Day 123

Sunday, August 31

Well, I'm down to two feedings a day, and I'm eating a little kibble, although not enough to maintain my weight on my own. I'm still hovering at 6 lbs., though, so I haven't lost much weight. I don't seem to be the slightest bit interested in drinking anything, though, and Jenny & James are still giving me IV fluids most days. The sub-q fluids are less of a pain than the tube feeding, though, so even if they have to continue the fluids Jenny says that's OK with them.

James is taking me back to Med Vet to see Dr. Forman on Thursday. He'll take blood and run a bunch of tests and look at my numbers to see how I'm doing - wish me luck!

Day 106

Thursday, August 14

On Friday, the 100th day since I got my feeding tube, I saw Dr. Forman for a check-up. My weight at MedVet was 6 lbs., 2 oz.! He's really pleased with how I'm doing. The next step is to see if I'll start to eat on my own if Jenny & James feed me less through my tube. Dr. Forman says that my weight is so good that I can afford to lose a little bit, if that's what it takes to get me eating again.

This week I'm down from 90 mL's three times a day to 70 mL's three times a day. I don't seem to be hungry yet. Tomorrow I'll drop to 50 mL's three times a day. Jenny & James can't wait to get me down to two feedings a day!

Even if I don't start eating on my own again, two feedings would be much more manageable (for me and them). There's also the option of having a different kind of PEG tube inserted, designed for long-term use (the length of tubing would detach when I wasn't being fed, so that I'd just have the plug in my side - no long tube to flop around, and no shirt to keep a long tube out of the way!).

But of course, the ideal scenario would be for me to get hungry and eat my k/d kibble again. I used to eat a little bit now & then right after my tube was inserted, so hopefully I enjoy the taste and sensation and I'll go back to it once I get hungry enough. Jenny bought a new bag so the food is nice & fresh.

The next few weeks are make-it-or-break-it-time, so wish me luck!

Day 90

Tuesday, July 29

Well, by Jenny & James' scale, I now weigh over 6 lbs. - 1 1/2 oz. over, to be exact. That's pretty exciting news!

The past few days I've been kind of blah, but because they're neglectful & forgetful (and because James was gone most of the day on Saturday), Jenny & James haven't given me any fluids since Friday, so maybe that's why. I got them tonight, but I didn't like it.

Tomorrow, after my morning feeding, Jenny is going up to Michigan for her sister's bridal shower on Saturday, so James will have to take care of me all by himself. Jenny's had to do that, too, over a couple of weekends, but not for such a long stretch at a time - James will have to take care of me on his own until Sunday afternoon. I hope he does OK!

Day 79

Friday, July 18

Hey, wow, I’ve been neglecting my blog for over a month now – yikes! A lot has happened in the past month. On June 19, I went and stayed at Red Maples vet clinic while Jenny & James went to visit their families in Michigan for the weekend. When they picked me up on Monday the 23^rd I was doing great! I was affectionate and energetic, and they were both pretty excited. By the end of that week, however, I was feeling pretty lethargic and they gave me some Tramadol in case I was in pain (trying to pass a kidney stone?). That made for a worrisome few days, but then I seemed to be feeling a bit better.

Jenny took me to see Dr. Forman again on July 1. He told her that he’d been reading my blog and was concerned about how I was doing, and they had the dreaded “quality of life” conversation. Dr. Forman said that although I was doing quite well, I probably wasn’t ever going to get any better than I am right now. I could possibly go on like this for a very long time, as long as I was getting good nutrition and care. He asked Jenny what she thought my quality of life was, on a scale of 1 (fabulous) to 10 (unbearable). She thought it was a 6 or 7, depending on the day. Dr. Forman said that wasn’t very good, but that he would support whatever decision she & James made about me.

Later, at home, Jenny asked James what he thought my quality of life was. He thought about 5 or 6, and they decided to put off making any big decisions for a while.

I stayed at Red Maples again over the 4^th of July, when Jenny & James went to New York to meet their niece (James’ brother’s daughter who was born on Thanksgiving). I was a good girl at the vet’s office, but I was very glad to get home. Since then, I’ve been doing very well.

I’ve been feeling good in general, which means that now not only do I not want to sit still for my fluids, but I’m getting pretty tired of them feeding me through my tube, too. I’ve taken to hiding under the bed, so now when they’re going to feed me they shut my bedroom door so I can’t do that. Sometimes I do start to walk away while the syringe is in my tube, causing them to crawl around on the floor after me and feel disgruntled. Sometimes food or water spills out of my tube when I do this, and my “tank top” gets pretty grimy after a while.

But I’m enjoying life a lot more. I play with my catnip ravioli every day, I like to look out the window, I lie on Jenny & James’ laps more often, and I’ve started jumping up to my favorite spots again (the end of the banister at the bottom of the stairs, the ledge in the upstairs hallway, and even the top of the TV stand, where there really isn’t any room for me), which I haven’t really done since I got my tube. I also discovered that I like to lie on top of the printer. Jenny thinks my quality of life is now probably a 4 on most days, maybe even a 3. She and James aren’t sure where to go from here, but for now I’m doing pretty good, so…yay!

Days 43-46

June 12-15

Not much to report - I threw up during my dinner feeding tonight, so James slowed my feeding way down and that seemed to help. He weighed me last night and I weighed 5 lbs., 2 1/2 oz., so hopefully I'm gaining a little weight.

Jenny & James have gone back to the 18-gauge needle for my fluids. I think it hurts more than the 20-gauge when they put it in, but the solution gets into me a lot faster, which is important because I really don't like to sit still for my fluids.

Day 42

Wednesday, June 11

The tech called today and left my kidney values on the answering machine, and my numbers are a third of what they were a couple of weeks ago - so they have gone down two thirds!

Jenny & James are giving me more food per feeding, and I seem to be doing OK; at least, I haven't been barfing a lot, which is pretty much my symptom of being "not OK" with my feedings. I've been getting the aluminum hydroxide, which is chalky and smells minty, like Maalox (not that I'm tasting it), so maybe that's helping, too.

Day 41

Tuesday, June 10

Well, my trip to MedVet this afternoon was somewhat of a joke. Jenny didn’t even get to see Dr. Forman! They took me in the back to draw blood and she waited for me in the waiting room. After a while they called her to pay the bill – she protested that I wasn’t even done yet, but they wanted to get it taken care of. Jenny waited a little longer after she paid the bill, and then a tech she had never met before (Joy) brought me out to her in my carrier.

Jenny had hoped to talk to Dr. Forman about quality-of-life issues (whatever that means), but since it will take a couple of days to get the results of my kidney tests back, she figured she could wait and talk to him then. She did need to ask the tech for a medication refill, syringes, material to make me another tank top, etc. The tech asked if she was still giving me aluminum hydroxide (for my phosphorous levels), and Jenny said she didn’t think we’d ever gotten any aluminum hydroxide to give me. So they gave me a bottle of that, too. Then Jenny owed another $11.00, which luckily she could pay in cash.

Since I weighed only 5.0 lbs. (where is all that food going? I’m not throwing up that much!), they told Jenny to increase my feedings to 70 mL’s (three times a day), then 80, and then 90 (over a week's time). They gave her a couple more 35 mL syringes and a couple of 60 mL syringes, but when we got home and Jenny went to get me my dinner, she removed the 35 mL syringes from their cases and saw that the tips were wrong – too big to fit into my feeding tube. The 60’s were the same way. So now she’ll have to make another trip to MedVet to get what I need.

Plus it turns out that we did have aluminum hydroxide at home, but when James had picked it up he was told to only give it to me after I started eating on my own, so clearly the hospital was a little mixed up about their own instructions. Jenny & James are starting to find MedVet a bit annoying…