Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Of course, it's Fox, so they buried the lead.

"We don’t have any evidence that there are connections between the vaccines and deaths at this point. We don’t have any indication of that."

 

Our vets have been curbside since Day 1. Absolutely no loosening of anything since then.

An office with probably fewer people in it at any time than 98 percent of businesses. Animals are nervous enough being there without having to be being poked and prodded without their owners by their side. Silly, IMO.

 

I get it. My animals are 8 (cat), 12 (cat), 13 (dog), 14 (cat) and 16 (dog). I've made a dozen and a half vet trips in the past year.

 

Man even your animals roll up 300k on the odometer.

 

19-year-old cat died two summers ago. She holds the household record.

 

Hope everything went well. We unfortunately dealt with the wait-in-your-car vet visits far too much in the past year.

Our cats' vet visit last March was just as the lockdowns started. Our 14-year-old Bubbles had been battling a thyroid condition for a couple years with medication. But she started losing a bit more weight and her thyroid levels were elevating a bit, so they upped her medication ... thinking she just needed a stronger dosage.

A few weeks later, we got the levels rechecked. Back down to a comfortable range, actually too low. She lost another pound (she was a hefty 13lbs to begin with) ... she's down to 10lbs. Her senior bloodwork showed nothing, so we did x-rays ... nothing. So we cut back a bit on the dosage/frequency, thinking/hoping that was the issue. She's resting in closets, in corners, the usual signs that the cat does not feel well.

A few more weeks later, levels rechecked ... back to a comfortable spot, good. Another pound lost, not good. And now she's not eating with as much enthusiasm as she had.

So I'm already thinking it ... my wife (who's had her since she was 19 and doesn't know adult life without her) understandably is not seeing it.

I'm watching this unfold all day, every day as I'm working from home. Days filled with me checking on her, trying to get her to eat anything ... new soft foods, gravy foods, tuna and tuna juice. She has good days, and then bad days. Back and forth. Pawing at her food, signaling she's nauseous. Trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

At this point, I just want to know. We took her into the local animal hospital for an ultrasound. They found a mass on her kidney, but needed to do a biopsy to confirm how treatable it was/wasn't. Sure thing. We need to know. They drew from the mass and told us they'd have results in a couple days. In the meantime, they filled her up with IVs and an appetite stimulant and sent her home with us. Also gave us some anti-nausea and pain medication for her.

And, my god, she was back to normal that night. Ate two plates of food and was running around and playing with her kitty sister, Sophie. It gave us hope.

The following morning, she took meds and ate like a champ. She rested in the same spot most of the day. I left for my afternoon golf league, telling my wife that she had her meds and has been resting there all day.

Fast-forward a couple hours, I'm in the clubhouse after my round. I get a phone call from my wife. She's frantic and in tears. Bubbles is all loopy and limp and shit is running out of her. I rush home. She's alive, but she's obviously not reacting well to the medications. We rush her back to the animal hospital, bring her in .... and wait in the car. And wait. And wait.

Finally one of the docs calls us. And coincidentally (or not) tells her biopsy results are in.

Carcinoma cancer on the kidney. I didn't hear anything after that.

She starts rattling off our options. I'm comprehending none of it. My mind is a fog. My wife can overhear the phone speaker, and is in tears. I asked if they can at least write this down/print it out so we can review our options completely.

Sure thing, she says, just as an emergency situation pulled up to the front door. Nearly an hour or so went by, no written options yet. Bubbles is still inside. We're in the car. I call in to the hospital, "Can we please just talk to someone face to face? Please?!?"

They let us come in and have an extremely helpful and empathetic technician talk to us and lay everything out, line by line. She was emphatic and honest with us ... carcinoma takes you quick (obviously). My wife and I looked at each other, tears filling our eyes ... we didn't say anything. We just knew that we came to the decision we feared.

We told her we'll take Bubbles home for one last night at home. One last night with Sophie. One final morning laying on the patio in the sun.

We had a slumber party in the living room ... all of us laying on the floor, all of her kitty beds to choose from. I swear Bubbles laid in all of them during the night. The following morning, we let her walk around outside ... rolling the grass and lay on the concrete patio, just as if it was a normal summer day. After about 20 minutes out there, she walked to the patio door by herself, walked inside to the corner, and slipped her head behind the couch.

It was as if she was telling us, "I'm ready."

She said goodbye to Sophie and our home. We took her back to the hospital. Thankfully they let us be with her until the end. I've heard horror stories of people who weren't able to be with pets they were putting down during lockdown. No way were we going to let that happen.

My wife stayed until the doc came in. I stayed with her until the end. First time I'd ever done that ... one of the toughest things I'll ever have to do. She buried her head in my arms ... and after a few moments, she was gone. And just as that happened, it started pouring rain.

For weeks and weeks, Sophie walked aimlessly around the house, meowing endlessly ... meows we'd never heard before. She was looking for Bubbles. More heartbreak.

By October, we were ready to give another kitty a good home and help keep Sophie young. Well, it ended up being two kitties ... and they chase poor Sophie all over (and she chases them back). It's been a bittersweet blessing having them. The only good thing to come out of 2020 for us, we say.

It was painful watching Bubbles slip away every day while working from home. She's the one who made me a "Cat Dad" ... and now I can never envision myself not being one. But I'm thankful I was able to spend so much time with her at the end. It would've killed me to be in the office knowing she was hurting at home.

Sorry for the therapeutic ramble ... thanks for reading if you got this far.

So yeah, TL;DR ... not a fan of not being with the furbabies in the vet's office. Taking Sophie in for her annual exam in a few days. Not looking forward to those memories coming back. I have anxiety just thinking about it.

 

So sorry. It is incredibly hard to let them go.

 

They own you, not the other way around. It is pure loss.

 

I can’t even finish this. I’m going to be bawling in a place I can’t bawl my eyes out. That is so tough and my infinite sympathies. We lost our little buddy in Jan 2020. Went right before all this shit went down. He needed regular vet visits and chemo and I couldn’t imagine having to do that during covid.

I don’t know how something so little and independent can bond so hard with us, but they do.