4/8/15

Sick girls

Syd and I were supposed to go clothes shopping last Friday.  When she came to me and said she didn’t feel like it, I asked if I needed to call an ambulance. 

That’s an armageddon, end of the world, head to the bunker type warning.

And, we had to have a very frank and awkward conversation.  Incidentally, if anyone asks, it doesn’t take parents of different gender to raise a kid.  It takes parents that are willing to have awkward and uncomfortable conversations and I am proud to say that all the awkward and weird talks she and I had in the past have made it possible for us to talk in an honest, frank and mature way today.

A few minutes later, and she had a doctor’s appointment and a couple hours after that, she was on antibiotics and all was well with the world again.  Except she still didn’t feel like shopping. 

Hey, the doctor costs a heck of a lot less than the mall.  And, yes, I do realize that there’s something wrong with that.

Unfortunately, my other girl, my little cat Nirti, didn’t get so lucky.  She’s been getting sick, and each time, I’d give her a lot of protein rich food and she’d get better.  But, after a while, she’d get sick again.  So, it was time for some research, and then, the vet. 

I went into the room and said “I think my cat has diabetes.”  The doctor said, “it doesn’t sound like it.  We need to run several tests”.  And, dutifully, I said yes.  Several hundred dollars later (no, I’m not going to tell you how many…it’s embarassing) and he comes in and says “your cat has diabetes.”

Okay, so why did I have to pay for all those tests when I did the diagnosis? 

Not going there.  Just glad my cat is better.

So, now, she gets a drop of insanely expensive insulin by injection, twice a day.  And, no I wasn’t at all squeamish about giving the injections.  I just had the doc show me one time.  I was so blown away by the price, the injection was a piece of cake.

Anyway, we changed her diet permanently.  And, she’ll be on this insulin for a month, then we’ll assess whether she needs to stay on insulin or if we can control it with diet alone.  And, if she needs to stay on the insulin, we’ll go to a much more affordable brand.  But, this is supposed to be the best stuff for jump starting the pancreas and then discontinuing. 

So, that was all very stressful for me.  I know other people could have just taken all that in stride, but I can’t.  So, when the crises were over and my iphone went berserk, I turned into an angry, swearing fool.  Then, we went to Syd’s choir concert; dress rehearsal for the choir competition next week.  And, having to sit still, in the dark, and listen to beautiful music was calming and I was able to talk to Rob about what had really been bothering me.  And, it all got better after that. 

And, miraculously, overnight, the phone thing resolved itself.  I didn’t do anything that I know of.  But, it’s all good today, after a week of pissing me off.  It’s kind of a let down to have it resolve so suddenly.

But, a good kind of let down.

And, it gave me something innocuous to vent at yesterday, when I needed it real bad.

Everybody have a great Wednesday.  It’s cloudy outside, but for me, the sun is shining because I’ve taken care of business and problems are resolved and I am feeling pretty good about being me.

Now, where did I leave off on my real life?  It would be nice to pick it back up at that point.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t wait for you to get back to it.  It just keeps percolating along during every crisis, forcing us to join it where it is, not particularly where we’d like to step back into it. 

Did I miss anything?

Lane

5 comments:

Kathleen said...

hugs. Got through a rocky patch with all good outcomes. You may be pleasantly surprised on your kitty - with the right diet, they can often go off insulin... she is lucky you diagnosed it... there is some good info on cat diabetes on the Cornell Animal Hospital pages, if you want to study up !!!
you are doing good, Lane !

Anonymous said...

Glad that Syd is ok and with time and careful attention to diet hopefully your kitty will be on track as well. We had a diabetic cat for five years that we were never able to control his numbers. He was getting 300 units twice a day, yes, you read that correctly. He had a good five years and when his time came, it came quickly. But those five years even with injections twice a day, he seemed to be a happy camper being around and having a good time bugging our other kitty.

Lane, kuddos for being a good dad. Kuddos for Rob for being a good partner and being there for you.

On the iPhone thing, I had weird problems with mine last week while in NM that seemed to resolve themselves. Maybe it was a carrier thing.

Hugs and admiration
Nena

Mari said...

So glad Sydney is feeling better. I'm sure she'll make up for the missed shopping on a future trip. Kudos for a parenting win, too. Gender doesn't matter--caring does. Hope today is better.

Anonymous said...

Talk to our middle child. One of her cats has diabetes. 2 shots a day, special food that smells worse than rotten fish! Hundreds of $s to the Vet. Don't you wish you had gone ahead to become a Vet. They make gooooood money. Don't have to bother with Medi-care, etc. Glad Sydney is better.
What a GREAT parent you have made. Wish you had been the parent and I the child. lum

lw said...

Congratulations on being a parent that can have those awkward essential conversations. That huge. It separate good parents from great parents.

My cat Jeff had diabetes. Cats are obligate carnivores and should not be fed food with grain in it. Unfortunately, I didn't know this until I needed to give him Lantus twice a day. He passed 2.5 years later from lymphoma, because you have to keep cats blood sugar a little on the high side, because they can't tell you when they're crashing, which could kill them outright. But high blood sugar gives a cat (or a person) cancer. I hope that the right care cures her diabetes, that would be the best for everyone.