The Katydid

Yesterday, I helped a friend (she's older and is like an adopted Grandmother to me) take her older dog to the vet. Katie (the dog) is a 100 pound lab and REALLY doesn't like to go the vet. She has been limping and I feared it was something bad. I was right, Katie has osteoscarcoma. Bone cancer.

Katie is my friend's last tie to her husband that died a few years ago and has been my friend's constant companion since he died. This friend adopted a dog from me, Cassie, a year and a half ago that I found on the street so she has two dogs now. Someday I will write Cassie's story. It is a pretty great one.

Katie is at home now with a Fentanyl patch for pain and my friend is taking some time to get herself ready and say goodbye. Katie still loves her biscuits, her sister (Cassie) and her baby (my friend's great grandson lives with her) but we know that the time will be soon, probably in the next week or so. No one wants her to suffer in any way.


Katie had to stay at the vet's (my good friend Helen is her vet. I make all the animals I love go to her) for the day (this is when I took time to go run) to be sedated for x-rays and blood work to confirm what was happening. When I picked my friend up to go get Katie she said, "some people won't have pets because they are too afraid of losing them and this pain. That is like not marrying your true love because they will die some day. I wouldn't give up what she gave me. Even to avoid this."

Needless to say, I didn't get to make it to my meeting with the coach last night.

(Picture: Katie a year ago, trying to kiss her way out of a nail trim.

Friday

Today
Melvin is back at the hospital. It looks like he is having bigger problems than we had originally thought. He seems to feel fine (good appetite and activity), but his body is acting otherwise. Since I am going to be out of town all day tomorrow for the 30K, I decided to hospitalize him for the weekend. That way I don't have to worry about him and he can get the tests done that he needs. One of the perks of working in the veterinary field is that I have connections and I will be able to get him Sunday morning instead of having to wait until Monday.

I hate when one of my animals is sick. It is such of feeling of being out of control. Keep my little man in your thoughts.





Melvin's Story

Melvin was born in 2000 to a stray mother. He was born with hydrocephalus ("water on the brain" build up of intracranial pressure due to increased volume of CSF fluid around the brain.) He was found by the home owners because he was off by himself and not with the other kittens he could not raise his head and could not feed. He had to be hand raised. The home owner's daughter (one of our clients at my old veterinary hospital) hand raised him. He has many medical problems and mental retardation as a result of the increased intracranial pressure when he was a kitten. Most of these kittens die, but he was relatively mildly effected and our client was a diligent and superb mother to him.

At six months of age he was a handful to say the least and was making her older cat miserable. She asked me to take him in. He has a lot of medical issues because of his deformities and mental retardation and he really could not be owned by just anyone. He really needed a veterinary nurse to own him, so I took him in and he has been with me ever since. He is a odd duck and for the most part a very happy, mostly healthy boy.


He has helped me raise many kittens. Being a big brother to them all and teaching them how to be a cat. To the left, he is pictured in the window with a Maggie Bones an orphan he helped me raise 4 years ago (Maggie Bones now lives in a BEAUTIFUL home in Saratoga with a teacher -friend of mine). Below he is pictured with Floyd (Floyd and his sister, Autumn are 2 years old now and still live with me) Mel helped me raise them and they adore him. They have no idea he is different.




This looks like a memorial, but it is not. Melvin is not going to die. I just wanted to tell his story. He is a sweet boy and I am feeling a little sad about him being in the hospital. That is all.


Exercise
None. Rest day
I have the Jed Smith 30K Run tomorrow. I am excited, but nervous. I wish Mel wasn't in the hospital, but he is where needs to be.



Food
Breakfast
English Muffin & jam/coffee (155 cal)
Snack
Power bar/apple/banana/coffee (320 cal)
Lunch
JC Cheesy Enchilada/sl. wheat bread w/ margarine (390 cal)
Snack(s)
Yogurt & 1/4 c. cereal (150 cal)
Dinner
Sushi: Golden Bell Roll/Tamago (700 cal)
Snack
none (0 cal)

Total calories in: 1715 cal
Total calories burned from exercise: 0 cal

Tuesday, right?

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:55

Tuesday, right?

Today

Rough day, but it is over so, I am moving forward.

I went to the vet with Melvin because he was due for his annual exam, he needed his prescription refilled, and he had been a little sluggish lately. He ended up needing a quasi-emergency procedure. It was not life threatening, but he had to go under anesthesia. I did the anesthesia (and cleaned his teeth, might as well get it done) and my friend performed the procedure. I feel like a shitty mom that he had to have this procedure and I don't want to go into the details, but he is fine and resting right now.


Melvin


I was not able to go the the gym since I was at the vet's until 6:30 pm and I had an AP Biology night review at 7:30 pm and I still needed to take Melvin home.

It is 9:45pm I just got home and I still have to write the AP test for tomorrow. No rest for the wicked. Unfortunately, that means I will have to catch up with you wonderful people later. I was able to read everyone's blogs on My Yahoo, but the school internet filter would not let me post comments today for some reason. But, don't worry the kids were all still able to get on My Space and Facebook so, all was right with the world *eye roll*.

You!

I really appreciate your encouraging and funny comments on the post yesterday and all of the days. It really helped me today when things didn't go as well as I would have liked.

I have to admit, that I sometimes (read: often) go back and read old comments to my posts when I am having a bad day. It really helps to lift my spirits. Thanks you all so much!

Food

Breakfast
(1) English muffin
coffee
(2) none (Ever been to one of these meetings that had about 20 minutes of material to cover, yet you don't emerge from the room until 2 hours later? Yeah, that was my morning)

Snack
snack pack of dried plums

Lunch
JC Cheesy Enchilada

Snack
none (at vet w/ Melvin)

Dinner
JC Salisbury Steak

Snack
none (too late, too tired, too shitty of a day)

Goodbye to a good friend

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:09

Goodbye to a good friend

Today I had to put down my oldest cat Winston. He was 15 years old and had cancer. He was diagnosed with small cell lymphoma last August and we started chemotherapy then. I had always vowed that if he didn’t tolerate the chemo or felt sick then I would put him down.

Well, I got a really good extra year from the chemo, but today we lost the battle. Monday he didn’t eat anything except a few treats and licked some juice from his canned food. He walked slowly instead of his usual trot and his meow was weak. He has had a bad day here and there on the chemo, so I decided to give him until this morning to feel better, but inside I knew.

I have worked in veterinary medicine for almost 15 years now and have had countless clients of older and sick animals ask me “when will I know it is time?” and I always tell them, “You know [your pet] better than anyone. He/she will look at you and you will just know.” And they always tell me when that time comes that I was right and they just “knew”.

Unfortunately, knowing it is the best thing for them and that it is the right time doesn’t make it any easier. My good friend who is a veterinarian that I used to work with was there for me and Winston and I am eternally grateful. It was a very peaceful end, he purred until he was gone.

I know I am so lucky to have had been able to share my life with him, but my heart is just broken. I don’t have human children so my animals are my family. Some people don’t understand this, but I know many do.

Some of Winston’s Nicknames: he was rarely actually called ‘Winston’. Here is a partial list of his many nicknames.

Winstonian: Wiiiiin-STOOOOh-nian! This is how I would call him and he always came running in at his lopsided trot, meowing all the way. He was ALWAYS meowing!

Stoneman

The Stone Ranger

Dirt Cat: He was always filthy. He loved to lie in the dirt and would rarely groom, he just didn’t have time for that sort of thing. It was not uncommon for him to have leaves hanging from his hair. What can I say, he is from the 90’s grunge era.

The Urinator: Like the Terminator, only worse! He adopted us as an intact [read: not neutered] 2 year old cat. Evan after he was neutered, he never got over his bad boy past. If you put something down in his yard for 2 minutes he would mark it, hence The Urinator!

My older cat Ninjin brought Winston home 14 years ago. They were best friends. Ninjin died about a year and a half ago and Winston missed him terribly. This is how I picture them now. together again!