Jay was hating the cone on is head and I came home Monday to find fur and rope bits all over his cage where he'd clearly been digging at it. But he seemed perky otherwise and when I left for work Tuesday, my biggest concern was that I'd need to get a wet facecloth on his face to clean up the snot, which at least was old and dried so the antibiotic shot had done its work.
To top off this wonderful day, I went home to find that Jay had gotten the cone off and he was much happier. He was eating and seemed like a completely new cat. The bonus was he had cleaned off his face so no facecloth cleaning was needed. And he wasn't bothering his incision at all. Nice. I had a relaxing night at home, feeling good about life in general. We had a food day on Wednesday so I made cottage cheese dip and cranberry cole slaw before going to bed early to read. Perfect.
The food day was fun, with Cheryl and Susan (2 recent retirees) coming back for it so it was fun to visit with them. It was an eating day because after swimming I was going out for dinner at Piedmont Bistro with Anne and Rene. It was bitter cold, and had been all week, but we had a nice dinner. I got home after 9:00 so was planning on going right to bed. Until I checked on Jay.
Clearly something had gone drastically wrong. He had trashed the cage, even pulling up the plastic underneath it, and I found him sprawled on the floor. He was weak and clearly not doing well. I cleaned up the cage and got him settled into his bed but then didn't sleep much that night between worry and getting up over and over to check on him. When I got up for good at 4:30, he was doing no better so I called the vet before 7:00 and they agreed to take him. I warmed up the car, threw on some clothes and headed to Lincoln. I dropped him off and headed to work, exhausted and worried.
I got a call from the vet before I'd made it across town to my desk. It was going to cost $300 to do some blood tests to see what was wrong. His body temp was low, which explained the shaking, so I said to go ahead, planning to pay that bill as a birthday present to myself. When they called to say his white blood count was high but they had no idea what was wrong and suspected there might be something neurological going on because of something weird with his eyes. They needed to put in an IV for fluids and an antibiotic, which would raise the day's bill to $800. At that point, I sent an email to the Husker Cats board to get their input. While I was waiting for that, the vet called back with a cheaper option of non-IV rehydration and oral meds, which would mean $600 instead of $800. With several people agreeing to donate, we went with that option. At least it gave me some hope.
I was fighting tears all day from worry and running on empty after so little sleep but had book club after work so went home to the last of the cauliflower and ham and was at the library at 7:00 to discuss The Grapes of Wrath. I was not fully engaged but we had a good discussion and I went right to bed when I got home. I slept great because I was exhausted and didn't have Jay to check on. I was hoping for good news on Friday, which would be the best birthday gift I could get.
I went to work Friday to find treats on my desk - my favorite donut from Jennifer and a bag full of Nora's bear sticks, which are my favorite and she hadn't made them at Christmas. Mary brought me chocolate and then the vet called to say Jay was in much better condition and I could pick him up that afternoon. I put 2 hours of vacation time in and went to a nice lunch with Layton at Green Gateau, where I got a piece of Italian lemon cream cake so I had actual cake on my birthday. I had planned to make myself a decadent chocolate cake but couldn't muster the energy after book club so had whipped up a batch of puppy chow before work, which is yummy but not cake. I ate a bit of it after lunch but left at 3:00 to get Jay. He was more alert but still not what he'd been before whatever happened on Wednesday, which I was beginning to think was a seizure. I had oral meds to give him for the next week but at least he'd be home and was alive. I set the cage back up and got him settled with a heating pad in his bed to keep him warm. There was nothing else I could do.
My last birthday celebration was that night at BW's in Ashland with Andrea and Lori. Lori had originally suggested going to her house on Omaha but my present to myself was a weekend at home so we'd decided to meet Friday after work instead at BW's, where I'd get more Brussels sprouts (I had them at Piedmont Bistro on Wednesday too) and loaded tots with my favorite Vanilla Bean Blonde beer. Since I was in Wahoo, Andrea drove and we met up for a fun night of food and friends. Lori gave me a beautiful nesting plant pot set that she got at her part-time job at Mulhall's - the fanciest garden center in Omaha. Andrea bought me fabric and sock yarn. I do have the best friends! When we got home after 9:00, I went right to bed, happy with all the birthday fun I'd had all week and thrilled to have no obligations for the weekend. The weather was even cooperating with a 50 degree increase in temperature.
Guess what I did Saturday morning? Sat in my chair and knitted while drinking coffee. The only thing missing was sunshine but it was in the 40's and everything was melting. Being home felt so good that even doing laundry felt like a treat. Despite it being damp and dreary, I hung sheets on the line. They didn't dry completely so ended up in the dryer but it still felt right. I got 3 lots of yarn prepped and into the mailbox took down all my outside Christmas decorations in just a t-shirt. It was that warm. Once I was done outside, I went it to get the kitchen cleaned up and had some quality knitting/streaming time on Saturday night. Such a treat!
I got a few long overdue things done on Sunday, including cleaning up my bedroom (the only room that didn't matter for Connie's visit) and catching up on blogging. I felt great when I sat down to to start season 3 of Victoria while ignoring the Super Bowl. It had been the perfect weekend of catching up and recharging. Between prepping for Norway, then coming home and getting sick followed by prepping for Connie's visit, I hadn't had a weekend like this since November. Heaven! Jay seemed a bit better too - eating a little more and using his box, which I was progress since his "episode" but not as good as he was before then. I guess it's just a waiting game at his point.
So after the roller coaster week, the weekend was a balm for my soul. I was going to start a rotation on Monday, which is long overdue. I'm feeling fat and crappy so am hoping to drop some of the weight I've gained in the past two years. Wish me luck on that and on Jay. I can use all the positive thoughts I can get.
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