Upon inspection (smell and sticky feel), there were a lot of stains, mainly isolated to one half of the carpet, but it wasn't sunny out yesterday, and the lighting wasn't good, so I had a hard time seeing them close up. Long story short... I ended up treating that whole half of the room. I went through 2 1/2 rolls of paper towels "blotting up" the stains with my slippers (which I've since washed).

It smells heavily of cleanser in the cat room, but the carpet is still wet, and up close it still smells like cat pee. The company says the product isn't done working it's magic until it's completely dry, and they stress the importance of that. If it doesn't do it's job, it won't be for lack of effort on my part, that's for sure.

It smells better in the rest of the apartment, with the exception of the bathroom which is right next to the cat room. I've washed the walls in there recently, and I bleached the rest of it, including the floor, a couple of days ago... so, IDK what to do in there. More bleach I guess.

I am in a lot of pain and am absolutely exhausted. I don't think I'll be ready to do the walls in there tomorrow. I know I should wait. Tonight I will increase the gabapentin to 600mg, and maybe that will help keep me out of trouble.

Kay,

I see that you are (mostly) pacing yourself.

Good luck with your progress.

M

I did a real number on myself again cleaning the carpet, so I'm in really bad shape again, which is no surprise. I went up to 600mg of gabapentin last night. If it doesn't help, as much as I would hate to, I will have to make an appointment with the pdoc covering for my regular one, who is on maternity leave until next month. I have to stop this self-destructive behavior.

My husband did not help me at all on Saturday. He wouldn't even go out to buy the paper towels for me. His excuse was that he helped by moving the heavy book case from one side of the room to the other... not exactly an equal division of labor, but he''s unapologetic about it. There's a lot of furniture that needs to be thrown out, but he's made no move to do that lately either. When I asked when he plans on doing it, he said, "When I feel like it."

We took my father-in-law and his "friend" out for breakfast yesterday. I was really beat up, moving around badly, and I had a hard time standing in line, so they had to come outside to get my husband and me when we got a table. I had to skip going to see my husband's step-father, which didn't score me any points, but I had to lay down and was eventually able to take a little nap.

I don't know if my husband feels guilty or not for not helping me after seeing what all that solo cleaning did to me... I doubt it, but I've been forbidden from going out or doing anything today.

While the odor isn't quite as bad, it still smells like cat pee in here. The rug isn't dry in the cat room yet, but I have a hard time believing it's going to produce magical results once it is. It bet it will smell better for a while after I use that crappy little wet vac, but that's not happening any time soon.

did he forbid from doing anything? I can't imagine you forbidding yourself. Does he believe in magic?

Yes, my husband was the one who told me I had to stay in and sit still yesterday, but I didn't do either.

When I went in to scoop out the cat box, I checked the carpet. Parts of it still weren't dry. One spot in front of the cat boxes, and one to the right of them were stinky, so I soaked those spots with the remaining Urine Destroyer (that I saved for this type of occasion). I lifted a lot of urine from one of the spots when I blotted it two hours later. It will take a while for those spots to dry because I used so much. I won't start doing the walls until the carpet is dry, so soaking them was probably a good thing...

I still don't know what it's going to smell like in that room when the carpet is fully dry. I don't think either my husband or I expect magical results. It smells better in the living room etc, but the odor is still not gone. It has been hot and VERY HUMID lately, and that does NOT help.

I couldn't stand the smell of cat pee in the bathroom, so I bleached everything in there including the floor and radiator. It smells sterile now. I want the door to remain closed at all times... a sanctuary.

I went out to the post office to mail two letters and buy stamps, and I drove through Dunkin Donuts to get an iced coffee, but I forgot to go to the office to put more money on the laundry card, which is a pain in the ***.

For me lately, that was taking it easy. The work in the cat room, on the whole, only took me about 15 minutes. I took a 2 hour nap and slept for 6 hours last night, which is a big improvement. I got drowsy after taking my night pills last night and I'm feeling a little sedated this morning from the gabapentin increase. All good signs.

I have an appointment with my neurologist tomorrow. It's supposed to be a follow-up regarding starting treatment with Tysabri, a drug I've decided not to take because of the cost. I don't know if I should cancel the appointment or not. I should probably call today to get the exact total drug cost so he will understand why I made the decision if I decide to go to the appointment. What else could I tell him? That I've been running myself into the ground like an ***hole?

Kay,

It makes sense -- the way you say it here -- to skip that appointment.

Maybe think of yourself as a princess.:)


M

I meant that if you don't do the work and he doesn't help with the work it will be done magically :-)

lol... maybe Bobby :)

I called and could not get the cost of the medication because the TOUCH program (that handles everything to do with approval of Tysabri) never got a prior authorization for it because they were using the wrong phone number for my neuro's office and never contacted me to get the right one. So there is no insurance approval yet.

I called my neuro's secretary to tell her I hadn't received the med yet, and why, including concerns about the cost. She is contacting the TOUCH program to handle the problem about the prior authorization and is going to get back to me.

I will be rescheduling the appointment.

I hope to hear from her soon because I want to jump in the shower and see if I can get my nails done today. They are an absolute mess after the carpet cleaning. I will give her until 10.

I never heard back from my neuro's secretary, but my insurance company called to notify me that my request for Tysabri was approved... that's quick work. I'll have to call the TOUCH program today to find out about the cost of the medication.

I'm glad I increased the gabapentin to 600mg because it's working...

I went to get my nails done yesterday. Then I shredded some of my husband's pay stubs (that he's been saving for YEARS) to start to lighten up the filing cabinet for the move, and I went through the drawers in the coffee and end tables to throw out the crap we don't need or want... and that's all I did yesterday... a HUGE improvement.

It still smells like cat pee in here. I'm trying to air the whole apartment out right now before it gets hot out again, but the air usually remains stagnant in here because our apartment is partially underground.

I'm not going to check to see if the carpet is dry in the cat room today because I don't plan on doing anything in there right now. It's so tempting to try to fix the root of odor problem, but the work will likely be really activating, so the more I avoid that room right now, the better.

I'm going to do grocery shopping today, early this week. I need a few things at the store, so it just makes sense to get the whole ordeal over with.
I've already vacuumed, and cleaned the kitchen and bathrooms, including the floors, so I don't have to do anything else if I don't want to, or aren't driven to.

Kay,

I am so happy that the Tysabri is approved.

Good to hear that you are shredding and getting rid of stuff.

Gabapentin seems to work for you in that you can go up and done on
it as you see fit.

You get a lot done in your days. Keep taking care of yourself as you do.

M

I woke up at 5 this morning to my husband telling me it smelled like s*** in the cat room. Rocky (I know it was him) had watery diarrhea and used the small box. Since he's so big, some of it missed the box and landed on the litter mat, fortunately missing the carpet. My husband gags easily. It was nice to wake up to.

That ****ing room is just a big thorn in my side...
The carpet in there is dry now, but the Urine Destroyer did not "destroy" the odor coming from the stain by the cat boxes despite being treated twice.
I've decided I'm going to shampoo ONLY the section of carpet I treated before I start doing the walls. It's a fairly small area and the POS "carpet cleaner" we have is lightweight and easy to use, so it won't be a big deal. Maybe it will help. IDK.

I'm still not "THERE" yet, but I'm calmer and I don't have to fight so hard with myself to stay out of trouble. My activity level has been reasonable and tolerable for the last couple of days. I'm still working on things with the move in mind, but they're smaller things, like cleaning out the linen closet and throwing out things we don't use anymore. I still feel compelled to clean the walls in the cat room tho...

is rocky okay

When I'm hypo, I have more energy, become more productive, and need less sleep. For some reason my cognition improves, too. At baseline those things are really lacking because of the challenges that come with MS. There are other benefits, too. Being (euphoric) hypo is very alluring for me...

I've been high for a long time now, and still am, but I'm coming down. I'll probably be back to sitting on my *** and taking 4-6 hour naps a day soon :o

I hope when I return to baseline I'm able to get to all the things on my "moving-soon list."

There was no diarrhea in the box when I cleaned it yesterday, and no odor until this morning.

I put out a clean water bowl (I always give them filtered water) and threw out the food that was out and washed the dishes before refilling them.

He looks healthy and is behaving normally. Like people, sometimes cats just get diarrhea, but I'll keep an eye on him and the box.

Kay,

I hope that he is o.k. Looking healthy and behaving normally is good sign.

Very nice that you have euphoric times.

M

There's been no more diarrhea in the box since yesterday morning. Rocky must be feeling better :)

There's cat fur all over the hallway and in the living room, so they must have been brawling last night. Most of the cat fur is white, so one or both of the boys must have been after Dottie. I checked her for scratches etc, but she looks okay.

I've been chain smoking because of the hypo/mania and am up to about 2 packs a day now, maybe even more. It's not good, especially since we're moving to an apartment I can't smoke inside of in a little over a month. We can smoke on the balcony, but I don't want to spend all day out there ripping butts. I need to cut down and start to work on the e-cigarette (I can use that in the apartment). It's going to be a big change, a big challenge, but I will have to learn to adapt.

I hope that you are able to reduce the cigarettes.

It's funny about the cats fighting at night. I did not know that they got
rough enough to lose fur?

Are they "play fighting"?


M

The cats get along really well. When they fight, it's usually play fighting, and it's funny… "I'll chase you, now you chase me!" But sometimes they do get into little spats. Usually there are no injuries but since there was so much Dottie hair on the carpet yesterday morning, I thought I'd check her out.

I shampooed the carpet yesterday. It took me 4 hours, but only because I took A LOT of long breaks, something I don't do when I'm flying high. It smelled better in here yesterday, but I think it smells worse this morning since the carpet has dried. I haven't been able to open the windows because it never dropped below 85 degrees last night, but I'll be able to do it tonight, and for a few hours tomorrow morning. I am DONE with the carpet in that room. I want the carpet in the whole apartment shampooed, one way or another, before we turn in our keys, but that's it.

We need some new things for the apartment. I was thinking it was too early to start buying things, but I guess it's better to start now and spread the spending out. It's mostly little things, but they all add up. I don't want to start going crazy tho…

Different furniture, but same problem… can't get my husband to throw it out. The **** is in my way and he complains about having to move it around for me. I'm going to make him a list of the items that need to be thrown in the dumpster and remind him that there will be more. He only takes out one thing at a time… When I give him the list, he's going to be ******, but I don't care. He should be ****ing embarrassed that he's just been sitting on his *** while I'm doing so much work :mad::mad::mad:

It don't think it's ever smelled THIS BAD in the apartment. I think that carpet cleaners draw more pee to the surface, so it must be (at least) down to the carpet padding, and the ONLY thing that will REALLY help is pulling the carpet up. I'm not going to shampoo that carpet again before we move out. Nothing good will come of it… we can't turn the apartment over with it smelling this foul.

For now, airing out the apartment, when it's cool enough to do it, is the only thing that will help with the odor.

I went out to buy a bucket of litter yesterday because even though it smells like pee right now, it's still time to clean out the litter boxes. The store was a zoo, and I couldn't find someone to put the litter in my cart for me, so I ended up screwing up my neck, shoulder, and arm again picking it up myself, but was able to get someone to put it in my trunk for me because the cashier paged someone.

Afterwards I went to go buy cigarettes, and cried a little on the way home. I NEVER cry. I think it was mainly out of FRUSTRATION. The smell in the apartment is AWFUL, I feel like all the work I did in there was for NOTHING, I hurt myself yet AGAIN, and I'm just feeling OVERWHELMED.

Last night I reduced the gabapentin to 400mg. It was becoming a little sedating, which is usually a sign that it's become too much med because I've come down, and crying is a pretty good sign I'm not hypo anymore, too. I probably should have done it earlier, but I guess I missed the signs because my anxiety started to rise again and I am having problems with OCD.

I am so glad you were able to cry but very unhappy that you had to live through those circumstances. Corey should really get the cat litter. I get the forty pound bags and have such a rough time. the porter brings them up to my apartment. I still have an impossible time. if Corey saw a movie with you and him in it, I think he would think the guy was so very selfish. he is lacking in empathy. but he can;t be.
love
bobby

Oh, Kay,

It sounds awful.

I hear you about furniture that needs to go out.
Tobad you could not get a high school kid to move stuff out for you.


Maybe your husband wants to do it all at once -- things he can get it done
easily . . . .without taking into consideration all the planning and
work you are doing.


M

Sending you some hugs Kay.

Wish Derrick and I were closer. Derrick would get the things you need out for
you. But we don't so were not any help.

Donna :grouphug::hug:

I wish my husband could see things from a different perspective too, Bobby.

Corey knew I was going to buy the litter, but he wouldn't come with me. He just assumed someone else would help me at the store, or didn't think about it at all. I had to wait until the following day before he would bring it in from the car too, but that didn't matter since I hurt myself and couldn't clean out the boxes this weekend anyway. I will probably do it today.

He doesn't want to, and isn't planning on, taking the furniture out all at once. He refuses to take out more than one thing at a time. I spoke to him about it on Saturday and initially he ****ing flipped out. I told him I didn't expect him to take out the bookshelf or the exercise bike until moving day when he has help because they're too heavy to move solo, but the other stuff has to go, so the bike/bookshelf can be moved into the kitchen and out of my way. He seemed relieved by that, but still didn't move any furniture this weekend or this morning. He keeps saying that he's going to have to move everything himself like he's some kind of martyr, but that's just not true. If we can get into the apartment early, over the weekend, we'll have help, but if we have to wait until Aug.1st (a Tuesday), we'll HIRE help, because he can't do it alone. We've talked about this several times, but he's still up on the cross, and using "moving everything alone" (but not for over a month) as an excuse...
He's already pretty much told me not to expect too much, if any, help packing for that reason. He's such an ***hole.

It smells much better in here since I've had more time to air out the apartment. I'll have a couple more hours to do it this morning before it gets too hot again. I hope at some point, the smell just goes away.

I've already bought a second Felaway Comfort Zone diffuser to discourage urine marking and scratching, and refills for the one I already have, for the new apartment. I also have the spray to discourage them from scratching the new couch we're going to buy. Next time I buy food from Chewy.com I'm going to buy a black light so I can check for urine stains/sprays daily and catch them early if Dottie decides to start going out of the box again in our new place. I'm NOT going to deal with this kind of problem again.

The cat room walls are going to get done this week if it kills me.

are you talking to him when he is drunk or sober? I bet you can get cheap help from craig's list.what would he say to that? his mother deserved a real kick in the pants. I am so sorry you have to go through this agony. My father did zilch. I found out that my father sold our house when my uncle moved to hamden because it was too far away to come over and fix things. My father did make scrabbled eggs and coffee.
love
bobby

About Corey.....
words fail me.....
((((((((HUGS)))))))
love
bizi

How soon will you know when you will get the apartment?
Will it be at the last minute?

I am pretty sure that I was throwing away a lot of my stuff. I did not feel like
going through lots of steps to get it from one place to another.
So that involved a type of cleaning -- Is this worth boxing up or carrying or can I put it in the dumpster when hubby is not looking?


Hubby is a packrat so I know not to throw away his things but he has even
gotten upset when I throw away or give away something of my own -- so
I have to do that when he is not paying attention.


=-=-
It is hard to move, Kay, but I hope that it is as easy as possible
with the conditions and that you are happy after you get the moving
part behind you.

You can look forward to being settled in your new home.

M

The current tenant in our new apartment now doesn't move out until July 11th. The office manager told me that she knows that the living room carpet is going to be replaced with Pergo flooring (not thrilled about that, would rather carpeting), but didn't know if the apartment needed any other work done before we move in. I guess maintenance will be busy getting a couple other apartments ready too, and they still have their regular duties to tend to. I don't think the possibility of moving in the weekend before is a stretch, but at this point, I'm not sure. I don't know when I will be.

I'm not comfortable dealing with Craig's List AT ALL. If I need to, I'll get estimates from local moving companies. It will be more expensive, but worth it.

I didn't have to argue with my husband about the furniture I want thrown out. He is a packrat tho. I wouldn't dare to throw any of his crap out without consulting him, but he has to let a lot of things go. I will probably have to bring his clothing, bags, and boxes of things out to him while he's sitting on the couch so he will sort through them because he won't do it otherwise… it's like he's a child.

I hurt myself AGAIN, this time doing the cat boxes. I was careful, so it was unexpected. I hurt my good (right) leg and lower back. I still had to go out to the store afterwards to buy some essentials, but I went directly to bed once I got home around noon, and woke up around 6:30pm.

I'm not doing ANYTHING today, NOTHING, and have no need to go out again this week except to play the lottery and get my coffee on Thursday. I'm going to have to put the thought of finishing the cat room out of my head for now, and look at my "moving-soon list" for much less taxing things to do when I'm feeling better.

I think I was on 600mg of gabapentin too long. I've come down pretty hard, or it just seems like that because of the MS. I've only been on 400mg for a couple of days though, so it's too early to mess around with it again.

you know i meant craig's list just to throw out things? with your husband supervising?

Kay

Is there any chance some teens in your building would like to make
a little money helping you throw out some of the things that aren't
to heavy. Or a boy scout troop near by might be willing to help
also for a donation to their troop. That way you would also have
an adult with them I would think.

Donna :hug::grouphug:

My husband would be ****** if I hired someone to take the furniture out, but I may ask him if I can call my brother-in-law to help him this weekend and ask him if he's available. They could take EVERYTHING out. I'm sure he would love to get away from my sister. I don't know how well that would go over with my husband, but he would probably like to have a drinking buddy, so maybe he would go for it…
I could hear him struggling this morning to pull the drawer out of one of the pieces of furniture to take to the dumpster, but I guess it wouldn't budge. He couldn't take the whole thing out because it's heavy, and he already had a trash bag to take out.

Thursday night I want him to move the furniture in the cat room into the middle of the room so I can cover it, and at least sweep and vacuum the walls in there Friday morning. It shouldn't be a big job. When I'm finished, it doesn't mean I have to rush to WASH the walls tho.

I changed the sheets on the bed yesterday, but I didn't do anything else. There are a couple of things I could do in the kitchen today IF I'm up to it, but right now it's not looking good though. I may just take another day off, which is probably the best way to go.

I got a call from the TOUCH program (for the MS drug Tysabri) yesterday and returned the call this morning. The prior information they gave me about my insurance coverage was WRONG. The drug and infusion services are covered at 100% like they were the last two times I took it, and it won't cost me the RIDICULOUS amount they said it would.

So, that was good news.

I don't have much hope Tysabri will help because it didn't before, but I will go back on it anyway. Since my MS has been so active, I guess I should try SOMETHING, and since it won't bankrupt us, I have no excuse not to.

I'm waiting for a call to set up my first infusion.

Please rest up another day.
(((((HUGS))))
bizi

I had Corey move the bookshelf to the middle of the cat room last night so I could sweep and vacuum the walls this morning because today will be the last cool day for a while where I can open the windows before a heat wave, but…

One of the cats (not sure if it was Dottie or Rocky this time) peed on the litter mat twice last night after Corey moved the furniture, the second time was right after I cleaned the litter mat in the tub and returned it to its rightful place. This hasn't happened in a long time, and has never happened back to back like that. I think the cats are stressed from everything that's been going on in the cat room. As much as I would like to finish the work in there, one of them is telling me it's too much for them right now, and they need a break, and I feel like I have to respect that. So I will wait a while before I mess around in there again.

According to Amazon, the refills for the Felaway Comfort Zone diffuser are supposed to be here tomorrow. When they come, I will plug one into a socket in that room and maybe it will help relax them a little.

I'm VERY WORRIED that they're going to get stressed when we move and I'm going to have to deal with urine marking constantly. I don't know if I can handle that. I started totally freaking out about it last night… I took 1mg of Klonopin, but it didn't help much.


In other news…

My husband said I could call my brother in law and ask him about helping get rid of the furniture. He likes the idea of being able to get everything out at once. I'll call him today to see if he's free this weekend or next. I hope it works out…

And my first Tysabri infusion is July 6th. I hope I don't get the common "flu-like" symptoms because that could set me back in my packing and cleaning.

sounds great except for the peeing. maybe she will surprise you.
love
bobby

I need to buy a lot of cat stuff.

I need to buy a carrier for one of the chunky ones, a black light, 3 new boxes, and litter mats for each.

The guy living in our apartment now doesn't move out until July 11th. I'd like to get in there soon after that so I can take a look at where I'd like to put the boxes, so I know what to buy…

We're also going to buy a new couch, so it would also be helpful to see the apartment before shopping for one.

Our tentative move in date is August 1st, so I'm going to call the office next week to ask when we can view the apartment, what our new address will be, and ask nicely if there's any way we could move in early.

2 days/nights in a row I've forgotten to call my brother-in-law :o
I hope he is free sometime soon, but I worry that I may be asking too much because I may be calling on him again soon to ask him to help us to move at the end of the month IF we can get into the apartment early.

So far, there's been no more cat pee on the litter mat :)
One thing I didn't consider is that I started using a new litter additive, and maybe Rocky or Dottie doesn't like it. I poured in more fresh litter, and I hope that will dilute the scent of it. I won't use it again in case that's the problem.

I'm having my nails done at 9 this morning, and I have errands to run. I hope I'm finished early because it's supposed to hit 90 today… too hot for me.

please call your brother in law.
Yes our cats did not like the new cat litter that we got years ago.
I won't ever switch again.
good luck with everything.
(((((HUGS)))))
love bizi

Yesterday I had a very bad MS day. I got my nails done and went to buy cigarettes, but there was no way I was going to make it through the grocery store. I'll try to get there today.

I went through the folder I have kept with all the pertinent paperwork dealing with my current apartment. According to my files, we put down a $500 security deposit. There was a breakdown of charges, and I wrote a check that included that fee when we moved in. When I spoke to the office manager here, she said we only put down $99, but if the rest of that money was returned to us in some way, at some point, I have no record of it… and that's something I would usually keep. I also have no record of where the security deposit is being held, but it should be in its own interest bearing bank account (even if it's only $99), and not providing that information to tenants is against the law. Had I been given a record of that, that's something I would have kept, too. And that stuff would be in that folder.
I don't know what they have for paperwork to see what, if anything was refunded to us, but I don't know how it would end up at $99. I'll ask for copies of all of that and straighten things out before we move out.

Since I waited so long to call my brother-in-law to help with the furniture, and we hope to get him to help with the move, my husband said not to call him. He backed his work truck up closer to the door than usual yesterday. So, I think/hope he plans on taking more than one piece of furniture out this weekend. I know he plans on disassembling the bookshelf to make it easier to move…

As soon as all the Felaway stuff arrived yesterday I put a refill in the diffuser and plugged it into a socket in the cat room right away. I hope it doesn't take as long to mellow them out as it does to stop them from scratching things.

I keep searching for cat carriers. I need another large one. The big ones are expensive (even on Chewy). There are some cheaper ones, but I worry that they will be flimsy and collapse under the weight of one of the fat kitties, even though we aren't taking them far.

I'm on track to buy almost everything I need before I can see the apartment. Aside from the carrier, I'll be buying a couple other little things today and will be done until then.

That is a big discrepancy in your security deposit records. Will you be able to get a copy of the check?
The move is coming up soon....
Sounds like corey may move out some furniture tomorrow. Good luck with that.
I hope you feel better sunday.
(((((HUGS)))))
bizi