And a time to every purpose under the heaven.
A time to be born, and a time to die…
A time to kill, and a time to heal…
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
It has been a painful mix of emotions these past two weeks.
Rex has gone into full-blown kidney and urethral failure three times, and three times he’s bounced back. But tonight, this fateful night, it looks like he might be on a small decline. Again. It’s as if his spirit is willing, but his body just can’t quite fully recover. Even though we finally found the specific infection, and the vet’s been treating it with a specific antibiotic to which it is not resistant, it’s only had moderate success. The big problem is still that the kidneys seem to be able to function, but the urethra is not quite coming around.
Glenn and I will be talking later tonight. If Rex is doing no better tomorrow, or is doing worse, we will need to make a decision. It will likely be either immediate surgery tomorrow (with a fair-to-poor recovery rate), or euthanasia.
Words cannot describe how much my heart aches for Rex, and my heart breaks for Glenn. Rex has been his snugglebuddy, his pal, his friend – every bit as much as his companion as any pet could be. And even if helping Rex pass into the beyond is the best thing we can do for him, doing so will also damage an intimate, loving part of Glenn’s soul, and mine.
So we will talk later this evening, and we will do what is best for Rex. I only hope and pray that he somehow rebounds tonight, or at least remains stable (if Glenn believes surgery is the best route to pursue).
The prospect of losing Rex is sobering, and real. And potentially imminent.
So then we return to the saga of the orange kitten, a stripey kitty through and through. He is fully recovered from his URI, and tonight he FINALLY got the hang of eating wet food – through a mix of frenzied, hungry desperation, and also some encouragement and finger-feeding.
Hallelujiah!!!
He’s eliminating entirely on his own now. And he’s beginning to groom himself. The hard part at this point is keeping him somewhat confined. I think I’ll need to confine him to a bedroom, and start taking adorable kitten photos to put up on an adoption flyer at the vet’s office. I didn’t want to do that before he weaned, but the next 4 weeks or so will be critical to finding him a good home.
If you can spare them, please send Glenn and Rex some good thoughts, healing energy, and prayers. This has been difficult for both of them, and for me as well.
I will update tomorrow. For now, I need to fix some dinner and try to ease my heart a bit. Thank you all for listening, for reading, and for being concerned. Too many of you know what this is like, but it’s good for us to know there are others who understand the heartbreak of our situation.