Charlie Girl
Sep. 25th, 2017 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarotgalI had a pretty crappy day today emotionally. I took my Charlie cat to the vet today. I took her in on Sept 1 because she was having trouble breathing. On Friday night/Sat morning the problem happened again, though not quite as bad. I took her in the bathroom with me when I showered, and the steam seemed to help (and now you know the inspiration for the Lucas & David ficlet I posted yesterday). Sunday she was much worse and taking her into the bathroom didn't much help. So I took her in to the vet this morning, even though I am seriously behind in work and this was my only day to catch up from the two days I spent onsite last week setting computers up and the only day to get ahead because we're moving in tomorrow at work officially. But breathing is kind of important.
Charlie gets anxious about the vet. She turns circles in her tiny carrier, scratching at each side and howling nonstop. So I gave her a pill that was supposed to calm her down. I gave it to her an hour before the vet visit, just like it said. And it didn't work. Not one bit. She freaked out. Which isn't good when she also couldn't breathe. Anyway, the first round of antibiotics were supposed to have kicked her infection, if that's what it was. The fact that it didn't means it's probably something more serious like a polyp in her sinuses. The vet did some blood work and took samples from her ears. She suggested going to see a specialist who could say for sure if it was a polyp and possibly remove it, if it's easy to get to. Charlie spent most of the visit running around the floor of the exam room, anxious.
So she sent me home with Charlie and said she'd see what the clinics' availabilities were. I got home, let Charlie out of the carrier, and she went straight for her food. She ate and then turned and her legs gave out from under her. She wobbled and fell against the wall or just collapsed on the floor. She could barely get three steps without her legs buckling. So I called the vet and asked if this was the medicine finally kicking in. They told me to bring her back in IMMEDIATELY. They didn't say "yes, it's probably just the medicine. But we'd better check." They just said "The doctor needs to see her immediately. Come back." So I rounded her up and took her back. They checked her out in the back room while I waited, terrified. Her sister had the same thing, not being able to stand, and died a few days later. So I was almost in tears, working myself up into a worried state, wondering if she wasn't getting enough oxygen or something and that was making her weak. But, no, it really was the pill kicking in finally, almost 2 hours after she took it.
I got her home and spent the rest of the day trying to work while also carrying her up and down stairs so she wouldn't fall. She mostly just lay on the couch and collapsed downward, her legs at weird angles because she couldn't move them. After about 5 hours, she managed to sleep in a more normal position, but was still super out of it and wobbly. Ozma kitten jumped up onto the couch (where Ozma sleeps every afternoon) and washed Charlie all over, even the part of her that smelled of alcohol where the blood was drawn. No hissing. No playing. No fighting. Just washing. Then Ozma settled down a few inches away in her spot and they slept on the couch together... though not touching. I took all the photos. LOL
I'm supposed to give her half a pill of this every night before bed to calm her nighttime anxiety (which started the week her sister died; she wakes me up every night around 3am howling and pacing in a certain routine/circle around my bedroom). The vet suggested I only give her a quarter and see how she is with that. Except it's a capsule, so I have to mix it in with her food and make sure Ozma doesn't eat any. Not even sure if Charlie will eat food mixed with it. Guess we'll find out.
By 5:30, Charlie was alert again and asked for food. Except now I had new antibiotics to give her... in two syringes (one was 1ML and another .3ML). The medicine is SUPER sticky and red cherry flavored. Because it's people medicine. I doubt she can taste the cherry, but the stickiness is what I was worried about. Charlie doesn't particularly like it, but she swallowed almost all of it. And then she immediately drank some water and ate her moist food dinner. So she wasn't happy, but she also wasn't too pissed about it. I expect her to be increasingly resistant the better she starts to feel, though. I have to give it to her for 4 more days and then once again every 5 days. So I'm going to have to keep really good records. It's $80 medicine, and I hope it helps.
But it's likely it won't help longterm. It's more likely that this is a polyp. And do you know the cost for the procedure to check and see if it is or not? $4,000. Yeah. And if it's in an easy to access location, they can snip it off during the procedure, so that's good. But if it's not easy to get to, she'll need more invasive surgery and that's ANOTHER $4,000 on top of the original. So I'm looking at a potential $8,000 on top of the $450 from the vet, tests, and medicine today. If I go down to my old college, the cost is cheaper, but that also means a 3-night stay there. And taking time off from work right now is impossible. Tomorrow is our first day in the office and we have manditory state and university training we need to attend.
So we'll see how she does on the sticky red stuff. Poor baby girl. I'm so worried about her. And worried about how I'm going to pay for this. Hah. And I was just explaining on Saturday to friends about how I couldn't possibly afford children. "Lots of people have children they can't afford and they make it work." Yeah, okay, I've seen that. But that doesn't mean this $8,000 will be easy for me to come up with.
Charlie gets anxious about the vet. She turns circles in her tiny carrier, scratching at each side and howling nonstop. So I gave her a pill that was supposed to calm her down. I gave it to her an hour before the vet visit, just like it said. And it didn't work. Not one bit. She freaked out. Which isn't good when she also couldn't breathe. Anyway, the first round of antibiotics were supposed to have kicked her infection, if that's what it was. The fact that it didn't means it's probably something more serious like a polyp in her sinuses. The vet did some blood work and took samples from her ears. She suggested going to see a specialist who could say for sure if it was a polyp and possibly remove it, if it's easy to get to. Charlie spent most of the visit running around the floor of the exam room, anxious.
So she sent me home with Charlie and said she'd see what the clinics' availabilities were. I got home, let Charlie out of the carrier, and she went straight for her food. She ate and then turned and her legs gave out from under her. She wobbled and fell against the wall or just collapsed on the floor. She could barely get three steps without her legs buckling. So I called the vet and asked if this was the medicine finally kicking in. They told me to bring her back in IMMEDIATELY. They didn't say "yes, it's probably just the medicine. But we'd better check." They just said "The doctor needs to see her immediately. Come back." So I rounded her up and took her back. They checked her out in the back room while I waited, terrified. Her sister had the same thing, not being able to stand, and died a few days later. So I was almost in tears, working myself up into a worried state, wondering if she wasn't getting enough oxygen or something and that was making her weak. But, no, it really was the pill kicking in finally, almost 2 hours after she took it.
I got her home and spent the rest of the day trying to work while also carrying her up and down stairs so she wouldn't fall. She mostly just lay on the couch and collapsed downward, her legs at weird angles because she couldn't move them. After about 5 hours, she managed to sleep in a more normal position, but was still super out of it and wobbly. Ozma kitten jumped up onto the couch (where Ozma sleeps every afternoon) and washed Charlie all over, even the part of her that smelled of alcohol where the blood was drawn. No hissing. No playing. No fighting. Just washing. Then Ozma settled down a few inches away in her spot and they slept on the couch together... though not touching. I took all the photos. LOL
I'm supposed to give her half a pill of this every night before bed to calm her nighttime anxiety (which started the week her sister died; she wakes me up every night around 3am howling and pacing in a certain routine/circle around my bedroom). The vet suggested I only give her a quarter and see how she is with that. Except it's a capsule, so I have to mix it in with her food and make sure Ozma doesn't eat any. Not even sure if Charlie will eat food mixed with it. Guess we'll find out.
By 5:30, Charlie was alert again and asked for food. Except now I had new antibiotics to give her... in two syringes (one was 1ML and another .3ML). The medicine is SUPER sticky and red cherry flavored. Because it's people medicine. I doubt she can taste the cherry, but the stickiness is what I was worried about. Charlie doesn't particularly like it, but she swallowed almost all of it. And then she immediately drank some water and ate her moist food dinner. So she wasn't happy, but she also wasn't too pissed about it. I expect her to be increasingly resistant the better she starts to feel, though. I have to give it to her for 4 more days and then once again every 5 days. So I'm going to have to keep really good records. It's $80 medicine, and I hope it helps.
But it's likely it won't help longterm. It's more likely that this is a polyp. And do you know the cost for the procedure to check and see if it is or not? $4,000. Yeah. And if it's in an easy to access location, they can snip it off during the procedure, so that's good. But if it's not easy to get to, she'll need more invasive surgery and that's ANOTHER $4,000 on top of the original. So I'm looking at a potential $8,000 on top of the $450 from the vet, tests, and medicine today. If I go down to my old college, the cost is cheaper, but that also means a 3-night stay there. And taking time off from work right now is impossible. Tomorrow is our first day in the office and we have manditory state and university training we need to attend.
So we'll see how she does on the sticky red stuff. Poor baby girl. I'm so worried about her. And worried about how I'm going to pay for this. Hah. And I was just explaining on Saturday to friends about how I couldn't possibly afford children. "Lots of people have children they can't afford and they make it work." Yeah, okay, I've seen that. But that doesn't mean this $8,000 will be easy for me to come up with.
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Date: 2017-09-26 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-28 12:24 am (UTC)