Could Have Lost Her....

Pixie has always been my problem child. When she moved in, she brought worms which she of course shared with Oreo. She had an infection here and there. And then there were repeated trips for UTIs. It sounds like she might have trouble breathing but the vets haven’t picked up on it or it isn’t serious. We teased that she was always the problem child. But it was never major….until this year.

Eating and drinking habits changed. Mom said Pixie seemed lethargic. Until we could afford a full work up at the vets, we kept putting it off. It didn’t help that Oreo got a simple infection so the funds went to him, since he’s a senior citizen and at higher risk of issues….. Turns out he was perfectly healthy for a sixteen year old cat and didn’t need the full check up. I mean we’re glad we got it and found out, but Pix needed it more. I wish vets weren’t so expensive.

I don’t remember what prompted the urgency. But we finally took Pixie to the vet mid August on a Saturday appointment. Monday morning they called with the results from the blood work. I remember feeling as if I’d been hit with a blow and as the conversation went on a sense of dread gripped me. She had high blood sugar levels….diabetes. He said if she did well on insulin she could live another five years with no problems. It was the part where he mentioned some cats didn’t do well and didn’t last more than a few months that had me so scared I’d lose my baby. As Dad pointed out, I’m usually more positive about situations. And it’s true. Faith has led me to be more positive in the outcomes of whatever came our way. Maybe because it wasn’t our usual vet who is so reassuring or still getting over hearing she had a major problem that took my mind to worst case scenario mode.

We had to take her in that afternoon so they could regulate her blood sugar levels and figure out what dosage of insulin to prescribe. Since I’m usually awake all night out in the living room, Pixie and I are usually keeping each other company. A.K.A. she spends a lot of the night in my lap off and on all night. But those two nights were the most depressing nights in a long time. Even with the mini distraction of Target Tuesday with Dad, it was sad without Pixie in the house. Our minds went to thoughts of what if…..

Wednesday Dad took me to pick her up. I wish it had been Mom with us. A med tech had to show me how much meds to give her…. Me… Tiny needle measurements… Yeah. I didn’t see a thing. I told Mom the dosage and relayed what he had said as best as I could recall. Something was lost in translation. Not that we discovered that until much later.

That first evening Mom said Pixie looked so much better. She had more life in her eyes. We could breathe again. Faith she would be okay returned. Thank God. We didn’t really enjoy the learning process of injecting insulin every day. And by “we”, I mean all three of us. I had to hold her down. With shaking hands and obvious nervousness, Mom would try and inject her between the shoulder blades the way we were told. Pixie of course squirmed and bucked every time. Some of those times before the insulin made it inside. Sometimes the needles got bent. Sometimes the needles nearly broke. Some of those times meant giving up on dosing her that day because Pix was too freaked or Mom was too shaky to try it again. Or Pixie would hide until we gave up trying and ended up skipping a day here and there. As we would later find out, it was just as well. We were over dosing her. So the fact that we only gave her meds half as often as we were supposed to may have saved her life.

Sunday night a month ago, Mom called me while I was still at Dad’s house. Pixie had a seizure and Mom had to find a pet ER. Dad and I packed up our stuff and the groceries I’d bought and rushed to meet Mom there. Pixie seized again en route. Mom was freaked and they didn’t fully know what had caused the seizure. It might have been blood sugar that was too low. Since they had overnight care, Pixie stayed there to be monitored and get her electrolytes balanced or something. If she was okay by morning, she could and was moved to our vets’ for monitoring during the day. She had another seizure there. We brought her home Monday night, since they don’t have overnight staff. At least she could be comfortable. And I got to experience what Mom went through. It was not fun watching my baby suffer another seizure. It was the same report for Tuesday, day and night. Wednesday she was seizure free. Without seeing a specialist, we didn’t get an official cause. Low blood sugar may have started it, but the other seizures happened at normal to high levels.

It was a very sad and scary week. Because of it, her insulin dose got adjusted. And since Mom was in with me, she was shown how much. Mom now feels like it was all her fault. I don’t think it was and I tell her so. Giving Pixie her injections is much easier now, because it is much less medicine now and vet said we can stick her anywhere. SOOO much easier now. I think we’ve finally stopped watching and expecting another seizure. Pixie is so full of life and activity now and loving. Mom says her coat is shiny and soft compared to the dull and dry look it had been before.

I hope we don’t have any more scares like that in the future with her or the others. That week took us down a dark road too. I mean if she didn’t stop, we didn’t want her to suffer. And we certainly couldn’t afford a specialist. I mean if Dad hadn’t helped we wouldn’t have afforded the ER. We momentarily discussed putting her down to spare her. Thank God the seizures stopped. And the vet said they weren’t doing serious damage to her because they were less than a minute long.

And I realize I’ve just been babbling on and on about my cat, but she’s my baby. I’ve never wanted children. I mean as a kid I thought that desire would come when I became an adult and I even kind of considered it when I was dating Ken. But if I were completely honest with myself, I never really wanted kids. But these cats…. They ARE my kids. The thought of losing them before their time (or even when it’s time) scares me….depresses me. Prayers were answered in Pixie’s case. I hope my prayer for strength when it is time to say goodbye to any of my babies is also answered favorably.

Anywho… I’ve babbled enough. For now, all I can say is that I am so grateful for the blessings these four fur babies are to me and Mom….And to Dad and Nana even though they’re dog people. :-D