Feb 17, 2013 | Life, Pets |
I'm supposed to be working, but not doing the best job of that today. If you follow me on Facebook, then you already know that we lost our sweet kitty, Miss Pitty Pat. It's been hard, because she was not quite 6 years old — and you don't expect a young cat to die of heart disease.
If you have kitties, and you've never heard of saddle thrombus, I urge you to look it up. (Or go here.) And then I urge you to ask your vet to give your kitty's heart a good listen the next time you take your baby in for a check up. That's not fool proof, but it's possible the vet will hear a murmur. If your cat has a murmur, push for more info.
MPP never showed any signs of heart disease, and we had no clue until she had the first clot nearly eight months ago. Turns out that she had very advanced heart disease, an enlarged heart, and thickened walls. We had NO idea. The only possible clue was that she tended to throw up her food a lot, and she would go off her food for a day or two — but then she'd eat again, no problem, and wouldn't regurgitate for days. I never suspected heart disease, and my vet never heard a murmur.
The other thing you can do, if you really just want to know and you're willing to spend the money, is get your cat a heart work up. I would have done this had I known it was something to look out for. But I didn't. I had no idea these things could happen to a young cat. My previous cats lived to very ripe old ages, and I assumed we were on the same track with MPP. It'll cost you around $500, which is why most vets don't recommend it as a matter of routine when most cats won't ever have a problem.
Heart disease in cats, especially the kind where they throw clots, is rare — but apparently it's not THAT rare because it happens quite often if you do an internet search of saddle thrombus. The chances your cat has a bad heart are slim. But if, like me, you would rather know, then ask for that heart work up. You may have to go to a specialist for the echo-cardiogram. Many vets don't keep that kind of equipment on hand and it takes a specialist — either a cardiologist or an internist — to read it.
You can be sure that I'll ask for these tests as a matter of routine for Nimitz — and for any future cats we get. I would have rather spent that money up front, and got MPP onto heart meds much earlier. She might have had more time with us if we'd caught it early. This truly is a silent killer. One minute she was fine, the next she was not. Literally. And the same thing happened on Friday morning, only this time we couldn't save her like we did last June.
She was on the bed with us, happy and bouncy and loving — and then she jumped onto the floor and started to throw up. When the heaving didn't stop, we knew. Almost immediately, her remaining back leg went weak and she couldn't walk. We got her to the vet in record time, but this was the third clot she'd thrown, the second in as many weeks, and it was just too much. Her heart was done.
We are bereft, but I wanted to share this with you because I know many of you have cats you love as much as I love MPP. If you can prevent this from happening to your baby, I want you to be able to do that. Again, most cats are fine. But some are ticking time bombs. Some cats die in the first few months of life from this. Some die when they are young, as MPP did. Some make it to their teens first. Only you can decide what you need to do for peace of mind, but that's why I want you to know about this.
Google heart disease in cats. Make yourself aware, and get your babies checked for that murmur at the very least. Doesn't mean they will throw clots if they have one, but it might be the impetus for more tests if you know they do.
Best wishes to you and your fur babies. We're hurting badly in Chez Harris, but we will be okay with time.
Feb 14, 2013 | Books, Life, Writing
The more I write for a living, the more I seem to have to do. Anyone who thinks because someone is lucky enough to work from home, that it's NOT work, is deluded. Really. I work from the moment I get up until almost the moment I go to bed. Yes, I do other things in between, and the beauty of it is that I can decide to do something else in the middle of the day for a few hours, but I put in a full day's work every day. In some aspect or other, I'm writing, keeping up with social media, planning books, updating my calender, thinking of stories, researching, etc.
It never ends. And this is not a complaint, btw. I love that I get to do this for a living! 🙂
In fact, I just gave a speech to a group of ladies yesterday who are not writers, and it was a great time to get to talk with them about what I do. I always go for the inspirational moment, the “If I can do this and live my dream, you can live your dream too so long as it's not being an Olympic gymnast when you're 50” kind of thing. I love giving that speech.
Because how many people think they can no longer do a thing because they're too old or whatever? Not true. Just look at Susan Boyle if you don't believe me. She was 48 when she walked out on that stage and wowed Simon Cowell, so it can be done.
Just want you to know, if you're feeling down or whatever (and Valentine's Day can be that kind of day for some people), that you don't have to give up on dreams. Focus on the goal and on what you need to do to make it happen!
Speaking of Valentine's Day — I'm a strange romance author in that I don't celebrate it. I think Mr. Harris should show his love and appreciation all year long (and vice versa) so I don't expect flowers or candy or a card from him today. If he thinks of it and wants to, that's fine. But he's not in trouble if he forgets.
And now, news! ::drumroll:: The latest Harlequin, aka Drago di Navarra and Holly Craig's story, has been accepted! You can expect to read all about it in December (no title yet) where you will also get a bonus book: UNNOTICED AND UNTOUCHED will be published with Drago & Holly's story for free! One price, two books! You can't beat that.
Finally, I leave you with Nimitz, my crazy cat from Honolulu. I talk about Miss Pitty Pat all the time because she's sick and she's my baby, but we also have Nim. He's a giant (colossal) pain in the behind, he's not sweet at all, and he regularly exasperates me. But I love him anyway and he makes me laugh. So here he is, wanting to know what's so interesting.
Happy day, y'all!
Feb 2, 2013 | Contests
It's a giveaway!
Would you like to be on an online radio show with some of your favorite authors? Ask them questions, participate in some games, and have a chance to win some great prizes?
If so, then please tell me which hero of mine you would most want to sweep you away!
Send your answer to lynn…@lynnrayeharris.com (Lynn AT LynnRayeHarris DOT com if clicking the email link doesn't work for you) with RADIO in the subject line. I will randomly choose one person to participate in the call-in portion of the show. If you are chosen you will be contacted with more information about how to call in.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Share this link to the show wherever you can www.rcardelloconsulting.com
One person will be chosen by each of the participating authors. If you are chosen you will be contacted with more information about how to call in. Each winner will be given a time slot during the show in which to call in during, BUT even if you aren’t chosen, please join us at www.rcardelloconsulting.com on February 9th at 7-9 (US Eastern Time) and you’ll have a chance to participate online and for a chance to win some prizes as well.
**PRIZE LIST**
Check out the prizes that you'll be able to win!
Elaine Raco Chase Three ebooks – 1 every hour…
Kathleen Brooks Two $50 GC.
Sydney Landon Author $100 ecard and a couple of signed books.
Judy L. Hubbard Four $25 Amazon e-gift cards and an autographed set of my books.
Christina Tetreault Four $25.00 gift cards to Amazon or B&N winners choice
Lynn Raye Harris Two $25.00 gift cards to Amazon, B&N, or Kobo. And 5 signed books.
Author Terri Marie A gift basket and a signed book.
Calista Taylor A $25 gift certificate and an antique silver celtic brooch.
Annette Blair A $100 ecard and two ebooks: Proper Scoundrel & Unmistakable Rogue.
Sandra Marton A $50 ecard at amazon and e-copies of four current Wilde Family Saga books: The Prince of Pleasure, The Dangerous Jacob Wilde, The Ruthless Caleb Wilde and The Merciless Travis Wilde.
Marie Astor A set of custom designed amethyst and chalcedony sterling silver necklace and earrings ($120 value) and my contemporary romance novel, Lucky Charm, will be free on Amazon from Feb 9th through Feb 11th.
Christine Major DePetrillo A $50 Amazon GC.
Mary Campisi A $30 Amazon gift card and the following e-books from Debby Conrad: Love, Lies and High Heels, Bailey's Irish Dream, Every Breath You Take, and Prying Eyes. E-books may be from Amazon, B&N, or i-tunes.
This is a fun way to say THANK YOU for all of your support!!!!!
Jan 30, 2013 | Life, Pets, Writing, Personal |
This is bound to be a messy, all over the board kind of post. Life, in all its wonderfulness, can also be damn hard. I know friends who have family members battling health problems, friends who've recently lost parents, and friends who are enduring financial hardships. Life is messy, and sometimes it hurts.
Right now, for me, it hurts. And all because of a sweet little cat. My pets are family members. I adore them. I had a cat for 19.5 years, and losing her was really hard. Devastating. Another cat died at 16.5. Long lives, but not long enough when compared with ours.
Last summer, my beloved Miss Pitty Pat suffered a thrombosis, otherwise known as a saddle thrombus. She wasn't supposed to live, but she did. She lost a leg, but she regained strength and went on to be her old self again — running, playing, jumping up to her favorite window seat, sleeping with me, sitting on my lap at the computer and my legs on the couch.
But the vets warned us her time was limited. Yesterday, we were jolted by the reality of that. She's survived seven months beyond her initial episode, but yesterday she suffered another blood clot. This time it's to a front leg, much less painful, but she can't use the leg much. As I write this, she's at the emergency vet. We don't know if she'll survive, but of course we hope she will.
I am devastated and furious — because we can't control life, can we? We can't prevent innocent children, beloved friends and family members, furry or otherwise, from getting sick and leaving us behind. Life is amazing, but life hurts.
It's love that does this to us. Love gives and loves takes. I adore love, I write about love, but I know love makes us so vulnerable. What's the choice though? Not to love? How empty would that be?
This gets me to writing. Yes, it's damn hard to even think about that at the moment, but I'm in the middle of a book and my characters are in such pain — and I know how they feel. I know that pain always comes from me, even if I can't understand the precise incidents that caused it for my characters. The truth is that I draw on that well deep inside, that place where I try to stuff all that hurt and anger down, when I write.
I think all writers do. Life and love have given us gifts, and they have taken those gifts away, and we don't forget. I've written about the character, usually male, who refuses to love because he doesn't want to hurt. Some readers and reviewers might call that cliche. I call it reality. If we could protect ourselves this way, mightn't we try? Some of us would, and some of my characters do.
Naturally it doesn't work out for them. The hero usually finds out he can't stop love, and he becomes so terribly vulnerable when he realizes how he feels about the heroine. That's got to be scary.
I saw a photo this week of a woman holding her husband's hand while he lay in his casket. And I thought how sad that was. How awful that she would never see him again in this life. That all those years together ended and she was alone.
Pain. It's what we write about. It's what we try to overcome and control, at least in fiction. If you're a writer, you have to put it all out there. You have to put your feelings on the table, or your fiction will be flat. You want to feel and you want the reader to feel.
That doesn't happen if you leave your own sorrows untapped. I know it's hard, but tap them. Mine them. Does it help? Hell if I know. I do it anyway, and maybe I feel better somewhere down the road.
Right now, I feel like hell. I ache and I'm frustrated because I can't fix this. But I have a book to write and characters to torture and I know part of that is me working out my own feelings on paper. It's how I cope. I couldn't imagine not writing for a living, because I think I'd burst otherwise.
I put my heart on the table every time. I give it my all.
And now I'm going to bed and pray my kitty girl gets to come home again. It's borrowed time, I know it, but I want more of it. Don't we all?
EDITED TO ADD: There is good news for now — the clot resolved and MPP can come home. I am relieved, and still scared because I know I'm going to lose her to this awful disease. But hopefully not just yet.
Jan 27, 2013 | Photos, Shoes, Events |
On Saturday, the local library hosted a romance author fair. I, along with several of my writing friends, hosted tables where we talked to readers and shared our books. It turns out that Mr. Harris is a budding photographer, so now I have my very own paparazzi at every event. Here are a few of the photos he took.
At my table.
Talking to a friend who is also the mother of one of the other authors. 🙂
Photo op with readers!
Love those readers!
I have no idea what I was on about here. But this is the closest Mr. Harris came to getting a picture of my shoes. He seriously fell down on the job at that part. They were gorgeous! And very, very high. A double hidden platform with about six inch heels. I teetered around quite well though. 😉
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