Calypso's Trials and Travails

HI ok so look. It's been a week. First off, Calypso is doing ok!! For those of you who follow my instagram and sent us messages of love and support THANK YOU!!! She pulled through and is on the mend. However, due to her trials and travails I have done zero cooking since Tuesday and have no more back up posts to share until I play catch up 😬 .

Lemme back up for a second.  Calypso is my baby slash my life, part of our family and I LOVE her to pieces. I took her into the vet on Tuesday for an appointment concerning her anxiety issues, serious over grooming and some weird licking of walls. She was completely fine in the private room but once they took her back to do some blood work she flipped out: severe hyperventilating, panting, frozen in place, all bad. They put her on oxygen and didn't attempt any more tests. I went back there to help calm her down and although the vet was initially concerned that Calypso had thrown a clot she thought that maybe it was a panic attack. She did appear to calm down about 30 minutes later so I was cleared to take her home and we would try the appointment again in a couple weeks with a little anxiety medication before bringing her in.

However, on the way home she made no noise in the car (super weird), got home and wouldn't move. She wouldn't touch her treats, was completely unresponsive, silent, and was staring off into space with huge, dilated eyes that wouldn't constrict with light. Calypso then got up to walk very slowly, her back legs were splayed and wobbly and she sunk down to the ground.

At this point I was absolutely FREAKING out and on the phone with the vet who said to take her to emergency care immediately. We raced her to the hospital where it was determined she had thrown a clot aka had a stroke and they needed to stabilize her slash figure out why in order for her to survive. When I asked about her chances because she's only middle aged (10 years old), I was informed it was mostly a question mark at that time and was basically 50/50.

😰😭.

I. Was. A. Mess.

They kept her for TWO NIGHTS and I wandered about my house like a zombie. It was empty and weird and I hated it (Dan was working nights this week so that was unfortunate timing but it happens). I couldn't do anything let alone cook, work, write...anything. That first night more than a few gin cocktails were imbibed in the late evening hours lemme tell you. By the second night she was doing much better (thank GOD), eating, moving around, using the litter box, all that good stuff. On the third day I received the call that I would be able to take her home  🙏🏻. Many tears of relief were shed.

Here's what we know: kidney infection, heart murmur, and low red blood cell count upon rehydration.

Whaaaaat does all that mean? Basically possible chronic kidney disease, possible cardiomyopathy, and possible chronic anemia. We have a vet follow up next week, Calypso is currently on antibiotics (have you ever tried to get a cat to take a pill? Omg. And no she won't eat the pill pockets) and some pain meds to help keep her anxiety down until the infection clears.

Now we know these diagnoses are not curable but they ARE treatable. We're going to do our best to keep our little sweets with us for as long as she's happy and maintaining a good quality of life . We're just so grateful for the amazing care she received (thank you VSC Lynwood!) and for the time we have with her now. Lots of snuggles and demanded sits for the foreseeable future.

SO! Thank you for understanding, for sending all your love and positive thoughts, and Calypso says thank you 😸.

(PS. look forward to some new recipes coming next week!)