Skip to main content

So We Got a New Cat or the Cat got us, Part I

Ashley's kitty, Lily, died on December 22 last year.  Ashley loved that cat, we all did.  She was so precious to us.  We worked hard at keeping Lily alive for as long as possible after she swallowed a string in September.  The vet didn't offer us much hope without an expensive surgery but we tried; we believe there is always hope.  We fed her with a syringe for weeks, she eventually started to eat (a lot) on her own.  She started gaining weight and passing the string.  Eventually there appeared to be no more string.  We thought we had saved her.  She was playing, eating, drinking and almost back to the weight she was prior to her getting sick. We were very hopeful.  That all changed quickly one dreadful Thursday before Christmas. Lily wouldn't eat, she was hardly moving.  She went downhill quickly because by the end of the day, she was not walking at all and she began to have little seizures.  At first I didn't know what to do, I was in tears knowing this was the end for our sweet Lily Blue.  I knew we had to take her to the vet, and I knew we would not be returning home with Lily.  I then grabbed Ashley, told her what I felt.  We allowed our other animals time with Lily, we took Lily outside so she could feel the warm fresh Florida air.  We then told Ashley's daddy and her big brother, we called the vet and prepared ourselves emotionally for goodbyes.  It was hard, very hard for Ashley.  But we do have a happy ending.

Check back for more.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Living through Dance

In just about six weeks Ashley will dance, not just any dance; she will be competing in a big regional dance competition by dancing her very first solo.  It's completely amazing, seeing Ashley dance, watching her live through dance.  When Ashley was born almost 11 1/2 years ago, I never ever thought, we never thought Ashley would live to dance much else do her first solo.  I can't believe I am crying as I type this.  I didn't think I would get emotional.  It's just amazing!  When I put her in dance at age 3, I did it because I knew I needed to stop sheltering her.  She needed to be around other children.  She needed to feel normal despite what is trying to zap the life out of her; despite her disease.  Honestly I never thought Ashley would be a good dancer or even a great dancer, I just knew dancing was safe; it was the one activity the doctors felt didn't put Ashley's life at risk.  Little did I know how much dancing did and still d...

ALF vs COTA - Loosing Sleep

What would keep a person up past 3:30 am? Decisions... As most of you know we have been using ALF (American Liver Foundation) for Ashley's Liver Transplant Fund. However, in the past year, we have found that ALF is not offering us what we need among a few other reasons which I will not blog about. When we opened Ashley's account with ALF we did so quickly after the death of my dad during Christmas 2006 and New Year 2007, we did not have time to research the best fundraising organizations. There are so many organizations out there from ALF , COTA , NTAF . But because of my dad's untimely death and because his dying wish was that friends, family, etc. donate to Ashley to help defray our medical costs, the first organization that came to mind was the American Liver Foundation. After all, Ashley does have a liver disease. Now, both my husband and I are wondering if we should have used COTA. We have also thought and inquired about opening up a local trust fund for Ashley. Howeve...

Ashley's Sick

One thing about having a child with a chronic illness is that normal illnesses just love to hang around longer. Ashley came home from school on Wednesday complaining of a headache, I took her temp and it was 101. She had no other symptoms just a fever, so of course we knew she needed to go to the doctor. However, I tried not to panic and decided to just watch her for 24 hours. On Thursday, her temperature just hovered around 99.5; Ashley's normal is around 97. She did fine most of Thursday but started complaining of a sore throat by late that evening. We woke up Friday with her planning to go back to school and me back to work but not before we went to the doctors just to make sure she didn't have strep throat. Dr. Lacy, Ashley's pediatrician, examined Ashley and didn't see anything in her throat but they did a strep test anyway; it was negative. Yesterday, Ashley's temp was normal all day, it ranged from 97.3 to 98.6. We thought maybe she was over her cold....