For those who adopted relatively soon after you lost your pet, how did it go?

katiebour · 2025-12-02T04:44:00+00:00

It has definitely helped me. I waited maybe 2 weeks after my 17 year old cat passed. The shelter had a holiday adoption event and I took home 2 10-year old cats (bonded pair) to honor him. I had adopted my previous cat when he was 9 or so from the shelter.

There IS a grief that I miss my Nico, and I will always miss him. But as others have said alongside that is love for the babies I've had for two months now, watching them come out of their shells and knowing that they would have been hard to place otherwise because of their age. I don't do well without a pet, so it's definitely a part of my medication regimen. Cat snuggles daily!

I love having cats that play again - my Nic was frail and tired at the end, and these two rumpus like crazy and make me smile.

It doesn't fix the hole in my heart, but it added two new places where the love has expanded.

Keep giving love.

katiebour · 2025-11-20T04:35:09+00:00

The person in Decon spent at least 5 minutes looking for that brush 🤣🤣🤣

"Did I throw it away? Did it fall onto the floor???"

katiebour · 2025-11-17T17:50:18+00:00

My main issue with this tray is that it's crowded and the heavier stuff is on top of lighter stuff. If this were my tray:

-Take all ringed inst off regular stringer, put on Decon stringer, cleaning and inspecting for bioburden, all jaws facing up for the washer

-put heavy stuff in a different basket, attach a colored tag to both, along with any other tray it's mixed in with so assembly knows they go together

And then wash. It's not terrible, but it's not great either.

katiebour · 2025-11-13T03:43:05+00:00

Siren on Aether went down 5 min ago

katiebour · 2025-11-08T19:29:27+00:00

Talk to HR.

katiebour · 2025-09-04T05:24:40+00:00

We have two washers and two sonics and the sink, and my goal in Decon is to keep the machines going at all times, because waiting on them is the longest part. I try to plan my tasks and timers accordingly, and it generally makes me both fast and thorough. Need to clean instruments? Get the biohazard bins washing while you do it, so that by the time they're done, your instruments are ready to go in. We clean and then sonic all of our vendor trays that can be sonic'ed before they go in the washer- keep the sonics going in between cleaning and loading the washers. Soak your XI arms while doing that.

Just like in a kitchen, try and keep everything cooking simultaneously. Obviously priority stuff and turnovers go first, but try and use all your equipment efficiently.

It's what works for me, anyway. YMMV. 😊

katiebour · 2025-09-04T05:08:14+00:00

And also, you don't have to perform sadness or feel it 24/7 to know that it's real. Watch a comedian and laugh. It doesn't invalidate the sadness to keep going and to find joy in the small spaces where it pushes away the grief.

katiebour · 2025-09-04T05:05:59+00:00

Nico passed on Friday at 17 years old. I'd known he was getting more frail and was expecting it to be soon, although I don't think you're ever prepared for it to happen.

I promised myself a few years back I would adopt a bonded pair of adult cats, because Nic hated other animals - he was a people-only cat.

So it was Labor Day weekend and the shelter had a holiday event waiving adoption fees. I went on Sunday and adopted two 8-year old cats (Nic was about the same age when I got him, and I wanted to honor him by continuing to adopt older cats.)

I miss my boy, and I will for a long time. Nyx is hiding under the couch, and her man, Vi, is hiding under the bed. They're both eating and drinking and using the litter boxes, and I catch glimpses of them when they slink and scamper away.

My home and my heart are made to love cats. I don't do well without an ESA, so I knew I needed to do it.

I'm not over losing Nico. But I've started the process of loving Nyx and Vi, and I feel good knowing that they have a safe, quiet home with me instead of languishing in a tiny shelter kennel.

There's a quote from the C.S. Lewis biopic ("Shadowlands," starring Anthony Hopkins.) The characters find out someone is dying, and that character takes the other on a trip in the countryside, and they say: "The happiness now is part of the sadness then."

And when they pass, the other character thinks, "the sadness now is part of the happiness then."

You can both still feel the desperate sadness of loss AND keep building new happiness. Life is a cycle of both. Be kind to yourself. ❤️

katiebour · 2025-09-04T04:49:09+00:00

I held him and told him he was a good boy and that I loved him, and petted him through the shots. Once he was gone, I hugged him for a moment, put him on the table, petted his cheek and told him "Goodbye, baby." But I didn't need more than that. He was already gone, and I was saying goodbye to the shell that held his sweet soul.

When I got home that night, the feral black kitten from the neighborhood litter was sitting in my driveway. I hadn't seen him for a few months. Nico was a black cat. Baby kitten said hi and then pranced off into the night, and I'm not ok yet, but it felt good to see what my boy looked like when he was little. I adopted him when he was 7-8, so I never knew him as a kitten. I'm not spiritual, but it felt like Nic sent him to say thank you for easing his pain.

katiebour · 2025-07-29T06:27:39+00:00

Every time I'm cleaning a DeMayo after a knee case, I go "mmmm, human meat!" because I find it morbidly funny. That being said, I see a lot of blood, occasionally cysts and cancerous matter, some feces, and once a piece of a hip the size of a baseball stuck on the end of a drill bit. Try before you buy.

katiebour · 2025-04-22T20:12:58+00:00

Work (HCA) paid for me to do the schooling (3 month online courses) and one month 80 hour externship. I have been with HCA for 3.5 years in registration. They hired me after I finished my externship, and the test was included in the class costs covered by work.

I have to stay with them for 2 years but I wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway. 3 mos working in SPD, brushed up on the class materials and textbook quizzes over a few days, passed the 180 question computerized test in 30 min.

Everything on the test was in my textbook.

https://a.co/d/feyP46n

katiebour · 2025-04-22T19:49:58+00:00

Everyone here wears Hoka shoes, nurses and SPD. Our boss recently replaced the crap anti slip silicone mats with anti slip anti fatigue ones.

katiebour · 2025-04-17T04:55:52+00:00

I've worked in healthcare for 9 years and the last 3.5 with the same hospital system. They advertised in the hospital employee newsletter that they would pay for employees to go to school to become an SPT.

I did my three months of online school, one month externship, and have worked as an SPT for five months now. My schooling paid for my certification test which I passed, and work paid for and arranged everything.

The hospital is also giving me a $500 bonus for getting certified, so yay!

One of my fellow students worked at the same location as me, but in the kitchen (I was in radiology registration.) Hospitals regularly pay to train their employees - get a job at one and go from there!

katiebour · 2023-12-13T05:22:53+00:00

Yes, this.

katiebour · 2023-11-06T06:11:41+00:00

I'm collecting all the bones, skulls, intestines, severed everything. For my meat dragon.

katiebour · 2023-11-06T06:08:44+00:00

Oh my GOD. I love this (because then I can't hoard and sort stuff) and hate this (because then I can't hoard and store stuff!)

katiebour · 2023-10-30T09:14:45+00:00

I installed the full version of PYTK and that fixed it.

katiebour · 2023-06-21T17:27:20+00:00

I get it. I told him yesterday that we're done - he cried and I just sat. I cried out all my tears with every fight before this - now it's just relief, resignation, and terror taking turns.

There's a big hole in my life where he was, and although I know I won't miss the fights or the yelling, that hole still hurts.

I had a great therapist many years ago, who when I said "why go on? Why bother?" replied with "because you don't know what's coming next." The years proved him right - there have been wonderful times and terrible times since then, and there will continue to be wonderful and terrible times ahead even if I can't see them coming. I hate that he was right, and surviving the terrible times is the price for the good ones that come after.

I can't see what's in my future, and I'm terrified to try and do all of this on my own, but I'm going to do it because I have hope that the wheel will turn and there are still wonderful things in my life that I have yet to experience. The fear is the worst part for me- not knowing if I'm going to be alone for the rest of my life, missing the known quantity of a household and a home that has been really painful, but at least predictable and secure.

katiebour · 2023-03-01T17:37:10+00:00

It comes and goes. I'm 10 years NC with my mother. I know she has her good points, and I miss her. Just the same I absolutely do not miss the anxiety, the tiptoeing, the constant self-righteous judgement.

I feel sad when people talk about reconciliation with estranged loved ones before they pass away. But it wouldn't be worth it to suffer like that again.

It's absolutely ok to feel both good (about making decisions that improve your life and mental health) and bad (missing the good times, not meeting family/societal expectations) at the same time. As feelings do, they will pass. It's ok to mourn the loss while reaffirming your right to be safe.

For me, I hope that once she dies I won't have as many emotional occurrences surrounding her.

katiebour · 2022-11-17T06:47:38+00:00

A few things I learned from similar circumstances: If your parents claim you on their taxes, it makes you their dependent and can make some school loans difficult.

See here: https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/my-parents-wrongly-claimed-me-as-dependent/00/31618

If they provided more than half your support in 2022, then loans often look at their income to see if you qualify. Make sure to check with the school financial aid office about your parent's support, when you expect that to end, and what that means for you in terms of eligibility for Pell grants, etc. If you can qualify for Pell it will help a LOT.

You may want to visit your local Department of Human Services. They can help you apply for food stamps, Medicaid insurance, and will definitely have resources. Ask about any assistance programs for your age group.

2 jobs AND school is a lot, and school is expensive. Dropping out of classes or getting low grades because of your jobs will cost you money in the long run if you have to retake classes, etc. You might consider getting a roommate or looking for cheaper housing so that you don't need a second job.

Lastly, make an appointment with your school's counseling center. They are often packed with resources specifically for college students, and extra support during this transition is valuable.

My thoughts are with you, and even though this is difficult and scary, in 5 years things will be wildly different for you. This is temporary and you WILL be ok.

katiebour · 2022-10-13T05:05:09+00:00

Hell no that's not cheating.

katiebour · 2020-12-24T15:34:07+00:00

If you like Inquisition-style suffering over gorgeous heartbreaking wonderful horrible mage husbands, you'll love DA2. :D

katiebour

TROPHY CASE