One Day at a Time

"Yaaaaay!  Way to go, Mister!"  

I didn't realize I could be so happy to see poop.  Specifically Mister's poop.  After not having pooped since Wednesday.  

Too much information?  Sorry.

The truth is that I'm just happy for every single minute I get with Mister right now.  Mister has been diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Failure for about six years or so, but it just got really bad a few weeks ago.  His back legs started buckling and he was getting really dehydrated.  He spent three full days hospitalized at the vet about two weeks ago, getting IV fluids and various medicines.  Weirdly, he seemed to really like it.  He was in a nice cool metal box and people brought him food and water and a litter box and the best part was?...  

No Cooper!  For three whole days he didn't have to look over his shoulder to see if Cooper was going to pounce on him.  It was definitely a bonus. 

He's been home for eleven days or so, and I would be lying if I didn't say we haven't had our share of stressful moments.  Like when he goes days without pooping (for example), or when he up and decides not to eat anything for eight hours or so.  Or when he loses his balance getting on and off the mattress on the floor.  (The first night home, when we realized he was going to hide under the guest bed where we couldn't administer any meds, we made the sudden, middle-of-the-night decision to disassemble the bed and put the mattress on the floor.  It ticked him off for a while, but he got over it.  It's weird--that seems like a year ago now.)

But it's been pretty much round-the-clock feeding, checking, box scooping (usually pee), medicine-giving, and lots and lots of very important cuddling for the last few weeks.  Mister had developed a propensity for snuggling, and he's proven to be quite the champ at it.  This is coming from a cat who used to avoid snuggling like the plague.  

He's come around.

Yesterday we even went for a walk.  Today we went for a longer walk.  There was even lying down and enjoying a few minutes of the cool pre-Fall day:  

The scary thing is that we came very, very close to taking him to the vet for his final visit about nine days ago.  He seemed to be in real pain, and seemed to have given up.  I reluctantly admitted I thought it was time.  Mister has been my constant companion for 19 years, so it was a very difficult decision to make. Then, this happened:

https://www.facebook.com/julia.dennis/videos/10153830529573193/

Yep, that's Mister playing with a laser pointer.  It was all I could do to keep from crying.  If he's proven it once, he's proven it a dozen times:  you just can't keep Mister down for the count.  He will always surprise you.

I have Sean to thank for the laser pointer miracle.  (Sean was the one who noticed that Mister had just reacted to the reflection of my watch on the wall.)  I have Sean to thank for the endless patient late-night feedings and researching other healing modalities (potassium has been a lifesaver in getting Mister back on track), for administering meds and herbals and doing laser therapy with Mister.  And for having patience with me when I think this isn't working fast enough.  Sean even got bitten when Mister decided he wasn't in the mood for getting his subcutaneous fluids that day.  Poor Sean's been a complete trooper in all this.  As has Mister, of course.

We will lose the battle eventually, but maybe not imminently.  And Mister is not going to go down without a fight.  Or a walk, for that matter.  We're just taking it one day at a time right now.