Oh my heavens, it is October already

I have been slacking in my blog entries. So I am going to try and catch up a bit.

Meeps spent much of August and September trying to recover from Toxoplasmosis. After her surgery for the polyp, she was doing so well. Her little head tilt was much better, she was playing and all. But all of a sudden her back legs were getting stiff. As days rolled on she started having something like seizures. Very scary so such a small kitten. She never reached 2 pounds. But two weeks ago after another hospital stay and several specialists, she lost her battle. This disease is horrible to watch. But the whole time you would just keep thinking she just needed a little therapy to help her legs move, etc. Everyone loved her. She went on 3 retreats and had a lot of loving friends. It's been very hard without her. I was handfeeding her 5 times a day, watering more often than that. She couldn't walk, so I had to carry her everywhere. She went to the office, appointments, etc with me. I couldn't leave her in the car because of he heat and I had to keep a very close eye on her the whole time. She was so lovable. But in the end the stiffness moved up to her neck and it wasn't going to be good. So I had to make the decision whether she was living for me or her. No one can put a finger on why she seemed so special.
You can go to my facebook page and see all kinds of photos of her. Thanks to Dr. Wolf for helping her so much of the way.

Mother in Law

Well a lot has gone on for the last week. First my mother in law fell on Monday when she tried to look out her window. The new nurse she was getting ready to have coming to the house recommended she go to the ER because she wasn't very coherant and seemed to be having a lot of trouble standing. They ran labs and found her white blood count was very high. They decided to then to do a spinal tap. Nothing showed up. They called in a neurologist and infectious disease doc and with a scan they determined she had cancer of the brain, bones, kidneys, liver and pancreas. How can someone have this much cancer and have no symptoms. Later determined that she was on so much medication for other ailments that is was just masking the pain and symptoms. They didn't feel very hopeful that there would be much time. Today is Sunday and she passed away around 8PM. I had visited her after a retreat and then headed to my Mom's to pick up my kids. Bless her heart she was helping watch the kids since Angela and Mike needed to spend a lot of time at the hospital. She had to be tired.

Meeps had a neurologist appointment on Monday morning to try to figure out what is going on with her. She got out of the vet on Friday with no fever or fluid on the lungs, but she still couldn't walk and just didn't look good to me. After an appointment for over an hour with Dr. Wolfe, she told me she thinks she could know what is wrong with her. But they would need to do a more thorough oral exam. She asked if she could do that. A couple of hours later she called to tell me that Meeps had a polyp over her soft palette that was the size of a nickle. She thought she would be much better now. Well, sure enough, she is eating much more, although it is still kitten formula and canned A/D. She isn't doing well on dry food at all. Right now she is cuddled up on my shoulder and snoring.

Well it's time for me to hit the hay. I am tired and the morning will be here before we know it.

Update on Meeps

Meeps has been in the hospital since Monday morning. She kept spiking a fever over the weekend. Mike had taken the kids to the lake, so I was catering to her all weekend with icing her down, giving cool baths, etc. On Monday morning I took her back to the vet and she has been there ever since. She is so pitiful. When I come to the vets office, they bring her to me all wrapped up in a babies receiving blanket. The staff has fallen in love with her as everyone else has.

She has been on IV fluids, antibiotics, steroids, nebulizer treatments and being hand fed. The pneumonia had gotten pretty bad. But today when I saw her, she could actually breathe without gergling. She could even breathe through her mouth. That is improvement. She is still very tiny and has a lot of growing to do. So I don't know how it will all play out in the end. But she has been fighting her way through.

So just say some prayers for this little one and hope she comes home soon all healthy and bright eyed.

Update on Meeps

Mike took the kids to the lake this past weekend and I had a sit and sew with my quilting friends. Then I was determined to work on the room downstairs. I want to be able to get the kids toys moved out of their rooms and down there. So in the end I did manage to get it started and about 1/2 done. When they got back, Sydnee was smiling from ear to ear. She was loving the idea.

During all of this I am still taking care of Meeps. We had been told last week that she has pneumonia. She has been running a high fever (103.5-104.9). She is wanting to sleep all the time. No interest in eating unless you hand feed. Even then she isn't overly thrilled to eat or drink. I have been giving her ice water, lay her on a gel pad to help cool down, gave her a cool bath, give her the meds and keep taking her temp. I feel so bad for her. So on Monday morning she went back to the vet after no success in getting the temp down. So she is now in the hospital on IV's with antibiotics. They were able to get the temp to 102.7 so far. They will call me tomorrow.

We're in Cinci tonight and this is our last overnight stay for a while. I am looking forward to the break. We don't come back until Oct 1 for Sydnee's castings.

Miscellaneous Pictures

It started off looking like a plant for cucumbers, squash, etc. But now it seems like they may be pumpkins. I was hoping for watermelon, but pumpkins will work too. They are getting quite large. So I do hope it is something l can put up in the freezer for pies. We love pumpkin pies. I noticed today they are actually starting to turn orange.

Sydnee was able to make a seam in a quilt during the Sewing Expo in Sharonville, OH. She loved it! Although it's hard to tell by the intense look on her face.

During the retreat in July, this momma and her fawn were just prancing through the field behind us. We then saw them run across the highway as we held our breath.

Also during the retreat I had the little kitten with me. So here are some shots of being completely spoiled.

Granny Kathy

Her famous little head tilt.

Granma Pat

July 2, 2009

Today I wanted to get the kittens to a vet. Instead of driving all the way out to my regular vet, I decided t take them to the Mt Washington Animal Clinic. She was willing to do the exam free and then only charge me for medicines and fecal check. So that sounded good. In the end she gave them some Revolution to prevent ear mites, fleas, ticks, etc. Then she did a fecal check and it was clear. They weighed 1.6# (black one) and 1.4# (grey one). How tiny! She decided to give them an antibiotic and an antibiotic gel for the eyes. They both had eye infections, although the black one was mild.

July 1, 2009

I spent last weekend working on Mom's pool. She has a literal swamp and is so aggravated with it, she is ready to call in a bulldozer. So this is serious at this point. She had presumably purchased enough chemicals to get her through the entire summer. But not as it is now. After many trips to the store this week, many phone calls, etc we now have a bright blue pool, but it's still cloudy. So tomorrow is another day.

Monday was a pretty good day. I was able to get some laundry done. Wahoo!

Tuesday Sydnee had to have nasal surgery to hopefully keep her from having so many nosebleeds. I highly recommend the "Surgcenter of Louisville" on Dupont Circle. They are great with kids. Dr. Libson the anesthesiolost was super. He did the same thing Cinci does with sedation. He was the most kid friendly man I have ever seen. He stayed with her until we left the building. The surgery took a whole 15 minutes. I couldn't believe it. So if you have a child needing any kind of surgery that is outpatient. Then try them out. This place was great. Way better than Kosair.


Sydnee was waiting for them to come get her. Everything went like clockwork.


Now for the popcicle that Dr. Libson promised. He just kept telling me that he just loved her.

After leaving there we headed to Cinci for out 8am appointment the next morning. I was so tired this time for some reason. We got there and the kids got ready for bed. We ate and lounged.

We had out appointment on Wednesday morning. It went well, even though Simon had a tough start. He decided that he really didn't want to be there and the doctor was "stupid". So he proceeded to kick her, poke her, pitch things at her, etc. But he got over it finally and stopped.

On our way home, we stopped at a rest stop in Florence to take a nap. We were all tired and slept over an hour. But we all felt much better. After that we headed to Dry Ridge to visit the quilt shop.
Well on our way there just off the exit, we saw a small pet store. So of course we had to go in. It turns out that they are closing and once you're in there, you realize why. They didn't take care of what they had there. I got bird foods for half price. They had a cockatiel which of course we got and then there were 2 kittens for $15 each. They looked pitiful. Their eyes were all gunked up with infection. The owner told me she had wiped them out some, but it just kept coming back. Well duh! They are both 9 weeks old. The grey one is a female and the solid black one is male. They are adorable of course.
How can you resist these little faces?