Sickness and Appointment #5

Robert and I consider ourselves to have pretty good immune systems.  We've known each other for more than five years, and neither of us has had the flu in that time, and we've each only had a cold or two (minus the time I had mono!).  However, in March Robert caught a cold and passed it to me.  It was no fun, but it was still just your standard cold.  I blame my cold on Robert and my weakened pregnant immune system.  I was feeling back to normal until last Wednesday night.  I got home from church and realized I had developed a sore throat and threw up twice through the night.  I just knew I'd wake up the next morning with a cold.  I was right - stuffy/leaking nose, cough, tired.  I had a super low-grade fever of 99.6.  I considered it to be fairly good timing because I had my fifth OBGYN appointment the next day and decided to just mention the cold while I was there.

The appointment went well.  Baby girl's heart rate has slowed down a bit and is now 150 bpm.  My blood pressure and pulse are good.  Everything was good.  I mentioned my cold, and the doctor wasn't concerned at all.  I checked out and made my next appointment.  That'll be the big kahuna: another ultrasound, appointment with the doctor, glucose test with blood work, and a TDAP vaccine.

I felt pretty much the same on Saturday and Sunday, but then on Monday I felt so much worse.  Robert said my cough was "scary" and actually jumped once when I coughed.  I didn't sleep well and woke up several times to blow my nose and hack up a lung.  I woke up with super gross gunk in my lashes and very red eyes.

About halfway through Monday my right ear got clogged up, I couldn't hear well, and it felt like my ear had a little knife in it.  I self-diagnosed myself with an ear infection, took Tylenol, put a hot pack on my head, and decided to call the doctor on Monday morning.  Apparently my OBGYN doesn't take sick patients, and I don't have a primary care physicians here since I've just been going to the OBGYN every four weeks, so to urgent care we went.  I made the remark to Robert that if you didn't come to urgent care with some sort of horrible illness you were bound to have one by the time you left.  Two people wore masks, one lady was laying on the chair with a pillow, and another person was wheeled in in a wheelchair.  Once I got to the exam room the doctor only needed about two minutes to diagnose me with an upper respiratory infection, ear infection, and ruptured ear drum.  While that was awful, it was nice to get a speedy diagnosis that coincided with what I suspected.  According to my mom, I had a ruptured ear drum when I was little as well.  Man, it's not fun.  Got a prescription for an antibiotic as well as ear drops, and within 24 hours I started feeling significantly better.

While I'm writing about illness, I have to tell you about Mittens' sickness.  I can't decide which is worse - being sick yourself or having your pet who can't speak be sick.  If you don't have pets or are a cat hater, feel free to stop reading here.  As a side note, if you are a cat hater, Mittens will convert you!  Anyway, last Sunday night I noticed Mittens going to her litter box every five minutes without success.  She'd hop in, try, kick around the litter, get out, and return five minutes later.  I knew something was wrong.  Then on Monday I realized it'd been 24 since she had a BM which is very unlike her.  I also realized that she'd thrown up a bit through the night.  She was crying a lot, and let me just tell you, this confirmed that her crying for food isn't nearly as desperate as I thought it was.  Her real "I'm in pain" crying was infinitely more pitiful.  Mittens slept on Roberts chest for more than two hours one of these nights which she's never done in her entire life.  We thought it was cute, but as I put two and two together I began to realize that she did this because she wasn't feeling well.  Of course, Robert took it as a sign that she finally likes him.  Doubtful. ;)

So sleepy!

We don't have a vet here locally yet, but I found a place online that was able to see her on Tuesday so we went for it.  The appointment was at 5:00, so we had to wait all day.  She was so lethargic and pitiful.  Sure, she always sleeps a lot, but her sleeping posture was different.  It was more like collapsing than snuggling in for a nap.  She didn't want to play or be brushed which is so uncharacteristic.  Thankfully, she was still eating and drinking normally.  We got her to the vet.  Putting her in her carrier and driving with her is basically the worst and traumatic for all.  The vet was very nice.  Mittens was in a cat-specific exam room.  She loves the high window with the big ledge.  It definitely made her feel safer while she got acclimated.  The vet handles her and examined her little body.  He confirmed that her colon felt good.  She ended up peeing on the exam table which was actually perfect because he just did a urine sample right there and was able to determine that she had a lower urinary tract infection with blood in her urine.  A kitty cat UTI.  How pitiful is that?  He said that the constipation was a side effect of the UTI.  He gave her an antibiotic shot in her upper back and gave her a prescription to relax her digestive system so everything could pass easier.  We had her trim her nails while he was at it.  He made it look so easy.

Scoping out the place

Anyway, Robert went out to the car with her while I paid.  When I got in the car Robert had felt bad for her and was letting her walk around the car instead of staying in her carrier.  I knew just how bad he felt for her because I've asked him before if we could do this and he said no.  Mittens loved it.  So much so that she wiggled herself under my chair and wouldn't come out.  When we got back to the townhouse Robert tried to pull her out by her collar, but now that she's lost one pound on her diet and we haven't adjusted her collar that stinking thing slid right off.  Thankfully, she came out very quickly after that, and it was the perfect time to wash and adjust her collar.  She was sleepy when we came home and lounged even more than usual for about two days.  I know that's because of the shot and pills.

Her new "spot."  I don't love that she sits on the table, but at least her blanky is on top of it, and it's better than her old spot of the back of the chair.

We were to give her a pill at each meal, and she took it so easily for the first two days.  After that, she started to feel better and stopped taking it.  The doctor said that was fine but to still just put one out in the food bowl at each meal until the prescription was empty.  She's so funny!  The princess can't just not eat it.  She has to flick it out of her food bowl as if to declare, "I can't have that in my presence!"

Finally sitting up again

So when we were at the vet on Tuesday he said to come back on Friday if her litter box habits still hadn't returned to normal.  On Thursday morning things hadn't improved so I called to set up the appointment for the next day.  Thank heavens, the needy thing surprised us Thursday and all was well.  She's doing so much better now.  It was awful.  I know she's "just a cat," but with a human you can explain how you feel and what hurts, but you just can't do that with your bed.  Robert said it was good preparation for a sick baby who can't speak yet.  I'd agree.

Bringing Home Mittens

As a lot of you know, my parents kindly fostered Mittens from the end of May through mid February as we could no longer have her at our apartment, so when it came time to find a place in MO we knew we had to find a place that loved cats just as much as we do.  We got settled in our townhouse, and a week later we drove up to my parents' house to bring home the princess.  I know Mittens will forever be grateful to her grandparents and is thankful for the time to get to know them so well. ;)  Anyway, bringing her home was traumatic just as we had anticipated.  Thankfully, I was able to pick her up and put her in the carrier just fine.  She sat inside the carrier which was on my lap for the 50 minute drive back to our townhouse.  She was pretty quiet and sat still.  When we got home we unzipped the carrier, but she stayed in it for about 10 minutes before getting out.  Looking back, and as a note for the next time we move, we should have taken her to the bedroom with the door shut first and let her get acclimated in there for 24 hours before releasing her into the whole house.  When you think about it, when an indoor house cat moves to a new home her whole WORLD is changing.  Everything she experiences happens inside of the house, so not to be dramatic (or to be dramatic), it would be like you moving to Mars.  

She spent the first two days sniffing EVERYTHING - every last fiber of carpet, the base boards, our furniture, the walls.  We have one connecting neighbor and she has two cats, so we were kind of wondering if Mittens could smell the other cats, but since she couldn't see them it was throwing her off.  She still sniffs the adjoining wall/base board a lot.  She slept under the bed the first night, and the next day she spent about seven hours straight under the bed without moving a muscle.  It was heartbreaking.  She wasn't eating or drinking, but thankfully, she was using the litter box just fine and never had an accident.  We originally had the litter box on the tile floor in the half bath, but the princess wouldn't dare walk across the freezing tile floor, so the box is now on the carpet in the corner of our bedroom.  Ugh.  It's Mittens world, and we're just living in it.  

After two days she started eating her food at night while we were asleep, so it was progress.  I had been convinced she was going to starve herself to death because she's just that stubborn.  Robert assured me that she would eat once she got hungry enough.  What do you know, he was right.  After three of four days of living here she became much more normal.  She would let us brush and pet her, she started playing with her toys and laser and sprinting up and down the stairs (she's never had stairs before), and she ate and drank in public.  

She doesn't mind when I play the piano, but when Robert play the guitar she runs for the hills.

She finally got brave enough to hop up on the couch.  She has a fear of couches as that's where the nail clipping is done.

She has a tough life.

We've had her for about 15 days now, and she's totally back to normal.  Of course, her normal is still unique.  She has no desire to sit on my lap or let me pick her up, but she shows she cares by sitting in the seat next to me.  She loves sitting on the guest bed and soaking up some rays in the day.  That's also her go to spot at night because she can watch the street lights out the double window.  There's a stray cat that lurks around the parking lot at night, and Mitts watches it to let it know that she rules the hood.  She knows when it's time for Robert and me to go to bed so she'll sit at the top of the stairs and wait for us.  When we start to walk up the stairs she sprints to our room and hops on the bed for her nightly scratching before we hit the hay.  She has a new hiding spot - under the piano.  She can't see us, but we can still see her, so it's pretty funny.  We also got a new side table and put her blanket under it in attempts to reclaim our chair, and she seems to like it.  She took a nap under there for an hour and a half last night.  She still enjoys being mischievous - standing on the piano bench, lurking around the kitchen table and chairs, hoping up on the dresser.  I caught her standing on the toilet seat and drinking from it, so we're making an effort to close the lids now.

This has traditionally been her seat.

She loves our big windows and the fact that she can fit on the wide trim and gaze out at the big world.

One of her many favorite sleeping poses

Seriously, how could this not turn you into a cat lover?

She eats!  She has a requirement that the coat closet be partially open in order to eat.  Good grief!

Finally playing with mousy 

The stairs are the perfect place to run and get exercise.  She also loves hiding from her toys a few steps away and planning a sneak attack.

I know I'm biased, but have you ever seen a more shiny and silky coat.

Yes, I realize I just wrote a long blog post about our cat.  Yeah, I'm a crazy cat lady.  Don't judge. ;)

Mittens goes to the vet

Mittens does not enjoy going to the vet.  Is that a surprise to any of you?  I'm sure you imagined a shy, feral cat just dying to get in a car carrier, go for a ride, and get manhandled by a stranger.  Mittens had three experiences at the vet in NC.  

1. A checkup to make sure she was healthy enough for us to keep her indoors with us when we first got her.  Getting her in the car carrier was a joke, but Robert did it.  The vet was nice, but she was scared to death since she had just gotten a new home living with Robert and me the day before.  He checked her out: eyes, teeth, ears, paws, booty, and fur.  Everything was good.  Then it was time for her shots.  Poor thing was so scared that she peed on the table.  The vet said that was normal, and I guess it was a reassurance that her urinary tract was working well.
2. She went back about a month later to get spayed.  She was scared again.  You could tell she was so embarrassed to come back out with her tummy shaved.  We pampered her and made sure she took it easy.  Mittens has no problem taking it easy. :)  However, our little stinker licked her wound too much and it got infected.
3. A trip to get an antibiotic shot and the cone of shame.  Our vet informed us that if we ever wanted to bring Mittens back we would have to tranquilize her.  Holy cow!  I had no idea we had such a terror kitty on our hands, but apparently knows what she likes and doesn't like and isn't afraid to tell people.

So when it came time to take her to her annual checkup I was dreading it for weeks.  This is my first house cat, so I don't totally have a tried and true view on taking a cat to the vet for yearly exams.  I would tend to think, "Mittens is never around anyone but the two of us.  She's never around other animals so it would be tough to pick up a weird disease from one of them, and she's never even come close to biting anyone.  Why bother with the pain and trauma that going to the vet entails?"  But we're renting a house and need to provide paperwork that she's on the up and up.  Also, I would hate it if for some bizarre reason she did bite someone and something happened.  Finally, it's good to get confirmation that she's healthy and we're doing our best to give her a happy life.

I just so happened to be busy at the time of Mittsy Coco's appointment.  Darn the luck!  R had the pleasure all to himself.  I don't want to let myself visualize the horror of getting her into the carrier, but R said it was bad and involved her trying to climb up a curtain.  He got her to All Creatures Animal Clinic, and Robert said it was a much better experience than we had anticipated.  They had him take Mitts back to an exam room and told him to go ahead and let her out to explore while he waited for the vet to come back.  I thought this was a great idea.  It allowed her to get acclimated to this new environment without any strangers there.  Of course she went right to the window.  She's so predictable!

Then she hopped up in the sink which is very uncharacteristic of her.  She was just feeling so adventurous!

Robert said everyone kept doting on her beautiful fur, how soft it is, and how unique her coloring and markings are.  I know I'm a weirdo, but I always like it when people brag on M.  The vet said her coat is healthy, her ears/teeth/nose/eyes are great, and he trimmed her nails (the worst part of having her).  It was worth paying him $4 to do that.  Whew!  Mitts got two shots.  She came home very sleepy.  We expected this.  The other time she got shots she was extra lazy and reclusive for about two days.  It seems to be her normal.  She sleeps more and keeps to herself so she can get back to her normal self.  Don't we all need to do that every now and then?  We are so thankful that my parents have fostered her for 8 months, but we are also super pumped to bring her back home with us.  My parents have fallen in love with her which has been fun to watch.  Maybe she'll be an incentive for frequent visits from my parents. :)

And now, to solidify our status as a crazy cat family, I bring you some abstract kitty cat art.

Summer Happenings

Memorial Day was so nice.  It was my perfect kind of day - a day full of ticking things off my list.  We had gotten back to town late the night before so it was nice to have a day to recover and catch up from being gone the week before - unpacking, sorting mail, laundry.  I can tell you that in my short time as a "homemaker" I have learned that it is always worth it to clean your house before you leave for a bit trip.  It's so nice to come home to a house with your bed made, no dirty dishes, no stinky trash, and no clutter to be found.  Definitely worth it.  I also like to unplug everything in our apartment before leaving for a trip.  I don't know exactly how much money this saves us, but I know it sure doesn't hurt.  We also turn the AC up to 80 or the heat down to 65.  Having lower electric and water bills is just an added benefit of traveling.

Anyway, with our extra day off we returned an item at Pet Smart, sold a table and lamps, made a deposit at the bank, and did some spring cleaning.  It was so wonderful that Robert had the day off as well!  We ended the day with a barbecue with our dear friends Forrest and Anna.  We brought the potato salad and homemade ice cream.  They furnished the veggies and meat.  And let me tell you, they went all out with the meat: pork chops, burgers, hot dogs, ham, and spam.  Wowie wow wow!

I don't know about you, but starting the work week on a Tuesday pretty much makes the whole week feel out of sorts.  You would think it would make it faster having a four day work week, but I just spend the whole week confused on what day it is and feeling behind.

We wrapped up the week with a weekend trip to the Outer Banks to meet up with Robert's mom and her husband.  The weather was a little cool, but it was actually nicer than originally predicted.  We got to hang at the beach, swim at the pool, hike up a sand dune, eat lots of tasty food, and enjoy cable tv (which we don't have at home).

This week is pretty nuts.  Robert is in an intensive summer school class which means he is in the same class Monday-Friday, 8:00-5:00 for one week, but then it's over and he has three more credit hours under his belt.  He's taking Biblical Manhood and Womanhood - a class which he wasn't interested in, I suggested he take, and he is now enjoying.  Score!  After this class he will have four days to recover before he goes to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual conference.  That's another summer school class.  He'll be gone for three days and will get another three credit hours.  He's really looking forward to this one.  It should be a great experience with lots of time for networking for his future career.  Another benefit?  It's FREE with not tuition cost.  After mid June he will be finished with classes for the summer, and he'll be finished with his assignments by the end of June which will leave all of July and most of August for him to enjoy just working and not having to study so he can get ready for his FINAL semester.  It's going to be so strange when he's finished with school.  We've never known each other outside of school.  I'm excited to see what it will be like.  I know everybody talks about how being in school is sooooo much easier than being a full-time employee, but with two years of full-time experience (I know it still isn't a ton) I can say that I love the fact that I leave work at 5:00 and am free as a bird until 8:00.

Also, I've been inspired by Ann VosKamp's 1000 gifts and wanted to respond to her Joy Dare for June 3.  Today's dare is is to find 3 gifts from today's conversations:

1. Talking with Robert on our nightly walk - Robert and I have found that we both chat more and listen better while we're walking.  I highly recommend it to anyone who feels like they're in a slump in their conversations with their spouse.
2. A surprise call from my Dad after I got home from work - Isn't it great to have parents who think about you throughout the day?
3. Hearing about a job interview that my friend's husband has - It's awesome to hear how God is providing for His people who are seeking His heart.  It also gives me hope and inspires me as we start to think about our future after Robert graduates.

What gifts of conversation did you hear today?

Also, an update on Mittens: She loves my parents, and they love her.  We couldn't have better caregivers for her.  I think they like her almost as much as Robert and I do.  They have been great to give us daily updates and pictures of her.  Her second birthday was on Sunday, and they made sure to treat her like the princess that she is.

Birthday party complete with a banner, kitty cat Pate, and "It's Your Special Day" plate

Mittens

I have wanted a cat my entire life.  We didn't have an indoor cat growing up due to the potential scratching, hairballs, and excessive fur on everything, and I never wanted an outdoor cat.  I kid you not when I say that my mom used to say, "When you grow up maybe you will marry a man who let's you have a cat at your house."  I had a lot of waiting to do.  Fast forward approximately 15 years, and...I married a self-proclaimed cat hater.  Robert's family owned a cat or two while he was growing up, but all I know is that one of them couldn't be litter trained and that ruined his perception of cats.

The day we moved to North Carolina (June 1, 2012) we saw a litter of kittens in our parking lot.  We soon found out that they lived in our water runoff drain in the parking lot.  How sad/adorable is that?  I feel like a a Disney cartoon totally could have starred this little furballs.  We would see the cats periodically, and it was fun to watch them grow up, but I always felt badly for them especially during extreme weather conditions.

In the fall of 2013 we started seeing a particularly cute grey cat sitting on our porch and our front door mat.  I think she was scoping us out.  I remember Robert texting me a picture of her and me replying with, "Can we have her?" to which Robert said, "If she's still here next December."  More than a year to wait???  A few days later (October 21, 2013) Robert and I were taking one of our traditional evening walks through the neighborhood, and we came across the same grey cat again.  She was eating a potato chip in the parking lot.  She was so hungry and focused on eating the potato chip that she didn't even notice us sneak up on her.  Robert scooped her up, even though I begged him not to, knowing that the instant I held her I wouldn't be able to give her up.  We decided to take her in and just feed her a bit - stupid, stupid, stupid.  We just so happened to have a can of tuna on hand which is hot since I hate fish.  We put it down on a plate for her and she scarfed it down.  I started weeping while watching her eat.  Just thinking about feeding her and then throwing her back out broke my heart.  I asked Robert if we could name her anyway, and he said yes, we should name her Mittens.  She is grey with white paws.  Robert decided we should let her stay with us until we could take her to the vet to get checked out.

Our first picture of Mittens

October 22 was actually my last day at my former job, so it was super easy to take Mittens to the vet the next days since I was jobless.  We took her in, and the vet was shocked with how healthy she was.  She's a feral cat.  Maybe you're like me, and you're not quite sure the difference between stray and feral.  Stray: grew up in a house, family ditched the cat on the side of the road.  Feral: born in the wild, never been owned by a human.  So Mittens is a feral cat.  The vet said she has perfect teeth, eyes, ears, and nose.  The pads of her paws were in remarkable shape for being used to walking on hot asphalt and rocks and sticks in the woods.  Her fur was shiny and not matted.  Her digestive system seemed good.  No fleas, ticks, or worms, but we got her a de-worming pill just in case.  Rabies/tetanus shot?  Got that too.  Trimmed her nails.  We left knowing that this was a cat for good.  I firmly believe that Mittens was God's gift to me to keep me company during the coming weeks of unemployment.  She kept me company and kept me from getting bored out of my mind.  A couple of weeks after getting her we got her spayed.   She was so pitiful.  She licked her wound too much, and it got infected which meant she had to get an antibiotic shot and was forced to wear the cone of shame for a week.  The first time we put the cone on her she literally cried a real kitty cat tear and it fell onto the blanket beneath her.  Broke my heart.

She was so embarrassed, but she rocked that accessory with style

Since then, Mittens has mesmerized us with her general cuteness.  Some of her favorite things include her kitty teaser (a fuzzy pink toy with a jingle bell inside), her laser, dental treats, anything pink or purple, looking at her reflection in windows and mirrors, having her ears/lips/cheeks/chin scratched, being brushed, laying in the sun, and attacking our feet under blankets.  Her least favorite things include being picked up, having her belly scratched, when we turn on the lights after it's been dark for a long time, the vacuum cleaner, having her nails done, and closed doors.  And after a few short days Robert officially loved her.  He loves her so much he even built her a scratching post/perch.

However, on Valentine's Day or sweet Mittens ran away while the door was open for a bit.  I was devastated.  We searched high and low.  The positive is that she was born in the wild and grew up in it for a year and a half so she knows the neighbor and forest like the back of her paw.  She knows the safe places and the places the avoid.  Unfortunately, because of all of that she wasn't that anxious to get home.  I was heartbroken.  The fact that it had just snowed the day before didn't help.  Thinking about her being so cold was terrifying.  I will say that this experience made me love Robert more than ever.  Robert willingly stayed up until the wee hours of the night every night that she was gone.  Knowing that  cats are nocturnal, we figured nighttime was the best time to try and catch her.  We sat out her favorite things on our porch: her food, the litter box, her favorite blanket, a toy.  We sat out our shoes and a hoodie so she could find our scent.  We went on hikes for hours on end - just trying to find her.  I can say that I found a part of the woods I had never seen before, and it would have been very serene had it not been for our given situation.  We saw her a couple of times which was both encouraging and very frustrating.  She'd come up on the porch, but the second we'd move to get her she'd run away.  Her food attracted plenty of other feral cats as wells as possums.  The most terrifying night was the night that she was on our porch and then a coyote chased her into the woods.  Later that night we heard some terrible noises coming from the woods, and then we didn't see her for two whole days.  When she reappeared we experienced such a rush of relief.  She had been gone for six days when one of our friends came up to our sliding glass door and said that he had found Mittens.  Robert was in his night class, so I went out with Adam to go see her.  Unfortunately, the cat he had found was one of Mittens' siblings, but when we got close to that cat she ran away and stumbled upon Mittens which terrified her and made her run across her path. "That's Mittens!"  I got super pumped.  It was totally exhilarating.  She went to hide under some cars.  Adam and I walked slowly toward her.  We crouched down to be less intimidating.  I was saying her name and Adam was meowing.  She was starting to walk closer to us when one our neighbors pulled into the parking lot and started saying things like, "You don't want to do that.  You'll make the stray cat want to come home with you."  Little did he know that that was exactly what we were trying to do.  He left, and I got Mittens to let me pet her.  I asked Adam what to do, and he said to just pick her up like normal.  Unfortunately, I had always been too petrified to pick her up.  Robert always did it.  I knew that I had to just do it.  I scooped her up and got very excited, but Adam reminded me that we weren't home yet and there was still time to blow it.  I got her inside, confirmed that it was her and she was healthy, and then Adam went on his way.  I'm going to be honest - I bawled like a baby.  I FaceTimed Mom and Dad.  They were very happy as well.  I didn't tell Robert because I wanted it to be a surprise when he got home from school  Well...

I am pleased to say that she was in perfect shape when she returned.  We made sure to go to PetSmart ASAP so we could get her a nametag with my phone number on it.  It's been smooth sailing since then.

On Wednesday Mittens will be moving to Missouri.  It's her greatest adventure yet.  Mom and Dad will care for her until Robert graduates.  She's very excited to live with her grandparents and is looking forward to getting spoiled.