Froggos, etc.

Yeah, dart frogs are pretty nifty! I've had my 3 for nearly 3 weeks. They're more skittish than I'd anticipated, particularly compared to how they were during the 3 day quarantine (mostly to confirm that they were healthy and eating well) in my little 5g temporary terrarium. Well, sort of. One ("Spot") was crazy bold in there, but has been especially shy in the 29g permanent home, surprisingly. And the one that was the twitchiest ("Avocado") in quarantine has been the most outgoing in the big tank. They certainly have individual personalities.

Spot in quarantine:

Spot's typical favorite hiding place in the permanent terrarium:

That's pretty much the most I've seen of the goofy guy/gal. Spot is the largest of the 3. I assume Spot is a bit older than the other 2. I believe all 3 are from different lineage, as Josh's Frogs discourages "line breeding."

Avocado, aka "Avo" (due to the avocado-shaped marking on his/her back) is currently the most outgoing.

Bianchi -- named after the shade of "celeste" green made famous by the bike-maker -- is the smallest and hasn't changed a bit in personality from one tank to the other.

I made the mistake of not dumping all 3 frogs into the same area of the tank and they've all pretty much kept to the same general region since moved into their permanent home. As a result the 2 bluer frogs have stuck together and poor Bianchi is all alone on the other side of the tank. I hope as they all become more bold that they reunite. They're social little critters and I assumed that they'd immediately group back up.

This AM I had lab work to try and get to the bottom of what's going on with my red cells. I have mild megaloblastic anemia. Most likely due to insufficient B-12 and/or folate, but it could be the result of hypothyroidism. So I had bloodwork to screen for both. The vitamin/mineral thing would make sense, as I likely don't absorb nutrients well, seeing as how I'm missing a good chunk of my colon (thanks, Cancer!).

This anemia would explain why my workouts have become increasingly difficult and for every 2 workouts I feel like I need a rest day. 6 months ago I was SO much stronger. This has snuck up on me. For months I thought it was simply Covid-related anxiety, since so many people have described debilitating exhaustion, brain fog, and sleep struggles. But that wouldn't explain my oversized and fewer-than-normal red blood cells/volume. And in the past week I'm starting to deal with neuropathy in my hands and feet. In a lot of ways this feels SO disturbingly similar to chemo's effects -- which is very unnerving.

So, if it's simply a matter of low B-12, I'll likely have to do injections for a while...or probably permanently, since it's not like I'm going to regrow my sigmoid colon and rectum. There's apparently a prescription B-12 nasal spray that I might look into, too, since my PCP is an hour away. That drive wouldn't be a big deal, aside from Winter. Or maybe it's an injection I could administer to myself.

Fxck Cancer!