eric135

The Pompitous of Love

  Our dear Boykitty has died. It's been more than two weeks since he passed. We had brought him to the veterinarian because he was limping and had an infection in his paws. When we did bloodwork, it turned out he was diabetic, was in renal failure, and xrays showed an enlarged heart and possibly lung cancer.

We took him home, giving him subcutaneous fluids (just like Ladykitty), but now also an antibiotic (Augmentin) and 2 units of insulin twice a day. It was too much for him; I think the fluids (which he needed for the renal failure) probably put him in heart failure, and the insulin put his blood sugar too low. After a couple of days keeping him close to us, with all of us camped out in the living room, with some sort of treatment every few hours, we woke up to Boykitty having seizures and unresponsive.

We took Boykitty to the vet, where the slight tremors became really big ones, and they did a STAT blood sugar too low for the meter to read. They gave him some sort of IV glucose solution, but after a few minutes of watching the seizures, we made the decision to let our dear friend and companion die in peace. We held him in the end.

It's been a tough couple of weeks since he left us on October 22nd. We decided to have him cremated, which took a week, and now he is back with us again. They placed his ashes in a brown paper bag, which was then placed in a brown plastic box, which is presently sitting on a shelf in our living room. At some point, we'll put him in something nicer, possibly a wood-carved box, or a marble urn.

At times, we find ourselves holding the box in our arms. I've taken the bag out and held him in my hands. I marvel at how light Boykitty's ashes are, considering what a big cat he was in life. Sixteen pounds of loving kitty concentrated down to about 3/4 of a cup of light ash, probably 1/3 of a pound in weight.  We talk about how much love Boykitty always had to offer. How he'd sleep curled up on our chests as we watched TV -- and how much we miss his heaviness and warmth. He was an endless source of love and companionship -- oceanic and bottomless. The Pompitous of Love, as the Steve Miller song goes.

We will miss you, Boykitty.

  
 
 

In no particular order...

• We're getting closer and closer to the Go Live date for our upgrade to the computer program that handles employee scheduling. It has meant a lot of meetings, in the middle of the day (which for those of us on night shift means the middle of the night). I'm one of two nurses that will spearhead the upgrade throughout two hospital campuses.
• I was off today, and with the meetings scheduled, I had been sleeping during the night so I could be awake during the day. We went out for pizza at Streets of New York Pizza, and then we went on an odd and rare shopping spree, where I bought Dan Brown's latest book, Lost Symbol, and a new router.
•   One of our other kitties, BoyKitty, has been sick. He's got some sort of infection in one of his hind paws, so we're giving him a 14-day run of antibiotics (Augmentin) and we're washing his paw with betadine every day. Between BoyKitty and LadyKitty, it's just like a vet clinic around here.
• Roomie's computer done up and died, and we're going through a re-format of his hard drive. I've seen labor for breech human twins go smoother.
• The Dow hit 10,000 for the first time in a year. It hit me that it has been a long time since I've checked my 401k balance, and a statement came in the mail today, and it is up 50% year to date.  Thank the Lord.
• I'm working for the next three days, and I ain't looking forward to it.
• I've been putting off getting my flu shot. As a nurse, they are provided to me free of charge, but it amazes me how much I absolutely hate shots, considering what I do.

There be fish here; Boykitty

Our fish died a few months ago, and we were hesitant to get new ones. We just got really attached to those fish, and we actually went through a period of mourning.

But there be fish here now. We got two orange fantails and one algae eater. My room mate has been resistant to naming them, but for me, the big one is Agador, and the little one is Spartacus.

We got a bit of a scare with one of our kitties, Boykitty. He had apparently broken a tooth, and although he wasn't in any pain, even though it was three in the morning and even though roomie and I were fighting about something, as soon as it was something about the kitty, we decided, right then and there, to hop in the car and go looking at Veterinary Hospitals. None were open, we would just sit in the car in the empty lot and look at the building, and try to figure out how nice they were to kitties based on their curb appeal.

Yes, when it comes to kitties and fish, we get very dramatic at times.