Day 22

Thursday, May 22

Today James took me to MedVet to see Dr. Forman. James told him that I haven’t been feeling very well lately and asked him about the placement of my tube. Dr. Forman said that the vet wrap probably wasn’t a great idea, since air wasn’t getting through to my stoma (that’s a fancy word for the hole in my side where the feeding tube enters my body). So they gave me another tank top, and sent James home with two cloth tube-y/stocking things that he can cut armholes in when the one I’m wearing now starts falling apart. Dr. Forman also took an x-ray to make sure my tube was in the right place, and of course more blood for various tests.

He noticed that I seemed a little dehydrated, so now (lucky me!) I get to get subcutaneous fluids at home every day. This is very common in cats with kidney disease, so James wasn’t very surprised. They showed him how to do it and he gave me my first sub-q fluids there at the hospital (I’m down with that crazy kidney lingo).

Dr. Forman also thinks I may be trying to pass a kidney stone (or more than one). My kidneys were sore when he palpated them (that’s a fancy medical term for “scrunched them around”). He gave me some amitriptyline, which in addition to its somewhat sedative properties is also supposed to relax my urethra so it doesn’t tense up and I can pass a stone more easily. They also sent us home with a couple of bags of lactated ringers solution, a bunch of needles, some more feeding syringes, and a refill of my metoclopramide (GI motility) medicine.