I Wanna Be Sedated

The soundtrack to my life.

Well, life it turns out, is not getting easier. Vinny's not getting worse, but the nausea still rears its ugly head, especially in the morning. He had more dry heaves when he got up this morning around 9:30ish, but he didn't vomit. Yay!

He's probably more nauseous in the morning because the first two doses of antibiotics are only one hour apart. Tomorrow I will try moving his first dose from 7a.m. to 6 a.m., hopefully it will help.

Also, he's not eating as well as he did yesterday, so that's a bit disappointing considering how much he ate yesterday. I guess he was stocking up. Funny, though, because squirrel doesn't run on either side of our family. On a positive note, his water in take is great, and that's a huge relief.

We're making him get up and walk around every 15-30 minutes, except after he takes his antibiotics in which case we strap him to the sofa so he can't move. Just kidding, but it's probably a good thing the sofa doesn't have straps.

And now onto the sad news of the day. Throughout some of Vinny's appendicitis saga, our beloved kitty, Nay Nay, hasn't been well. Her third eyelid has been up since December 10th. We washed it out and have been applying warm compresses to her eye. There hasn't been any discharge. Then yesterday we noticed her tongue hangs out, and to the side, when she meows.

My friend, who's a vet, stopped by to give her a look yesterday.

"She's dehydrated," says BFF Vet. "She needs a full blood workup to see what's going on......"

Around 11 a.m. today, Stefan took Nay Nay to our vet. He hadn't been there long when the home phone rang.

"How's Vinny?" Stefan asks, in a far too somber tone.

"He's fine," I answer to give him some relief. "What's wrong with Nay? It's not good is it?"

"No, it seems like she has a tumor under her tongue," answers Stefan. "It's pretty nasty. It looks like cauliflower, and it's about the size of the end of my index finger."

"I knew it!" I shriek, and then break into sobbing tears for the next five minutes.

I knew something was wrong with her, especially when her breath suddenly became horrid overnight, about two or three months ago. Sick breath pretty much means your sick whether you're a human or a cat. I changed her diet at the end of summer, and I was conveniently blaming her sick breath on her fishy morsels. Obviously, I was in denial. Also, she's lost some weight, which I also attributed to the food change.

The good news is she isn't in pain, or hiding out. She's hanging out with all of us, and especially Vinny. The vet says as long as she isn't in any pain, she's fine. We just need to keep an eye on her. Eventually she may not be able to eat and drink. Ugh.

Stefan came home with IV fluids for Nay Nay, in case she gets dehydrated, and he knows how to use them. I'm impressed! Between Vinny and Nay Nay the man is going to have some sort of hybrid medical degree.

There is a chance Nay Nay has a bad infection, so the vet is treating her with antibiotics, just in case. And that's what I'm voting for because cancer sucks.

However, when I spoke to my BFF Vet and she agreed with our Vet's diagnosis.

"I feel bad," I say. "We should have taken her in sooner."

"It wouldn't matter, with this type of cancer there's nothing you can do," comforts BFF Vet. "No matter what you do the outcome will be the same."

In the meantime, we are all going to enjoy our time left with Nay Nay, the most perfect kitty ever. And who knows maybe with some prayers she'll make a miraculous recovery.