Miracle Boy II

Boy, Saturday is a blur to me now... I got some stuff done around the house and on my desk. Paul came up and we went out with Adam and Rachel to Sa Bai Thong for dinner. It was a lot of fun, as I was expecting. Rachel and her little sister (as in Big Brothers, Big Sisters) picked out a glass pendant with a cat's face etched in the back, which Rachel gave to me while we were waiting for a table. How sweet!

After dinner we went to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Very funny. Just the shift that I needed. Paul and I then watch the abysmal Saturday Night Live, then he took off and I went to bed. Another night sleeping without the boy. Good rest.

Sunday I caught up on a bunch of correspondence, including notes from people about Butterscotch. I also spent some time talking with my friend Kathy, who is putting her 18 year old cat, KC, down on Wednesday. We've made an even better connection of late. I got caught up with my personal accounting, and cleaned my desk off to a certain extent. All immediate stuff is caught up. Feels good.

Then it was time for Butterscotch to see Cynthia. She was thrilled that he's even better today. She shared with me that she was expecting Friday that it was going to be time to put him down. However, he's very bright, eating, drinking, sociable. His face is a bit of a mess with the ulcers, but she said they'd clear up in two weeks. She gave me a supplement made from olive leaf that has antimicrobial properties to be mixed in his food. I stayed for dinner and had a nice visit with Paul & Cynthia.

I returned home and realized that all the meds and supplements are getting a bit complicated. I need to have them very well organized for next week when I'll be out of town. Dale has already agreed to do half the shifts (he needs stuff in the morning and evening), and Cynthia suggest I hire a vet tech to handle the other half. I sat down at the computer and prepared a checklist system in Excel so that each item could be checked off, and initials put down for the shift. Perhaps a bit of overkill, but with multiple people, I want everyone understanding what's going on while I'm gone. In the morning he gets three pills, plus three supplements in his food and 2 homeopathics in his water. At night he gets two pills and one supplement in food. Plus washing his eyes both shifts and putting in eye goop to protect his eyes from corneal ulcers. It looks like a lot on paper, but it goes pretty quickly.

I mixed up his food and some water for his nightly supplements. He's not eating a whole lot because we're reducing the Dex, plus cats get motivated to eat by smelling the food. He can barely breathe through his nose, so he can't smell. I got out the big plastic syringe that Cynthia gave me, and put the food in it. Off to the bathroom we went. I simply put the end in the side of his mouth and squeeze some food in. Most goes in him, some goes on the front of him and some goes on the counter. At one point a little piece of tuna got stuck in the end. I pushed and pushed, and finally it let go—you get the picture: it sprayed all over me and the bathroom. Nice tuna shirt...

New night regimen, per Cynthia. Food, water and litter all go in the bedroom, and the door is closed. She explained to me that cats are nocturnal, and they have to check the territory at night. Too tiring. He slept all night with me instead. At one point he was curled in a ball next to me, and my arm was curled around his back. Very nice.

This morning meds went pretty well, and he ate some of his magic food. Not enough, though, so I'm going to have to do the syringe again before my shower (which is the best time for it...)

While anything can still happen with him, he's definitely turned a corner, and I'm incredibly grateful. We now simply do the treatment and hope the rally continues. If his body can't sustain anything and he goes back down, there will be no more heroic measures. However, I have lots of hope at this point.