Eager Elephant's Effective Everyday Excursion ...

Eager_Elephant · 12 July 2011 at 8:00AM

Well the cat came home last night and surprisingly he is doing very well. He was walking the same as he had in the morning when I would have thought he would be limping worse.

This morning he is practically leaping about as though nothing has happened. :j

When they did his right hip they discovered that his right hip joint was already fully detached from the femur :eek:.

So that was only £409 which was a bargain when I was thinkng more about £500+

Not sure what we will do about the left leg as this is also disintegrating.

The surgeon said that if he was a dog he would have diagnosed Legg-Perthes but it is very very rare in cats and he has never seen a case in a cat in all his years working as a vet/surgeon :eek:

Legg-Perthes is where the blood supply does not reach the hip and so the bone starts to die off which ties in with his problem which is in both hips, they do not think it is a car accident as that would only affect one hip and that would have been a fracture and not the bone disintegrating.

Will have to wait and see.

EE

taxi73 · 13 July 2011 at 12:47AM

nice to hear that your cat is recovering well and hopefully you'll find out what it is soon

Eager_Elephant · 20 July 2011 at 10:16AM

Before I post my monthly update I thought I would post about the cat.

The little blighter had pulled all his stitches out by Weds morning :eek:(but luckily the wound had already sealed itself), back to Vet on Thurs for check up and he is very pleased with him. This vet was the one who I had seen originally back in Feb/Mar. He seems to think that it is very likely it is Legg-Perthes and this vet has been dealing with animals longer than the surgeon and he also says that he has never seen a cat with this although it does happen so I guess I have one very rare cat.

Do not need to go back for stitched as there aren't any so I guess he saved me an extra trip.:rotfl:

Since the weekend the cat seems to be limping more but I think this is because the pain killers have stopped now and his leg is still healing. It can take up to 1 year for a dog to recover from this type of operation so I guess the same in cats as they are usually more active than dogs and he may always have a limp anyway so as long as he is eating I won't need to take him back.

The vet said when he has a limp on the other leg to take him back and he can have the same op on the other leg so I guess I better get saving :rotfl:

EE

Eager_Elephant · 20 July 2011 at 10:42AM

Balances as per statements:

Barclaycard - £7373.97
Amazon - £2227.57
Abbey - £234.90

Total - £9836.44 :j:T

Reduction - £496.36 :j:T

So finally I am under £10,000, hopefully it won't need to increase for any reason although I have a lot of expenses coming up :eek: - will post about them later.

EE

Eager_Elephant · 20 July 2011 at 12:27PM

I am having a slight stress about some expenses which need to be paid.

When I thought money was ok I sent off a cheque for DS to go to a residential space school for 1 week in the summer holidays.

Since doing this I have checked both bank accounts and realised I cannot actually afford to send him :eek:. The cheque I sent was for £40 and is non-refundable, I need to pay money into my account to cover this otherwise it will bounce. If he is accepted I need to pay another £300 :eek:.
Ds says he does not want to go but I have told him I have paid in full so he will have to - he did say that if it was cheaper he would love to go.
Space School happens every year but this is the last year that he would benefit from it.
He is going on work experience next year and he would like to do astronomy or physics so I thought this might help to see if it is the route for him.

Then the childminder gave me the invoice for June the other day (she now does it in arrears) and then yesterday gave me the invoice for July :eek:. I think she has done them both now because she has 2 weeks annual leave beginning of Aug and needs it for her holiday.

I do receive childcare paid by Tax Credits but this money has been used to pay for the vet's bills etc so I didn't have to put it on the credit card.

I also have to find 1 mths Ctax as this is behind but the household account does not have enough money in as the expenses are more than the incomings - I have mentioned this before and not done anything about it :mad:

So I need to find £300+£250+£260+£180 all within the next week :eek::mad:

In addition to that DH and I have 2 weeks annual leave, we have not booked a week away due to animals etc but were hoping to do some day trips etc but not sure how we can afford that.

My bank account is very short this month as I have also paid for the most expensive vets bill, plus I had a girls night out and a wedding - this little lot cost about £600 :eek: so I have not paid any overpayments to my cards this month even though I was hoping to clear Abbey credit card.

DH also has no money as his wages only just about cover his outgoings although sometimes we pay for acupuncture from he childcare account.

I am so annoyed that we have got ourselves in this position - I hate struggling - every summer holidays we struggle to afford to do things - usually we book a holiday and pay for it on credit card and then the spending money is because we don't pay the bills so then we pay extra to catch up.

At the end of the holidays the children will need new uniform plus my car tax is due end of this month and I was hoping to pay for 12 months instead of 6.

And then to top it all as I have mentioned before Tax Credits is likely to stop due to the lowering of the limit so I wonder how we will manage then when we can't manage now?!?? :mad:

In keeping with my positive outlook I will follow this with a positive post :T

EE

Eager_Elephant · 20 July 2011 at 1:09PM

So back with the positives to sort this situation out:

I have exchanged my clubcard vouchers for deals so when they arrive I will have £40 which will be one day out.

The sea-life centres have some 2 for 1 offers so I need to check the terms and conditions as DD wants to go one of these.

DH gets paid at the end of this week so if DS gets a place on the space school week then he can write the cheque and I can pay him back with Tax Credits as they are paid every Friday - his direct debit's for his credit cards are spread throughout the month anyway.

I will try to pay the childminder for June this Friday and then I can pay July's the week after.

Plus I should have money coming from my brother which will help with the expenses.

I will get paid at the end of the month with the extra from doing 2 extra days so instead of paying off debt this could be used to have some days out although if I tell people we have no money we can do free things. DD wants her friends round to play as we never get the chance usally due to working so maybe every other day we can have a friend round and then she won't mind that we are not going out so much. DH has things to do up the field which I can help with so I think the 2 weeks are filled. Plus we are going to attempt to cycle to my mum's - should be a laugh but think we need to get practicing first!!

I have rung up with my relief hours - only a few but it all helps and I have completed my mileage sheets to be sent off so will be some extra money next month.

I have some cartridges to send back so this will help a small amount, plus I am now going to gather up my car park expenses to claim back on Friday :T

If I think of anything else I will let you know.

EE

Eager_Elephant · 23 July 2011 at 3:56PM

I have been trying very hard this week with my expenditure. My friend's mum had a charity fashion show so I paid £5 for my ticket last month and took £10 to spend and that was it. Brought a drink and some sweets etc and gave them what was left so that was £10 spent.

Was also supposed to be going to a work leaving do but realised that I couldn't really afford it so sent my apologies so that saved me at least £25. :T

Had hair cut today, was supposed to be T section but have decided that now I am back to my natural colour it is fine and won't need doing so that cost £13.00 for a wet cut instead of £30+.

Had to pay library fine as DH had CD out so really should come out of his pocket but never mind.

Will be paying childminder later for June and then will do July's next week.

Had letter from Space School - DS has a place :T so just need to send in £300 :eek: and it's all sorted. Getting a bit worried now as he won't know anyone but sure he will be alright. On the last day we get to go earlier to see their rockets launch and then for a buffet lunch followed by presentation.

EE

Eager_Elephant · 31 July 2011 at 6:51AM

So I have managed to keep my expenditure quite low last week ready for the expense of the holidays. Went out with friend to new pub which was strange to say the least but as I took DD that cost £25!!!

Today's the day when DS goes to Space School - I am quite worried but he is really excited. We are packing this morning as I think it will be easier.

I have paid the childminder for June and will have to pay July's on Friday. My tax credits have gone down by quite a lot but that is fine as I have to learn to live without it from next year anyway. :eek:

And the best news is that DH has been awarded Disability Living Allowance low rate care - it's nearly £20 per week which will cover half the cost of acupuncture :T

EE