Random Droppings

Brady has been steadily getting better every day. Sunday, when he was clingy and sleepy, was probably his fever peaking; he perked up once the ketoprofen kicked in, and even wanted dinner around midnight. Since then, his sneezing has decreased in frequency and intensity, and he's been eating well.

Kedgie has been overgrooming her legs again, so I ordered refills on the feliway diffusers -- I'd let them finish to see what would happen. She just might like having pheromones in the air -- the other two cats don't seem to notice.

The department finally gave me a blackberry, although I'm surprised they gave me one with a camera. Oh well, at least I can check emails while I'm out of my office, which can be frequent. Unlike someone I know, I do not have it in the bedroom with me.

BT continues to amaze me. Last night, once again, I was sure the end was near; this morning she is still on her blankie in front of the dehumidifier, and even stepped over to the bowl that her sister was eating out of, just to see what was going on. She didn't eat anything, at least not while I was there.

I've been treating her with large doses of steroids, plus analgesic, so she remains comfortable and unstressed. The blankie helps her stay warm, and the dehumidifier blows warm air on her. She doesn't really want me to pet her, because it often turns into another injection. Last night, she almost whapped me after the injection, and then almost walked away from her blankie, but it was too comfortable to leave. I still give her a little scritch on the head before she pulls back from my hand.

I leave food nearby, and water. I can't do anything else while she's still aware enough to resist being handled. I've got the necessary drugs waiting nearby, if I do find her going downhill.

I keep reminding myself that she shows no signs of pain or distress, and is resting comfortably at home, with her sister, in their territory.

This must be what it's like for physicians, to watch their patients slowly decline, and not be able to do anything about it. Veterinarians are so spoiled by having the alternative available.

Thursday, I was off (comp day, reward for being on call the previous weekend), and I vegged a bit. BT had started not eating all of her fud, so I prepared the syringe and carried it downstairs -- and she suddenly didn't want any pettings. I left the syringe on the file cabinet and ignored her.

Friday AM, Honey fed the cats, and I didn't have to do anything at all -- the garbage pick up was delayed one day because of Monday's holiday. It was raining heavily, so the dogs absolutely refused to go out. ("NUH-UH!") I watched some tv, caught up on the newspapers, attempted to let the dogs out ("NUH-UH!") and eventually succeeded ("Ahhhh!"), then made dinner. We had our usual pizza anna movie, and thence to bed, for Saturday was an early departure. Friday evening I fed the cats, and BT had decided that I was to be tolerated. My evil plan had worked! I grabbed the syringe, grabbed her, and gave the injection.

Saturday AM, the routine chores plus garbage taking-out ensued. BT had eaten most of last night's fud, so the injection took effect within 12 hours, a good sign. As soon as everything was done, we were on the road to PA, to walk in the Memory Walk for Alzheimer's. Our team was walking in honor of Honey's mom, who died just over a month ago from advancing dementia. All of Honey's siblings were there, as well as some of the grandchildren and one great-grand (Sonny -- technically, he's now just a grand, but he was born a great-grand). We walked from City Island across an old bridge into downtown Harrisburg, around and back. They provided us with lunch, a choice between pizza and Indian fare -- we got the good stuff: rice, chicken tikka, and vegetable korma. After the walk, we all went back to Sis-in-law's house to look at the last remaining items from Mom-in-law's belongings; things like christmas decorations, CDs, baskets, candles, and other tchotchkes. Along the way, we also consumed coffee and cake. It was still mostly raining, although not as heavy as on Friday.

Home again, with dinner at a stop about an hour out from home -- not great but decent buffet in Thurmont. Dogs happy to see us, as per usual; cats, mostly happy. BT didn't run and hide, and all her fud was gone.

Sunday, I posted on Facebook about how quiet it was -- I had only fed the downstairs cats, cleaned their litter boxes, gone to church to help Honey set up tables, gone home for breakfast and the newspaper, had a nap, gone back to the church to pick up Sonny, checked his Science homework, taken him to a Scout project, gone back out to the store for mayo and milk, made the pasta salad, and gone to a choir party.

What can I say? It felt quiet.

Monday AM, go to work, clean the lab, meet the boss, check the patients, wait for information by email, and get an import approved. Not much at all. Tonight, choir practice -- don't worry; I only play handbells. I will never inflict my singing on others. ;-)

On the lighter side, BT continues to do well as long as the depo-medrol is in effect; it wears off near the end of two weeks. This time, she started showing signs of slower appetite on Thursday, and only really didn't eat on Friday night/Saturday morning, so I gave her the injection about 12 hours ahead of time (Saturday night) (ruthlessly suppresses Bay City Rollers flashback), and she didn't fuss about the injection -- in fact, she poked her head back into her bowl for a few seconds more. This evening, she was waiting at the top of the stairs, and ate her dinner pretty quickly. I was able to let Cinder out at the end of the meal to have the run of the basement.

She's been gradually speeding up her nomming of fud, and acting less picky about the flavors. As a result, she gets to spend more time with her sister again, not that they seem to care about it. Every time they first see each other, they almost literally pass each other by, to get to the other room. (Oh, hai..must see other room!) She's also been eating her dry food, labeled OM for zenlike goodness. I'll repeat her Depo-Medrol dose next weekend, and then we'll see about tapering her off. She also seems to be putting back on some of the weight she lost, from what I can feel just along the spine.

She spends enough time at the top of the stairs that she is getting the interest of Kedgie and Brady; they sniff more along the door, particularly in the mornings. As long as nobody starts any fights under the door, we'll all be fine.

It has become incredibly hot and generally awful outside, so the dogs get short walks early in the AM, and that's it. Of course, Brady loves to spend the day in the sun room, soaking up the rays. Kedgie likes to sit out there in the morning, watching the birds and squirrels run around, but then she shifts to cooler spaces as the day goes on.

The dogs are finally settled at night, now that the Son is home from all his camping. He has no camps now, so we decided to experiment with leaving him at home. He has several tasks to complete before he can spend hours on the Wii, and we shall see how well he does. Cleaning his room is all-important, and hopefully he will begin to keep it clean longer.

Coffee yogurt from Dannon is a half-way decent breakfast. In case anyone was wondering.

This am, waiting at the bottom of the stairs again, but this time not so jumpy and even got some pettings! A little pickier about the tuna -- not the Right Kind, apparently -- but came back when called and kept trying the fud. May need to up the dose or supplement with another steroid. All of last night's fud was gone, so that's still good.

So this morning, rather than being at the top of the stairs, she was waiting at the bottom, staring at me. She was hungry, yes, and had eaten most of the evening offering, but she didn't want me near her.

Hungry! Stay away! Hungry! Don't touch!

I fed her first, then went on in to feed her sister (the door is closed so el greedo piggy Cinder doesn't eat all the tuna), and when I cam back out, BT abruptly decided I couldn't be trusted and ran for hiding. Even though I clearly indicated that I was cleaning the litter box and all.

I went back upstairs, did the other litter box, and picked some fresh catnip from the little pot in the sun room. Brady and Kedgie love them some fresh catnip. This time I picked extra, went back downstairs, found Cinder and gave her some --Oooh!-- and then sidled into the little room with the window that BT likes. I kept my back to her -- no eye contact! She's still hidden! -- and offered the fresh catnip. She came down and sniffed it, but kept her eyes firmly fixed on me. This was not her usual wide-eyed look, either; this was a lidded semi-glare. She's too cute and too dim to really glare, but by golly, she gave it her best today.

I left quickly so she could enjoy her treat.