Yesterday's Condo
Today is the fourth anniversary of Gabby being OTJ – ON the juice! In many ways and, like many of the kitties here, it is nothing short of a miracle that Gabby survived the first days of her diagnosis.
Shortly before Gabby was diagnosed, Gizmo joined the family. If you think he is irrepressible now, Gizmo as a 4 month old was even more energized. It was hard to tell how much of Gabby’s behavior was due to Gizmo being, well, Gizmo. In retrospect, her hiding was probably due to the FD and not Gizmo being a pest. I began to notice an acetone/alcohol smell on her breath over Memorial Day.
That Tuesday, we were at the vet’s office bright and early. Gabby’s BG was elevated, she was lethargic, throwing ketones, dehydrated – in other words, a very sick kitty. My vet told me she had DKA, they wanted to stabilize her in the office and then I would need to transport her to a local 24 hour ER/ICU. Both my vet and the vet at the ER gently mentioned that not all cats survive DKA.
I was calling the ER every 6 hours for reports on Gabby’s labs. Overnight, her electrolytes had stabilized and were beginning to return to normal values. In the meantime, they did a thorough work-up and further diagnosed pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis. This kitty is a fighter and was back home after 3 days at the hospital.
I was hugely relieved to have Gabby back home even if I was still shell shocked. (Gizmo was overjoyed to have her back. He was literally jumping up and down and totally ignored the vetty smell. He missed Gabby!!) I belatedly realized that because I can speak medicalese, no one at the hospital bothered to teach me how to give a shot. (Of course, no one even mentioned home testing.) I learned to give a shot by watching videos on YouTube.
To add insult to injury, on the visit back to the hospital a few weeks later where the internal medicine vet wanted to do a curve, Gabby contracted ringworm. I now had both cats confined to my bedroom so I could contain the problem. While trying to maintain peace and in between having to bathe both cats in a sulfur lime solution and sanitize my condo from top to bottom on a weekly basis, I stumbled on to FDMB about 2 months after Gabby’s diagnosis. The rest, as they say is history.
Gabby has the honor of having taught many kitties here how to cliff dive. She is a diva who enjoys keeping me on my toes. The people here who taught me how to manage those numbers, helped to keep Gabby safe when I was making newbie blunders. The almost instantaneous response to a question, the way people rallied those first several times when I saw low green numbers and continue to rally when I post some absurdly low number, the encouragement and support that are consistently provided continue to leave me in a state of awe. And, the generosity of spirit that pervades LL has kept me here to pay it forward. Thank you all for making LL the community that it is.
Today is the fourth anniversary of Gabby being OTJ – ON the juice! In many ways and, like many of the kitties here, it is nothing short of a miracle that Gabby survived the first days of her diagnosis.
Shortly before Gabby was diagnosed, Gizmo joined the family. If you think he is irrepressible now, Gizmo as a 4 month old was even more energized. It was hard to tell how much of Gabby’s behavior was due to Gizmo being, well, Gizmo. In retrospect, her hiding was probably due to the FD and not Gizmo being a pest. I began to notice an acetone/alcohol smell on her breath over Memorial Day.
That Tuesday, we were at the vet’s office bright and early. Gabby’s BG was elevated, she was lethargic, throwing ketones, dehydrated – in other words, a very sick kitty. My vet told me she had DKA, they wanted to stabilize her in the office and then I would need to transport her to a local 24 hour ER/ICU. Both my vet and the vet at the ER gently mentioned that not all cats survive DKA.
I was calling the ER every 6 hours for reports on Gabby’s labs. Overnight, her electrolytes had stabilized and were beginning to return to normal values. In the meantime, they did a thorough work-up and further diagnosed pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis. This kitty is a fighter and was back home after 3 days at the hospital.
I was hugely relieved to have Gabby back home even if I was still shell shocked. (Gizmo was overjoyed to have her back. He was literally jumping up and down and totally ignored the vetty smell. He missed Gabby!!) I belatedly realized that because I can speak medicalese, no one at the hospital bothered to teach me how to give a shot. (Of course, no one even mentioned home testing.) I learned to give a shot by watching videos on YouTube.
To add insult to injury, on the visit back to the hospital a few weeks later where the internal medicine vet wanted to do a curve, Gabby contracted ringworm. I now had both cats confined to my bedroom so I could contain the problem. While trying to maintain peace and in between having to bathe both cats in a sulfur lime solution and sanitize my condo from top to bottom on a weekly basis, I stumbled on to FDMB about 2 months after Gabby’s diagnosis. The rest, as they say is history.
Gabby has the honor of having taught many kitties here how to cliff dive. She is a diva who enjoys keeping me on my toes. The people here who taught me how to manage those numbers, helped to keep Gabby safe when I was making newbie blunders. The almost instantaneous response to a question, the way people rallied those first several times when I saw low green numbers and continue to rally when I post some absurdly low number, the encouragement and support that are consistently provided continue to leave me in a state of awe. And, the generosity of spirit that pervades LL has kept me here to pay it forward. Thank you all for making LL the community that it is.
