Between overtime at work and dealing with a sick kitty, I haven’t had much time to let the creative juices flow.
Aine was ill enough late Thursday that it became apparent that she wouldn’t live until her appointment this Thursday for her annual exam. She’d not eaten all her food Tuesday, less on Wednesday, and hadn’t touched it on Thursday, and I was so certain our vet appointment on Friday was the “goodbye” appointment.
It was a stand-in vet we saw, Nicholas Vaughn (last name spelling guessed). He was totally awesome. He said he couldn’t see anything wrong with my “kitty” except dehydration, they would take full labs to be sure (with my approval), give her fluids, and send her home. I was surprised and relieved. They gave her half a pill to stimulate her appetite and sent me home with the other half to give her Sunday night.
Unfortunately, my stubborn little girl had spit up the pill before we got home. After calling, I put the remaining one in a gelatin capsule (how I give those tiny meds to all my cats), and popped it down “with a water chaser.” Stayed down. Yay!
At that point, I settled down on my home computer for 8 hours of work. Since I was starting at noon, I was at it until late in the evening. I got a short break mid-afternoon when Star dropped by with our favorite game because I’d missed gaming the night before, wanting to stay home with my girl. We played for about half an hour and then we both went back to work.
When I’m not distracted, time flies, so I was startled when Wanda called after 6:00 to see if I’d eaten. When it was pointed out, I realized I hadn’t had anything but some rice and veggies before I started work and I was ravenous. She picked food up for me on her way home from work.
I have such wonderful friends. That includes Kelly who let me call her at 5:00 a.m. her time and cry on her shoulder before I went to the vet. The three of them were such great support all weekend, and especially on Friday.
So Friday, Aine pretty much stayed glued to me, following me from room to room. Wanting a lot of lap time. Sleeping near me that night.
Saturday we got the lab results that it was hyperthyroidism and the rest of the labs looked good. She and I are both on tiny pills now. Fortunately she is easy to pill. But by Saturday evening, she was failing again, spitting up a lot, not drinking, looking unhappy. I tried giving her sub-Q fluids (they’d sent the rig home with me), but I think as much ended up on me as in her. I was working a full day and trying not to be distracted by her, but trying also to give her attention as needed.
Then she didn’t sleep with me that night. I finally got up during the night to check on her. It was apparent she’d spit up several times during the night. When she saw me she stepped over to the water bowl and just stood there. She’d investigate it every now and then, but wouldn’t drink. It made me crazy. I finally put water on my finger and started wetting her mouth and muzzle and got her to drink a few drops, but she didn’t drink more. More fluids were in her future.
Sunday, she got more sub-Q fluids. Again, a lot ended up on me and the chair. I think her old-lady skin just isn’t elastic enough to form a seal around the needle. But she was stronger the rest of the day. I think she ate something. She was again following me from room to room. We had a lot of lap time.
This morning, she was staring at the water bowl again. AAAAGGHH! But she was still strong, so I was patient. I finally pointed out, “That’s the only flavor of water we have,” then realized I was wrong. I put down a little distilled water next to her bowl of tap water. IT WORKED! She started with the distilled, went back to the tap and drank deeply. YAY! I told her, “No sub-Q fluids for you today!” and popped her daily pill. She’s in the other room right now calling for me. It’s definitely the “where are you?” call and not the “something is wrong!” call. I can breathe easier today.
[And before I could finish proofing this, she was sitting under my office chair to get petted. A very normal thing for her to do. Yay!]
Internal jukebox: There’s Within My Heart a Melody