Participant #1:
Hey, everyone. Michael here with hello, cupcake, it's me. And today is February 19, 2022. And how are you? So getting right off with everything, I started a podcast now that is reachable through Spotify and a few other podcast locations. And basically what's going to be happening is I'm going to be taking the videos here on YouTube and transforming them into podcast format. And every once in a while, I'm going to be uploading direct content to the podcast itself. So there's going to be exclusive stuff only on the podcast, exclusive stuff here on YouTube and so on and so forth, like I have been doing for a while. So look for the link to the podcast down below. So recently, there's been a lot of really bad stuff that has happened. And if you haven't watched any of my videos from earlier this week, I had to put my cat Bella down. I had her for 13 years, and I thought that it was just a routine check up. I was not ready to have to do that. And everything was just good. She was breathing kind of heavy and difficult and stuff like that. And just like I finally got the courage and the resources together to take her to the vet. And they pulled 350 ML of fluid off of her lungs, and they tested it, and it was mostly cancerous. So when the doctor came in and told me all of that, she said the best course of action at this point is just to consider letting her go, that it would be one of several things that ended up taking her. She couldn't guarantee that the medication that she was going to prescribe was going to clear up the fluid or not. And she also said, and then the medication that I would give for the cancer would eventually cause organ damage and failure. And so it's like putting a bandaid on a dam. And so just seeing how she struggled to breathe prior to taking her in and then seeing how she was breathing after they took the fluid off of her lungs, I didn't want her to suffer and sit there and drown and not be able to take good deep breaths and do whatever she needed to do to breathe. So even though it absolutely fucking killed me to do so, I went ahead and made the hard decision to let her go. And I'm telling you guys, I've been an emotional wreck. So for any one of you who have ever had to put down an animal that you were really close to, you know how hard that is. So that's what happened Wednesday of this week. So on the 16th, that's what happened. And I've been talking about wanting to adopt another cat for quite some time just for various different reasons. And I just never did. I never got around to it. I had plenty of opportunities to do so, but I just never get it. So yesterday I went to the Humane Society, and I know it's only been like, as of today, three days since she's passed, three or four days anyways. But I went to the Humane Society yesterday, and I fell in love with this chunker. He was so chubby. He's about a year and a half old. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed, praying to whatever God happens to be out there, the whole whatever that I get to be able to bring him home. The only reason that I wasn't able to bring him home yesterday was because there was a woman who had come in to see him prior to me who was really interested and needed to go talk to her boyfriend and have her boyfriend come back on Sunday to visit with him. I know it's extremely selfish, but I really hope that they don't make it back on Sunday and that I'm able to bring this dude home. He's so freaking cute. He's a tuxedo. He's just really, really chubby. And the second I came walking into the room, he was like, Hi, I really like you. And he laid on his back and put his arm through the thing, and I could hold this, Paul. Like I used to hold Bella's. Yes. It was just amazing. And so instantly my heart was like, I need this. I really need this guy in my life. So I'm hoping that works out. Otherwise, there is a six month old kitten that is already chipped and spade and everything that I'm going to go look at. But the owner of that cat hit me up last night and said that had gotten a fight with the dogs, and she's afraid for the safety of the cat and whatever. And I said, Listen, I understand that you want a new home for this cat, and I would love to give you a home for this cat, but I need to make sure that I'm not able to adopt this guy first. And then if I can't adopt him, I'm calling you up and I'll let you know by Wednesday of next week. That's the best I can do. I'm supposed to get a call back on Sunday, possibly even Monday, but I'm not sure about Monday because Monday is a holiday. So Wednesday, I'm assuming at the latest. So we'll see. And I'm sure if I don't get either one of those, that there will be another cat out there that is just right and perfect for me. And I might even have to make a trip over to a different county to go see what they have going on at one of their shelters. But, man, it's so weird not having her in my life, not having someone that you have grown accustomed to for 13 years and you knew each other. And I still find myself looking for her. And I think I feel her jumping up on the bed at night or like, I see her out of the corner of my eyes going into the bathroom. I've got to stop talking about it right now because I'm starting to tear up about it again. So anyways, a lot of people are going to think that it's really soon. But yeah, it is soon. And it may seem careless or harsh or crass or whatever, but I love animals and I would like to think that she wouldn't want me to be alone inside. So yeah, moving on from there. Talking about the podcast now, I've been asked for probably the last three, four years if I do podcasting, and everyone's been hounding me to do podcasting. And I actually did a podcast back in the early 2000s before I ever started up Hello Cupcake. I had my own little radio station or whatever, but the interest wasn't there like it is now

Participant #1:
since it's being broadcast directly to Spotify and like a few other different places. I don't even remember now where they all are. I'm trying to get the podcast set up and put onto Apple and some of the different Apple platforms, but it is extremely difficult to get anything published over on Apple, and I'm having a hard time getting my new screening set up and getting that ID quote unquote activated so that I can even get a podcast started up over there. I followed all of the steps, I followed all the procedures. I just don't have any freaking clue what I'm doing or how to get it even taken care of at this point. So we'll see what happens. I just may not be able to broadcast over Apple, but

Participant #1:
I'll leave a link to it. And if you guys are interested and you can pull it up on your favorite podcasting service or what have you. But yeah, as far as I know, you just go to Spotify and look for well, I don't have my vanity URL set up yet, so it's like all kinds of letters and numbers and stuff like that. But I'm pretty sure if you just go in there and look for Hello Cupcake, it's Me a podcast, you should be able to find it. And I thought that was kind of cute as the name for sticking with a Hello Cupcake, it's Me Brand and then Hello Cupcake, it's Me a podcast. I was like, that's cute. That's funny. That should be easy enough for my original followers to be able to latch onto and find everywhere else.

Participant #1:
In other news with the biological egg donor, she called me up the other day and said that she's going to have to go have surgery done because they found a whole bunch of uneven polyps and that she's got to do a colonoscopy. Then they're going to do a biopsy on some of the polyps and see what they are and trying to get her regulated with new medication. Her doctor took her off of insulin and put her on genuvia, which is a once a day diabetic pill that's supposed to replace metformin and replace having to take injections. So I don't know how that's going to work out for her, but whatever. I did call this last time that she was in the hospital and talk to the nurse and to the doctor and requested that a diabetic educator come and talk to her because she was taking five units in the morning, ten units at night, and that was it. And anyone who knows anything about insulin and diabetics and being diabetic, 25 units of insulin a day is not that good, especially if you are still eating like you normally would. And she would have 36 cups of coffee a day with sugar and milk and everything else in it and eating pancakes and chocolate covered Bon bonds and the whole gambit of whatever you would eat throughout a day and only being taking that 15 to 25 units a day, I was like, no, you can't do that. You have to be on a sliding scale, so you need to talk to them about a sliding scale. And she just wouldn't. And so she said one of the things that they were going to be looking for is they were going to see if she has cancer. And I asked her, I said, well, if you do have cancer, are you going to go through any of the chemo treatments or anything like that? She's like, Hell no, I'm 70 years old. I'm not going to put myself through anything like that. I'm like, okay, well, that's your choice. So we'll see what happens. As of right this minute, I don't have the mental capacity to deal with her and deal with the crippling sadness that I feel. It comes and goes, and I don't know if it's the bipolar that is compartmentalizing everything that is happening or what, but the day after I cried so freaking hard that I almost passed out at one point. And then the next morning when I woke up, I was just like really cheerful, happy and manic. And it's been like fluctuating. So I don't know, I just steer this meat suit and tell it which way to go and the internal software does everything else. But anyways, guys, for those of you who reached out to me, thank you so very much for your kind words and your support. I really do appreciate you. I did see every comment and every email that came through. I may not have responded, but let me tell you, it was really heartfelt and amazing and I appreciate each and every one of you. So if you have any questions, comments, concerns, put them in the comment section down below. If you are listening to head over to the blog. HelloCupcakeitsme@gmail.com For content that I don't really post anywhere else, follow me on all the different social medias and I will talk to you all later. Bye guys.