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January 27, 2010

All about the cat

I've never been one of those people who compares their pets to children, even before I had kids. Don't get me wrong, I love my cats; They're still cats, though, and in a whole different class than spawn.

In the last year, Tana has been losing weight. It started slowly enough that I didn't really notice, and continued slowly enough that I wasn't in huge hurry to rush off to the vet when I did notice. She finally got thin enough that I knew I needed to take her in to be seen, and I planned to take her in during the Christmas break when I would have other adults around to watch the kids. I was rather convinced that her weight loss was due to something terminal, and I really didn't want to have that kind of visit with kids in tow. All that changed when I was up with Owen in the middle of the night and witnessed what the vets call an "episode," behavior that may have been a stroke and was possibly indicative of high blood pressure.

I was sure at that point that Tana had something terminal. I was also sure that I couldn't wait to take her to the vet, because on the off chance that what she had was painful, I refuse to let her suffer. The next morning I took Owen, Katie and the cat to the vet clinic where Bubba was put to sleep.

Long story short, the vet was pretty sure that Tana had hyperthyroidism and high blood pressure. She confirmed the bp while we were there, and had bloodwork results back to us by the next morning. She called in a couple prescriptions, told me to come back in two weeks to recheck her levels, and we were good.

I expected Tana's activity level to decrease, in fact, if it didn't, the drugs weren't working. And she did get less active. After two weeks, her blood levels still looked good, but she was still losing weight. A week or so after that, and she was practically comatose. I would search her out several times a day, just to make sure she was still alive. I never saw her eat or drink, and she felt lighter. I tried to get a last minute appointment, but they were booked up. Instead, they suggested splitting her meds and gave us an appetite stimulant.

The stimulant woke her up again, and she started acting like a very toned down version of herself. She still wasn't eating, though, so I took her back in for another visit. In less than two weeks, she had dropped another pound. My cat who used to be a well fed but not fat 14 pounds was now down to 6.5. I was sure (again) that this was going to be the end, apparently there was just a little hope left. Her bp was fine, and the drug for that was the likely culprit of the nausea and lack of appetite, so we dropped it. We kept the stimulant, and started force feeding her a high nutrient wet food to try to jump start her system.

It took two days of bi hourly feedings, stunk both of us up and reminded me why babies are such a pain in the butt, but Tana finally started drinking. And then she started eating. She's started to feel a bit more substantial, and even though I still haven't seen her play, she's rejoined the family. I need to take her in to check her weight and make sure her bp is still ok (although I think we'll risk high bp over the meds), but I think she's going to make it through this.

My cats don't share the same level of importance as my kids. That doesn't mean that they aren't important to me, though. So yeah, I jumped through a lot of hoops, paid more than I probably should have and stress ate my way up a few extra pounds.

And I'm really grateful that it worked.

Posted by me at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2010

I settled for wine

I'm hoping this post makes sense, but I'm writing it after I opened a bottle of wine. And since I don't want to waste any of it, who knows what kind of mental state I'll be in by the time I finish writing.

I hadn't really thought of this week as being too trying, and I guess as a week, it wasn't too bad. Even today started off improving the week, but it ended with something of a bang. Or sort of a squish.

On Tuesday, Owen got the runs. Not the normal, ate-too-much-fruit-and-his-diaper-exploded run, although I didn't know that at the time. I didn't really get it until it ate the skin off his butt, and he learned the work "Ow." Until I was trying to dry his skin and realized the reason it wasn't drying was because it was weeping puss. He woke up over and over after bedtime, because he would go a drop or two and it would burn so bad he would cry for me.

Wednesday was better, but still heartbreaking. He still cried at every diaper change, but there weren't so many of them. He still fought being wiped, but he didn't freak out every time a drop of something hit his diaper.

By today, he was red and sad, but not in pain anymore, thank goodness.

And then Katie woke up with a frog in her throat and a god-awful sounding cough. Within ten minutes, she was sounding a hundred times better. I had already prepped her for staying home, but it wasn't long after she woke up, she was asking for breakfast and sounding nearly normal. She had no temperature, and when I asked her, she wanted to go to school.

At dinner, she didn't do much eating. Then she started coughing up her milk. Then she started looking so rough I was afraid she wasn't breathing. (She was, but WHOA.) She wouldn't talk, but I got her to admit her throat hurt. I got her up from the table and took her straight to the after hours clinic. By the time we got there, she looked a lot better, although she still wouldn't talk. As soon as the doctor confirmed a sore throat and a prescription and walked out the door, she started chatting like we were on some sort of girl's day out. She wanted to go with me to pick up her prescription, instead of go home.

THAT was a mistake. I realized halfway to Target that they have a $10 gift card with new prescription coupon online. I figured we could at least drop the thing off, and maybe they would let me use a copy of the coupon if they had one around. Instead, the lady at the pharmacy said that I could print a copy from the registry computers up front, which I could have, if they had the coupon-printer software installed. And also, if I hadn't been interrupted THREE times to run Katie to the bathroom. If I hadn't had to bag a pair of underwear.

In the end, it turns out the coupon was in this week's flyer, which they happened to have a copy of behind the counter. We got our prescription. And the gift card. We got home without having to wash the car seat cover. Katie can talk and breathe and her back end isn't weeping (yet).

I need chocolate.

Posted by me at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

January 7, 2010

End of story

I thought I had talked more about our dealings with Katie's stomach aches, but i can't find any reference to the GI doc, blood work and other labs, abdominal ultrasound or trying to get an appointment with a pediatric urologist. Damn Twitter and FaceBook and it's simple little updates!

This whole saga started with Katie's repeated complaints of stomach aches. To us, to her teachers, even to my dad when she spent time with him last summer. That touched off a flurry of appointments, tests and medication, starting with her pediatrician, and x-ray, and a prescription for a reflux medication. When that didn't work, we were sent to a pediatric gastroenterologist where she was swabbed, had vials of blood drawn, urine and stool samples taken, and eventually fasting ultrasound to look at her GI tract. All but the ultrasound returned (refreshingly) normal results. The US was a little more troubling. I was driving when the doctor called to tell me his concerns, and the notes I jotted on a scrap of paper while sitting at a derelict gas station say "bladder reflux" and "blunting on kidney." (There's also a note follow up after we see the urologist.) I'm not entirely sure what those notes mean (I get reflux, but what is blunting?), but from what he explained it sounded like she was probably fine, but if the abnormality was severe enough it could cause her problems later on in life. Sold! I'll get right on it.

It took a couple weeks to actually get an appointment. There were several calls that weren't returned, and apparently non-emergency cases were getting booked months out. By the end of October, I finally had an appointment scheduled for early January.

I pretty much put the whole thing out of my mind. I didn't really want to waste my worry on a possible maybe, and there wasn't anything I could do about it (whatever "it" was) anyway. By the first of the year, I'd forgotten all the details of this whole saga, and Katie hadn't mentioned a stomach ache in so long, I couldn't remember the last time she brought it up.

Which pretty much made me look like an idiot at yesterday's appointment. I couldn't remember dates or doctor's names, they were asking me questions about urination and bowel movements that I haven't had the answer to since Katie stopped doing them in her pants, and even those memories have faded. The PA asked tons of questions I barely had answers to, then laid Katie down for a quick ultrasound of her bladder, etc. In the middle, the doctor walked in, told me he had seen the previous US, and everything was fine. Just for kicks, he showed me her left kidney, measured the fluid spot, pronounced it no big deal, shook my hand and left. He was nice, answered the few questions I could come up with, came off as an expert and was still out the door in under 10 minutes.

Well, then.

I guess we're done.

Posted by me at 9:59 PM | Comments (0)

January 1, 2010

Coincidence

This isn't a resolution. I don't do resolutions. But now that the guests have gone and the leftovers are finished and (almost) all the chocolate has been consumed, it's time to start my silly Wii running again. And when I'm in some version of Wii shape, I'm going to get my ass out of the house and try real running.

In my mind, I'm already ready to run a short race. In my mind, I do pretty darn well. In my mind, I'm harder, faster, leaner and I'm not breathing all that hard.

Hopefully what they say about envisioning the future you want really does help make it happen, because I'm going to need all the help I can get.

Posted by me at 10:58 PM | Comments (1)