My Leaf List

So thanks to an old friend, I'm turning over a new leaf...or many new leafs if all goes well. I need to pull myself out of this "cave" and wake up.

This is my bucket (leaf) list:

Visit another country: Ireland, Greece etc.
Go blonde
Be comfortable in my skin
Get to know, and love thyself
Fall in love with someone who loves me
Take a class in pottery, painting, etc.
Go on a relaxation vacation to a remote island
Go on a cruise with a friend
Graduate from college
Get a job with a newspaper then move up the ladder
Write a song
Write a publishable book
Create something beautiful
Paint and decorate my first home
Do something crazy that I say I'd never do
Learn to dance
Be financially stable
Visit the West Coast and step in the Pacific Ocean
Step on every continent and write a travel piece about it
Interview the President
Wear a bikini
Meet a celebrity
Have a best friend
Get a full bodied tan
Be self employed
Buy a car

and many many more as life progresses....
wish me luck as I will attempt some of these this summer :)
just 2 more days and then family and Troy will be here and I can go home :)

-L

Amarii Fund

Amarii was one year old when she was euthanized. I rescued Amarii in Oct. 08. She was a sweet black and white house cat that had been thrown outside. The vets think that it was possible that she was sick when I rescued her. She had an eye infection that I wanted to fix but everything I tried wouldn't work. I took her to the vet on two different occasions and spent nearly $400 trying to figure it out (each bill took my entire paycheck). I never found out what was wrong with her eye because she got sicker. I had a great couple of months with her before she got sick this March. But once the sickness hit she was never the same. She wouldn't walk. She wouldn't get up to go to the litter box or to get food or water. She just laid around all day long. I took her to another vet and they couldn't tell me what was wrong. I spent another $170 on nothing but an appointment and an x-ray. Then, after barely being able to pay that bill, they send me to Jacksonville (30 mi. north) to a specialist. The consultation at the specialist cost $160 upfront. I wanted to save my cat so I swallowed it. Then they suggested $500 worth of tests to find out what was wrong and I finally said I couldn't do it. They said OK and sent us home with a prescription for steroids and a $190 bill.
Completely distraught, I went home to West Palm Beach with the cat in tow. We took her to my family vet and they did the tests on Amarii that were originally suggested, for a discounted $100. The tests all came back negative and I was once again left with nothing but an x-ray, a prescription and a sick cat.
I then took Amarii to Paws-2-Help, a clinic that is run out of a bus and extremely cheap. They looked at Amarii and said she needed surgery. My cat hadn't gone to the bathroom in 5 days and they expected there was a blockage.
Sobbing because I knew I couldn't afford surgery, I was faced with a very tough decision. The vet came out and told me she could try an exploratory surgery for a discounted price with no promises. I agreed, and my cat had the surgery. $220 later, I picked Amarii up and she looked better. The vet told me that she was able to remove a lot of old, hard stool from her intestines and she put in a mineral enema to clear out the rest. But she didn't find any blockage.
I had to go back to school but for the next couple of days, my family sent me updates and said she was doing great. We finally thought we were out of the woods when something happened. We still don't know what happened all we know is she got a lot worse. Fast.
I was devastated when I found out about Amarii being sick again. I drove 4 hours home and rushed to go see her again.
What I saw was terrible. She could no longer control her body. She laid limp on the floor and we had to force her to have food and water. When you held her she couldn't even hold her head up and we had to wrap her in a blanket and carry her around. Her eyes were strange. One was completely dilated and the other was completely constricted. Her stomach was swollen because her bladder was full and she couldn't go to the bathroom. She was in bad shape and I could no longer fight the truth. I needed to put her to sleep.
I went to Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League on 3/27/09 and said goodbye to Amarii. I did what I needed to do and now I'm left with a broken heart and a wealth of bills I can't pay (the last one was $40.)