July 21, 2017

All the emotions

I have nice things and sad things to share, and I'm debating which to write about first. So many things have happened recently that there is just too much to even put into words right now!

I don't want to go into too much detail, but I had to call the police yesterday about a little boy who came over to our house looking for a glass of water to drink. He was only six years old, and locked out of his house (at 8:00 pm). There are a lot of details that I will omit; but overall, I was very concerned for his welfare. I gave him water, of course, and also a bowl of Superman ice cream. My friend Sarah and her husband Ne (pronounced "Nay", short for Norberto) were visiting from Arizona, so we all just sat on the back deck and waited for the police to come.

I wish I could write the whole story, but I'm pretty sure the neighbor is mad enough that the police were called, so I will keep the rest of the story quiet. I just hope that everything is taken care of, and that poor boy is okay.

Before all that happened, Noah cooked us dinner on his new grill. My parents bought it for him for his birthday, and he was very excited to use it, so he cooked us kielbasa sausages. He did a great job!


After the incident with the neighbor boy, Sarah, Ne, Jerry, and I played Euchre in the house. Sarah and I are kind of telepathic when we play games (seriously--it freaks people out how good we are at reading each other's thoughts!). I love playing Euchre and don't get to play very often, so it was a good time. I'm hoping we'll get together with them again before they go back to Arizona.


Today, I actually went out on my dad's boat with Eli and two of his friends. Eli has been asking me for a couple of years now to go to "Crystal Bay", or "Blue Gill Bay" (as he calls it). It's a hidden little nook in Lake Erie that has the cleanest, clearest water I've ever seen in that lake. I'm not a boat person, and certainly not a fishing person, but I knew how much it meant to him (and since this is the year of saying YES), I agreed to get up at 7:00 this morning and go out on the boat.

We went to Blue Gill Bay first, and it definitely was pretty nice. You can look down and see the bottom over each side of the boat, so you can see the fish swimming around in there. Eli calls it Blue Gill Bay because there are TONS of blue gill in there. My dad usually just keeps perch and walleye to eat, but Eli really wanted to get some blue gill so he can cook it for dinner this week.

He ended up catching a ton of them, but only kept about 10. They also caught a few walleye, a perch, and a couple of rock bass (my friend Andrea really likes rock bass, so we save them for her). Since I don't fish, I just went along for the ride and took pictures of the kids as they caught their fish. I couldn't believe how old Eli looks in these pictures:




With his longer hair, he looks like a teenager. I think he's going to be popular with the ladies when he's older ;)

There was a very close call at the boat launch that still has my heart racing. It was awful. While my dad was pulling the boat out of the water, Eli was standing at the docks looking for fish in the water. I looked over at him and saw a guy in a truck backing his trailer up REALLY fast in Eli's direction. Eli was directly in his path, but he didn't see the trailer coming. I started screaming for Eli and running over there, but the guy was going so fast.

Eli looked up at the last second, and the guy in the truck saw me running and screaming, so he finally stopped--literally about one inch from where Eli was standing. If he hadn't stopped, Eli likely would have gotten run over by the trailer, pulled underneath it, and drowned at the launch. That was the closest call with my kids' safety I'd ever seen in my life. It made me feel like maybe that was the reason I was meant to go fishing with them that day. I never ever go; but today I went, and Eli is okay. Thank God.


Finally, some bad news...

Ever since we got home from vacation, Monica has been acting odd. She seemed sad, and was sleeping a lot. I assumed it was just because we were gone for a week, so I was watching to see if she'd get back to normal. She almost was acting depressed--not enjoying any of her usual things. Then I noticed she wasn't eating as much, and she stopped playing with toys. She wasn't even coming up to me and begging me to pet her.

A few days ago, I noticed something very concerning--her belly was really bloated. She's always been a pretty thin cat (7 pounds), but her belly looked very distended and it was firm. Having had cats my whole life, I knew this wasn't a good sign. I called the vet and got her in right away.

Sure enough, the news was pretty much what I expected. She has cancer--a tumor in her liver, which caused a lot of fluid to build up in her abdomen. The vet removed enough fluid to make her a little more comfortable, but said that it was basically down to her quality of life now, and with no treatment, she would likely live about a week longer. (She was still seven pounds when we got there, but the vet said there was likely a couple of pounds of fluid build up, so her weight had dropped to about five pounds or less--I just didn't realize it because her belly was so distended).

Considering the advanced stage of the cancer, there really wasn't anything that could be done. So, the vet said the humane thing to do would be to euthanize her. It broke my heart, but I agreed, and I made an appointment for Monday. I wanted to be able to bring her home and spoil her rotten, while letting the kids and Jerry say their good-byes as well.

I bought some wet food for her (she loves wet food!) and I've been feeding her that (although she really doesn't show any interest anymore). We decided to take her outside and let her explore a bit of the outdoors. When we adopted her, I signed a contract saying she would be a strictly indoor cat, and she hasn't seen the outdoors at all except though a window.

So, Eli and I took her outside and let her walk in the grass and bask in the sun. She seemed to really like it. And Eli, being the sweetest kid and biggest animal lover on the planet, felt good about doing something nice with her.


Today, she has gotten much worse. She can't move very easily on her own, so I've had to move her to her food/water dishes and to the litter box. She couldn't even get into the litter box on her own. Last night, she threw up a lot of bile. She seems to be in pain when she tries to walk around, so I've just been sitting with her on my bed.



I was so worried about how Eli was going to take the news, because he gets horribly upset over any sort of animals being hurt. (Even fishing causes him a lot of stress about whether he should keep them or release them). He was with me at the vet when the vet explained what was going on, so I think that helped him to understand that euthanizing her was the best option.

It's been almost a year to the day that we had to have Chandler put down. That was much worse, because we had no idea it was coming, and we didn't get our chance to spoil him and say our good-byes. I think the fact that Eli can spoil Monica is helping him. I told him it's a lot like Mark--we are making her as happy as we can before she dies. I think Eli learned a lot of life lessons from Mark, and  compassion has been the biggest one.

So, tomorrow at 12:20 we have an appointment for Monica to join Chandler and Paolo at the Rainbow Bridge. We've only had her just over a year, but she was the coolest cat (she even gave us high fives!). I'll write a post of its own about her soon. xo

16 comments:

  1. First, I would have unleashed on the truck driver!! Holy heck!! Glad Eli is okay! Second, so sorry about Monica. It's never easy to let them go. :(

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  2. Oh my I am so glad that you got your son out of the way. People now days are always in a hurry and seem to be distracted. I am so sorry about your sweet cat. It is so hard to lose a pet. I also have a question why have you stopped running? I must have missed this post.

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  3. my thoughts and prayers are with you......hugs to your family

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  4. I am so glad Eli is ok! I'm so sorry to hear about Monica. But she had an awesome family to love and that loved her. She's been surrounded by love and care in her final days. All pets should be so loved. Hugs and prayers to you and yours.

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  5. I am so sorry Katie! We all love Monica too! Monica and Chandler being together is kind of sweet though.

    I like to say, we as pet owners take on the guardian ships as their owners. It is the highest duty and honor to give them as gentle an ending as we can, as we have elected to be their caretakers throughout their lives. Sheltering them from pain, and releasing them from suffering is part of that. My kitty Toulouse died a year ago June 4th after a two year fight with diabetes. But he died purring. I loved him so much and his ending was definetly as gentle as I could make it.

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    1. I love that way of looking at it. I have two cats and really dread the day when something like that happens. But thinking of it this way maybe at least gives it purpose.

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  6. Wow, so many substories in this blog post! So sorry to hear about Monica. It is never easy to see them go. But glad you have had a few days to spoil her.

    And the almost accident on the fishing trip - CRAZY. Thank God you were there! I don't get how that guy didn't see Eli - was he just not even looking where he was going? I am with Lisa, I would have been giving him a piece of my mind after he stopped! But so glad that Eli wasn't hurt!!

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  7. I lost my old cat on Monday due to renal failure. MiMi was down to only 3 lbs - she went downhill very quickly. It is a hard thing to do but it helps to know you are ending their suffering. She is now with my other friends I've lost over the years...

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  8. So sorry about Monica. We have to put our dog, Jager, down in May and we are still dealing with it. He was twelve and had a great life so we can take comfort in that. I'm glad you guys get to spoil her and say goodbye. I'm thinking of you!

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  9. I'm so sorry Katie. We had our cat euthanized in March and my feelings are still a bit raw. But he was suffering and it was the right thing to do. Sending hugs your way.

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  10. So sorry to hear about Monica :( she was so lucky that a great family like yours found her!! Also I'm so glad Eli is ok!! Thank goodness you were there!

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  11. I am so sorry to hear about Monica and so glad to hear that Eli is okay....that sounds terrifying.

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  12. I'm so sorry to hear about Monica. She knew so much love during her time with your family <3

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  13. So sorry for your kitty and family. It's a hard choice for sure. Sounds like she had a good life with you

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  14. Katie, I waited to reply to this poignant blog until I could sit at my computer keyboard. It's much easier to type a lengthy comment! I am so sorry for the loss of Monica. We have lost so many pets over the years and it never gets easier. Right now our Bulldog is limping, I will get her to the Vet on Monday, and hope it's not a torn muscle, etc., as I have heard that's several thousand dollars to surgically fix. But I would pay it. That's how precious my Bully Juno is to me. SO I understand about losing your kitty. But I also know she had a wonderful home this last year and paid you generously for your gift, with lots of love.

    The story about Eli on the boat dock was so scary! I can't imagine your terror as you ran screaming towards them, and thank God the truck driver saw you in time. I hope he learned to slow down! And my first thought was, "It's a good thing Katie lost weight or running would have been out of the question." Years ago when we had our previous Bulldog I had taken her to the grocery store with me and she got out of the car accidentally. I had no leash and could not catch up with her (being morbidly obese), so I asked some people she had run up to see, to hold on to her for me until I could waddle over there and retrieve her. I just felt so helpless. I was so worried that she would run and get hit in that parking lot! Being fat and unable to help is NO FUN!

    So glad everyone was okay, and way to go on saying "Yes" to the boat ride. Boats kind of scare me, even though I can swim. I always worry about my husband and sons when they go out on one, because none of them are swimmers. They are the kind who would say, "I don't need a life jacket, nothing is going to happen." I always hope for the best, but imagine the worst, but not them. I like to be prepared. Sending Hugs!
    --Pam

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  15. AnonymousJuly 25, 2017

    So sorry about your cat. I'm glad you were able to spoil her! Hugs and prayers for your family!

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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