Thursday, October 3, 2013

Sad News

What a week this has been!  Working my butt off to get my case study paper done to turn in today, and now going cross-eyed studying for my first pharmacology exam tomorrow.  I am so nervous for this exam, my stomach and shoulders are both in knots!  It is awful.  I will never understand how and why my sister decided her life's work would be pharmacology.  I am not a fan, and sadly, this information is not going anywhere!!  I will be giving medications once I am an RN (assuming I pass this course) and I will need to be aware of how these drugs work and side effects and contraindications...ahhhhhh!!

This weekend was uneventful, which was wonderful.  We had lunch with the Erin's mom and sister and little (read: chubby) great nephew!  It is always great to have some baby time :)  After lunch, I put on my sweat pants and sat at my desk, aka dining room table, and began my weekend of WORK!  I was writing a case study on a woman with bipolar disorder...after reading some of the symptoms of that disorder and how a big part of it is lack of personal hygiene, I was beginning to question my own sanity.  I wore the same sweat pants allllllllll weekend through Monday! And, oh it gets better, I didn't wash my hair for days.  In all honesty, I lost count of how many days had gone by.  [Disclaimer, I did shower daily!]

  I had Monday off from clinical, which didn't help my lack of personal hygiene and clean pants, but I was able to get some more work done.  Somehow I was still finishing my paper last minute, in true Katie fashion!

We also had some sad news.  Our kitty, 15 year old Aramis, has been declining steadily over the last few months.  He has been losing weight and slowly losing interest in food.  He was always "fatty" or the name Erin gave him when she first met him (which I think is adorable) "Chubbs."  Well, he is now so skinny; we can feel all of his bones.  He is still such a sweet, sweet boy and purrs like crazy when we are around him.  Over the last few days he has been hiding more and barely eating.  We decided we should take him back to the vet.  Last night, we saw the vet I spoke with on the phone back in July about his current condition.  This vet hadn't met Aramis until last night.  He was wonderful!  He reassured us that Aramis is not suffering as they do not consider losing weight to be suffering.  He said he can walk around like a skeleton and although it is shocking, he isn't in pain.  He did a "head to tail" assessment and discovered a tumor in his abdomen, which he believes is lymphoma.  We aren't doing any invasive tests to know 100%, but with his rapid weight loss and elevated calcium levels, the vet is confident it is cancer.  Our plan now is palliative care, or keep him comfortable and happy for the duration of his time with us.  This includes eating anything he wants!  We have been giving him a variety of wet cat food and today, I bought him some baby food (per vet recommendation).  We are hoping to get some calories into him to give him a bit more energy.  The vet also believes he may be nauseous, so he is still taking his steroid and now some Pepcid AC to hopefully get him wanting to eat more.  Along with what to do for him, came the hard discussion of what to watch for.  Aramis could enter a "crisis" meaning he would be suffering and that would be the time to end his suffering, and say our good-byes.  The vet also advised us, he may pass away peacefully at home, I assume at anytime.  It is a harsh reality, but seeing his decline over the past week, I am not overly hopeful he has that much more time.  He is very resistant to me holding him now since I am giving him pills, which I try not to let upset me too much.  I just went to visit him upstairs.  I sat next to him and listened to him purr so loud, rub his head on my hand and give me so many kisses.  I am so thankful for the time I do have with him.  His body is failing him, but he is still my Aramis; I can still see him and all of his charm in the shell of his old self :)
Here are a few pictures of our "Chubbs" from the past couple days

Clearly he is spoiled.  I am now taking his food and water (and cat nip) to him :) Whatever it takes to keep him comfortable, we will do.

Ok, I need to read some power point slides for a bit more before I head to bed.  Here is hoping I do not bomb my exam tomorrow!!

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