Movie Muse - Erin Expounds: June 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Cleo had a stroke, but is doing better

Not even two hours after we landed in Atlanta from our Boston trip, my phone rang with a call from the vet. They were just about to close, and a tech went down to say goodnight to the animals. It hadn't taken him long to learn that Cleo is a "people kitty," so when she was hiding in the back of the cage instead of coming to him for pets (like she had for the entire previous week), he knew something was wrong. They took her out of the cage, and she could not stand. They checked her blood pressure, and it was through the roof, nearly 300 over something in the upper 100s. (A cat BP should be about the same as a normal human BP, around 120/80.) All they could figure is that she had a stroke, but whether the high BP caused the stroke or the stroke caused the high BP it's hard to say. She just had her check-up while being boarded on Tuesday, and everything looked fine, including her BP, so no one is really sure what happened. She has a known heart murmur, but they've been monitoring that for years and there hasn't been any change. She's 15 years old, but other than being overweight and having a touch of arthritis, she has always been deemed quite healthy.

They do not have anyone with the animals overnight, and they were about to close, so they asked us to come pick her up since we were home (they had intended to transfer her to a hospital with overnight care so someone could watch her). She is very unsteady on her feet, with both of her back legs being affected, her right side more than her left. It looks like she is *really* drunk, and it would be funny if we weren't so worried about her (it's getting funnier now that we know she is more or less okay). We hadn't even been home from the airport yet (had gone straight to eat dinner), so we dropped our luggage and headed over to get her, picking up the other two while we were there.

She's on BP meds, and we should get her blood work back later this week to see if it can shed any light, but for now, we're operating under the premise that it was a stroke. The bad news: other than treat the BP, there really isn't much they can do. She will probably never be 100% again. The good news: the doctor thinks that a good bit of her leg function will come back, and indeed, we have seen some marked improvements in just 48 hours. The word of warning: she will get back most of what will be coming back in the first 48-72 hours. After that, recovery is minimal. She spent the first 36 hours or so hiding in the cabinet, which concerned me greatly. She has spent most of today (Monday) in the den with us (I worked from home, and Luke stayed home with me). The hardest thing for her right now is trying to jump up on the furniture. She is front declawed, so she has to spring with her back legs, and if she needs to climb (she is rather plump), she also has to use her back legs to get her the rest of the way up. With both back legs affected, she really can't get on the furniture straight from the floor. She can get in DH's recliner by going to the hearth, then to the chest that is next to his chair, then onto the arm and into the seat. She absolutely cannot get on the sofa by herself. Even a step stool of some sort won't work, since the steps are too narrow for her. We'll have to get a carpeted ramp or something similar for her (I'm sure we're not the only pet owners with this problem).

So, she is doing okay and is improving. We'll just keep treating her and helping her as much as we can. The risk, of course, is that having had one, there could easily be more, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If you could keep your paws crossed for her, we would all appreciate it.
Currently feeling: cautiously optimistic

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Boston 2014 - A Brief Photo Preview

Seeing as I never got our 2011 trip fully written up, I make no promises about this trip. Here is a very brief photo preview of this year's trip.

We went back to Charlestown to finish up the last stop on the Freedom Trail that we missed (the Bunker's Hill Memorial).