Good news!
We just got home from the vet, and Nikki's retinas appear to be reattaching. The vet said that she totally expects her to regain her sight. I cannot believe it! I am so happy.
Also, Nikki's blood pressure dropped from the horrible 240 on Thursday to 180 today....which is still high, but much better. We are doubling her dose of amlodipine, and she has another appt next Saturday for a recheck.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Well, no real change with Nikki yet. Sometimes it seems like maybe she is seeing more movement or recognizing faster where we are in the room. Then again, it could either be our imagination/wishiful thinking or just her amazing feline ability to adapt and fake it. For the most part she has just gone on about her business in spite of this blindness until last night.
Last night, she cried out for me from the bedroom, a different cry than I've heard from her before. I picked her up and brought her back to the den with us, and she continued to soulfully cry in my arms. It didn't seem to be pain nor did it seem to be confusion. I have to wonder if she's just sad. Sad that she can't see.....or hear. Then a short while later, she got sick a bit which is no surprise since the vet told me to give her her subcu fluids a day late.....so the old girl was a bit dehydrated and the acid reflux kicked in. I concluded that the crying had been related to not feeling good after all.
Unfortunately, the soulful crying seems to be a trend. She cried out to me from her food bowl as we got into bed. I gently blew in her direction (so she'd know where I was), and she came on over and settled down for sleep. However, she cried out in the night a lot for no apparent reason.....and she didn't appear to be in any pain, just some sort of unrest. Finally, I brought the heating pad to bed with us, and that definitely helped because I didn't hear a peep out of her after that.
It's weird, but she's been strangely quiet since Wednesday night when this all started. I'm guessing that if you're a cat in the wild and you can't hear nor see then you don't make a lot of noise so as to not draw attention to yourself. However, now that a few days have passed, she's figured out that if she cries out then Mom & Dad come running.
Her appetite is great, and she's doing all her normal things.....except that I don't think she walks around the house near as much (which wasn't a lot) as she did when she could see. She mainly stays in the bedroom in her bed, but we bring her into the den with us in the evenings.
We have a followup appt with the vet today to check her blood pressure again. I am so hopeful that the vet will see improvement in her eyes, but I don't know if any change could be detected at this point. It's only been 3 days.
I am so scared that this is the beginning of the end. I am so scared that she won't recover from this, and that her quality of life will take a nosedive. I'm not ready for this. I never will be. She is my child. I know that a lot of people can't understand that, but she is. I just can't imagine life without her. Instead of enjoying each day that I have with her, I am always so freaking worried about losing her. What fun is that? Why can't I just take it one day at a time? My evil mind can concoct all these awful scenarios of her dying, finding her dead, life without her, etc. Cruel thoughts, get out of my head.
Last night, she cried out for me from the bedroom, a different cry than I've heard from her before. I picked her up and brought her back to the den with us, and she continued to soulfully cry in my arms. It didn't seem to be pain nor did it seem to be confusion. I have to wonder if she's just sad. Sad that she can't see.....or hear. Then a short while later, she got sick a bit which is no surprise since the vet told me to give her her subcu fluids a day late.....so the old girl was a bit dehydrated and the acid reflux kicked in. I concluded that the crying had been related to not feeling good after all.
Unfortunately, the soulful crying seems to be a trend. She cried out to me from her food bowl as we got into bed. I gently blew in her direction (so she'd know where I was), and she came on over and settled down for sleep. However, she cried out in the night a lot for no apparent reason.....and she didn't appear to be in any pain, just some sort of unrest. Finally, I brought the heating pad to bed with us, and that definitely helped because I didn't hear a peep out of her after that.
It's weird, but she's been strangely quiet since Wednesday night when this all started. I'm guessing that if you're a cat in the wild and you can't hear nor see then you don't make a lot of noise so as to not draw attention to yourself. However, now that a few days have passed, she's figured out that if she cries out then Mom & Dad come running.
Her appetite is great, and she's doing all her normal things.....except that I don't think she walks around the house near as much (which wasn't a lot) as she did when she could see. She mainly stays in the bedroom in her bed, but we bring her into the den with us in the evenings.
We have a followup appt with the vet today to check her blood pressure again. I am so hopeful that the vet will see improvement in her eyes, but I don't know if any change could be detected at this point. It's only been 3 days.
I am so scared that this is the beginning of the end. I am so scared that she won't recover from this, and that her quality of life will take a nosedive. I'm not ready for this. I never will be. She is my child. I know that a lot of people can't understand that, but she is. I just can't imagine life without her. Instead of enjoying each day that I have with her, I am always so freaking worried about losing her. What fun is that? Why can't I just take it one day at a time? My evil mind can concoct all these awful scenarios of her dying, finding her dead, life without her, etc. Cruel thoughts, get out of my head.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Today, I'm home with Nikki. When I got home about 7:30 last night, she couldn't see me. Her wide-eyed stare looked right past me, and she startled when I touched her. She could see light and some movement if it had color contrast, but she was blind. I did a quick google search and learned that sudden blindness is often high blood pressure so I gave her a dose of her old meds. Her pupils were HUGE (another symptom), and it was really sad to see her try to find her way around. She stepped right off the side of the bed. Later she walked right into me and also got lost in the den.
At the vet this morning, my hunch was correct.....high blood pressure. The doctor said that even for a "stressed" cat, her blood pressure was very high. (If someone shaved your tail and wrapped a cuff around it, you would be stressed too.) Plus, the doctor could see "it" in her eyes too....the pressure, I guess. We won't know for a week or so whether the blindness is permanent. :(
Anyway, I'm staying home with her so she doesn't hurt herself. I can't imagine not being able to see nor hear. The vet said that I was very smart to give her a dose of her blood pressure med last night. However, I can't help feeling the guilt of any normal parent for taking her off her blood pressure meds. However, when you have an ornery 20 yo cat, you can't give them every medicine on the planet. It's kind of a give & take. Nikki takes a liquid daily to battle...um, constipation, and she gets her subcutaneous fluids every 3 days. Everything you do to her is a drama (cut nails, clean ears, brush her under parts, etc.). You have to find that balance between doing what you can to help her, but not doing so much that she's miserable and hides from you constantly. I stopped doing the blood pressure meds a few months ago, and I discussed it with the vet when she went in a few weeks ago for coughing/wheezing. Basically, I took a chance on stopping her meds because, having only had her blood pressure checked once over a year ago, how reliable could the reading be after a year? Plus, to check the blood pressure is stressful to a cat so how accurate is the reading in the first place? It was a gamble, but then again it's all about give & take. (The coughing/wheezing was determined to be probably caused by acid reflux related to the kidney problem. Since then she's been taking a pill 2x day to calm her tummy, and it has definitely helped.)
So today at the vet, she got a shot of Lasix (diuretic) and two meds were called in. She's resting comfortably now, but I'm just waiting & praying for any sign that she can see me.
At the vet this morning, my hunch was correct.....high blood pressure. The doctor said that even for a "stressed" cat, her blood pressure was very high. (If someone shaved your tail and wrapped a cuff around it, you would be stressed too.) Plus, the doctor could see "it" in her eyes too....the pressure, I guess. We won't know for a week or so whether the blindness is permanent. :(
Anyway, I'm staying home with her so she doesn't hurt herself. I can't imagine not being able to see nor hear. The vet said that I was very smart to give her a dose of her blood pressure med last night. However, I can't help feeling the guilt of any normal parent for taking her off her blood pressure meds. However, when you have an ornery 20 yo cat, you can't give them every medicine on the planet. It's kind of a give & take. Nikki takes a liquid daily to battle...um, constipation, and she gets her subcutaneous fluids every 3 days. Everything you do to her is a drama (cut nails, clean ears, brush her under parts, etc.). You have to find that balance between doing what you can to help her, but not doing so much that she's miserable and hides from you constantly. I stopped doing the blood pressure meds a few months ago, and I discussed it with the vet when she went in a few weeks ago for coughing/wheezing. Basically, I took a chance on stopping her meds because, having only had her blood pressure checked once over a year ago, how reliable could the reading be after a year? Plus, to check the blood pressure is stressful to a cat so how accurate is the reading in the first place? It was a gamble, but then again it's all about give & take. (The coughing/wheezing was determined to be probably caused by acid reflux related to the kidney problem. Since then she's been taking a pill 2x day to calm her tummy, and it has definitely helped.)
So today at the vet, she got a shot of Lasix (diuretic) and two meds were called in. She's resting comfortably now, but I'm just waiting & praying for any sign that she can see me.
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