We've been treating Rebecca for her hyperthyroidism now for probably about three months; the last six weeks of which have been spent chasing her around with a finger full of goo twice a day that has to be smeared in her ear. To say that she does not enjoy the process is putting it mildly. And admittedly we're not all that crazy about it either.

This morning was, I am hoping, the very last time we will have to do this. This morning we smeared the goop into her ear and then bundled her into a carrier and she yelled at me non-stop the entire drive into Sacramento, where she was poked and prodded and weighed and examined and then we left her there – left her for most likely up to ten days – so that she can be treated once and for all and hopefully return home to us with normal thyroid function once again. The fact that she may also return home to us slightly radioactive for a short period of time (thus prompting weeks of anticipatory glow-in-the-dark super-kitty quips) is just a slightly annoying side effect.

The procedure seems fairly simple. She doesn't have to undergo any surgery and she doesn't have to be put under anesthesia. She just gets an injection of treated iodine which – if all goes as planned – goes into the thyroid and destroys the parts that aren't working and once she reaches whatever acceptable level on their geiger counter, we can bring her home.

It has a 95% success rate – good enough odds that we were willing to go for the procedure. Plus, the loss of twice-a-day cat-ear-smearings isa definite bonus. And so far, things look really good. They just called to let us know that her goiters (I love that word) weren't too huge, and that she'd already been treated, and is doing just fine. And most important of all, they told me that iit was just the ordinary, run-of-the-mill hyperthyroidism, which means that her chances of recovering normal thyroid function after this is all over are pretty darrn good.