Update - Tumor, New Ratties, and Some Info

I apologize for my silence lately. I do have some sad news to share.

A few months ago I found a bump on Avi. It's near her back leg, and is in the right place for a mammary tumor. It was pretty small then and I only noticed it by accident. Fast forward to now - the tumor is still small, but is growing. It is a mammary tumor (has exactly the same tributes as the tumor Min had), which means that it is likely benign, Avi is in no pain, and it will continue to grow. It appears larger when she is moving around her cage, and seems smaller when she's reaching up against the bars, or when I pick her up to feel it (I do this about once a week to track growth). I don't believe it is getting in her way, but I'm not sure how long that will be the case.

I suspect her to be around until Christmas at least, but I could be very off in this estimation. Like Min, I'm going to wait until it gets to be an inconvenience for her, then put her down. In the mean time, I'm trying to do my best to keep her as happy and as comfortable as possible.

No new ratties, by the way. I'm waiting until January to start my search again. I'll be getting 3 of them, all female, and I'll be getting them spayed. Apparently, spaying is a very good preventative measure against these mammary tumors, and - if done by a vet who understands the smaller critters (an exotics vet, in this case) - is relatively safe. This is one reason why I want rats from a local breeder. I will know the exact birthdate of the rats, and so can get them spayed during the amount of time that spaying-as-prevention turns out the most successful (which I believe is somewhere in the 3-4 month area). My only problem is that spaying is a major operation (the tumor removal surgery is a minor operation, but costs 4 times as much), and I run the risk of losing one, two, or all three of my girls! I'm going to do some research into the current vet I use, but I'm pretty certain that he has experience in this area.

Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo and Other Stuff

That's right. Next month is National Novel Writing Month and once again I am a participant. I'm nervous (obviously), definitely hoping last year's crash and burn doesn't happen again, and also very excited. I'm working on accumulating the things I need for my story, but I have an idea (that came to me during a nap the other day ... ) for at least the start of the story and 3 characters. We'll see where it goes from there.

There are a few things that worry me about NaNo this year.

• I haven't had creative juices flowing freely in months. Even going off of my meds hasn't helped much.
• I still haven't figured out the "balance school, work, and homework" thing yet, much to my chagrin.
• I has no laptop. Which, truth be told, isn't that bad of a situation. Just means it'll be harder for me to work when I'm at Tene's.

So, I do perceive issues. There is also that I'll be worrying about Avi, who has developed a steadily-growing tumor, and other things going on in my life right now. But, I'm going to attempt NaNoWriMo, and win or lose, I'm going to do my best.