“Remoted” – Day 462 (Monday)

Fish Cock. 

Today featured some adventure with the brave entry into Finnish specialty food, the canned Fish Cock. It’s been in the cabinet since it arrived from Finland with one of the Finnish army surplus hats bought in the cold weather. It was bought because the name was funny, and also because the description of smoked salmon in rye bread seemed interesting and I like smoked salmon and I like rye bread. I’ve just never had them together, never mind together from a can. 

The moment the can was opened there was a delicate aroma of salmon. Or maybe it was strong and that’s why I could smell it at all. My nutshell review of the Fish Cock is that it’s dense, filling, a bit dry, and overall, not bad. With a five year shelf life, I can imagine it would be terrific for emergency rations. The easy open can makes it good for camping or hiking. I don’t know if there will be more cans of Fish Cock in my future.

After work, there was a trip to the vet with Moose to have the lumps in his throat checked out. I imagined it would be like April when Winston had lumps in his throat, and a week on antibiotics took care of the problem.

Moosie at the vet.

Because I didn’t want to lose work time to go during the day, the 6:15 appointment was with the vet who may be great with animals but is not so great with people. Doctor Doom opened with “Moose is in a very bad way.” His breathing is labored and the lumps are hard like golf balls instead of softer like grapes, and she launched immediately into the worst case scenarios including lymphoma and “humane euthanasia” as an option. That’s when I started to tear up. This is the same doctor that started with “it could be cancer” when Winston had swollen glands and then they cleared up immediately with antibiotics.

The speechifying ratcheted down to other potential situations including an overnight stay at an emergency vet office and various tests. It swung wildly in the direction of medical speak, bombarding me with info, then asking what I want to do. Meanwhile, Moose was in another room and I couldn’t even think. Moose was finally brought in with me and she saw some other patients while I sat with my Boo. Later, an x-ray revealed that his lungs are clear. Blood work didn’t indicate liver disease. A sonogram can be done, but that is a special visit and something to think about. It was a long and brutal hour at the vet, and after living life on the verge of tears for about a year, many were shed at the animal hospital.

In the end, there was no hospital stay, and Moose and I headed home with a recipe for a bland diet and three cans of expensive, special prescription food. The cans will carry us over for a couple days until I can get to the grocery store to buy chicken and potatoes and wheat germ for the special home prepared food plan.