We've hit on something else which gets Spot to eat a lot WITHOUT help,
encouragement, mind-games, etc. (For those who have forgotten Spot has
some form of mystery infection (for something like 3 months now, with sores
bleeding for about a month) which includes mouth sores, and he had a stroke
almost 3 weeks ago, probably related to the severe anemia this thing
causes.) Earlier we had found that eats more of EVERYTHING if he also has
cake. Now, we've found that we take the AD (a liver based food which is
just LOADED with calories) we buy from the vet (and to which we sometimes
add Nutrical and water (Nutrical also available from vet), and to the plain
AD we add a tablespoon of melted butter (NOT margarine). It goes in well
and is eatten with strong enthusiasm. Right now we are trying amoxi and
metronidazole ALONE (no pepto, no pred, no whatever) and HIS MOUTH HAS NOT
BLED IN SEVERAL DAYS!!!!! There's no way to know if this combination is
making a difference or if he's just holding his weight well enough now for
his own body to fight this disease better; it's been a long haul, but we've
been through worse. He's acting happy about life this last week (acting
happier about life in general since the stroke which has to have been a
scary thing to get through) and it's intersting to see him test the
stroke-damaged leg. He'll purposely make it slip on the tiles over and
over to test corrections, and he is very good at climbing both in and out
now from under the platform bed (before he just go in). Spot's someone
who's inclined to give up about things so the attitude and health
improvements are GREAT to see. Whe he's well enough he will be ready for
yet another round of tests to see if anything has changed. We all still
have it in the backs of our minds that he might be starting kidney
problems, though that's not as likely.
'Chopper now at times needs 1.5 ml of Furosemide, but that's not 3 times a
day, that's the amount she gets if the now normal 1.2 ml 3x per day doesn't
hold her ascites. Yesterday she had a pig-out day and an active one. At
this rate she's going to stay the most active of any we've had with
cardiomyopathy right till she just stops one day. She's at the point where
she could die any day or might go one for a month a two more, but she's
only had three days of any discomfort in this entire haul and with careful
monitoring she's drinking enough. The Organic Helicopter is NOT someone
who gives up. <G>
The Fly has a mild vaginal infection so she also gets meds. In her case
she's just so blasted overweight (Meeteetse worships food and knows that
the best altar to it is in her tum. We have somewhat reduced her
overweight just by having increased, enforced exercise. "What? You want
to stop and eat? Sorry.", but eventually I think we will have to isolate
her and have only a certain amount of food. What happens is that she's so
fat that combining even her reduced overweight with the protuberance of her
vagina she winds up sometimes dragging in the litter pot (She had a vaginal
prolapse so it doesn't go all the way in even after one replacement.); an
infected uterine stump or an asystomatic adrenal is possible but as long as
this is controllable this way then this makes more sense.
Everyone else if fine, except that Steve and I are exhausted. I am waiting
for the stuff which Jeanne send early in sympathy for my frustration over
the Hackensack situation, and I still have to go through the materails form
Dick and Troy Lynn to pull any academic and governmental references which
can help.
In the meantime, I am repacking Niki's belongings in preparation for her
move since she's in Stockholm right now, and still doing whatever else
needs to be done. Poor Steve's having to carry everything (about 400
pounds of it so far) upstairs (two flights) to the condo for me to pack and
then back down again since the rag weed has begun locally, and I am trying
to finish as much as I possibly can before that gets bad enough that my
asthma might make work impossible. My 84 year old dad's surgery to replace
his knee has been postponed (and will probably be done in Florida where my
late Uncle Jay's house is all on one level, and my younger sister is closer
than we are up here), and my 84 year old step-mom's ankle fusion is healing
well. We are STILL trying to talk them into either having a small
elevator, stairway elevator, or a full bathroom on the first floor with
convertible sofa beds in the living room (Heck, we'd PAY for it without
hesitation if they'd agree) -- but, then we're also still trying to get
them to use public transit rather than driving. Arrrgghhh!!!!! (Hey, we
have a normal lifestyle for people in their 40s and 50s, right?) Thanks
for listening; I just needed to spew a bit since I'm so tired.
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2409]
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