn and I were taking this step in our lives. Honestly, I wasn't worried about talking to Dad, but everyone else started to freak out about it. Mom even told me, at one point, that she didn't want to be in the house when I was talking to him. *sigh* Every other person I talked to gasped and made me promise to tell him/her how it went.
The thing is, everyone knows how difficult my relationship with Dad has been throughout my life. His Filipino culture is extremely different from my own, and hearing that two people are moving in together before marriage can tear people apart. There are little secrets to situations like this though: you have to know people. You have to know how they function, how they feel about certain issues, how they react to specific situations, how their thought processes break down information. I did my research and I made a plan.
Last weekend, I went home to talk with Dad. I walked up to him and asked him if we could talk alone. Within the next two hours, we stood there in my parents' bedroom talking about everything. I told him about Shawn and me, and from there we started talking about family and beliefs. Huge breakthroughs were made, and I told him that I wanted to fix everything that had gone so wrong in the past. I know that Dad and I don't have what Mom and I share, but I'm only 23 years old. I can be an adult here and try to fix something like a relationship.
A few times during our talk, Dad broke down. A while back, Mom told me that no one but her had ever seen him cry, and even then, it had happened only twice during their marriage. When he started crying, he told me he felt he was a bad father. And then he kept repeating the same story about how he had left to go on a vacation at a time when things in our family were finally good-- and then how guilty he felt about leaving for those few weeks. Even though I had little recollection about this happening (since I was so little), I felt everything he felt. I know how one guilty memory can tear me to shreds so I did the only thing I could do at the time. I listened.
Not everything between Dad and me is resolved now, but at least we have some of the issues out in the open. I told him that we need to talk more, instead of letting Mom be the messenger between us, and he agreed.
It's been an interesting few weeks. As always, I've been dealing with a lot of the stress by buying myself presents. *guilty look* I know I should be saving money for my new apartment, but having new dolls and accessories makes me feel so much better. They take my mind off of the stress. I'm trying not to repeat what happened last summer! So far, I've only had to take my stress medication for one week and I was able to stop after that. It's a good sign. ^__^
In a way, I feel like I've kind of graduated, too. Usually summer is a slow time for me, but so far, it's proven to be just as hectic as the school year!
I often post photos of Beth and Kathleen on my blog, but I've never had the pleasure of posting photos of my mum. <3 She is the reason for my being and is the source of all my creativity. She has taught me about everything good in life and has pushed me in amazing new directions...
I took this photo of my mom this last weekend. She wanted some pretty photos taken of her around the house with all of her beautiful flowers and trees to give away to some special family members. (She's a fantastic and talented gardener.) I was happy to help her with this project, and I especially loved editing all of the photos. I'll try to post those at a later time.
Mom, I'm sure you'll see this since you read my blog every now and then. When you do, just know that I love you!
One of my last semesters in college is almost over with, and I feel pretty happy with finally being able to, as Mom keeps saying, "see the light at the end of the tunnel." I think her optimism is in the family blood; I'm feeling more confident that, yes, graduation is possible. Senioritis hit me about two years ago, and it hit even harder last semester when I had to learn how to juggle my job with my classes. This semester seems a little less stressful, but I'll be just as happy to get it over with as I did in the winter.
As graduation draws nearer, my plans for life are falling into place. (It seems vague to say "life," but I'm learning to deal with how plans for the future are pretty vague most of the time anyway.)
My very last semester of college will consist of three English classes, all of which I have charted out at this point. My summer is going to be taken up by working more full-time hours again, and I'm hoping to turn part of my hours into an internship that's required for my English major. Turning a few hours into the internship will save me a lot of stress during the school year. In fact, I was worried I would have to somehow drop something in order to fit the internship in, but it looks like everything is working out for the best after all!
The best part about this whole working hard thing is planning for what I want to do after graduation. Shawn and I are currently working (and saving money for) an apartment for in a few months. Since Kathleen will be coming to live with Beth when she starts going to our university, Shawn and I decided it would be best if we started to branch off into our own little world. A few years ago, I would have thought moving in with a boyfriend was a big step, probably because of all the hype from silly TV shows and dramas. Honestly though, I've learned that a step like that can be simple if a couple is ready for it and really wants to progress in a relationship. This September will mark my six year anniversary with Shawn so planning for the future isn't just a plan; it's what I've been working towards for a good chunk of my life.
Shawn told me something that meant a lot to me the other day. Now, I'm not the one for mushy statements. We were standing in the kitchen making dinner together a few weeks ago, and we had been discussing something about his job. I think he was complaining about a few assignments he was given to do, so I turned to him and asked how he could put up with some of the tasks that his everyday job demanded of him. He turned to me and said, "Well, I do it for you. Actually, everything I do is for you." Hearing that made my mind wind back to a few years ago when he told me that if we hadn't started dating, he would have joined the army. He felt that he didn't have anything else to do in life so he thought he would try to look for meaning in some other form of work. Something like that didn't seem so profound to me until I casually told Mom about it during one of our conversations. She told me that a guy telling his girlfriend that says that he's living for that girl. And it's true. Shawn letting go of certain things in his life and choosing to work an office job would have never happened if we hadn't started dating. He's chosen to live his life with me, and everything he does-- from running to the store for soda because I have a caffeine headache to keeping a desk job and working long hours-- is for me.
I've thought about what Shawn has done for me a lot. So now, I feel like I have a reason for graduating and working towards finishing college. Even with all this busy work going on now, at least I know that something good is coming out of all of this. After we stay at our apartment for about six months (so until I graduate), we're going to be finding a really nice apartment and then save up for a house. Jokingly one day, we started to look at house ads online. After we browsed some beautiful homes, I realized that a beautiful home in a safe neighborhood is something that I do want to work for, even if it means working this hard. Who knew a future was possible? I didn't, until recently.
And sometime after we graduate, and some more time after we live together, we'll decide to take the next step. Marriage is an idea that many, many people have asked us about over the years. In fact, I think everyone else is eager to hear about a wedding announcement from us, but we've just decided to take things easy-- one step at a time. We're planning though, and we've found that confidence in our relationship is our marriage to each other. An official engagement will come in time. For now, all I need is this pretty amazing reality we're facing together. It's a pretty damn good reason to keep working and living.
And that's pretty much where I'm at right now...
I'll say it straight out: I'm worried about Yukimo. For the past few weeks, she's been having "womanly" bleeding. She showed the same thing a few months ago, but it only lasted a day or two. After doing some research back then, I found that dwarf hamsters don't have regular menstrual cycles; girls actually only have a period maybe once in their lives, and the period only lasts for a day or two.
Yuki's problems seem a bit more serious though. Within the past few weeks, there's been a lot more bleeding in that area-- to the point where she leaves little trails of blood on whatever she walks on. The bleeding isn't continuous though. It lasts a few hours and then stops anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
I decided to do a little more research this time, and I found a very helpful thread on a hamster forum. That girl's hammy experienced the very same symptom as Yuki. In fact, my situation sounded identical to what was posted in that thread. From what I've discovered, it sounds like Yukimo could either have an infection or a tumor, but the only way I would be able to find out is if I take her to the vet (something that I am against at this point in time). The vet could give her antibiotics for the infection, or he could recommend Yuki having surgery. Honestly, I would never give such a small animal surgery, especially Yuki. She's lived a long, happy life and I know that putting her through something so traumatic would most definitely hurt her more than anything else.
In the past, I've had hamsters and guinea pigs who have also displayed health problems. Whenever I took one of them to the vet though, they died shortly after the visit. The main difference between Yukimo and my past pets is that Yukimo isn't super sick like they were. When thinking back, all of my piggies and hammies were deathly ill, ready to pass on... so I suppose it isn't extremely weird that they died. I guess that one of my worries is that something will happen to Yukimo if I take her to the vet. She's so small and trips never sit well with her. If anything, I can see something about the trip making her nervous, which is the last thing she needs right now.
The good news about Yuki right now is that bleeding is the only thing that seems to be wrong with her right now. Other than that, she's as happy as ever in her one and a half years! She's running (well, trotting... since she's getting pretty old now) in her wheel almost every night. She's eating great and getting a good amount of water every day. She's active whenever I hold her. Of course, the only real things that are different compared to when I first brought her home is the fact that she's a bit slower than before. Instead of walking, she wobbles around. Instead of running everywhere when she's outside of her cage, Yuki likes to walk around and sniff things when exploring. She doesn't have that teenager-like mindset that makes her think she needs to do everything at once. She just likes to explore things-- in a more mature fashion, tee hee. Boy, that hamster wisdom has really kicked in!
So, despite her current health situation with the bleeding, Yuki is doing really well. I think I'm going to try to speak with a vet to see if there's any way I can get antibiotics for Yuki (to see if she has an infection) without taking her in to the vet. I just want to make sure I cover all the bases when it comes to keeping my little hammy healthy. She's had a great and happy life so far; I want to make sure she continues to have one for however long she's still with me.
I thought I'd wrap up this post with a very funny video I took of Yukimo back in early January. I had been staying at my parents' house for a week or so, so that meant that Yuki was on her own at my apartment for a few days. I made sure to stop in, check on her, feed her and clean her cage so that she knew I was still around. Needless to say, Yuki showed how much she missed me... by hopping around with a piece of lettuce! (And yes, that's me narrating, along with Kathleen. ^__^)
I love you, Yukimo.
