First off, thank you all for your kind notes on my last Nemma entry. The paltry “Thank you” I responded to most doesn’t even begin to touch the comfort and solidarity I felt when reading them. And I’m sorry I made so many of you cry! That was certainly not my intention, but it just reinforces the knowledge of how wonderful, supportive, and compassionate you are. Thank you.
Things are sort of getting back to normal round these parts. Sort of, because we’ve still got Nigel issues going on. I can’t remember what I’ve written about him previously, but he’s got some kind of kidney failure thing going on. After his hospitalization, we were giving him fluid twice a day and now we’re at once a day. The Monday after Nemma died, we brought him in to recheck his blood work. One kidney thing better, the other a little worse. Also, a regenerative anemia, which is weird in cases of kidney failure (it’s usually nonregenerative). Then, we noticed bruising in both his armpits. Did clotting factors tests and they were normal, which is good because treatment for stuff like that involves steroids, which aren’t exactly kidney friendly. I think he just shook himself too hard and went down hard on our hardwood floors or something (how many times can I use the word hard in a sentence?). I don’t know, but they’ve cleared up and there have been no signs of weird bleeding so…::shrugs:: Did a urine protein creatinine ratio test and that came back high, so he’s losing protein through his gomeruli, indicative of renal failure, but we already kind of knew that from his blood work, just kind of localizes it and confirms it. So he’s on enalapril which is supposed to prevent protein loss but can also be bad for the kidneys because it lowers blood pressure and might interfere with renal perfusion. It’s a fine balancing act. Then he’s on aspirin to prevent strokes because that’s a thing but I don’t remember learning why or how it relates to renal failure/protein loss. Something having to do with oncotic pressure? I have no idea.
So that’s been fun. But he’s been mostly eating his nasty kidney food, which is good, though we’ve been adding a little low-sodium chicken broth and tiny chicken sprinkles to it. Don’t know if it’s enough to completely negate any benefit of the kidney food, but he’s got to eat and that’s what’s most important. He’s also become quite the little jerk while getting is SQ fluid. I’ve given SQ fluid to cats and various baby wildlife, but never a dog. It’s been really difficult and I don’t know if I’m just doing a poor job (he has so much less extra skin than I’m used to! And he’s great at tensing all those little surface muscles), he’s weird, or both. He also wiggles like a mofo. I don’t blame him. I know it hurts. But it gets frustrating and exhausting. I end up putting it off until it gets late at night because I dread doing it so much. It’s so hard to do medical stuff to your own animals!
So, because of all the various critter issues, Aaron and I cancelled our vacation, which really bummed us out, but was OK. At least for a while. The Nigel situation was just exhausting and I really felt like I needed a break from normal life after the shitty year I’ve had. I felt such a strong urge to just get away and was having fantasies about running away from home. No where in particular, just away. But there just didn’t seem to be a way around it, especially with Nigel’s fluid situation. My mom wouldn’t be able to give him fluids by herself and my father is useless as far as things like that are concerned. Last night I kind of broke down and told my mom about my escape fantasies and she pretty much told me I had to go on my vacation. She would bring Nigel to the vet on days she didn’t work to get his fluid there and give him more enticing water to up his intake on days she couldn’t bring him in. I still thought this was kind of unfair to her and asked her many, many times if she was sure she was OK with it. She said she was, and that she’d have my aunt Jan around still to help with stuff, so that made it a bit better. So…I guess we’re going on vacation and we’re thinking of leaving on Wednesday if things go as planned. I still feel guilty but I also need to get away for a while for my mental health.
_LATER_
Got a bit sidetracked while writing this.
Well, all lodging has been more or less booked so, I guess we should be going on Wednesday! ::fingers crossed that nothing weird happens between now and then::
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